Yahoo News Aston Villa transcript - What Unai Emery has told his squad before Olympiacos showdown
Unai Emery sat down with the media on Wednesday evening ahead of Aston Villa's Europa Conference League semi-final second leg against Olympiacos at the Karaiskakis Stadium.
Villa come into the clash two goals down after losing the first leg 4-2 at Villa Park. Here's every word Emery said in his pre-match press conference...
You came back from a two-goal deficit against Real Betis en route to winning the Europa League in 2014. Have you tapped into that experience specifically?
"Experiences can always help, being successful or not. But we have to create and build a new way and we lost the first leg clearly. Tomorrow will be difficult to come back but we must play tomorrow thinking to stand after the first 90 minutes, the game plan we had that didn’t work well but expect tomorrow to do better.
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"It’s going to be very difficult here with the atmosphere, it could be more difficult with the supporters pushing a lot but focusing like we can with my experience before and building a new experience here with our players and idea and our experiences this year. This is the challenge tomorrow, the biggest challenge we are going to face this year, playing in this semi-final."
Have you spoken to the players about that specific game 10 years ago against Betis?
"Not specifically about that moment, we are speaking about our experiences and how we reacted to losing some matches, even in PL or even how we reacted to CC or FA Cup or even how we reacted in conference league playing some matches. More thinking or something similar.
"Trying to prepare the match with them to try to help them with my expectation about how we can react tomorrow, with the result and emotions. It’s a good moment to see how we can react, how we can focus on our game plan and how we can progressively do good things and the things we need to do and with the respect we have of them."
Is it crucial that your players control their emotions?
"When we’re losing we’re making mistakes like other teams. Before the team we want to analyse and don't make mistakes, we made more mistakes than normal. Even doing mistakes we came back to draw when we were 2-0 but again we weren’t progressing enough emotionally after our draw and they responded very well, scoring two more.
"Emotionally it’s difficult to keep the balance because we were very excited and the match changed in a small minute. Tomorrow we have to keep the balance. In 90 minutes we can play imposing ourselves on the pitch and be clinical in one moment during the match and we have to try to be competitive like they were at home against us, we have to be in the same idea, improving some things that we didn’t do."
Olympiacos' Mendillabr and Iborra both know you well - will that impact the match?
"They know me and I know them. He is always a successful coach in Spain and the performance they get was I showed it always in his teams and Iborra competes fantastic, he’s a very competitive man, he won my titles in the EL with me. I appreciate him a lot. He showed us how he is competing and be successful in Europe. We have to use our experiences as well. We have players like Carlos and players who have the capacity to grow up as a player playing in Europe for the first time this year."
Did Olympiacos surprise you in the first leg?
"After the first leg they are favourite. It’s not a surprise for me, everything I watched they delivered. It was how they were competing previously. They have more or less being successful in Europe and when we were playing 90 minutes there and some circumstances happened it was not a surprise but some circumstances against us we are always making some mistakes and they were clinical and they were very competitive and we couldn’t stop them in some tactical ways that we usually can.
"Tomorrow is a challenge to be clinical and stop them and try and control them in 90 minutes and if we create chances and being clinical we could be close to draw the match and then hopefully it’s going long more than 90 minutes would be good news for us.
"It has been tough and difficult but we have an amazing moment and I told the players this morning I want to enjoy more. I want to enjoy today and tomorrow and be motivated for tomorrow. I’m ambitious and very proud of how we’ve done this year, even when we have lost our reaction has always been fantastic and the players were following the messages.
"There are still matches to play and I will find the best performances tomorrow and really be competitive like we can, we weren’t competitive like we can be in the first leg. We lost concentration and if we do that the same thing could happen. But we can react quick and in 90 minutes we have to be focused with everything tactically and control our emotions, set pieces, everything."
What's the latest on Martinez?
"He’s with us today. He was injured last week after the match against Chelsea. 10 days. Tomorrow I will speak with him and the doctor to see if he is 100% fit to play, but I believe in Olsen and I’m building the team not just with the players in the starting XI. If we did that we would be dead now because we’ve had a lot of players injured. Tomorrow if he is available 100% he will play but if not then he will play."
Villa fans are all desperate for a trophy...
"We are in a process. We can be very demanding but never feel we are under pressure, we’re in a process as a team and as a club. We enjoyed getting here and to win a trophy in Europe is very difficult and we can watch behind us. To get here is only when you’re being consistent and successful. But if we don't win tomorrow the process is clear, how we’re trying to get there is being demanding and be a contender for a trophy.
"Maybe we could be favourite before the first leg but then to show it on the field and they showed their power and how they want to be contender as well and they are favourite now. I’m very demanding and will prepare the match tomorrow to try and come back but we are not playing under pressure we are playing under our demands. We have to try and enjoy both competitions until we are finished, hopefully not tomorrow but if we do finish tomorrow we need to be proud."
