Unai Emery praises Aston Villa players’ spirit in ‘fortress’ after FA Cup win
Aston Villa coach Unai Emery was pleased with the fight shown by his players in the comeback win against West Ham in the FA Cup.
The Villans fell behind 1-0 at the start thanks to Lucas Paqueta’s goal, but showed perseverance in the second half and turned the tie in their favor.
Amadou Onana equalized in the 71st minute before Morgan Rogers scored the winner five minutes later.
Overall, the Spanish head coach was satisfied, but also said that there was still room for improvement after conceding another early goal.
He said: “Happy, but we wanted to set ourselves the goal of not conceding an easy goal, but we did it early again.”
“But we reacted well. We more or less didn’t allow any more chances. The players have shown that we want to make a difference in the competition.
“We concede a lot of goals, but our most important goal is to win.
“We are trying to be strong here, to have a fortress. We did what we’ve done all season. We reacted well and more or less controlled the game.
🗣️ “We cause chaos in the attacking third.”
A brilliant second half performance from Morgan Rogers 👏#ITVFootball | #FACup | 🎙️ @KatieShanahan3 | @AVFCOfficial pic.twitter.com/XNbYNcCGNd
– ITV Football (@itvfootball) January 10, 2025
“Of course it is very important which team we play against today. But now we are concentrating because we are in three competitions and we want to get something in the Champions League, the Premier League and now the FA Cup.”
Match winner Morgan Rogers made a statement of intent in his post-match interview.
He believes the club can win the famous trophy and end their losing streak.
Rogers said: “A little bit of faith, we were a little more patient. There was more forward thinking.
“We created chances, a little more chaos in the final third, and that’s where our goals came from.
“We know we can fight back against anyone. We will try to correct the start of the games but we are happy with the way we finished them.
“Why can’t we win it? Anything can happen in a cup competition. You don’t know who you’re drawing and where you’re playing.”
