De Pauw sees the positives in Aston Villa’s defeat at Manchester City | OneFootball

Aston Villa manager Robert De Pauw highlighted positives in his side’s performance against Manchester City at The Joie Stadium, despite the 2-1 defeat.

Forward Gabi Nunes put The Villans ahead, but it wasn’t enough as goals from both Lauren Hemp and Jill Roord secured the win for Manchester City.

When speaking to the media after the match, Aston Villa boss De Pauw said that a failure to retain possession proved to be his side’s downfall.

“We didn’t keep the ball, so we had to defend more,” De Pauw said when speaking about the second half performance. “We didn’t want to push up in the second half, our plan at half-time was just to do the same, but we lost the ball too easily and then it’s hard to keep the pressure on the ball. City will exploit you with the qualities that they have.”

Brazilian forward Nunes scored her first goal in claret and blue and De Pauw thought that she had an excellent game.

He said “I think she was very disciplined, also in defending today. She was a little bit unlucky with the referee, they did not always give a foul committed on her. I think she has to keep going like she does and she can be a real difference-maker for our team.”

Aston Villa are still searching for their first league win of the season but De Pauw saw positives in the way that his side played at The Joie Stadium and he wants them to keep going.

He said “We have to keep a positive mindset and keep believing in ourselves. We could have come here and given up before the game and we didn’t, we showed resilience and tenacity in the first half and I think at the end, we kept fighting. This is what I expect from them and I truly believe that if you keep fighting and keep trying to create your chances, then things can turn.

“Of course, we want results; that’s the end goal, but I truly believe that if you put in the right things, then results will come. If results don’t come, then it will be hard, but we have to keep pushing.

“There are lots of positive things to take from every game. I think against Spurs, we were very dominant and we had a defensive mistake in the end which should not happen. Against Leicester, very dominant, but we did not put it away.”

Aston Villa return to action on 3 November 2024 when they play host to Liverpool at Villa Park.