Unai Emery faced the cameras on Friday afternoon as he gave his pre-match conference ahead of Aston Villa’s game against Newcastle United.
The head coach answered questions on facing the Magpies, the form of Ashley Young, defensive improvements and the feel-good factor around the club.
Here’s what he had to say…
On the mood at Villa…
“We are very happy because everything is positive in the Villa family. The Women are playing their semi-final and we’re very proud of them.
“We have to be very demanding with our objectives and try to be consistent.
“We have to try and create a big atmosphere between our supporters and us. We have to create good feelings with them and be great with them.”
On Ashley Young’s form…
“I spoke with him when I arrived here and we went to Dubai, and I told him football is changing and the players as well. Twenty, 30, 40 years ago it would be impossible to keep a 37-year-old player in the squad, very difficult.
“In Villarreal I had players who were 40-years-old, 38-years-old and now I have changed my mind with young and old – for me, it’s the same.
“Today players care about being healthy, caring about the physical work. If you are only watching Young and his match, only being focused on how he is playing, you will wonder how old he is – 25? Thirty-eight? Maybe but for me it’s the same.
“I know his contract is finishing [in the summer] and we are going to decide. I’m happy with him, and the last match he played against Nottingham he played very well. He used his experiences to help the team, and I appreciate that a lot.”
On defensive improvements…
“The first thing was to be aware of our mistakes and some things we weren’t doing well. Through our analysis and being consistent with our work, our games [we have improved].
“We were upset and we decided to change some things to improve and be competitive. We wanted to be more consistent as a team with our organisation.
“Then it’s practice. By practicing you can improve. By practicing you can be demanding of yourself. When we were speaking about conceding 11 goals in three matches, we were very angry.
“Our reaction was fantastic. First, being humble enough to work harder and analysing the matches oursleves on video and trying to change it like we have been doing.”
On Newcastle United…
“Newcastle is a team whose development has been very strong. They are building a very serious team, a very organised team.
“Now, they are one of the best teams in the Premier League, playing with his (Eddie Howe’s) identity. They are very aggressive in high pressing, aggressive individually and they are feeling strong in their mentality.
“We have faced a lot of big challenges and been successful but tomorrow is the most difficult challenge we are going to face in the last matches.”
