Emery speaks to media pre-Bologna

Unai Emery spoke to the media at Bodymoor Heath on Monday afternoon, ahead of Aston Villa’s UEFA Champions League visit of Bologna on Tuesday night. 

The Villa manager discussed a number of topics – from consistency to long-term ambitions – as his side goes in search of a third-consecutive league stage victory. 

Here are the best bits from his pre-match press conference…

On consistency…

“It is a challenge, every day and every match we are playing. We started after the break, it was very important, winning at Fulham, because the last two matches we played before – against Ipswich Town and Manchester United – we drew, and that’s not enough for us.

“We have started very well and, on the other side, we played very well before the break in the Champions League. We won two matches, but to get the balance is the most important.

“After the victory we did in Fulham, tomorrow is really a new challenge to try to keep the same mentality, the same performance, the same preparation for the match. It will be very difficult, but this is the challenge.”

On having players back fit…

“Very important. We can have more options in the starting 11 with the players. They are fit, they are getting good performances with the team.

“In this moment, we have to be intelligent and have good preparation with everyone, to try and help us on the field. I have to be clinical myself, and ask the players how we can get to being consistent physically, with the energy, playing a lot of matches in the level we are.

“Our mentality is to keep the same level we had last year in the Premier League, and the same level we can have this year in the Champions League. We had it last year in the Conference League, but of course, Champions League is more demanding than the Conference.

“Now, I am very proud of the work we are doing, but each day, even today in our training session, it is very important how they are responding, the players.”

On Bologna…

“They are being successful the last years, of course. They are a team with a huge history in Italy.

“Last year, they played fantastic with Thiago Motta, and they signed a new coach. He was successful, playing the last two finals in the Conference League. They are keeping the same more or less players and the same more or less successful way. They deserve more points than they have now.

“They have started with a new coach who is really playing very well in combination and defensively, being aggressive. They played a fantastic match against Liverpool and they deserved more against Liverpool.

“They face, then, more or less competing in the same way, and tomorrow I think for them – because they only have one point – will be a very difficult match for us. They are going to push, they are going to try to get a point tomorrow, because of course it is only game three, but they need points, as we need.

“We are really respecting them a lot, but we are going to try tomorrow to play with the same motivation we played the last match, and the same we played with our supporters in Villa Park, pushing a lot. Respecting them is the first way. We can do it, we want to win.”

On Samuel Iling-Jr…

“He is a young player and he needed a plan where he could get more minutes playing at a high level.

“For him, it is an interesting team to try and get him the minutes he needs and, of course, getting confidence playing at that level, facing the best teams in Italy and here in Europe.

“We are of course following him, and trying to use the experience he is having now with Bologna to do with us in the future.”

On his two-year anniversary as Aston Villa Manager…

“The most important is, for us, how we are increasing our demands, and getting the opportunities we are more or less facing each year.

“Two years ago, we avoided the risk to lose the Premier League, and even we had time to get a position in the Conference League. Of course, it was an amazing first seven months we had here. Last year, continuing our process, we increased a lot our demands, getting Champions League, and the challenge is to get better every day.

“Can we keep the same level as now and keep it for a long time? And this is the most difficult, when you are achieving your objectives at a high level, how you can be demanding and successful working hard to keep it.

“This is the idea I have now. The club is in the same way, the players are with the same message I am giving you here. The only word I am repeating, when I arrived here last year and now, is that I don’t want to waste my time here, and that is the message for everybody here. You can’t waste your time here.

“You are professional, but you can’t get professionally your best objective individually and not collectively. My objective here individually is to try and keep the same level we have now, in the Champions League, and then add something more like to be a contender for a trophy.”

On Champions League ambitions…

“I have my own experiences in Europe – in the Europa League and Conference League and Champions League – and we have started facing, those teams we played, showing our capacity to adapt quick for this competition, and adapting because we are getting individually and collectively the performances this competition demands [from] us.

“We believe, working like we are doing, we can keep it, and this is the challenge. This is really my objective now. We are fourth in the Premier League, we are with two wins in the Champions League. I want it, and I want to try to be always winning more matches than losing and trying to work hard to keep it for a long time.

“Each match, for me, is very important, how we are deeply preparing and deeply being demanding to beat the opponent in the heightened level we are facing. Last year in the Conference League it was the first experiences here with the players, with the club, with us, and this year with the Champions League.

“Tomorrow, we will play, hopefully, showing again we believe we can compete. I don’t know how far we are going to get, but in this moment now, we are here, in a good position, in the Premier League and Champions League.”