Yahoo News Unai Emery gives brutal Aston Villa assessment after shock Olympiacos defeat
Unai Emery admitted his Aston Villa side must improve in every aspect of their game for next week's Europa Conference League semi-final second leg in Greece after losing 4-2 to Olympiacos at Villa Park.
Ayoub El Kaabi scored a hat-trick for the visitors, with his third strike coming from the spot just moments after Villa restored parity in the 52nd minute through Moussa Diaby. The winger set-up Ollie Watkins' goal in first half added time to give Villa belief that they could still go on to win the game.
But this was not to be Villa's night. After El Kaabi beat Robin Olsen from 12 yards, Santiago Hezze scored the Greek side's fourth as his strike deflected in off Ezri Konsa.
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"We are frustrated and disappointed, we didn’t play well," Emery said. "We didn’t have control of the game, we were playing so fast. In a lot of moments we needed to stop them and get in the box with more passes.
"They were attacking and they played the matches so open and the plan was completely different. They did well and we didn’t do like we planned.
"They are favourite and they deserved to win today, we try to come back next week but they are favourite, we will play there trying to show something different.
Asked where Villa need to improve, Emery replied: "Everything. We conceded four goals, lost a lot of balls. We were extra motivated and extra excited and it’s a very good moment playing in the semi final and we lost the first leg today, we will have the second opportunity but we will focus now on Sunday."
