In his meeting with the press, Unai Emery said that his team "are not feeling consistent away" ahead of their trip to Club Brugge for the first half of their Round of 16 clash in the Champions League.
Villa are in their maiden edition of this tournament, having last appeared in 1983 - the year after they went all the way to lifting the trophy in their European Cup debut. Spirits are soaring high, but Emery knows what it takes to win on the European circuit and is not too keen to think far ahead of this game.
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‘We didn’t compete like usually’
Club Brugge beat Atalanta, the holders of the Europa League, in comprehensive style to seal a spot in the Round of 16. Emery expects a tough test thanks to the level of their performances in that tie.
“When they beat us, they performed very well, and they deserved to win against in that moment. Of course, we are progressing. We are doing very good in the Champions League.
"We lost here, but even losing here, we got to be in the top eight; we achieved it in front of Atalanta, and they were out in the top eight and they played together, Atalanta and Brugge. Brugge played fantastic two matches against Atalanta. They deserved to beat them.
"And now for us, it's a very important match.
“We know their capacity, their potential. I know how competitive they are and how much confidence they can have, how they are doing this way in Champions League. And when we are analysing them, we can watch them play in confidence, feeling strong. It's a really good challenge for us.
“They have experiences in Europe, they have experienced players as well, and it's an exciting moment to play in this Champions League round with Brugge and try to enjoy the way like we are doing.”
The Villans are also out for revenge in this round, having lost 1-0 to the Belgians in the league phase.
“We have information about them, we have information about us. We play here in November, and we are now in March. Of course, in the process we are doing, hopefully we can get better now.
“But to compete is one thing you have to do every match as you are playing. And we analyse the match we play here, they play fantastic football, but we didn't compete like usually I want to do.
“Of course, to be consistent, competing is the most important. And to try to be focused and to get our objective collectively through our individual players and getting of them the best in their mentality, in their individual skills, in the combination on the field, in our tactical idea, and offensively is the key.”
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‘It’s not time to think about it’
Sevilla and Villarreal saw first hand the strength of Emery in continental competition. Now that the Basque boss has turned up at another Villa, perhaps we should not be too surprised at his success.
Yet, the manager made little mention of his former glories to the press. His attention is solely on the squad that he has at his disposal in the Midlands and how he can cultivate a camp of greater quality.
“My experience can help a little bit, but it is not really relevant. What is relevant is how we can compete now with our structure, with our players, with our capacity as a team and as players.
“And then it's about trying to build a strong structure in the club, a strong structure in the squad, and a strong structure on the field with 11 players playing tactically like we want and like we think, we can be stronger, and we can play against everything in Europe.”
Expectations under Emery have risen in the last two years but he is not getting ahead of himself. The 53-year-old should see his side into the semi-final of the FA Cup, having finished in the top four last campaign. But he refuses to put pressure on his players with demands for silverware this season.
“It's not time. It's not time to think about it. It's time to focus this much. Because it depends tomorrow, how we will do our next matches, the second leg. And it's not time to think about if we are better, we are worse, if we can get there or not.
"Now is the moment to practice playing each match 100% in our concentration and in our target as well. The target is winning tomorrow over the ninety minutes.
“We will try to get tomorrow our target, try to win, be consistent defensively, dominate the match and impose our game plan, try to stop their tactical idea or the tactical game plan or individual skills.”
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‘We are not feeling consistent away’
Whatever Emery sets as targets for the end of the season, the winter window has been a handy ally. The additions of Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford have provided much needed strength in depth.
“We added players with experiences in Europe and in this competition. And usually they are players, if they are playing in the highest level, they will help us a lot, but we will see it.
“Of course, the process they are doing progressive adapting of us is going well, is as well getting better how we want to try to use them in our structure, defensively, offensively, because football is collectively.
"And then how we can help each player to play comfort in our structure and to help us.”
Andrés García and Donyell Malen did not make the list for the latest Champions League squad so will only partake in domestic matches until the end of May. But all three loanees did make the cut.
Marco Asensio has won the trophy three times in his career with Real Madrid. The Spaniard scored twice in the 2-1 victory over Chelsea, sparking the supporters' admiration, and has a record of four goals across six outings. Could he become the answer to their woes on the road?
“We are going to see tomorrow as well how we can compete with the new players we have, how they adapt tactically, because tomorrow we will need the defence to be strong. And we will need tomorrow as well, when we are with the ball, try to keep a strong, dominate the match like I usually want to do.
“But our challenge, of course, is through the players we have, Asensio, Rashford and the other players we have is to play away.
“We are feeling strong, and we are feeling consistent at home, but we are not feeling consistent away.
"And in this competition, we beat Young Boys, we lost to Brugge, we won against Leipzig, and we lost to Monaco, two and two. It's a good enough balance for the competition, because we were in the top eight.
“But tomorrow we have to do something better away and we have to compete better than we did, and we have to be stronger in our consistency than we did before here in Bruges and as well in Monaco.”
