LONDON – Aston Villa manager Unai Emery and his Brentford counterpart Thomas Frank were unhappy with the behaviour of their players after both sides had a man sent off in a chaotic English Premier League match on Dec 17.
Villa came from behind to secure a 2-1 victory at the Gtech Community Stadium, with Ollie Watkins scoring an 85th-minute winner against his former club and sparking a goalmouth melee with his celebrations.
Brentford defender Ben Mee was sent off after 71 minutes for a foul on substitute Leon Bailey, while Villa midfielder Boubacar Kamara was given a red card for violent conduct in added time.
Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez’s attempt to drag Brentford striker Neal Maupay to his feet prompted another flashpoint.
The referee booked 10 other players plus both managers – Frank for his complaints about Mee’s red card and Emery for going onto the pitch to restrain Martinez. All 14 cards came in the second half.
Emery said he would take action to tackle the indiscipline.
“At the end some moments, some behaviour, of us as well, I’m going to manage our behaviour and take control of it. I will analyse it with our players because it was not normal,” he told the BBC.
“We were a bit excited and we needed control of ourselves. When you are reacting like that, other players and the opponent is maybe not being in good behaviour like the match needed.
“I’m going to manage everything we did that was not good and our mistakes in our behaviour.
“Maybe it’s not the best for football and for us but always we have very good behaviour with the referees, always respect their decisions, VAR and I will keep doing the same.”
Frank was also not happy with his side’s conduct and said there were too many situations where he thought: “No, that’s not how it should be”.
“It should be the beautiful game in a physical contest between two teams and there should be a winner but, unfortunately, there were situations that will take the headlines,” he added.
Villa are flying high in third place, just a point behind leaders Arsenal, while Brentford are 12th, having lost five of their last six league games. REUTERS, AFP
