Aston Villa boss Unai Emery conceded that Marco Bizot’s red card was a critical turning point in our 3-1 defeat to Newcastle United in the FA Cup on Saturday evening.
Villa took the lead in the early stages of our encounter with the Magpies, as Tammy Abraham converted following a well-worked set-piece routine, albeit it looked as though he was offside as Douglas Luiz floated the assist into the box for him.
Nevertheless, with no VAR in the FA Cup, the goal stood and it looked as though Villa would head into the break with an advantage until Bizot’s rash decision to race out of his goal and commit a foul saw him receive a straight red card.
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That undoubtedly changed things in the second half as the visitors grew into the game and took advantage of our individual mistakes to come away with the win and advance in the FA Cup, despite further decisions going in our favour.
Emery will certainly be disappointed with the outcome as it ends our hopes of winning this particular trophy for another year, but ultimately he picked out the positives from the evening as we look to bounce back and now focus fully on the two competitions that we remain involved in this season.
“Firstly, I’m thankful for the supporters,” Emery told Villa TV. “It was really fantastic how they were transmitting their energy, we felt it. There were some fantastic moments when we started winning, we started in a good mood and good form.
“The players competed fantastic, but after we had the red card it was becoming more difficult in the second half.
“We continued competing and the supporters were helping us. We were being resilient, but when they scored their first goal, it was little bit more difficult.
“We tried but it was not enough. Newcastle is a really fantastic team, and they’re contenders in this competition.
“After we lost, with the circumstances we had with the red card, I think we must analyse this match and this competition and feel like we’re improving.
“Today, we’re not happy but I watched some things in the squad that can help us for the future in Europa League and Premier League.
“And the supporters with the energy they transmitted to us, we need it again next week against Leeds United.”
Meanwhile, aside from his goal, it was an impressive performance from Abraham with his work-rate off the ball, his movement and touch to link things together all standing out, and so it was a real positive to see him put in a top display.
Emery echoed that sentiment when asked about the Villa striker, and it remains to be seen if he did enough in this game to warrant keeping his starting role against Leeds next weekend.
Further, the Villa boss also noted that the group remains motivated for the challenges ahead, and we’ll no doubt be boosted by those returning from injury in the coming weeks to help us with our pursuit of success.
“Tammy Abraham scored one goal two weeks ago that was taken away by VAR and today he scored,” Emery added. “He worked fantastically and his adaptation is going quickly. We will need his help, his commitment and his performance like today.
“We’ll have players coming back in the next weeks and months for the two competitions we’re going to face, being excited and motivated for it.”