Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was pleased with our 3-1 win over Fulham on Sunday, but is already focusing his attention on our upcoming games.
An own goal as well as efforts from John McGinn and Ollie Watkins sealed the three points this weekend, as we bounced back in the Premier League, got back to winning ways and solidified our top-five spot.
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With the international break now ahead, we’ll have a chance to reflect and regroup before heading to Tottenham on November 26, as we look to replicate our strong home form on the road.
Although we were excellent in the first half on Sunday and took a commanding lead, we lost our way slightly in the second half and allowed Fulham to threaten as we failed to keep a clean sheet again.
That in turn will give Emery plenty to analyse and find ways to improve moving forward, but naturally, as we extended our impressive form and strong start to the season, there is a lot to be happy with too.
“I’m very happy,” he told VillaTV. “We wanted to connect with our supporters and we needed their energy and support. They were amazing in 90 minutes, the fans, supporting us and trying to help us. We are feeling very good here (Villa Park).”
“The first half was very good. We started in the first ten minutes with chances, we controlled the game, scored two goals and avoided their transitions and gameplan.
“In the second half, the match was more open than I wanted and they had some chances to score. We lost our control of the game like we had in the first half because it’s difficult – every team has good players and it’s competitive. They showed that in the second half but we scored the first goal again. They were in the match and scored, but we played the last 20 minutes being serious and keeping our gameplan in our mind. The second half gave us more things to analyse and improve.
“Each match is a challenge. Each match we have to face in different competitions, in Europe. On Thursday we played very well and achieved a good result as well.
“Every match we are playing at home with our supporters we have to try and feel good, to feel comfortable, to be very competitive and to be improving every match.
“We are trying to keep the balance when we are playing away. Always playing away is more difficult and we are feeling it. We can improve in the matches we are playing away and we have to take the challenge in the next match we are playing away against Tottenham.”
That drive, determination and ambition to continuously improve and evolve has spearheaded Villa’s improvement under Emery, as although we continue to impress and make progress, it’s always about the next game and getting better.
Common trends in Emery’s assessment of games continue too, in that he evidently places great importance on praising the fans for their backing at home, as we build that connection with the players and coaching staff to create a positive atmosphere on and off the pitch.
Further, it’s all about that all-important control for Villa, to not only maximise our attacking qualities, but to nullify the opposition’s threat too.
While the Villa boss will no doubt take time out to enjoy the result and break, he’ll be hard at work over the break to ensure we continue to improve, and hopefully that starts with a positive result at Tottenham later this month.
