Every word Unai Emery said about Leicester win, Bailey's confidence, McGinn injury and Maatsen impact
Unai Emery sat down with the media after Aston Villa's 2-1 win over Leicester City at Villa Park
Leon Bailey won the game for Villa after Stephy Mavididi levelled the game up for Leicester following Ross Barkley's opener just before the hour mark. Here is every word Emery said in his post-match press conference...
Unai, what is your verdict on your team’s performance?
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"We needed those three points after the draw with Brighton and because we are targeting to be in the European positions. There are lots of teams performing well and to win today is fantastic. How we played, we struggled in 90 minutes and Leicester competed very well. They defended very well. We didn’t perform like we wanted, but one reason was because they defended well.
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"When we scored our goal it was the moment we felt confident, thinking to win the match. After their goal, which was a small mistake, we reacted and scored. It was a very difficult match and it was tight in 90 minutes because we didn’t create clear chances."
What was your message at half-time?
"Be patient. We have experiences in the last year and used the example of Zrinjski in Europe and we knew in the second half we needed to do something more and we did. Be patient and trying to get a clean sheet firstly, that was the objective and we didn’t do that but we scored two goals."
What is the latest on John McGinn?
"I think it's a hamstring. More or less two, three, four, five weeks he could be out."
What will that goal do for Leon Bailey?
"We were speaking about it in the meeting we had for the match about trying to find the goal, not really wishing to be anxious. The first half, the only chance we had was something similar to his goal.
"Being calm, calm, choosing the best option in the final third and in the box. It is coming [first goal]. Today he scored and for him it is fantastic after a long time not scoring.
"The most important thing is for the team. Even if we are winning without him scoring, we are happy, but it makes it better because he can feel confident again."
Ian Maatsen had the perfect impact…
"He is always very positive and ready to play. He knows the confidence we have in him. When we needed something more in the attacking third, his capacity to make us faster, he always does it. His impact was fantastic and helped us score a goal because he was wishing for it."
Did we see mental and physical fatigue today?
"Today was one team playing defensively strong in a low block. We have experiences of last year. Some teams come here and defend like that. We have to be patient and find a solution, but in 90 minutes we are always trying to be patient.
"We played against Brighton four days ago and we played fantastic with high intensity. We have some players injured or not fit like we want but we are in a way. We will need a lot of players coming with good form mentally and we will need every player for different competitions. Maybe some players can leave and the club is working to add some players."
How do you assess the team’s performance from an attacking point of view?
"Today was difficult. I think the difficulties were the same with different players too. We needed to put Ramsey in earlier than we wanted and he will need time to get confidence."
A word on Ross Barkley…
"Ross Barkley is always working fantastic and he helped us today scoring a goal, working with his qualities, I’m happy with him and he’s always positive."
