Aston Villa manager Unai Emery insisted that he would take the positives after his side was beaten 2-0 by Liverpool in the Premier League — claiming that his players felt “comfortable” for much of the game.
“We performed like we planned to before the game,” he told Match of the Day. “Of course the result is not good, but we have to keep consistent in our structure, how we play and responding to things in the game. We had chances to score, maybe one potential penalty at the end, which I think with VAR was a penalty, but OK we have to accept the decisions of the referee.
“When they scored the second goal the match more or less was finished, but until that second goal we had chances to score. We were good defensively, we were patient and we felt comfortable even when they dominated the ball. We have to try and keep to our process and I think in some areas we are under our level of last year.”
Liverpool won the game and moved five points clear at the top thanks to goals from Darwin Nunez and then Mohamed Salah, one strike coming in each half. But Emery felt his team was well in the contest throughout.
“Against Tottenham we played 70 good minutes and in 20 minutes we lost it,” he continued. “The defeat was more than we deserve. Today we kept our structure, did not concede too many chances, and we were getting in their box with the transitions.
“We were not clinical in the attacking third but we are building the team and performances. It was not enough to get points here but I am positive that we are moving forward. Of course we have to improve but we are in the right way.”
Liverpool.com says: Aston Villa did well enough to keep Liverpool from completely dominating but didn’t really force Caoimhin Kelleher into that many saves. The Irishman made a couple of excellent stops near the end of the first half but wasn’t overly called into action during the 90 minutes.
