Aston Villa boss Unai Emery conceded that he was disappointed after our 3-2 defeat to Legia Warsaw in our Europa Conference League opener.
Villa twice fell behind in the first half but managed to fight back as we showed good character and quality at times, but having been undone for a third time after the break, we couldn’t produce a final response to take something from the encounter.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Legia Warsaw: Key quartet poor in disappointing defeat
That in turn resulted in a disappointing and frustrating opening night in Europe, with questions perhaps asked of Emery’s rotation, but particularly of the players who came in and weren’t able to have the desired impact.
There is a long way to go of course and Villa have time to put things right and advance, but the result certainly adds early pressure and we’ll see how we fare in the remaining games.
Emery though, didn’t hide his disappointment, but also emphasised the importance of learning from the experience to be better in the upcoming fixtures, while also continuing to reiterate the need to improve and use the squad across the course of the season in multiple competitions.
“I’m disappointed. The match was tough, and we knew it would be before the match and we were speaking about the matches they were winning at home,” he told VillaTV. “We didn’t respond in the first half. We reacted very well after their goals but, again, in the second half they scored.
“We had chances at the end of the match and maybe we didn’t deserve to lose the match. The atmosphere they created here was a very good example of how difficult it’s going to be in the Conference League.
“I want the same wishes and desires away with our supporters as when we are playing at home. We have to react in the next match at home and we have to react as well against Legia Warszawa when we play them at home.
“This is the start and the first step to think about how difficult it is to play in Europe.
“We are trying to build a team, to build a strong structure; we are in this process and we have to use different players in different competitions, trying to get everybody in the same tactical way.
“We have to be stronger; we have to try to avoid the chances we conceded to the opponent like we did tonight.
“That is the work we have to face.”
Villa travel to Chelsea on Sunday where Emery will likely go back to his strongest possible XI, and while there could be further rotation against Everton in the Carabao Cup next week, it remains to be seen what selections he makes in our next outing in Europe.
Youri Tielemans, Calum Chambers and Clement Lenglet were among those to come into the starting XI on Thursday, and having struggled to justify those decisions, they have work to do to earn prominent roles moving forward, particularly with the likes of Jacob Ramsey, Alex Moreno and Diego Carlos all hopefully back in the mix by the end of next week.