Aston Villa manager Unai Emery sat down with the media after watching his team lose on penalties against Brentford in the Carabao Cup
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery(Image: PA)
Unai Emery insists Aston Villa are improving, despite growing concerns over the club’s worrying start to the campaign.
A Carabao Cup third-round exit has now added to a season that few could have predicted so far, as Emery’s side have also gone four Premier League games without a win - failing to score in any of them.
Harvey Elliott’s opener at the Gtech Community Stadium, which ended Villa’s goal drought, was one of very few positives on the night.
Jadon Sancho struck the post from a tight angle before Aaron Hickey equalised for Brentford, volleying into the top corner past a helpless Marco Bizot just before the hour mark.
Hákon Valdimarsson denied Matty Cash at the back post late on, as John McGinn pushed for his second assist of the night - a moment that effectively sent the match to penalties.
McGinn missed Villa’s first spot-kick, handing the advantage to Fabio Carvalho, who calmly opened the shoot-out scoring. Reiss Nelson and Yehor Yarmolyuk also converted their penalties.
When Matty Cash missed Villa’s fourth penalty, Mikkel Damsgaard sealed the win by beating Bizot from 12 yards.
“We have improved things,” Emery claimed in his press conference. “We have to build a team again to be as strong as possible in our structure and get new players to adapt as soon as possible.
“We played 90 minutes in good balance to dominate and to try to create chances and perform the things we need. We scored one goal and we drew. The penalties we lost - a little bit disappointing - but we have our way.
“Our way now is to try and build a team as soon as possible in the structure we want to get, strong defensively and offensively, with players knowing each other and getting combinations. We have to accept the result and keep going.”
He continued: “There is a lot of work to do. A lot of matches. A lot of practice. A lot of combinations possible. We have possibilities with Kamara, Onana, Garcia, Barkley. In the offensive positions, we need to get Sancho fit and get Elliott adapted to us. Today, Lindelof was injured. I think we have a lot of work to do.
“The way we will do for the next weeks: we must improve, compete, and get results. After Saturday at Everton and today, drawing again and today scoring a goal, we are watching some improvement - but not enough. A lot of things, I think, will be positive in the next weeks.”
Villa face newly promoted Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Sunday, before opening their Europa League campaign against Bologna at Villa Park next Thursday, followed by a return to Premier League action at home against Fulham.
“We scored one goal and now we need to win,” Emery admitted. “We need to perform better and increase the level, which some players will add to the squad.
“I have all my confidence with my players, but we have to play matches, to practice and get better in different things. Today, we did one step forward in a lot of things being positive.
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“Of course, the result is not good, but we have to continue in our way and carry on everything we are doing, trying to adapt as soon as possible.
“Our challenge now is that we have lost one competition and we face another four. Three left. Premier League, consistent. We need to find a strong way in the Europa League and the FA Cup.”