'Emery has now accepted there is a problem - next for the prescription'published at 07:13 GMT
Mike Taylor
BBC Radio WM reporter
Image source, Getty Images"We are in a bad moment of course, we must accept it," said Unai Emery at the end of a deflating evening. In a marked contrast to his agitated demeanour during and after the defeat by Wolves last Friday, the Aston Villa head coach had stood alone with a wistful look in his technical area as Chelsea built their lead. Now, he was delivering his analysis calmly.
"The only way I know to change it is to find a solution. And the solution must be more or less working again our structure, our mentality, our position in defence and offensively. Our structure is to feel each one's confidence in his position and try to compete better than we are doing."
Post-match interviews are not often a great forum for very detailed tactical analysis, and at best offer only a broad summary of a coach's views.
This is particularly true of as meticulous a planner as Emery, who kept returning to the theme: "We need collectively to build in our structure. The structure was our power when we were in good form, and now maybe our structure is something we must again check it, analyse and try to recover it."
The Wolves and Chelsea games were different, although ultimately felt the same.
At Molineux, Villa were limp throughout. They made a much brighter start against Chelsea and some players, including the increasingly criticised Ollie Watkins, put in improved performances, albeit some way short of their best.
Watkins took the ultimately disallowed goal well enough and tested the goalkeeper with one other good attempt in the first half.
There is no way of knowing how the mental balance of the game could have altered had Villa gone in front a second time. But there was no doubt that Chelsea were deserved winners, repeatedly exploiting Villa's high line and finding spaces for their wide players to run into.
In that context, Emery's repeated suggestion that the "structure" needs review sounded like a moment of acceptance that their slump cannot be explained just by injuries or individuals losing form.
In view of Villa's progress since his appointment, it is no wonder Emery has largely stuck to plans and players that have often worked so well, nor that fans have invested so much faith in his judgement.
He has now accepted that there is a problem. It is not yet clear - and will not become clear at least until Villa arrive in Lille next week - exactly what his diagnosis of that problem is, and what will be his prescription.
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