Clean sheets and driven displays are on the agenda for Aston Villa to make up the margins they missed in the race for the top five. But their attempts to achieve those targets began badly this afternoon against Brentford, leaving Unai Emery"frustrated" at a "very disappointing" outcome.
‘We are in the process of building the team’
The Bees punished a slow start from their opponents. Mikkel Damsgaard danced through a double team before pulling a strike wide of the target as the warning shot. Then, Dango Ouattara, the club record incoming, marked his first start with a goal as he was the sharpest to connect with a flick-on.
“We are frustrated. We lost the match when in the first 20 minutes we were not starting like we needed to control the game, and we conceded one goal.”
Villa woke up, going on to possess 76% of the ball. Morgan Rogers, the newly crowned PFA Player of the Year, might have levelled the score in a stronger second half if **Michael Kayode**had not thrown him off focus. But the team have now fired two blanks in three hours of Premier League football.
“We reacted and we dominated. We were having corners, we had some chances to score one goal to draw and then to start our own match, thinking to win. We didn’t score and we tried everything. We need to work and keep going forward with this result being very, very disappointing for us.”
The transfer window has been a bit problematic for the club. There was a debut in the final fifteen minutes for versatile forward Evann Guessand, and Marco Bizot, the second-choice shot stopper, stood out on his debut against Newcastle United last week. But no more men have entered the door.
On top of that, the depth chart is looking a little light. Jacob Ramsey joined the Toon last weekend, while Leon Bailey has gone on loan to Roma, and Alex Moreno and Leander Dendoncker have found new homes in Spain. Emery expressed his desire to add reinforcements in this difficult phase.
“We are in the process of building the team for different circumstances. We competed very well in the first match against Newcastle and today we competed after we conceded one goal, and it wasn’t enough to score one goal and draw.”
He now seeks the first win of the season against Crystal Palace. The Eagles have lost Eberechi Eze and are in the middle of a two-legged playoff against **Fredrikstad**to reach the Conference League.
However, the club is still in a bright mood with the **Community Shield**and **FA Cup**in their cabinet, having beaten the Villans 3-0 in April to book the first of two trips to Wembley Stadium this year.
Emery expects a tricky encounter, but he has faith in the fortress of Villa Park. Even **Paris Saint-Germain**could not contain an outfit unbeaten at home since a 2-0 defeat to **Arsenal**last August.
“Now, the idea is to try to move on, try to prepare the next game at home in Villa Park against Crystal Palace and try to react and get a better performance individually and collectively. We want to get stronger in the idea we were creating in the last years.”