Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was left frustrated and disappointed after our 1-1 draw with Sunderland on Sunday, as our winless Premier League streak continues.
Villa took the lead through Matty Cash in the 67th minute, as we eventually managed to find a breakthrough after the home side were reduced to 10 men just 30 minutes into the encounter.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Sunderland: Woeful display ends in draw vs 10 men
Albeit there was a big slice of luck involved in the goal again with another goalkeeper blunder helping us, with the goal and numerical advantage, it looked as though Villa would finally get three crucial points on the board after what has been a difficult start to the season.
However, we held out for just eight minutes as Wilson Isidor bagged Sunderland’s equaliser to earn them a point, and unsurprisingly, Emery wasn’t happy with what he saw, as the pressure continues to build on him to find solutions and answers, and to get the players back to the level required to win games consistently again.
“Frustrated and disappointed a little bit, but not with the result,” he is quoted as saying by BirminghamLive. “It should have been easier to take advantage [against 10 players] but we were not playing with our identity, with the ideas we have been building in the last three years.
“With some new players we have to adapt with the players we have, and we know we want to control the game, to dominate but I am disappointed and frustrated more for how we were not achieving our identity.
“There is still work to do with the point we achieved, it’s not enough, of course, after playing with one more player for 60 minutes, we should be happier, we have to work and be demanding, to get our consistency through our demands.
“Some attitude in some moments … maybe it’s because they’re not feeling good, they are not fighting. There is not a punishment, but collectively we have to understand how to feel better.
“We are not playing like I want. We have to adapt some new players and we will need time with them. Others know we want to control the game with the ball.
“Their chances started with their goalkeeper. Long balls and second actions in our box. Like that we are conceding chances. We had one player more. We didn’t control the game doing passes, and passes and passes. We did not take the right moment to attack them.
“We have to recover our identity. I am not frustrated with the result, but how we are playing. We are not feeling comfortable with our style. We have to try to recover our personality and confidence to play like we are training.”
With so many key individuals underperforming and with others perhaps hitting their ceiling, there are some very worrying signs moving forward over where this current form and path that we’re on will lead us.
While the performances have been uninspiring, lacking creative quality and ideas, we’re also now lacking urgency, intensity and aggression even against 10 men, with Sunderland more than deserving of their point given that they looked more of a threat than us.
Emery isn’t without fault and having ultimately not done enough in our recruitment and evolution of the squad this past summer, it does feel as though we’re now paying the price for that. Time will tell if the Villa boss can drag more out of this group to get us back on track or not, but there are undoubtedly growing concerns over whether or not we can put things right quickly enough before serious questions start to be asked.
That’s not to suggest that Emery’s position should be questioned as we have to ride this storm out and hopefully come through the other side to get into a position to improve and evolve again, but in the midst of such a sustained struggle for form let alone results, there is a worrying lack of answers being provided at this time.
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