What Unai Emery said in assessment of Villa’s disappointing draw vs Ipswich

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery insisted that we had the chances to win against Ipswich Town, but they deserved a 1-1 draw.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men just before half-time, but despite that disadvantage, they were able to take the lead early in the second half to put more pressure on us.

READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Ipswich: Disappointment after frustrating draw vs 10 men

Fortunately, we were able to find an equaliser through Ollie Watkins, but it is undoubtedly two points dropped in hugely disappointing and frustrating fashion, and that could end up being very costly in the battle to secure European football for next season.

Emery insisted that we played well to dominate the game and created chances, but we paid the price ultimately for not taking them, and Ipswich deserved their point given the way that they competed and battled to take something from the encounter.

“The match we deserved to win, when it was 11v11 it was very difficult,” he is quoted as saying by BBC Sport. “They were being man to man and being very aggressive. We had some very good chances for Ollie Watkins and we needed to be clinical.

“In 90 minutes we were being positive and when they had the sending off, we really were dominating. We conceded one easy goal and to come back with the result it was difficult but we had the chances to do it, we had the chances to win but at the end they defend very well and they deserve the draw.

“The competed very well but we expected it. We tried and we played the second half dominating, we scored only one goal and it was not enough. We deserved more but they competed very well.”

On Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio: “Good impact and keep going now, try to fit in as best as possible. We are playing against Liverpool here. We lost some opportunities but of course we have to be consistent and hope we can react.”

On Boubacar Kamara’s injury: “It’s bad but I don’t know now.”

The Villa boss certainly makes a good point on both Rashford and Asensio, as the pair have looked excellent in games against Tottenham and Ipswich thus far having come off the bench to give us a spark, but there will be disappointment that we didn’t make it count this weekend in a missed opportunity to close the gap on those above us in the Premier League standings.

That is also a worrying update on Kamara, as his absence will be a massive blow given his influence in the side, but with other absentees in mind too, Villa are losing too many key players at the moment, and that will undoubtedly make our challenge even more difficult.

Nevertheless, it’s hoped that further tests this week allay those fears, while Emery perhaps was suggesting that losing the Frenchman to a setback is bad, rather than the severity of the issue.

For Emery though, he will be disappointed with our play at both ends of the pitch, as we conceded another poor goal yet again to give ourselves a mountain to climb against 10 men, while we failed to take our chances and ultimately ended up dropping points in a game that we should have won.