Unai Emery

[Chris Smith]

It's obvious to me that a manager like Emery would have had cast iron assurances about proper investment in the short and long term from NSWE or he wouldn't have come to Villa. A lower-level manager in charge and I might agree about the Jan window being poor, but with Emery it is a different scenario. With an elite manager like Emery and NSWE in charge, I am convinced Villa are on an upward curve.

I agree, they could easily have appointed Dyche if all they were looking at was avoiding relegation and plodding along in mid table.

[ChicagoLion]

So what is it?
Emery joined with no commitment to invest?
Emery joined with a commitment to invest but the owners have /will change their mind?
Emery joined with a commitment to invest but they could not get what he wanted and keep the powder dry until the summer?

Maybe this should be a poll.

[Scott Nielsen]

I wonder whether we've written this season off completely. With Emery talking about avoiding relegation, and our continually kamikaze approach to goal kicks, I wonder whether he's just decided that we have to press on with his tactics and style of play, regardless of results.

What I'm basically saying is that he is going for the mid to long term view rather than short-term and getting results. It's a dangerous game, but hopefully with longer-term benefits.

I've had the same thought. A genuine long-term plan, where results are mixed over the short and medium term, might not only be difficult to sell to fans but, worse, very difficult to successfully execute.

[ChicagoLion]

I wonder whether we've written this season off completely. With Emery talking about avoiding relegation, and our continually kamikaze approach to goal kicks, I wonder whether he's just decided that we have to press on with his tactics and style of play, regardless of results.

What I'm basically saying is that he is going for the mid to long term view rather than short-term and getting results. It's a dangerous game, but hopefully with longer-term benefits.

I've had the same thought. A genuine long-term plan, where results are mixed over the short and medium term, might not only be difficult to sell to fans but, worse, very difficult to successfully execute.

Trying to do it quickly is probably even more difficult. Newcastle are the exception I guess.
The problem is we have not built the foundations like some other clubs because we have made some piss poor decisions since Greasy left.

[kippaxvilla2]

If we do invest in the summer you can write next season off as yet another Villa cliche will return.  The players need time to 'gel'.

[Percy McCarthy]

I wonder whether we've written this season off completely. With Emery talking about avoiding relegation, and our continually kamikaze approach to goal kicks, I wonder whether he's just decided that we have to press on with his tactics and style of play, regardless of results.

What I'm basically saying is that he is going for the mid to long term view rather than short-term and getting results. It's a dangerous game, but hopefully with longer-term benefits.

I've had the same thought. A genuine long-term plan, where results are mixed over the short and medium term, might not only be difficult to sell to fans but, worse, very difficult to successfully execute.

Trying to do it quickly is probably even more difficult. Newcastle are the exception I guess.
The problem is we have not built the foundations like some other clubs because we have made some piss poor decisions since Greasy left.

H

[pauliewalnuts]

I wonder whether we've written this season off completely. With Emery talking about avoiding relegation, and our continually kamikaze approach to goal kicks, I wonder whether he's just decided that we have to press on with his tactics and style of play, regardless of results.

What I'm basically saying is that he is going for the mid to long term view rather than short-term and getting results. It's a dangerous game, but hopefully with longer-term benefits.

I've had the same thought. A genuine long-term plan, where results are mixed over the short and medium term, might not only be difficult to sell to fans but, worse, very difficult to successfully execute.

Trying to do it quickly is probably even more difficult. Newcastle are the exception I guess.
The problem is we have not built the foundations like some other clubs because we have made some piss poor decisions since Greasy left.

H

Quite right

[SamTheMouse]

It's frustrating because if there's one thing we learned from the Ellis era, it's that if you don't take the opportunities straight away when they arise, they don't come around again for a long time.

In recent years we've been less carpe diem and more diet of crap.

[Drummond]

I wonder whether we've written this season off completely. With Emery talking about avoiding relegation, and our continually kamikaze approach to goal kicks, I wonder whether he's just decided that we have to press on with his tactics and style of play, regardless of results.

What I'm basically saying is that he is going for the mid to long term view rather than short-term and getting results. It's a dangerous game, but hopefully with longer-term benefits.

