Unai Emery

[Villan82]

The inconsistency has been a problem for about ten years. Even in the Championship we were bloody inconsistent! We should have been in the top two places that second season while in the third season our brilliant 10 game winning run was preceded by two solid months of horrific results!

[SoccerHQ]

The inconsistency has been a problem for about ten years. Even in the Championship we were bloody inconsistent! We should have been in the top two places that second season while in the third season our brilliant 10 game winning run was preceded by two solid months of horrific results!

In terms of results you don't have to be that amazing to be challenging for 6th or 7th.

Brighton look good bets for that currently, they've won less home games than we have.

However with a team like Brighton their general style and level of performance dosen't really change from game to game. They;ll play exactly the same way v Forest as they will v Man. City.

We look every inch a european chasing team going to Spurs and barely giving them anything while we score a couple of decent goals.

Three days later these same players look like strangers attempting to pass to each other v Wolves who are improving but are still in the bottom 3

That's the extreme level of general performance I'm talking about and something we need to get right next season.

[tomd2103]

At least he was quoting in post match press conference as saying perhaps some in the squad "don't have the ambition."

Now if this was coming from Bruce or McLeish you'd just dismiss it as playing to the gallery but we're talking about a manager who has won domestic and european titles so he can spot the DNA of a squad.

Big problem to me is we get a surprise/big win and then coast for weeks on it.

Last season we won at Man.United for first time in over a decade. Brilliant but not so good when we then proceed to lose our next five and get the most popular manager for a long time the sack.

Very concerning to me we go from outplaying at top 6 team on their own turf to being terrible against a bottom 3 team three days later. And then with a few changes then lose at home to a league 2 team a few days after that.

Poor results and performances will happen for every team in a season but we shouldn't have a wild extreme of performances like that in just a single week.

If we're serious in future about qualifying for europe/actually win something we're going to need a much more sound footing from the regulars most weeks. Emery's as qualified as any manager we've had since 2006 to achieve that so hopefully he can start this month.

Been thinking about it tonight and think you have a point really.   On the whole, they just smack of a squad of players who are happy to coast along in the top flight.  If we ever got in trouble and were to go down then they'd just get a move anyway, so no problems for them there.  They don't give the impression that they are a group of players desperate for success, rather a group who are content with their lot.

Like you say, good win at Spurs and you would think that they would come out firing against Wolves, but instead it was lethargic and half-hearted until Emery presumably got into them at half-time.  Again today, just going through the motions for most of the game and got caught out.

Unai Emery has got to change that culture and that will invariably mean bringing in players with a different mentality.

[Rory]

He's undone nothing as far as I am concerned. I have watched us underachieve for the past 25 years and I look at his Cv and drool. Our players, none of whom he signed btw, went out and bottled it against a lower league team at home. It's on them, not him.

If Emery doesn't get time at villa I guarantee we won't be getting in anybody with a better CV. We have to stick with this through thick and thin if we want to end the drought.

Careful - common sense and logic isn’t valued here 😀.

The flailing and panic on here tonight is sort of amusing really. Thank god fans don’t run football

Sorry to say I agree. Some of the reactions have been way over the top.

He may be a 'cup manager' based on his record, but that doesn't mean winning every cup he enters. His initial remit will have been to solidify our league form after the shitshow he inherited, and so far he is doing that.

The way some people talk, you'd think both cups had our name on but for Emery sabotaging us. Our last five years in the FA and League Cups:

Rd 3 - Tottenham
Rd 3 - Peterborough
Rd 3 - Swansea
Rd 3 - Fulham
Rd 3 - Man Utd

Rd 1 - Luton
Rd 3 - Middlesbrough
Rd 2 - Burton
Final - Man City
Rd 3 - Chelsea

Today was poor, and the result was embarrassing, but let's not pretend this is something new. I'll go out on a limb and say, if Emery wasn't our manager, we wouldn't have won either cup this season.

Excluding the World Cup break, he has been in charge for around 40 days. He has none of his own players, and fielded a team that should've been good enough to beat Stevenage. They fucked up.

[brontebilly]

Today's game isn't where we find out what kind of manager Emery is, it will be the starting lineup and performance against Leeds on Friday, along with the ins and outs of this transfer window.

I very much doubt that a manager of his stature won't put up with what we witnessed at Villa Park this evening.

Interesting team selection for sure. We battered them earlier in the season I thought but Watkins missed a series of chances. Bailey has surely played himself out of the team. Wouldn't mind more of a shift to 4231. Buendia at 10 with Ramsey left of him. McGinn will hardly be fit in time and is the Donk suspended? Could Sanson come in after his goal today on other side? Big decision up front too.

