Unai Emery

[Lastfootstamper]

Get yourselves a 12 foot ladder. Google can tell you where to find one *wink*

[pauliewalnuts]

Just load the page and keep hitting escape while it loads, it breaks the Torygraph paywall. It's the most half-arsed paywall ever.

Aston Villa think the sky's the limit with Unai Emery at the helm
If a return to European competition remains the ultimate goal, Villa may never have a better man to lead them there

In his first week at Aston Villa, Unai Emery staged a richly detailed presentation in front of his players outlining his vision for the future.

Emery is a serial trophy winner and in that meeting he spoke of his desire to “create a new way”, challenging the squad to help him ultimately return Villa to European competition.

Nearly three months after his appointment, the Emery revolution is gathering momentum and, finally, this famous old club has a head coach with the reputation and track record to match their ambitions.

Only Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle – three of the current top-four – have picked up more league points than Villa (13) since the Spaniard’s first match on November 6.

Emery has blown away the torpor which clouded the club during Steven Gerrard’s final months and Villa’s owners believe there is no limit to what he could achieve.

Make no mistake, Emery is in total control and has been given a wide-ranging brief to transform the club with his vision. He has regular contact with owners NSWE, and it was Villa’s executive chairman Nassef Sawiris who played a major role in the appointment process after the Gerrard experiment failed.

The Egyptian billionaire is incredibly ambitious and was frustrated with Villa’s season and many of the individual displays from players he had invested money in.

Aston Villa's Leon Bailey (left) celebrates scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Premier League match at Villa Park, Birmingham
Aston Villa have been re-born in the Premier League since Emery's arrival CREDIT: Tim Goode/PA
Sawiris was heavily involved in the search for a new head coach, and met Mauricio Pochettino, the former Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain manager, at least twice. Sources close to Pochettino admit it is the closest he has come to accepting a new job, after being impressed by NSWE’s plans.

In those talks, he was effectively promised control of the club’s football operations, but opted to wait before returning. Emery swiftly emerged as their next top target and was sold a similar vision, taking the job after Villa paid his £5m release clause at Villarreal.

A four-time Europa League winner, who has also won a Ligue 1 title with Paris Saint-Germain, he is the most decorated manager in Villa’s history. His renowned attention to detail soon became apparent. In his first week, as he waited for his visa, he locked himself in his Basque bunker and watched all of Villa’s games from this season, and some from the end of the last campaign.

When he arrived at Bodymoor Heath, he held one-on-ones with all of Villa’s first-team players to explain his philosophy. Lengthy tactical and video analysis meetings have become the norm, where Emery coaches players through the game and tells them where to stand and run.

After watching their previous matches, he felt the players did not take enough touches. Days have been very long, and sometimes he has left Bodymoor later than 10pm.

Clear on-field improvements
On the field, it has been a solid start, with excellent results against United (their first home win over the club in the league since 1995), Tottenham and Brighton. Individual performances have improved, with forwards Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey two players to have benefitted from Emery’s arrival (averaging 119 and 209 minutes per goal or assist respectively).

Boubacar Kamara, a free transfer signing from Marseille, has also been outstanding as the double pivot in front of the back-four. Kamara formed an effective partnership with Matteo Guendouzi at the Ligue 1 club and Villa have considered a bid to sign the former Arsenal midfielder.

The FA Cup exit to League Two club Stevenage was excruciating, yet probably served as a useful exercise for Emery to assess who he can and can’t rely on. Therein lies the problem, and why Villa have struggled to progress. Eventually, they have to move on from this constant churn of players.

For the last two January windows, they have had managers recently appointed who have both threatened major changes, seemingly unhappy with the squads inherited. It became almost a weekly occurrence in the final months of last season when Gerrard was making veiled threats about the futures of players.

Emery is experienced and savvy, and will not be so open. Yet it is also why he signed the longest contract since NSWE’s takeover, agreeing a four-and-a-half year deal. Over that time the plan is to develop a squad that can play in the style he wants.

The first signing, Alex Moreno, arrived last week for an initial £12m from Real Betis while Colombian forward Jhon Duran is regarded as a young player with high potential. Emery wants a winger as a priority, there have been talks with Udinese over a deal to sign Gerard Deulofeu, and possibly another centre-back.

