Unai Emery says that Aston Villa should be mature away from Villa Park if they want to experience a climatic end of their season.
Villa's boss excluded tonight's trip to Club Brugge as an 'important moment' in the club's campaign – and called on his players to deliver a 'responsible and adult' performance in Belgium.
Emery took the opportunity to use the bone against one of the surprise packages of the competition to emphasize the bad record during their travels. And he said it should change – fast.
He said: “In our last 12 games we lost nine and we won three. We have not achieved very good results.
“For balance we feel very strong at home. Two defeats in 23 games – we lost in the Premier League against Arsenal and in the Carabao Cup to Palace. We feel strong and consistent at home – but not gone.
“In this competition we won at Young Boys, lost in Bruges, won in Leipzig and lost to Monaco – two and two. That was of course good enough when we came in the top eight – but we should be better off home. We have to compete better than we and we must be stronger and more consistent than in Bruges and Monaco.
“This is an important moment in our season. And we must try to be responsible, mature and emotionally strong for the second stage. “
Emery said he had viewed both Club Brugge tires against Atalanta – and tributed to the display of tonight's opponents – and said they deserved to win.
The Serie A side won the Europa League last season and ended just outside the top eight, which would have given them a clear passage to the last 16. As it was, the Belgians took their place. And Emery certainly does not underestimate them.
He said: “When they defeated us in November, they performed very well – they deserved to win. We lost here, but even lost here, we have to be in the top eight.
“We achieved it for Atalanta and Bruges played two fantastic games against them. They deserved to beat them. We know how competitive they are and how they do it in the Champions League. When we have analyzed them, we see a team playing with confidence.
“It is really a good challenge to play against a team with experience in Europe and they also have experience. It is a very important match, but we know our capacity and potential. “
Both January -winder signs Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford are available for playing. Since they arrived in Villa Park, they have shown signs of the possibilities that both of them have earned such elevated reputations.
Asked if their arrival had lifted Villa, Emery added: “It is a challenge – we always try to improve the team and the team with their different qualities.
“We have players with experience in this competition, and most of the time they are players who play at the highest level that will help us a lot.
“The process of adjusting to us is going well and gets better and how we want to use them.
“Football is a collective. It is how we can help every player in our structure – and for them to help us – we will not get our goal through individual players. “
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