Unai Emery hails the spirit of Aston Villa players in the ‘fortress’ after their FA Cup win
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery was pleased with the fight his players showed in the return win against West Ham in the FA Cup.
The Villans were 1-0 down early with a Lucas Paqueta goal, but showed resilience in the second half to turn the tie in their favour.
Amadou Onana scored the equalizer in the 71st minute before Morgan Rogers sealed the win five minutes later.
Overall, the Spanish head coach was pleased but also said there was room for improvement after conceding another early goal.
He said: “Happy but we were trying to set ourselves up to not concede an easy goal but again we did it early.
“But we responded well. We more or less didn’t allow any chances again. The players showed our desire to do something 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 did all season. We responded well and more or less controlled the game.
🗣️ “We create chaos in the attacking third.”
Great performance from Morgan Rogers in the second half 👏#ITVFootball | #FACup | 🎙️ @KatieShanahan3 | @AVFCOfficial pic.twitter.com/XNbYNcCGNd
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) January 10, 2025
“Of course it is very important which team we face after today. But now we are focused, because we are in three competitions and we want to get something in the Champions League, in the Premier League and now in the FA Cup.”
Game-winner Morgan Rogers made a statement of intent in his post-game interview.
He believes that the club can win the famous trophy and end the drought.
Rogers said: “A little faith, we were a little more patient. There was more thinking ahead.
“We created chances, a bit more chaos in the last third and that’s where the goals came.
“We know we can come back against anyone. We will try to correct the start of the games, but we are satisfied with the way we finished them.
“Why can’t we win? Anything can happen in a cup competition. You don’t know who you’re going to draw, where you’re going to play.”
