Saturday 24 September 2016 21:41, UK
Roberto Di Matteo admitted his side must start transferring draws into wins after Aston Villa drew 1-1 at home to Newcastle in the Sky Bet Championship on Saturday.
Aaron Tshibola headed an 89th-minute equaliser to snatch a point for Villa, denying the Magpies a victory they looked to be heading towards thanks to Tommy Elphick's first-half own goal.
Since taking over at Villa Park, Di Matteo has led his team to just one win in all competitions and Villa sit 17th in the Championship on nine points.
Speaking after the game, Di Matteo said Villa are working hard and improving.
He told Sky Sports News: "I said lets just put them under pressure and lets ask some questions.
"We changed the formation a little bit as well and managed to get more of a hold of the ball and created some real problems for Newcastle. I really thought that towards the end we would have the opportunity to win the game as well.
"We had plenty of chances and we got into very good positions. Just the last pass was missing, but there was somebody at the end of the last cross."
Mile Jedinak had a goal disallowed and Jordan Ayew hit the post before Tshibola struck to seal Villa's sixth draw of their Championship campaign.
Di Matteo added: "It's five times that we've hit the woodwork so sometimes you do think it would be nice if they go in but it doesn't seem to be at the moment.
"We just have to keep working and improving and I'm sure that sooner or later those will go in."
The Italian opted to change formation at half time, but claimed the move wasn't an admission that his original line-up wasn't working.
He said: "I think it was more a question of being more positive on the ball and really controlling the ball better in the second half. I'm trying to find a solution for our team that suits us best and that gives us opportunities to win.
"We've drawn a lot of games and we need to be able to transfer those to wins rather than draws.
"We are unbeaten at home and it was a great comeback from the team as well, a great spirit that we showed. I think at the end if there was one team that was going to win it was us.
"We showed it against Forest as well, just that little bit of link at the end that is missing from us to win, so we keep working hard on it and hopefully that win will come soon."