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery and Aston Villa's Alex Moreno as the referee blows the final whistle during the Premier League match at Villa Park, Birmingham
It is hoped young players like Alex Moreno can thrive under Emery's tutelage CREDIT: Tim Goode/PA
An experienced forward to replace Danny Ings is far more likely in the summer, but Villa may pursue a loan deal as cover. Financial backing is assured, though there is a need to trim the squad. There could be other surprise exits after Ings, with Poland international Matt Cash and Lucas Digne facing uncertain futures.

Changes to technical staff incoming
Significant changes may follow off the field too. Emery is thought to be targeting another technical director, to either work above or alongside Johan Lange. Recruited from FC Copenhagen in 2020, Lange came under scrutiny during Gerrard’s struggles and more recently in the wake of the Stevenage defeat when many of the signings on his watch failed to take their chance.

Villa were linked with a move for Real Sociedad’s sporting director Roberto Olabe this week, and those reports are understood to be accurate.

With the transfer window closing on January 31, the plan to bring in another key member of staff could be delayed until later in this season or the summer. Also off the field, a regular presence has been Damià Vidagany, Emery’s personal assistant.

A former Valencia marketing director, Vidagany accompanies Emery into every press conference. There remains huge frustration over how Emery was mocked for his accent during his time at Arsenal, especially as he speaks perfectly good English and four other languages.

His record at Arsenal also deserves more respect, though it unravelled quickly. He guided the club to a fifth-place finish in the first season which included a 22-match unbeaten run. Emery’s Villa revolution is now in full swing and his team face Southampton on Saturday only five points adrift of Brighton in the final European place.

A return to European competition remains the ultimate goal for NSWE, and with Emery in control they will never have a better chance.

[Ger Regan]

Get yourselves a 12 foot ladder. Google can tell you where to find one *wink*

that doesn't seem to work for me for that site, might need to check other browsers

[PeterWithesShin]

It is hoped young players like Alex Moreno can thrive under Emery's tutelage

[pauliewalnuts]

It is hoped young players like Alex Moreno can thrive under Emery's tutelage

That's a picture caption - i just selected all and C and P'ed it. Couldn't be arsed to strip out the nonsense.

[paul_e]

I suspect the bigger problem is that Moreno is 28.

[pauliewalnuts]

I suspect the bigger problem is that Moreno is 28.

29

[paul_e]

I suspect the bigger problem is that Moreno is 28.

29

an even bigger problem then!!

[PeterWithesShin]

Yep it was to do with his age.

[eamonn]

Interesting that Poch was close to taking it.

[Toronto Villa]

Imagine locking yourself away and having to watch all of our games under Gerrard. What a fucking nightmare. Just happy he emerged from that still willing to take the job.

[SamTheMouse]

Emery coaches players through the game and tells them where to stand and run.

For something which, on the face of it, seems very straightforward, I'm pathetically, humiliatingly grateful finally to have a manager who does this.

[Smithy]

Imagine locking yourself away and having to watch all of our games under Gerrard. What a fucking nightmare. Just happy he emerged from that still willing to take the job.

I often wonder what footage they are actually given to watch in circumstances like this? The sort of thing we watch on Match of the Day or Sky is probably next to useless from a coaching perspective, as you would want to see all the players on the pitch, at all times, and in all phases of the game.  I guess we have a team recording matches in this way for analysis and coaching reasons?

[Toronto Villa]

Imagine locking yourself away and having to watch all of our games under Gerrard. What a fucking nightmare. Just happy he emerged from that still willing to take the job.

I often wonder what footage they are actually given to watch in circumstances like this? The sort of thing we watch on Match of the Day or Sky is probably next to useless from a coaching perspective, as you would want to see all the players on the pitch, at all times, and in all phases of the game.  I guess we have a team recording matches in this way for analysis and coaching reasons?

Oh I would imagine it would be the really detailed stuff with all the analytics to back it up. At PL level it would be detailed with multiple camera angles that can be modified for the coach and staff. I’ve been lucky when in the US to be around some NFL teams due to a friend who is a current coach. It is very detailed at every level. It’s a matter then on how much the coach wishes to use. Emery will use all of it. Steve Bruce likely would have just looked at some of it and then concluded the players just need to roll up their sleeves. The former guy was an idiot.

[pablo_picasso]

Imagine locking yourself away and having to watch all of our games under Gerrard. What a fucking nightmare. Just happy he emerged from that still willing to take the job.

At least he didn't have to pay for the privilege...