Unai Emery - our manager

[Monty]

'Mindfulness' can mean certain things that are associated with CBT and other modern therapy methods, and to that extent can be halfdecent.

Of course, it can also mean paltry Paltrow gobbledegoop, so there's that.

[LeeB]

'Mindfulness' can mean certain things that are associated with CBT and other modern therapy methods, and to that extent can be halfdecent.

Of course, it can also mean paltry Paltrow gobbledegoop, so there's that.

It's overpriced fanny glitter to me

[ChicagoLion]

'Mindfulness' can mean certain things that are associated with CBT and other modern therapy methods, and to that extent can be halfdecent.

Of course, it can also mean paltry Paltrow gobbledegoop, so there's that.

It's overpriced fanny glitter to me

Can you be more specific?

[Bad English]

'Mindfulness' can mean certain things that are associated with CBT and other modern therapy methods, and to that extent can be halfdecent.

Of course, it can also mean paltry Paltrow gobbledegoop, so there's that.

It's overpriced fanny glitter to me

"This post smells of my penis"™️

[Hookeysmith]

'Mindfulness' can mean certain things that are associated with CBT and other modern therapy methods, and to that extent can be halfdecent.

Of course, it can also mean paltry Paltrow gobbledegoop, so there's that.

It's overpriced fanny glitter to me

"This post smells of my penis"™️

I did wonder where that smell was coming from

[Sexual Ealing]

When Anne Wideecombe said Michael Howard had ‘something of the night’ about him, did she also mean he looked a bit like Dracula? And Ray Reardon.

No. She meant he was Jewish.

[placeforparks]

some stats:

CURRENT FORM
•   Won last 3 PL games – 2-1 v Leicester (A), 2-0 v Chelsea (A) and 3-0 v Bournemouth (H).
•   Last won 4 PL games in a row between Sept-Oct 2020.
•   Unbeaten in last 6 PL games (W5 D1) – club’s longest unbeaten run in PL this season.
•   Last went 7 successive PL games unbeaten during run of 8 between July-Oct 2020.
•   Won 10 of 16 PL games under Unai Emery (D2 L4) – had only won 9 of the previous 34 PL games.
•   Won 32pts from 16 PL games under Emery (2 points per game) – won 12pts in first 13 PL games this season (0.9 ppg).
•   Only Arsenal have won more games (13) and won more points (41) in PL since Unai Emery’s first match in charge.
•   Scored in all 16 PL games under Emery – the joint-longest scoring this season with Arsenal (16 between Aug 5-Jan 3).
•   Failed to score in 6 of first 13 PL games this season – had failed to score in 3 of the 4 games before Emery’s appointment.
•   Kept 4 clean sheets in last 6 PL games – only kept 2 clean sheets in first 10 PL games under Emery.

[wince]

Just think this time last year we were stuck with brookside as our manager. I absolutely love Emery and he is cold and calculating a tactician as we could hope for. We are losing our soft underbelly now and we need to remember what he is doing with what he has when a bad run happens and it will. We are a different side now compared to when brookside was in charge.

[pauliewalnuts]

From The Times

How Unai Emery has turned Aston Villa into European contenders

Only Arsenal have won more Premier League games since the Spaniard arrived in the Midlands. Here’s how he has overseen such a swift turnaround . . .

In his first press conference as Aston Villa head coach, Unai Emery spoke about his long-term ambition to guide the team back into Europe. Given their start to the season and how they had been playing, even the most optimistic Villa fan would not have believed it to be possible this season.

The Spaniard was brought to the club in October, when the club were three points off the bottom of the Premier League, with the prime objective of keeping them in the division. But after Villa’s win against Leicester City on Tuesday evening, Emery dared to mention that his side were in the European conversation as the season enters the final couple of months.

With only Arsenal having picked up more wins (13) in the league since he took charge, Villa have propelled themselves into seventh place and the European dream does not seem such a stretch. Here’s a look at what has improved.


Identity

Under Steven Gerrard, Emery’s predecessor, Villa had become difficult to watch, predictable and devoid of identity and urgency. Under the new coach there is a clear plan, and every player is aware of their role in the system. They move the ball quickly and efficiently up the pitch but are able to drop back into a bank of six to see out games and block out the opposition. He has also trained them to play fewer purposeless long balls.

Instead he wants them to control the game through possession, which has taken time — but things have now clicked. Against Leicester they had 64 per cent of the ball. They are also looking far more comfortable playing out from the back.

The previous time they played Leicester they had made mistakes while trying to play out from the back in a 4-2 loss, but Emery wanted his team to stick to a plan and that is exactly what they have done. At the King Power Stadium they looked far more comfortable and it is a plan that is working well for them. It’s no wonder the 51-year-old has been hailed a “tactical master” by some of his players.