[Scott Nielsen]

There's not a single manager of a top tier team in Europe who will put out a full starting 11 against 4th tier opposition in the first round, not one.
Those players should have beaten stevenage, it's on them imo.
I think so many of those 11 are either not good enough, or weak mentally, and it showed. Cash is shit, the 2 cbs are fucking embarrassingly crap, doug is so inconsistent its infuriating, coutinho is a wanker, buendia is daft as a brush, Bailey has the weakest constitution known to man, watkins isn't far behind him (2 goals this week Wakins has attempted to 'block' by trying not to get hit by the ball, hes pathetic)

Agree but our squad's lack of quality was never an accepted excuse for the previous manager. It was supposed to be plenty good enough for a top half placing, only being let down by inept management. I remember reading that even the individual mistakes players were making were the manager's fault because they only happen due to poor coaching.

In a year's time, I hope to see a much refreshed first team and squad and beyond one or two current players there aren't any I'll miss. And for the record, despite today's humiliation, I am happy it is Emery and not Gerrard that will oversee this much required rejuvenation.

[jwarry]

Emery was as shocked as we were by that last 5 mins.  We would have had a little moan that our squad depth is poor but they had done enough to get as through and then….. DONKEY!
The only positive spin I can put on it is the same spin that Emery used ie he’s learnt something by losing.  The question now is what will he do about it?

It’s pretty clear Gerrard and Lange have sounded money on bang average players like Dendonker, Digne, Bednarek, Chambers, Augustinson to name just 5! I’m pretty sure this won’t happen again under Emery

[RamboandBruno]

6/7 games in and he’s blotted his copybook, Jesus wept.

He absolutely has.  He's piled so much unnecessary pressure on himself for Friday to get a result.  I've just watched his post match interview and he doesn't even look that bothered about today's shambles

He really hasn’t. Your reaction in terms of the manager specifically are miles over the top.

[algy]

If we had played our strongest team we would not have witnessed that debacle.It’s that simple,

Our 12th-22nd best players should be significantly better than the starting XI of a League 2 side.

[clash city rocker]

I seem to remember reading years ago when we lost against Wimbledon at selhurst Park that Brian Little that day decided who he wanted rid of. Perhaps yesterday has made emery mind up

[ChicagoLion]

If we had played our strongest team we would not have witnessed that debacle.It’s that simple,

Our 12th-22nd best players should be significantly better than the starting XI of a League 2 side.

They should, one difference is that they had played together many times ours hadn’t. They seemed to give a fuck ours didn’t.

[Paul.S]

At least he was quoting in post match press conference as saying perhaps some in the squad "don't have the ambition."

Now if this was coming from Bruce or McLeish you'd just dismiss it as playing to the gallery but we're talking about a manager who has won domestic and european titles so he can spot the DNA of a squad.

Big problem to me is we get a surprise/big win and then coast for weeks on it.

Last season we won at Man.United for first time in over a decade. Brilliant but not so good when we then proceed to lose our next five and get the most popular manager for a long time the sack.

Very concerning to me we go from outplaying at top 6 team on their own turf to being terrible against a bottom 3 team three days later. And then with a few changes then lose at home to a league 2 team a few days after that.

Poor results and performances will happen for every team in a season but we shouldn't have a wild extreme of performances like that in just a single week.

If we're serious in future about qualifying for europe/actually win something we're going to need a much more sound footing from the regulars most weeks. Emery's as qualified as any manager we've had since 2006 to achieve that so hopefully he can start this month.

Been thinking about it tonight and think you have a point really.   On the whole, they just smack of a squad of players who are happy to coast along in the top flight.  If we ever got in trouble and were to go down then they'd just get a move anyway, so no problems for them there.  They don't give the impression that they are a group of players desperate for success, rather a group who are content with their lot.

Like you say, good win at Spurs and you would think that they would come out firing against Wolves, but instead it was lethargic and half-hearted until Emery presumably got into them at half-time.  Again today, just going through the motions for most of the game and got caught out.

Unai Emery has got to change that culture and that will invariably mean bringing in players with a different mentality.

Top players are able to perform most weeks but what makes an average player average is the inability to do that. We have finished in the bottom half since we came back up because we have a lower half squad. Some of them simply aren’t good enough. We rarely had a decent 90 minutes until Emery arrived but he’s been able to squeeze 3 out of them against Spurs, Brighton and Utd.
Even against Liverpool we should’ve been a couple ahead but as we don’t have a forward capable of taking those chances we suffered because they took the ones they had. The one plus against Wolves is that we came back at them in the second half but until we ship out the average players and bring in better proven quality ones we will see the inconsistency.
We have a coach who has proven he’s got the ability and he has improved us tactically. What he or anybody else will struggle to do is take the current squad much above halfway.

[Risso]

He's undone nothing as far as I am concerned. I have watched us underachieve for the past 25 years and I look at his Cv and drool. Our players, none of whom he signed btw, went out and bottled it against a lower league team at home. It's on them, not him.

If Emery doesn't get time at villa I guarantee we won't be getting in anybody with a better CV. We have to stick with this through thick and thin if we want to end the drought.

Careful - common sense and logic isn’t valued here 😀.

The flailing and panic on here tonight is sort of amusing really. Thank god fans don’t run football

Sorry to say I agree. Some of the reactions have been way over the top.

He may be a 'cup manager' based on his record, but that doesn't mean winning every cup he enters. His initial remit will have been to solidify our league form after the shitshow he inherited, and so far he is doing that.

