Unai Emery described his Aston Villa team as “lazy” and called on them to “recover their identity” after their winless start to the season continued at Sunderland.
Matty Cash’s thunderous strike ended a run of 427 minutes without a Premier League goal at the Stadium of Light, but Wilson Isidor struck a late equaliser to earn the Black Cats a point in a 1-1 draw on Wearside.
Emery’s side have not won a Premier League game since they beat Tottenham 2-0 at Villa Park on May 16 and sit in 18th place in the table after five games.
“We are not playing like I want,” the Spaniard said in his post-match press conference.
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“Of course we have to adapt some players in our structure and we will need time with them, but other players, they know how we want to try to control the game with the ball; it’s with the ball, more than without the ball.
“We were conceding a lot of chances, chances starting with their goalkeeper. Long balls, second actions, corners in our box. And of course, like that, we are conceding chances.
“I told them the same thing I am telling you. We have to recover our identity. Of course, we have to try to recover our personality, confidence and personality to play.
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Matty Cash thunders in Aston Villa’s first Premier League goal of the season.
“I am frustrated for how we played, how we are not feeling comfortable with our style.”
Emery was then asked why things have not been going Villa’s way, when the bulk of the squad is the same as the one that finished sixth last season.
He continued: “We are trying. Of course, some players need adaptation. For example, Harvey Elliott. He was getting the ball and doing passes so quick behind their defence without options.
“He needs to understand he has the skills to play more passes and then to do the pass behind, or outside, or inside, with better options to get something more.
“As well, we were lazy sometimes defensively. For example, the way we conceded, we were lazy.
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Sunderland’s efforts rewarded as Wilson Isidor rolls home equaliser.
“When we are playing here, we have to fight in the duels and we were not fighting in all duels. I watched the goal we conceded and we were lazy.
“Maybe it’s the consequences, we are not feeling dominating, we are not feeling playing in our style because when we are building our structure tactically, it’s the experiences we had in the last three years and how were we feeling? Confident.
“For example, [Ollie] Watkins is not having chances to score. He had the last one in the last minute. If he was scoring, maybe it is the click to change everything, but we have to continue working, trying to look for it.”
Richards: No urgency from Villa – they are miles off it
Sky Sports’ Micah Richards on Super Sunday:
“Villa need more. The urgency wasn’t there. Everything was too slow. I thought they’d pick up the tempo in the second half and it just wasn’t there. They didn’t create enough.
“Something’s not right at this moment in time. I believe the manager will get it right, but at this moment, they are miles off it.”
Sky Sports’ Roy Keane:
“The equaliser was brilliant and well deserved. Sunderland reacted fantastically. They’ve got strength in power and that little touch from Xhaka and the striker’s finish… Cash was sleeping.
“Villa will be kicking themselves. Well-deserved, Sunderland. Great effort.”
Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher:
“We want the promoted teams to be more competitive and that’s exactly what they’ve been this season.”