Unai Emery. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)placeholder image
Unai Emery. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Aston Villa’s Premier League winning streak was broken on Saturday by Liverpool
Aston Villa’s tactics have been questioned by former Everton defender Ashley Williams, following their Premier League defeat to Liverpool on Saturday.
Unai Emery’s side were forced to return home from Merseyside empty-handed after the struggling champions finally broke their miserable run of defeats.
Villa’s defeat marks their first in the Premier League since August and ends their previous run of four straight wins. Prior to their visit to Anfield, the Villans had gotten the better of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, but they’ll need to reset ahead of their midweek Europa League clash with Maccabi Tel Aviv, followed by Bournemouth on Sunday.
Ashley Williams ‘confused’ by Aston Villa tactics vs Liverpool
Villa registered nine attempts and three on target against Liverpool but were unable to see any of their efforts materialise.
Ollie Watkins still has just the one goal on his tally in the Premier League this season and failed to register any shots towards the Liverpool net on Saturday. He was brought off as part of a triple change from Emery in the 74th minute, with Jadon Sancho coming on in his place.
Dissecting Villa’s performance on BBC Match of the Day, former Wales international Williams said he was ‘confused’ by Emery’s approach to the clash at Anfield.
“I was confused by how Unai Emery set his team up today. They were obsessed with playing the short pass. If you have Ollie Watkins up front, hit him,” the ex-defender said.
Williams was capped 86 times for Wales during his playing career and was most known for his eight-year stint at Swansea City, before joining Everton in 2016.
What did Unai Emery say about Aston Villa’s defeat to Liverpool?
Speaking after the match, Emery admitted he was ‘disappointed’ with the evening’s result, especially as the team were feeling ‘positive and excited’ following their previous win over Spurs and Man City.
The Villa boss also took responsibility for Mohamed Salah’s opening goal. Emi Martinez played the ball straight into the path of the Egyptian, who made no mistake to guide home his 250th goal in a Liverpool shirt.
“Today we lost because we faced a very good Liverpool side. Even though we lost in the match, we competed very well and with the possibilities to get something,” Emery said.
“It was easy for Salah. It was a huge mistake but one thing in our process under my responsibility. I accept it and we build a team here through the style we want to keep in our process in the club and in the next matches.
“We must avoid huge mistakes like we made today in the first goal we conceded. But it’s something part of our process and we are going to analyse, to identify how we will build in these circumstances for the next matches.”
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