Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was pleased with his side’s performance in our 5-0 win over Hibernian in the Europa Conference League play-off round.
Villa will take a commanding lead into the second leg next week after a comprehensive win at Easter Road, with an Ollie Watkins hat-trick and goals from Leon Bailey and Douglas Luiz securing the victory.
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While there would have been an emphasis on starting well given the atmosphere and intensity that Hibs were expected to play with, Villa dealt with that efficiently and effectively as we took control from an early stage and didn’t allow them to impose themselves on us.
That in turn then allowed our superior quality to shine through and make the difference, as we produced some patient, measured and quality build-up play to unlock the Hibernian defence and take our chances.
Emery unsurprisingly felt that we deserved to win the game, but reiterated that his side respect the opposition, competition and all that comes with it, as we look to advance to the group stage of the Europa Conference League next week.
“We know today that we really played a high level, and didn’t let them play how they usually play,” he told BBC Scotland. “The end result – five goals – is maybe not deserved, but we deserved to win, and our respect of them is playing how we played.
“We know they are very good in the transition. We know they have good long balls and crosses. We tried to keep control with the ball, and we did it.
“I am happy, but everything we did was with respect. In this competition, first we have to be in the groups, and second, trying to do something here.”
The Villa boss opted to go with a strong XI for the first leg as he made just one change from Sunday, and having secured an ideal result, he’ll now have more flexibility and an openness to rotate and rest key players next week.
Nevertheless, he will continue to stress the need to avoid complacency and play at a high level regardless of the situation, as Villa have shown our quality and put two poor sides to the sword this week with a ruthlessness and clinical edge that will hopefully drive us towards success this season.
Unai Emery: "We prepared this match, being very, very serious and disciplined, and in the end the result was very good." 👊 pic.twitter.com/yXvWK8mXs5
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) August 23, 2023