I've had the same thought. A genuine long-term plan, where results are mixed over the short and medium term, might not only be difficult to sell to fans but, worse, very difficult to successfully execute.

Trying to do it quickly is probably even more difficult. Newcastle are the exception I guess.
The problem is we have not built the foundations like some other clubs because we have made some piss poor decisions since Greasy left.

H

Hmmmm, my powers of deduction and insight have worked out that this H is in place of this.....



Which means we're expecting a fire and means we're checking out the fire sale to put it out at the first opportunity.

[ChicagoLion]

What Does (H) Mean? (H) is an emoticon which means means "Cool Dude" or "Heart." This emoticon may be typed as (H), but is more commonly typed as (h).
Definition: Cool Dude

[Dave]

I wonder whether we've written this season off completely. With Emery talking about avoiding relegation, and our continually kamikaze approach to goal kicks, I wonder whether he's just decided that we have to press on with his tactics and style of play, regardless of results.

What I'm basically saying is that he is going for the mid to long term view rather than short-term and getting results. It's a dangerous game, but hopefully with longer-term benefits.

I've had the same thought. A genuine long-term plan, where results are mixed over the short and medium term, might not only be difficult to sell to fans but, worse, very difficult to successfully execute.

Trying to do it quickly is probably even more difficult. Newcastle are the exception I guess.
The problem is we have not built the foundations like some other clubs because we have made some piss poor decisions since Greasy left.

H

Hmmmm, my powers of deduction and insight have worked out that this H is in place of this.....



Which means we're expecting a fire and means we're checking out the fire sale to put it out at the first opportunity.

I didn't even realise that the guy from Steps was dead.

[LeeB]

I wonder whether we've written this season off completely. With Emery talking about avoiding relegation, and our continually kamikaze approach to goal kicks, I wonder whether he's just decided that we have to press on with his tactics and style of play, regardless of results.

What I'm basically saying is that he is going for the mid to long term view rather than short-term and getting results. It's a dangerous game, but hopefully with longer-term benefits.

I've had the same thought. A genuine long-term plan, where results are mixed over the short and medium term, might not only be difficult to sell to fans but, worse, very difficult to successfully execute.

Trying to do it quickly is probably even more difficult. Newcastle are the exception I guess.
The problem is we have not built the foundations like some other clubs because we have made some piss poor decisions since Greasy left.

H

Hmmmm, my powers of deduction and insight have worked out that this H is in place of this.....



Which means we're expecting a fire and means we're checking out the fire sale to put it out at the first opportunity.

I didn't even realise that the guy from Steps was dead.

It's a tragedy

[Chris Smith]

So what is it?
Emery joined with no commitment to invest?
Emery joined with a commitment to invest but the owners have /will change their mind?
Emery joined with a commitment to invest but they could not get what he wanted and keep the powder dry until the summer?

Maybe this should be a poll.

The final one, obviously.

[Risso]

I didn't even realise that the guy from Steps was dead.

Gah, beat me to it.

[Dave]

So what is it?
Emery joined with no commitment to invest?
Emery joined with a commitment to invest but the owners have /will change their mind?
Emery joined with a commitment to invest but they could not get what he wanted and keep the powder dry until the summer?

Maybe this should be a poll.

The final one, obviously.

He's had an entire career of working under Sporting Directors, who provide players to meet the needs that he has. He's never been in the position where he has scouted individual players, so I don't really see how that it likely to be different with us - given we have a Sporting Director.

So if Emery has said to Lange and Purslow "I need a striker, a run-around-a-lot midfielder, a new left-back and two wingers" and they haven't found anyone in world football apart from the left-back then they've failed.

If I have the top bit wrong and for the first time in his career he's saying to those in charge "I specifically want these four players and nobody else will do" (and I seriously doubt that would be the case), then they haven't followed through and have failed.

Either way, they didn't do what they were supposed to.

Edit - there is of course (c) he has said that he didn't need anyone apart from a new left-back and a teenage striker and Lange and Purslow are fully off the hook.