Unai Emery gives brutally honest 'worst' verdict after Aston Villa's 3-1 win over Wolves
Aston Villa claimed their fourth win in five games by coming from behind to beat Wolves
by John Townley, https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/authors/john-townley/ · Birmingham LiveUnai Emery admits Aston Villa's first half performance against Wolves was the worst since he has been in charge of the club, but was delighted with his side's response to win 3-1 win at Villa Park.
Wolves took the lead in the first half through Matheus Cunha, who took advantage of Diego Carlos' misplaced pass on the edge of the box. Villa were stifled up until the 73rd minute when Ollie Watkins levelled the game, before Ezri Konsa put the hosts in the lead in the 88th minute.
There were 14 minutes added on in the second half, but any hope Wolves had of staging a comeback themselves was ended when Jhon Duran scored his fourth goal of the season in the 94th minute.
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"Very happy, very happy, but we suffered in the first half more than normal," Emery said in his post-match press conference. "I think it was the worst match we played from when I arrived here until now.
"It was strange because we weren’t playing with energy and were a little bit passive. We planned the match trying to play here at home more active and trying to impose and dominate.
"It was completely different. When we were without the ball, they were keeping it for a long time. More than we wanted to concede at home. We respect them because they are a good team and have a good structure.
"They were deserving to win. We didn’t shoot. It was a really poor first half performance. But the second half, that changed completely. In the dressing room we pushed to get some fresh players and to get more active in the press.
"We started to change the match through. When we recovered the ball higher, we were more comfortable in the pitch. We played the second half with our heart.
"I like to played organise always and with our positioning, but sometimes we have to share playing with our heart, trying to share the energy from the fans. We did it.
"We finished completely different and the supporters, they were very, very important how they transmitted their energy."
Asked if it was the most angry he had been in the dressing room at half-time, Emery said: "Of course! I was angry. The result was bad and the performance was really poor. I was thinking how I could help the players to change it.
"I was trying to meet with our coaches inside to try and speak with our point of view about the first half and how we were trying to come back the result."