Unai Emery urges Aston Villa to turn dominant performances into wins

Evanilson’s header deep into stoppage time denied Villa.

Sunny Badwal
Sunday 27 October 2024 12:46 GMT
Emery wants his side to convert strong performances into points (Zac Goodwin/PA)
Emery wants his side to convert strong performances into points (Zac Goodwin/PA) (PA Wire)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Unai Emery has urged Aston Villa to start turning positive performances into wins following the 1-1 draw with Bournemouth.

Villa saw victory snatched from their grasp after Ross Barkley’s 76th-minute opener was cancelled out by Evanilson’s header deep into stoppage time.

Emery’s side have gone from strength to strength since his arrival at the club just over two years ago and the disappointment of only getting a draw against the Cherries shows how far the club have come.

Following three draws from their last four league games, Emery is urging his side to get more out of dominating performances.

Emery said: “We only got one point and of course there are teams who are stronger than us.

“We have to try and understand how we want to get the level we are playing and keep it.

“It is a very demanding way and I am being demanding myself with my decisions in everything and how the players react tactically, emotionally.

“I am a little bit disappointed because there is still work to do, trying to control ourselves in emotional moments is a bit difficult, winning 1-0, opponent pushing, we need to get the balance to be strong in our mind and keep the same focus.

“I am really happy with the team and players and sometimes I know we can have some moments – good match but the result was not what we needed because we need to get better even playing well is not enough. ”

Before last week’s visit of Arsenal, the Cherries were faced with the task of trying to achieve points against two sides competing in the Champions League but have come through the challenge with four points.

Villa dominated the first half which forced Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola into a change of personnel in the 30th minute replacing Julian Aruajo with Adam Smith.

Iraola admitted his side were far from their best.

He said: “We didn’t play well today, they played better than us and played more the game they wanted to play but we competed well.

“We were not pressing high and leaving spaces in behind and not really covering each other. We were surviving but not comfortable at all.

“After 20 minutes we adjusted a little bit, I made a sub in the first half which is the first time I’ve done in my career but I had to assume the responsibility – I blame myself more than Julian.”

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in