Aston Villa boss Unai Emery insisted that we deserved our 2-1 win over West Ham Utd, and praised his side for their performance on the opening weekend.
Amadou Onana headed home our opener after just four minutes to put us ahead, with Villa continuing to impress and create chances throughout the first half.
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However, after failing to convert those opportunities, West Ham found an equaliser from the spot through Lucas Paqueta, and it wasn’t until the latter stages of the second half that Jhon Duran scored our winning goal to seal the three points.
It was a positive performance though from Villa, as we look composed and sharp for the most part with a solid defensive structure to build on, while there was a cohesiveness and fluidity to our play that allowed us to cause West Ham problems.
In turn, it’s no surprise that Emery was pleased with the display, and he’ll no doubt be delighted to get the season started with a win on the road against tough opposition.
“I think the first 30 minutes were very good. We were in control of the game, with good positioning. We didn’t concede a corner until the 28th minute. We scored one and had a chance to get a second with Leon Bailey,” he told Sky Sports, as quoted by BBC Sport.
“They got a goal too, and we started the second half a bit softly. But we started controlling the game more again and deserved to win.
“[This is] a very difficult place. Today we deserve it but it was a very tough match. Our game plan was progressively getting better in 90 minutes. I think now the first match after pre-season some players are not fit to play 90 minutes. I think today their attitude, commitment was fantastic.
“The idea is to try to have players in the bench as well with the qualities played in the starting 11. This year we are improving our level facing the Champions League. Of course we want to keep the same position competing the way we did last year and we have to be very demanding with our players. We are ready to play the next match at home against Arsenal on Saturday and we showed a little bit the different possibilities in the squad. The impact of Jhon Duran was very important because he still wasn’t fit to play 90 minutes, Ollie Watkins.”
On Jhon Duran’s goal: “It was a very important goal. He’s completely involved with us after coming back from his holidays and after [representing] his national team. There will be more rumours about him after his goal, but I believe in him. I gave him 30 minutes today and he’s very important to us.
“We believe in him and he has to play, he has to be ready to train every day like he was doing the last week and like he trained today. For me we need two strikers and both have to have good performances and good commitment to play like they both played today.”
On Amadou Onana: “There’s still a lot of adaptation ahead, in training and in matches. Today it was his first official match with us. He was very mature, responsible and intelligent. I think this is the first step we need. The adaptation is going to be long, because there are a lot of things we want to get out of him, but his potential is most important.”
There were many encouraging signs in this win, with Onana earning the Man of the Match award on his debut, while the substitutions were critical as we continued to probe and found a breakthrough with three players who came off the bench involved in the winning goal.
Naturally, there were aspects that still need improvement as having been in control for long periods, we didn’t make that count and build on our advantage, but that will hopefully come as the season progresses with Villa still building fitness and sharpness to reach our peak conditioning and form.
It’s an ideal way to start the season in the sense that it also builds confidence and belief in what Emery is continuing to implement with the new signings that were brought in, and so it will hopefully set the standard for what’s to follow in the coming weeks, with a key showdown against Arsenal to come next weekend.
