Furious Unai Emery brands his own players 'LAZY' as he rips into his Aston Villa stars after dismal 1-1 draw against 10-man Sunderland

Unai Emery delivered a withering rebuke to his Aston Villa players as he branded them 'lazy' and questioned their attitude.

Villa’s search for a first win of the campaign goes on after they squandered a lead against 10-man Sunderland and Emery – who marched down the tunnel 30 seconds before the final whistle having seen enough – pulled no punches in his assessment.

The Spanish manager looked ready to combust at times during the 1-1 draw on Wearside and he admitted even a victory would not have changed his mood. 

He feels Villa have lost the qualities that made them so progressive and the sluggish nature of their play is not something he recognises.

‘I told them the same thing I am telling you,’ said Emery. ‘We have to look for our identity I am frustrated and disappointed at how we played, at how we are not playing, feeling comfortable with our style. We have to try to recover our personality in duels as well as our confidence.

‘Then, as well, we were lazy sometimes in defence. Really lazy. For example, when we concede, we were lazy. Maybe it is the consequences. We are not feeling dominant; we are not feeling playing our style. The last three years, how we were feeling? Confident – then we can get better chances.

‘The same thing happened the last three years I was here – sometimes! Of course, we corrected it. I’m confident we will correct it. But we are not like a team how we want to be; how we want to create and how we want the structure to be. We want to get confidence collectively and individually.’

Sunderland had Reinildo Mandava sent-off in the 33rd minute but Villa were pedestrian. They may have ended their wait for a first Premier League goal of the season but the problems clearly run deep for Emery, whose side face Bologna in the Europa League on Thursday.

‘No, it doesn’t look like my team,’ said Emery. ‘My worry is that we are not playing with our identity. We are missing it. I know that we need to get confidence, collectively and individually. Collectively we should have an idea of how we want to play and, through that, we will get confidence again.

‘It is not the player himself getting confidence. It could be. If (Ollie) Watkins scores the last chance, we would have won and we would have been happy. But, for me, the feeling was not changing. It would have been a click for Watkins, a click for the team. But it wasn’t enough.’