The way some people talk, you'd think both cups had our name on but for Emery sabotaging us. Our last five years in the FA and League Cups:

Rd 3 - Tottenham
Rd 3 - Peterborough
Rd 3 - Swansea
Rd 3 - Fulham
Rd 3 - Man Utd

Rd 1 - Luton
Rd 3 - Middlesbrough
Rd 2 - Burton
Final - Man City
Rd 3 - Chelsea

Today was poor, and the result was embarrassing, but let's not pretend this is something new. I'll go out on a limb and say, if Emery wasn't our manager, we wouldn't have won either cup this season.

Excluding the World Cup break, he has been in charge for around 40 days. He has none of his own players, and fielded a team that should've been good enough to beat Stevenage. They fucked up.

That shit record should have acted as a warning then. In any case, none of those are remotely as bad as yesterday. Three of those years were when we were a Championship club ourselves, not an expensively assembled Premier League club with allegedly our best manager in years.

[Risso]

This from Ashley Preece is quite interesting (I won't link to that rag):

"Unai Emery made a point of staring down the barrel of the Villa TV camera in the press room as he spoke directly with the fanbase. “We are sorry,” he said. “I am very upset. But now my only idea is to try and come back so quickly in our next match at home on Friday.”
Emery, 51, wasn’t so apologetic upstairs in front of the written press as he let rip outlining how, again, Villa allowed the opposition back into it. The manager referenced Villa’s wastefulness in defeat to Liverpool on Boxing Day while he also expressed his dissatisfaction at Villa’s most-recent performance, the 1-1 draw with Wolves.

In a telling rant yesterday, Emery detailed how he told the group of players on his very first day that he wasn’t happy having to replace Steven Gerrard given Villa’s awful performances which led to his hiring. Emery also conceded that - in defeat to Stevenage - maybe he’s seen the true colours of some in claret and blue.

“I arrived here two months ago,” he said. “The first thing I told them was that I was not happy coming in as a substitute for another coach. When it is not going well, the club usually changes the coach. We have to impose again our mentality, our idea and I have that experience. But we have to do that process being very demanding.

“At the beginning - when one coach is coming - the first reaction is being excited and everybody giving all they can. But to be consistent in that way, that is difficult to keep.

“The idea is that in two or three years and I am still here, really, we can say that the process was being consistent, demanding and achieving in each moment of the target we are setting. An ambitious objective but, as well, it’s not going to be easy.

“I am not magical here to come here and change everything. Now it’s fantastic, we got 10 points from 15 but the last match we played against Wolves I was very, very upset because I was like, ‘Hey, we are starting so quickly again… not doing the tactical or individual demands I want to put out. And today it was different, completely different.”

Emery placed a lot of emphasis on the players’ mentality, adding: “We weren't clinical. This is not tactically because we weren’t really focused in 90 minutes. I am going to wake up and continue the process. I will be very demanding like I was, maybe more now.”

Now demanding was the big word for Emery yesterday and what the performance told him that some simply aren’t up to what’s being asked of them. It’s OK doing well for a couple of weeks but Emery’s wants sustained - and top - performances and, in his last two matches, he hasn’t got them."

[Chico Hamilton III]

He's undone nothing as far as I am concerned. I have watched us underachieve for the past 25 years and I look at his Cv and drool. Our players, none of whom he signed btw, went out and bottled it against a lower league team at home. It's on them, not him.

If Emery doesn't get time at villa I guarantee we won't be getting in anybody with a better CV. We have to stick with this through thick and thin if we want to end the drought.

Careful - common sense and logic isn’t valued here 😀.

The flailing and panic on here tonight is sort of amusing really. Thank god fans don’t run football

Sorry to say I agree. Some of the reactions have been way over the top.

He may be a 'cup manager' based on his record, but that doesn't mean winning every cup he enters. His initial remit will have been to solidify our league form after the shitshow he inherited, and so far he is doing that.

The way some people talk, you'd think both cups had our name on but for Emery sabotaging us. Our last five years in the FA and League Cups:

Rd 3 - Tottenham
Rd 3 - Peterborough
Rd 3 - Swansea
Rd 3 - Fulham
Rd 3 - Man Utd

Rd 1 - Luton
Rd 3 - Middlesbrough
Rd 2 - Burton
Final - Man City
Rd 3 - Chelsea

Today was poor, and the result was embarrassing, but let's not pretend this is something new. I'll go out on a limb and say, if Emery wasn't our manager, we wouldn't have won either cup this season.

Excluding the World Cup break, he has been in charge for around 40 days. He has none of his own players, and fielded a team that should've been good enough to beat Stevenage. They fucked up.

If we’d won 6 nil yesterday we would all be on here talking about Emery’s mastery of cup competitions. But we lost because half of the players he picked didn’t turn up.  I don’t think anyone is calling for his head but he is the manager and the buck stops with him from day one. He sends the team out and he’s responsible for the results, that’s how it works.

 I still love him - although I wish he’d ditch that shocking coat he wears.