Emi Martinez wants Aston Villa to put both halves together
Goalkeeper Emi Martinez admits Villa can’t continue to be a 45-minute team if they want to emerge from their current slump.
Four straight defeats have sent Villa tumbling into the bottom half of the Premier League and they could be as low as 15th in the table when they are next in action at Leicester on Saturday week.
Steven Gerrard’s team have paid the price for failing to put in complete performances, making sluggish starts in losses to Arsenal and Wolves and then, on Saturday, not capitalising on a dominant opening half against Tottenham.
Villa forced visiting keeper Hugo Lloris into seven saves after going behind to Son Heung-min's third minute opener but could not find a leveller and fell away dramatically in the second half, eventually losing 4-0.
Martinez said: “It is something the manager has been telling us, that we need to be a 90-minute team.
“At the moment we play a good first half or a good second half. That is something he keeps saying, in the team meetings, how we need to be a 90-minute team. Obviously, we let him down on Saturday.
“As players we need to focus on the next seven games, make sure we finish top-10 and put this club right up there.”
Villa still had an outside chance of forcing their way into the race for European football after a three-match winning streak last month saw them climb to ninth in the table.
But a four straight losses, all against teams in the division’s top eight, have delivered a jolting reality check. Saturday’s defeat, their seventh at Villa Park this season, was also the second match running they have conceded inside the opening six minutes.
Martinez continued: “It is really hard to take, not just the defeat but the fact we lost again at home. We conceded again so early in the game, which is something we need to adjust. We are conceding goals in the first 10 minutes in every single game.
“I thought we played one of the best first halves since I’ve been at the club and football can be very harsh sometimes. If you don’t put the ball in the net and end up chasing games and give them space, with the quality they have, they will hurt you.
“The second half we started again by conceding another goal. They didn’t create anything and from 2-0 down we had to chase it.”
