Unai Emery - our manager

[OCD]

I wonder how many of us thought so highly of Emery before we appointed him? When the betting odds first came out, I hoped for Pochettino and didn't really think much of Emery when I saw his name. It was only when I started reading up/watching things about him when the penny dropped and I realised he was the best of what we could realistically get. Now, it's just nice to have someone who's known for organising, studying opponents relentlessly and being hot on tactics/in-game changes. Compare that to the previous guy.

[eamonn]

Randomly occurred to me: would we rather have any of the WC coaches instead of Unai?

(Apart from Gareth, of course - the Villa legend who doesn't like to go more than 48 hours without belittling us or selling one of our players.)

I don't think there is anyone currently managing in this World Cup I'd swap with.
Emery seems a perfect fit although it would be really interesting to see how he guided England in a tournament (if he wasn't managing us)

He'd be slagged-off for his accent and for playing for draws, probably.

[chrisw1]

I'm not going to go quite that big that early, we're Villa and there's bound to be hiccups.  But I think it's a very good appointment, probably as good as we could have realistically have hoped for, and it's exciting to see what he can achieve with us.  It's great to see a tangible plan and having the players look like they know what they're doing.  But sometimes a low block for half hour trying to see out a game or eek out a draw will come back to bite us and when it does as fans we have to hold our nerve and trust he knows what he's doing in the long run.  This isn't Steve Bruce.

Eddie Howe is currently walking the walk with pretty modest investment.  Let's hope Unai can too.  These two could really shake up the current order, bring it on.

[Lastfootstamper]

I'm not going to go quite that big that early, we're Villa and there's bound to be hiccups.  But I think it's a very good appointment, probably as good as we could have realistically have hoped for, and it's exciting to see what he can achieve with us.  It's great to see a tangible plan and having the players look like they know what they're doing.  But sometimes a low block for half hour trying to see out a game or eek out a draw will come back to bite us and when it does as fans we have to hold our nerve and trust he knows what he's doing in the long run.  This isn't Steve Bruce.

Eddie Howe is currently walking the walk with pretty modest investment.  Let's hope Unai can too.  These two could really shake up the current order, bring it on.

Modest? He spent over £120million in the summer. They've spent £210million in two windows since the takeover just over a year ago.

[chrisw1]

I think it's modest given what state the squad was in when he took over.  More impressive given how they've mostly had to over-pay because of who the owners are.  In his first season he turned them round mainly with just the addition of Burn, Wood and Targett (Trippier was injured straight away and Bruno didn't play for 8 weeks or so whilst he settled in).  To me that was pretty incredible.  So yeah, in my opinion given where they were and where they are now, that's a great return on a modest investment.

[Billy Walker]

I wonder how many of us thought so highly of Emery before we appointed him? When the betting odds first came out, I hoped for Pochettino and didn't really think much of Emery when I saw his name. It was only when I started reading up/watching things about him when the penny dropped and I realised he was the best of what we could realistically get. Now, it's just nice to have someone who's known for organising, studying opponents relentlessly and being hot on tactics/in-game changes. Compare that to the previous guy.

He's been top of my list for a long time, the kind of manager I wanted us to appoint ever since NSWE took over.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I wonder how many of us thought so highly of Emery before we appointed him? When the betting odds first came out, I hoped for Pochettino and didn't really think much of Emery when I saw his name. It was only when I started reading up/watching things about him when the penny dropped and I realised he was the best of what we could realistically get. Now, it's just nice to have someone who's known for organising, studying opponents relentlessly and being hot on tactics/in-game changes. Compare that to the previous guy.

He's been top of my list for a long time, the kind of manager I wanted us to appoint ever since Lerner took over.

FTFY

[Hookeysmith]

I wonder how many of us thought so highly of Emery before we appointed him? When the betting odds first came out, I hoped for Pochettino and didn't really think much of Emery when I saw his name. It was only when I started reading up/watching things about him when the penny dropped and I realised he was the best of what we could realistically get. Now, it's just nice to have someone who's known for organising, studying opponents relentlessly and being hot on tactics/in-game changes. Compare that to the previous guy.

Very highly including the still out of work Pochettino who i never rated

[Toronto Villa]

I wonder how many of us thought so highly of Emery before we appointed him? When the betting odds first came out, I hoped for Pochettino and didn't really think much of Emery when I saw his name. It was only when I started reading up/watching things about him when the penny dropped and I realised he was the best of what we could realistically get. Now, it's just nice to have someone who's known for organising, studying opponents relentlessly and being hot on tactics/in-game changes. Compare that to the previous guy.

I don’t know if many of us thought it was realistic for us to get him. Successful and seemed happy at Villarreal. So to get him mid season was a surprise to us all.

[Dante Lavelli]

I wanted Poch but have been surprised how poor he has come across as a pundit during the World Cup

[Brazilian Villain]

I wanted Poch but have been surprised how poor he has come across as a pundit during the World Cup

I thought that, his English was also much worse than I expected given his time at Spurs

[passport1]

I'm not a but surprised about Poch. Up there with that other charlatan Rogers riding the managerial gravy train.

[PaulWinch again]

I wanted Poch but have been surprised how poor he has come across as a pundit during the World Cup

I’m not sure the skill sets match up really.

[robleflaneur]

Randomly occurred to me: would we rather have any of the WC coaches instead of Unai?

(Apart from Gareth, of course - the Villa legend who doesn't like to go more than 48 hours without belittling us or selling one of our players.)

Would like to see the Villa 'legend' in charge of a Premier or Championship team.Don't think it would be a good outcome.

[eamonn]

The sound has been muted whenever I've seen Poch as a pundit at the World Cup. He looks like he's done a Lambert since taking a break from football. Looks younger and healthier or "a softer Roy Keane" as my girlfriend put it.

But yeah, has he been boring and clichéd as a pundit? Most of them are. Ian Wright one of the few who buck the trend imo.