Every word Unai Emery said about 2-2 Brighton draw, 'big mistake', Torres injury and Watkins
Unai Emery sat down with the media after Aston Villa's 2-2 draw with Brighton on Monday night.
Tariq Lamptey equalised in the 82nd minute after goals from Ollie Watkins and Morgan Rogers either side of half-time put Villa in the lead following Simon Adingra's opener. Here is every word Emery said in his post-match press conference...
How do you reflect on the performance and result?
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"The point was not enough. How we conceded the first goal was very easy. It was a really big mistake because we started slower in our rhythm collectively. We corrected it and we scored one goal and were progressively getting chances. We started not conceding a lot from them. We started the second half well and we created chances to score another. After we didn’t do it, they made changes to get something more and they did it.
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"Even after it we were again pushing and creating the last chance with Ollie Watkins. I think we deserved to win and we played more or less in the same form we played in the last matches at home. Sometimes it’s not enough like tonight.
"Overall, how we are finishing the year, we have to be proud of everything we did. Now we are in the average 29 points to be in Europe, of course with 31 we would have been closer. We have to start improving things and analysing."
Can you clarify Pau Torres’ injury?
"Maybe it is the metatarsal. It is the worst news in case we can confirm it tomorrow."
The opponent has scored 11 times with their first shot on target - what do you put that down to?
"It's difficult. They are the same players in the same structure we are trying to build. The first goal today we conceded was one example. I told the players that in the first twenty minutes, we were starting lower (deeper) than we needed. But I don’t know.
"Newcastle, we conceded in minute two. Why? I know why. We have to continue working and analysing. We are conceding a lot of goals. This is one of the responsibilities I have to try and correct this."
It’s also the 11th time you have conceded in the final 15 minutes of a match…
"We didn’t change defending lower. We continued to push them. The second goal of them, we were pushing high and they broke our press and got into our box and scored a fantastic goal. This was because we were playing in the same game-plan."
Did you plan to play balls in behind to Watkins like you did last season against Brighton?
"We tried to dominate the match, trying to stop their press and to win duels in the game. Sometimes we did it, sometimes not. Brighton are competitive and they are difficult against every team. We deserved to win, but the match and game plan was to sometimes to stop them and then also get duels, which is what we did in the second half."
What does Watkins need to get back to his level of last season?
"He has to feel confidence and he has to feel comfortable feeling comfortable with his qualities in the style we have. He increased his level in the last two years and now he has healthy competition with Jhon Duran."
