The Aston Villa boss had mixed emotions about Saturday's goalless draw with Eddie Howe's Magpies
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery(Image: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire.)
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery admitted Newcastle United deserved more from their first-half performance following the goalless Premier League draw at Villa Park.
But the Spaniard was delighted with the way his side responded, especially after going down to 10 men in the second, to ensure they emerged with a point on the opening day of the new season.
Eddie Howe's side were on top for large periods of the first half, and United new boy Anthony Elanga should have put them ahead in the opening minutes, only to see Marco Bizot save his shot when through on goal.
Anthony Gordon twice went close to opening the scoring, heading narrowly over and then seeing a deflected shot well saved by Villa debutant Bizot as United were left frustrated at Villa Park.
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It was Gordon who was brought down by Ezri Konsa to earn the England defender a red card, but Newcastle, without the services of Alexander Isak, couldn't find a way past the low block of the home side and had to settle for a point.
"We are not happy when we are losing two points at home," Emery admitted. "But because of how the match went, more or less, they maybe even deserved more because they had better chances than us. We have to accept it.
"How we worked and how the players got their commitment playing in each moment, we have to accept the point. More or less, we can take confidence for the next matches.
"We didn’t control the game like we planned. Our build-up was not bad, but we didn’t threaten them. Some duels we didn’t win clearly.
"The last passes we needed to do, we lost a lot of balls. They created chances, and our goalkeeper did a fantastic job.
"We didn’t concede a lot in the second half and created chances, but the red card completely changed the match. We have to feel happy and proud of our work. This is the level we are playing against, which is the highest in the Premier League and Europa League. Today was a very good test, and in the end, it was a good result."
Emery had no complaints over Konsa's red card. The defender clearly pulled back Gordon as he ran through on goal following a delightful throughball from Elanga, with the Villa boss adding: "Yes. I accepted it."
Newcastle will be hoping to add more firepower to their squad ahead of next Monday night's St James' Park showdown with Liverpool, with a move for Brentford's Yoane Wissa in the pipeline.