Members of the media were in attendance at Bodymoor Heath on Friday afternoon as Unai Emery gave his pre-match press conference.
Aston Villa’s head coach shared his thoughts on a number of topics ahead of Sunday’s Premier League game against Brentford.
Here’s what he had to say…
On maintaining Villa’s good form…
“We are very demanding; myself, I am very demanding. I am trying to increase our demands with the players, how we can improve and we are really enjoying it but being demanding.
“When we are getting the high level we are facing, like the last week when we played against City and Arsenal, they were very tough matches and we were successful.
“Even playing those matches I want to be demanding and try to keep consistency in our way and to keep consistency in our demands.
“We’re going to analyse how we can face the match on Sunday, improving the match we played against Bournemouth away, improving when we played against Nottingham Forest away and improving the match we played away against Wolverhampton.
“They were matches we didn’t get the performance we wanted and the result was not good for us. We won against Chelsea and we won against Tottenham, and those victories were amazing but I want to try to keep being consistent in every match and respect every team.”
On John McGinn…
“He must play better, and he can. He’s putting in good performances usually, but I want more from him.
“I think he can play better. I think he can be more consistent. Of course, I’m very happy with him because of his commitment, his behaviour and his example for others is amazing, and he’s playing well or maybe very well but I want more.”
He added: “When I am analysing every match and analysing deeply how we are playing, for example, he can improve the match he played against Bournemouth. This is the last match we played away [in the Premier League].
“He can improve on that match.”
On being third in the table…
“I will speak about it (the title race) when we are facing [match] day 30, 32 and in case we will be there maybe I can set this objective in my mind, with the players, with the club and everybody.
“But now, we are third and it’s amazing. We are there because we are deserving it. It’s been very, very difficult and the next challenge is on Sunday against Brentford, a very difficult match.
“Against teams like Brentford, more or less, we are having more problems to get a good performance and to face them imposing our gameplan.
“Why? Because the Premier League is very difficult. Wolverhampton is very difficult. Nottingham is very difficult. Bournemouth is very difficult. Sunday is very difficult.”
On facing Brentford…
“My expectation is to try to analyse them and the circumstances we will face, and then, respect them.
“Last year they were in the day 38, when we finished winning here against Brighton, they were behind us in case we were not being successful against Brighton to be in the Conference League.
“Brentford is a team with a very good coach, very good players and they are improving a lot as a club. They are very competitive, very competitive.
“They were close to us last year and they were facing us to play in Conference League. We did it, and now they are struggling a little bit with injured players, important players, but they are competitive.
“They are going to play in the same speed they play at, tactically being very, very intense, very competitive. At home they are feeling strong with their supporters.
“We are going to face them on Sunday trying to be more competitive than them, better than we did in Bournemouth, trying to be successful.”
