What Unai Emery Said After Villa’s 1-0 Home Loss to Arsenal
Aston Villa lost 1-0 to Arsenal at Villa Park, Bukayo Saka’s goal, just before the hour mark, enough to hand Unai Emery a second defeat from the opening two games of the season. Villa are still yet to even have a shot on target. Ezri Konsa, sold to Arsenal in a £51m deal at the end of August, returned to Villa Park as a second-half substitute for his new club. Meanwhile, Zion Suzuki, Nicolas Jackson, Alejandro Garnacho and Aaron Wan-Bissaka received their Villa Park debuts, while Johan Manzambi, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Ibrahim Mbaye and Leon Goretzka all watched from the stands.
Emery’s post-match words below are his last public words before the transfer window closes.
“We are happy how we are closing the transfer window. We are not regretting anything”.
– Unai Emery
Context of Arsenal defeat
“There were very positive things, not the result. Of course, it’s painful when we are losing and we’re not happy.
“Today, the best news we can have or feel is how we competed.
“We performed like we planned and we competed like we planned. The debut of some players was fantastic. We showed this is the way that we should build the team in the next weeks, months and years.”
On the transfer window
“We are happy how we are closing the transfer window. We are not regretting anything. The players we have joining should be enough to build the team again with the structure we want.
“I am not expecting more. But this year, I think everything we were preparing for the changes we did. I think we replaced the players as we planned.”
On Tammy Abraham
“Tammy Abraham’s decision is to stay here. We opened the door for him but he’s decided to stay here with us. I am going to be very demanding with him to add his qualities to us.”
On the injury list
On Johan Manzambi: “We must be careful because he had an injury. We want his comeback to be clear, strong and no risk. He’s working individually and starting with the group this week.”
On Leon Goretzka: “He needs more sessions to get his fitness and the level we want. But he’s good and hopefully, maybe Saturday after three days he should be available to be in the squad, on the bench.”
On making a slow start
“Each year is different. We have an idea in our mind to build again and create a new chapter. We don’t want to compare with the past, we must focus on this year.
“We can feel optimistic but we’ve lost the first two matches and we don’t have those six points. We must be very, very demanding and very, very consistent in how we want to build again, or rebuild the team like we did last year to get our squad as strong as possible.”
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