Aston Villa boss Unai Emery accepted that we lacked our usual energy, but was pleased with our draw against Manchester United on Sunday.
After a big midweek win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League, the expectation going into this game was always that we might struggle to match that level of intensity and quality just a few days later.
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That ultimately proved to be the case as injuries and our absentee list didn’t help either, as Villa struggled to show enough quality to step up through the gears and find a way through a poor Man Utd side.
Nevertheless, it’s another point gained and back-to-back clean sheets this week, and the players will now have an opportunity to rest and regroup over the international break, while those missing today will hopefully either be back in contention to face Fulham on October 19, or on the verge of doing so.
Emery reiterated those points as he was naturally disappointed that we couldn’t come away with all three points this weekend, but he noted our injuries and fatigue, and was keen to look at the positives of how we’ve started the season and the results that we’ve obtained over the past month.
“It’s not a bad result, playing at home here, but it’s not the best,” he said in his post-match interview, as per BBC Sport. “How we played, I think the draw is fair for both teams. Maybe in the second half we controlled more than them, but also they hit the crossbar.
“We missed some energy, but I am happy because the draw was not the worst result, and in the second half we corrected some things to control the match. Maybe it’s because we have some players injured. Bailey is getting better but he’s not completely fit. Some other players are also getting better. This is the idea we have.
“Of course to play in the Champions League this week. We tried to play with the same energy and tried to impose ourselves, but we are against Manchester United. The expectation I had of the match is what more or less happened.
“We deserved more from the second half. But I think the result is fair.
“We are in the process of building a team. Ross Barkley played 90 minutes for us. We are managing things better. I am happy. We could be better in the table but we are more or less in the top six but I am happy with what we are doing.
“The international break will be good for rest.
“It is not the best result but it’s not the worst. I think a draw is fair. We played the second half much better than the first and at the end we were close to winning the match. We had two chances at the end of the game, we tried to score but couldn’t. I think a draw is fair.
“Maybe today we needed some refreshed players. And we have some players injured. But the players we have they respond really well. We will need the players helping. We prepared this match trying to win, we didn’t do it but we have to be overall happy with this month, how we are in the table and what we are trying to build.
“We can have some days off [in the international break] we can recover our energy and try to push in the next month.
“We are being demanding and competing very well. We are happy in the Champions League, and happy of course in the Carabao Cup. We’re going to play seven matches in the next month. We have to stay competitive like we are now and being demanding.”
Tyrone Mings and Boubacar Kamara will hope to be involved after the break having stepped up their respective comebacks from injury by featuring for our U21s side this weekend, while the likes of John McGinn, Amadou Onana and Jacob Ramsey will be closing in on a return of their own after missing out on Sunday.
Further, Leon Bailey looks to be short of his peak condition at the moment as he plays through an ongoing niggle, while Ezri Konsa will now need time in the treatment room for what is hopefully not a serious hamstring issue.
While the rest of the group could do with the rest as well after a taxing few weeks, the international break comes at an important time for Villa, and it’s hoped that once we get our key players back from injury, we’ll be able to avoid further setbacks in the coming months as our schedule looks to be packed across three competitions to end October and going into November.
In turn, it’s a point gained this weekend, and we’ll hopefully be in a much healthier and stronger place coming out of the break to put an important run of form together across multiple fronts.
