Aston Villa boss Unai Emery was pleased with the fight his players put in in their FA Cup victory over West Ham.
The Villans found themselves 1-0 down early through Lucas Paqueta’s strike, 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 grabbed the winner five minutes later.
Overall, the Spanish coach was pleased but also said there is room for improvement after conceding early again.
He said: “I’m delighted but we were trying to aim not to concede an easy goal but we did it again early on.
“But we responded well. We didn’t concede more or less chances again. The players showed our desires to do something in the match.
“We concede a lot of goals, but our most important goal is to win.
“We’re trying to be strong here, to have a fortress. We did what we’ve done all season. We responded well and pretty much controlled the game.
🗣️ “We create 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 face after today. But now we are focused because we are in three competitions and we want to get something in the Champions League, the Premier League and now the FA Cup.”
Fight winner Morgan Rogers made a statement of intent in his post-fight interview.
He believes the club can win the prestigious trophy and end their drought.
Rodgers said: “A bit of faith, we were a bit more patient. There was more forward thinking.
“We created chances, a bit more chaos in the final third, and that’s where our goals came from.
“We know we can come back against anybody. We will try to fix 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 match. You don’t know who you’re going to draw, where you’re going to play.”
2025-01-10 23:01:00
