Unai Emery told his Aston Villa players at half-time that he didn’t accept some of them “relaxing” after Youri Tielemans scored early on. The Belgian bagged the only goal of the game in the 12th minute as he headed in John McGinn’s corner. Tielemans was then denied by a brilliant save from Bernd Leno just before half-time, while Ollie Watkins missed two big chances at the Holte End in the second half to wrap the game up. Villa held onto their crucial win despite Donyell Malen failing to finish a one-on-one, rattling the bar in the fifth of eight minutes of added time. “We started very well and we dominated the first 15 minutes,” Emery said. “After it, I felt some [players were] relaxed. We lost some easy balls and we didn’t compete like we did in the first 15 minutes. “They were feeling comfortable on the field and progressively getting better. I was getting our players to play seriously and respect them, focusing on the game plan we planned before. “In the dressing room we spoke about it. We wanted to score more goals and keep a clean sheet in the second half, stay focused and also substitute players who come on with fresh legs and a fresh mind. “We didn’t concede a lot, but we created chances. We did what we planned and spoke about in the second half.” Emery added: “We finished the first half because we started very well, we dominated and scored a goal, but we stopped a little bit. We started to play a bit more back passes. “Doing back passes for one objective, to try to stop them and then progress [is fine], but we weren’t progressing like we needed and how we planned before. “Even not doing it, we were losing some easy balls. We spoke yesterday and this week about how important it is to try to play and focus seriously for 90 minutes in our game plan, each one to feel comfortable. But if someone is relaxing a little bit, we are closer to losing. “We should be very demanding every day and in our focus with the game plan to be consistent, expecting them and playing, always being so, so demanding in our process in 90 minutes. “We want to be consistent in the Premier League for 38 matches. But we have to be very consistent for 90 minutes each match. “When we lost some balls in the first half, in the dressing room I told them, ‘I can’t accept!’. I can’t accept sometimes how we were managing the match.”