Unai Emery explains what has him 'worried' about Aston Villa's poor start
Unai Emery admitted Villa need to rediscover their identity after their winless start to the season continued with a 1-1 draw at Sunderland.
The visitors squandered a golden chance to secure their first victory of the campaign when they were held by the 10-man Mackems.
Reinildo Mandava was sent-off for kicking-out at Matty Cash before the latter put Villa ahead from long-range midway through the second half.
But they were pegged back by Wilson Isidor’s equaliser and could not find a winner in the closing stages.
Villa sit 18th in the table after five matches and Emery, who headed down the tunnel 30 seconds before the final whistle, cut an unhappy figure.
“We are not playing like I want,” he said. “We have to adapt some new players in the structure and we will need time with them. Others know we want to control the game with the ball.
“We have to recover our identity. I am not frustrated with the result, but disappointed and frustrated about how we are playing.
“We are not feeling comfortable with our style. We have to try to recover our personality and confidence to play like we are training.”
Substitute Harvey Elliott went close to putting Villa back in front with a shot which whistled just past the post, while the best chance of the final minutes fell to Ollie Watkins.
But the England international, still to get off the mark this season, somehow failed to make contact with Jadon Sancho’s cross from just six yards out.
Villa are back in action on Thursday when they host Bologna in the Europa League, while their next two Premier League matches are at home, against Fulham and Burnley.
“My worries are how we are not feeling comfortable playing, feeling our identity,” said Emery. “I am missing it. Of course, I know we need to get confidence collectively and individually.
“Some players, they are not feeling comfortable. We should be collectively our identity to play like we are, more or less having the experience here to be confident.
“It is not another side. It is not the player himself getting individually confidence.
“In case Watkins was scoring the last chance, we were winning and happy. But the idea for me was not changing.
“Maybe it would be a click for Watkins, a click for the team. OK, we won. But for me it is not enough.
“If we are going to be successful this year with our objective, getting again our structure tactically and feeling comfortable.
“Watkins is not having chances to score, but he had the last one. Maybe if he scored it would have been the click to change everything, but we have to continue work to try to look for it.”