Ollie Watkins

While the improvement has been as a collective there can be no denying the individual development of Watkins. Before Emery’s arrival he had two goals in 14 games and now he is on a streak of six in six and playing some of the best football of his career.

Emery had a conversation with the England forward at the beginning of his reign, outlining his plan for him and how he was going to help him to progress.

As is the case under the Spaniard, video sessions have been long. But his attention to detail, getting Watkins to focus on timing his runs, where to position himself and how to shape his body, has helped the 27-year-old to take his game to the next level.

And Emery has given him the target of providing even more. “I like to take challenges, always, with my striker, with my coaching. Because I like to be offensive and to be a winner,” the Villa head coach said.


Defence

Emery arrived with the reputation of being a defensive coach and, with Villa shipping too many goals, it was the most important aspect of the game for him to get a handle on.
The 6-2-2 formation to see out games has helped and, as the team continue to improve under his coaching and management, there is more of a calmness about them in and around the penalty area. They were heavily beaten by Manchester City and Arsenal, but the Harvey Barnes goal on Tuesday night was the first they had conceded from open play in their past six league games. They have also had four clean sheets during that time.

Emery’s blueprint is possession-based football, but everything he believes in rests on a strong defensive display, and that has come as much from the pressing of the forwards to win back possession as from the reinvigorated back line.


Standards

Losing 4-2 to the league leaders, courtesy of two late goals, is nothing to be ashamed of, but Emery was furious. He was raging at his team for abandoning the principles he had been hammering into them for four months.

It wasn’t that they had lost, it was that he thought they had not stuck to the game plan and were not brave enough in possession. It is a message he reiterated to his players, in public and private, and it underlines the standards he expects from his team.

Sources say that, under Gerrard, standards started to slip and players thought they could get away with things; under Emery, that has changed. His expectations are high, analysis sessions long, training sessions are detailed and there is little or no time to rest. But he ensures he sets those standards himself, spending long hours at the club’s Bodymoor Heath training ground.


Away form

When Emery arrived at the club, Villa had not won on the road in the league this season. After six games their record read: drawn two, lost four. It was an issue he wanted to sort out quickly and in his first away clash in the league they ran out 2-1 winners against Brighton & Hove Albion. Their win at the King Power took his record to six wins in eight away games, with their only defeat away from Villa Park coming against City.

He explained how he had made it his objective to make them more dangerous on the road: “I started being very, very demanding with them to be competitive away, because winning away is more difficult than at home. But now it’s different, it’s more difficult at home than away. The idea is to create and build a team and a way and be very demanding.”

[Percy McCarthy]

It's a huge amount of prep from the coaching team, with a bespoke game plan for every match.  For the first time in a long time we look very well coached.

But we're also having some luck.  I know people say you make your own luck, but players missing open goals etc is always helpful.  On another day the ref doesn't give the Chilwell foul, Souttar scores his open goal etc.

Soutar’s header was from a corner that was really a goal-kick

[martyn ellis]

Another overdue article of recognition of Emery's impact on the club, this time from today's Guardian of what to look out for at the weekend:
'Europe a realistic target for Villa
For most of the teams outside the elite, this peculiar Premier League season has been a dizzying game of Snakes and Ladders. Aston Villa are one of the exceptions. Since Unai Emery took over with the club in 16th place, they have been looking and travelling in only one direction. They had to wait patiently in 11th for a while, but back-to-back away wins at Chelsea and Leicester have taken them to seventh – their highest position in the second half of a season since 2009-10. It’s a quietly brilliant achievement, for which Emery hasn’t received enough credit, though when does he? Only the top two have picked up more points than Villa – 32 in 16 games – since he took over. There’s nothing for them to fear in the run-in, and on current form they can realistically aspire to a European place. Which is an even more exciting prospect than usual when you are managed by Emery, who has won the Europa League four times.'

[martyn ellis]

This is the bit I like from the Guardian's piece:
It’s a quietly brilliant achievement, for which Emery hasn’t received enough credit, though when does he?

[Risso]

Blimey, today feels like the first day of spring, with every single football journo all seemingly just noticing the job Unai has done, all at once.

[VILLA MOLE]

i wish they wouldn’t 😳

[Smithy]

I think we went under the radar with our long spell in 11th.  They didn't notice that we were taking ourselves further and further away from 12th, and getting closer and closer to 10th.  That couple of month period where our results were pretty good, but our league position never changed, just meant no one paid us any attention - and I think we benefitted from that as Emery could coach and improve us without too much focus on us.

It's different now. There is expectation, and not just from us. Long may it continue!