Yahoo Sport 
Unai Emery slams 'important' Aston Villa decision as comparison to last season made after Liverpool loss
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery sat down with the media after Aston Villa's 2-0 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield.
Darwin Nunez broke the deadlock in the 20th minute, before Mohamed Salah punished Villa for not taking their chances late on. Here's every word Emery told the media in his post-match press conference...
Unai, your thoughts on the performance?
READ MORE:Unai Emery confirms another Aston Villa injury concern on top of Jacob Ramsey update
READ MORE:Gary Lineker labels rule ‘bonkers’ after Aston Villa twice denied at Liverpool
"Obviously the result is not good. How we played in 90 minutes trying to be competitive to get points here, it was more or less the plan we had. We conceded two transitions. We knew before that they were strong in transitions with the players they have. Even like that they did it..
READ | John Townley's Aston Villa player ratings after encouraging performance in 2-0 Liverpool defeat
READ | 'Not my problem' - Aston Villa ace Jhon Duran hits back at critics with attitude claim
"But how we played and are building a team, also some players getting better, I am confident. I am confident because I think we are in the right way after this match. We wanted to get points, but today against Liverpool we can accept the result because they are really feeling strong at home and not really dominating and creating chances against us. They won and we accept it."
There were two contentious penalty decisions against Watkins and Torres - your thoughts on those two?
"I only watched the Pau Torres action. With VAR, for me it was clearly a penalty because he pulled the shirt of Pau Torres. I know that in Europe this is a penalty. In this situation it was clear. I always respect the decisions of referees and I accept it, but for me, when I watched it, with VAR it was a clear penalty.
"Of course, it was a very important moment in the game because if we could have the chance to shoot the penalty, maybe the match would have been different. I accept the result and the referee's decision. I don’t agree and then with the players I am confident we will recover and again find our way for the season."
Is the form of your attacking players a concern?
"They are fighting against one of the best players in the world with Van Dijk and Konate. Even like that we created some attacks and we needed a little bit more to threaten them getting real chances to score. We had one very clear chance at the beginning of the second half with Morgan Rogers.
"But they are some of the better players defensively in the world. It is not easy. This is the reason that the level they have is a high level. The level we have is a high level, but there is a gap between Liverpool and us. This gap … last year we were close in the table, two years ago we were close. This year it is bigger.
"How we face them on the field, I think the gap is still being one gap for them better than us. I think we can reduce the distance in 38 matches. Today is day 11. We must try to be consistent and demanding, trying to improve and recover players, feeling confidence."
How is Jacob Ramsey?
"Hamstring. He was feeling something. Kamara as well he felt something on a run back he did. Of course, we are playing a lot of matches, but Ramsey didn’t play on Wednesday. But they [players] are always at risk of injuries. We have to accept it. They are injured now Ramsey, hopefully not Kamara. They are coming back for the next match, hopefully Cash and Ross Barkley."
Is it too simple to say that playing in the Champions League is impacting your level of performance?
"We are building a team and we are trying to increase our level and demands. Of course, still one gap and distance to those teams in the Premier League like Liverpool, like Man City and even when we compete well, it is very difficult. This year, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, Fulham, Brentford, they compete well.
"Now we are not really imposing with those teams some distance in the table. Only now is Liverpool. We played here before and we know their capacity and potential in a lot of things. We are trying to compete and be positive, to play here thinking how we can reduce the distance to face them and have the possibility to win. We did more or less this work here, but it was not enough. I accept it. My objective with the club and the team, we achieved before what we were thinking.
"If we are increasing and improving as best as possible in our process and way, it is of course welcome. We have to try to get balance because maybe last year we achieved this level and this year we are not getting it at the moment. I am positive, but we have to know how we are doing our way."
