Unai Emery has explained what went wrong as Aston Villa fell to a 2-1 defeat against Man United at Villa Park.
In a crucial game in the battle to qualify for the Champions League, Villa were unable to put an end to their recent poor home form.
Coming into the game on the back of defeats against both Newcastle and Chelsea at Villa Park, Emery’s side knew they needed at least a point if they wanted to stay in the top four.
An early goal from Rasmus Højlund was cancelled out by Douglas Luiz in the second half. However, Scott Mctominay headed home a late winner as the Red Devils closed the gap to five points on Villa.
Looking back on the game, Emery managed to pinpoint why Villa didn’t come away from the game with at least a point as they suffered their third home defeat on the bounce.
Aston Villa “weren’t clinical enough” against Man United
Despite the 2-1 loss, Villa more than had their moments during the fixture. For large portions of the match, many would argue that the hosts were the better team and deservedly netted their equaliser.
However, at many crucial moments, Villa did not capitalise on their dominance as they could have netted multiple times throughout the game. Emery recognised this after the match as he claimed that his “weren’t clinical enough”
“We speak about the result and we are frustrated,” he told Aston Villa. “We were being successful here at home in a lot of matches, playing a lot of matches worse than we played tonight against Manchester United.
“We created chances but we weren’t clinical. Their goalkeeper played a fantastic match and we lost a very good opportunity.
“This is the way to build our structure stronger and to try and control the game in the structure we are progressively trying to build. We did it.
“The plan before the match we were speaking about in the dressing room and the players did it. Sometimes it was the goalkeeper, sometimes we weren’t clinical, but we controlled the game and avoided the transitions.
“We conceded a few chances to score but they are Manchester United and they have very good players. We have to be proud of our work, proud of our supporters, and we are fifth in the league.
“We lost a very good opportunity today to do a bigger gap with them but we keep going.”
Unai Emery needs to ensure Man United defeat is just a blip
Aston Villa have proved multiple times this season that they are more than capable of finding the back of the net. Just last weekend, the Villians demolished Sheffield United 5-0 away in what was a sensational display.
Multiple players underperformed against Man United, including top scorer, Ollie Watkins. However, given the form Villa have been under this campaign, Emery needs to ensure that this poor run of form quickly comes to an end before it becomes a habit.
The club still have Champions League qualification in their hands as well as the Europa Conference League trophy. The sooner these issues are quickly fixed, the more likely it is that Villa will be rewarded at the end of this memorable campaign.
