Aston Villa boss Unai Emery delivered his verdict on our 3-1 defeat to Man City on Sunday, as he was disappointed with our lack of competitiveness and mistakes.
Villa were poor in the opening 45 minutes, as we offered nothing going forward and had very little possession. On top of that, we conceded poor goals and headed into the break 3-0 down after Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez put the hosts in complete control.
READ MORE: Emery delivers update on Mings absence for Villa vs Man City
While we did improve in the second half, particularly after Ollie Watkins bagged a third goal in as many games, the damage had already been done in the first half and we couldn’t find a way back.
Having now suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time since Emery took charge, he was unsurprisingly disappointed with the outcome, and will now look to get a reaction and see his side bounce back against Arsenal on Saturday.
“We knew this would be a tough game after three away wins but we were not competitive,” he told Sky Sports, as per BBC Sport. “They were clinical, but we made mistakes today, three very important goals we could avoid normally.
“In the second we tried to be consistent, forget the score and be competitive and I think we did that in the second half.
“We have to be clinical with the chances we get, but in the first half they were better than us and decided the match. I can only say sorry to our supporters, and we did not play in the way we have been.
“We spoke about being competitive, stopping mistakes and trying to get a goal but it was difficult after going three down to do more in the second half.
“We have to be positive when we are winning, and we have to learn how to respond and although the result was bad we tried to show our mentality in the second half. It was a bad result, but we have to learn and use it in the next matches.
“We made some unusual mistakes but at the end of the first half, we kept our position on the pitch, trying to score one goal and not concede many chances and we did it but really now it is finished and we think about the next match at home against Arsenal on Saturday.”
Villa were without Tyrone Mings for this encounter, and is usually the case when he is absent, his presence was sorely missed in the backline. Emery revealed prior to kick-off that the centre-half was ruled out due to injury, and he added more detail to the situation while sharing his hope that Mings will be able to feature against Arsenal.
“Hopefully he will be back,” he added. “He had a small injury and didn’t train this week but hopefully for the next week he is going to get better and I am thinking maybe he will play on Saturday. If not, we have another centre-back like Calum Chambers and we have to believe in every player.”
Chambers was one of many Villa players to have a poor game, and particularly with the likes of Jhon Duran, Philippe Coutinho, Alex Moreno and John McGinn all having a positive influence after coming off the bench, it will be interesting to see how many changes Emery is tempted to make.
Villa have conceded seven goals in our last two Premier League games, and with most of them being down to mistakes, either individual or collective, regardless of who starts next weekend, we have to tidy up our play defensively and get back to being difficult to break down.