Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was pleased with how his side responded in our 1-0 win over Lille in the Europa League on Thursday night. but emphasised that the job is only half done.
Ollie Watkins struck on the hour mark to break the deadlock, as Emiliano Buendia’s flick on found the Villa striker, who looped his own header expertly over the Lille goalkeeper to find the back of the net.
Although he should have doubled our lead shortly after, Villa held on to secure a crucial win in our first-leg encounter ahead of the reverse fixture at Villa Park next Thursday night, and so it was mission accomplished in that sense.
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Naturally, Emery was pleased with the performance that secured the win, but the challenge now will be to build on this display and result when we travel to Manchester United on Sunday in the Premier League.
It’s crunch game after crunch game at this stage of the campaign with Villa looking to push on domestically and in Europe, and after a recent slump in form, it’s hoped that this win is a catalyst for an improved run of results.
While he was pleased with the approach and execution of the game plan in this game, Emery was also eager to emphasise the importance of knowing that the job is only half done at this stage, but for now, the focus switches to Sunday.
“Firstly, I’m thankful for our supporters – over 2,500 supporters here with us,” Emery told VillaTV.
“This is really very important how they are following us and supporting us, and helping in everything. We felt that today.
“We respect this competition, because we know the difficulties of each match: in Europe, away, and how it is for the English teams, like yesterday in the Champions League, how they were struggling.
“The Premier League is a strong league, and when we are playing away in other countries, they have one challenge more than another challenge they can have.
“We played very seriously. We were always organised, and we played trying to defend strongly, trying to feel comfortable defending as well, and trying to get some transition with the ball and to dominate with the ball, and we did it.
“We didn’t create a lot of chances, but some clear chances to score. I’m happy with how the players responded to the game plan we did and how we are respecting and understanding the difficulties we can have, in case we are not playing seriously.
“After it, we need their skills and the capacity to do something, adding for the team individually, or collectively, and we must add numbers from the players, like today with Watkins. We need to add numbers with Morgan, with Sancho, with Leon Bailey, with Buendía, with the midfielders.
“I am happy but we know in the dressing room that it’s the first leg, and this result, one nil, is good, but we are going to play another 90 minutes, respecting them like we did today to play with this result.”
