Aston Villa are in the hunt for Champions League football this season but suffered a setback against Man United at Old Trafford.
Unai Emery described Manchester United as a team at a “high level” after Aston Villa’s defeat at Old Trafford. Michael Carrick’s undefeated run ended against Newcastle, but the interim boss bounced back against Villa.
Casemiro, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko got on the scoresheet for United in the second half. Ross Barkley briefly drew his side level, but United responded with two goals to seal the win.
Villa are competing with United to qualify for the Champions League, but their defeat in Manchester means they have lost ground in the race to return to Europe’s elite competition.
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Speaking to Match of the Day, Emery said: “Bad result. We played 90 minutes trying to continue in our mentality and the good form we had in Lille, but today was a huge challenge.
“The first half was equal. In the second half, we started poorly, they dominated more, and we needed to react and try to get control of the game.”
Emery was asked whether mistakes are costing his side and said: “Yes. This is the key. When you can keep the ball and try to stop them with the ball, it’s like we want. In 90 minutes a lot of things happen, some we did fantastic and some we missed momentum. Overall we needed to play smart with our idea.”
The Spaniard continued: “Manchester United are at a high level and to face them today was a huge challenge for us. We are competing and were with the same points,” he said.
“Today, we finish three points behind them. Keep going, we must use the points we had before to try to keep going, keep fighting and keep recovering tactically and with confidence.”