Unai Emery

[Brazilian Villain]

They could see the thought and work that Emery put in. There was the clear focus on the goalkeeper, Emi Martínez, keeping the ball longer in playing out and then getting Emi Buendía to pick it up in the hole.

Martínez has really bought into the Emery ethos and winning mentality, declaring "The World Cup is Not Enough".

[pauliewalnuts]

From The Times today

Time for English football to recognise Unai Emery as a truly elite coach
Henry Winter

Unfairly mocked at Arsenal, the Spaniard has created such a happy Villa ‘family’ that shrewd stars will be queueing up to join his revolution this summer

When Unai Emery addressed his Aston Villa players after the late win over Leicester City last week, he didn’t just speak of those who started or came on. He shared the praise around everyone in the squad, around the staff and those behind the scenes at Bodymoor Heath and Villa Park. Emery’s message was that everyone at Villa is in this together, and all contribute to the success. “Creating a family” is Emery’s ethos.

It reflects the brutal nature of life in the English dugout that Emery is already the 12th-longest-serving manager in the madhouse of the Premier League playhouse. He’s been here hardly five months. But what an impact he’s had. Under Emery, Villa have risen from 16th and fearing the Championship to sixth and dreaming of Europe. Villa have taken 35 points in the 17 games since Emery replaced Steven Gerrard, and have dropped only two points in their past seven games.

A squad that had been doubted by many, and had lost confidence under Gerrard, began believing during the first training session under Emery, after his appointment on November 1. Staff were impressed by how much he already knew about the players, their strengths and weaknesses, even their set-piece routines.

Even in the short time available before the new man’s first game in charge, against Manchester United on November 6, the players could see that Emery had prepared the patterns of play meticulously. They could see the thought and work that Emery put in. There was the clear focus on the goalkeeper, Emi Martínez, keeping the ball longer in playing out and then getting Emi Buendía to pick it up in the hole.

Emery kept emphasising the importance of keeping the ball. Come the match, the work at Bodymoor Heath was transferred successfully to Villa Park, they won 3-1 and the players bought into Emery’s methods and management. They’re being well coached. Emery has mixed up Villa’s approach, that measured build-up from the back, the well-planned movement of attackers to create space, and then the sudden break with a pass forward, unleashing the pace of Ollie Watkins and Leon Bailey.

At that first game, Villa fans noticed Emery disappear down the tunnel quickly after the final whistle. It’s not Emery’s style to seize the limelight. He’s not waving to the Villa faithful during games, and staff say it is partly because the head coach is so engrossed in the game. He’s not punching the air in front of the Holte End after a win, and that’s simply humility on his part and a desire for players to have the attention. He’s also apparently so exhausted by his emotional and mental engagement in the 90 minutes that he wants a quiet breather.

Emery is aware of the Villa fans’ importance and his post-match comments to broadcasters include an appreciation of the supporters. After Saturday’s victory over Nottingham Forest, fans went on social media to express their delight at the time Emery spent after the game talking to them, signing autographs and accommodating selfie requests.

He’s a civilised man, a quality not always prevalent in the Premier League jungle. Ask the broadcasters who interview him immediately after a game, when emotions can run riot over the result, the opposition and the officials, and Emery is invariably described as “charming”, “honest” and “a gentleman”.

He’s polite, he’s turned Villa around so is it time for a proper reappraisal of Emery? It is time English football acknowledged that he is an elite coach, who guided Sevilla to three Europa League triumphs, Paris Saint-Germain to Ligue 1 (OK, but he still did it, and by 13 points) and Villarreal to the Europa League.

He flopped at Arsenal between PSG and Villarreal, and was unfairly mocked for his accent, but maybe that failure should be viewed in the context that whoever succeeded a legend in Arsène Wenger was always going to struggle to escape the long shadow, the reality that an ageing squad needed urgent work and that much of the fanbase was riven with divisions and seething with dissent.

He has learnt from his mistakes at Arsenal, the confusing tactics, the musical chairs with the captaincy, the poor recruitment (Nicolas Pépé, Sokratis Papastathopoulos) and the sagas with big-name players such as Mesut Ozil. He’s a better manager now.

The full re-evaluation of Emery will come at the end of the season, if he manages to hold off teams also pursuing a European place, such as Brighton & Hove Albion. Emery’s next challenge this weekend is Newcastle United, the team he turned down. Villa’s squad is also thinning, with Bailey now added to an injury list that includes Philippe Coutinho, Matty Cash and Boubacar Kamara.

In assessing Emery, due notice must be made of how a weakened Villa were embarrassed by Stevenage Borough of Sky Bet League Two in the third round of the FA Cup at Villa Park. But the league was Emery’s focus, and he can already be counted a success, for Villa’s upward mobility, for the unity of the team, and the very obvious improvement individually and collectively.

Everyone focused on Prince William and Prince George being at Villa Park on Saturday for the win over Forest, but Gareth Southgate was also present. Emery has got two players who were omitted from Southgate’s World Cup squad, Watkins and Tyrone Mings, playing well again, and surely in contention for England recalls.

Emery is considered so hands-on by staff that he is as much a teacher as a coach. Players respond because they can see his ideas work and his training drills are well thought-out. They respond because they admire his seriousness, dedication and attention to detail, and how this is a product of the long hours he puts in at Bodymoor Heath.
Staff talk of passing Emery’s office at 8pm and he’s analysing the next opponents or going back though a Villa game. Players also respond because the 51-year-old is a decent, genuine individual, tougher than perceived, but doesn’t make things about himself. It’s about that collective, that family.

Emery and his staff have improved all areas of the pitch. Martínez is even more of a commanding goalkeeper, more deliberate in his distribution as Emery instils his tactics of building from the back. The detail Emery’s goalkeeper coach, Javi García, goes into with Martínez is extensive. They dissect play, analyse goal threats, trying to leave nothing to chance.

Villa have conceded only two goals in this seven-game unbeaten run and central to that has been the excellence of the Mings-Ezri Konsa axis. Further forward, John McGinn has never played better. He was out of sorts when Emery arrived, so the head coach got him in his office and discussed where the Scotland midfielder thought he was most effective on the field. Emery then built a platform on which McGinn could express himself while also giving him information on where he should be in and out of possession. Emery challenged McGinn to deliver even more, and he is doing so, consistently.

Emery also demanded Watkins be more ruthless, told him how much he believed in him as his main striker, and sold Danny Ings to West Ham United. Watkins now looks physically stronger, certainly more intelligent in his runs and efficient in his finishing, varying his repertoire such as the dinked finish. He works closely with Antonio Rodríguez Saravia, Emery’s “individual performance coach”, examining clips of other strikers, and now has nine goals in 11 matches.

Emery’s also made good decisions on personnel, bringing in Real Betis’s Álex Moreno, who is playing so well, putting in four crosses against Forest, that he is keeping out Lucas Digne, and recalling Bertrand Traoré on loan from Basaksehir. When it comes to recruitment this summer, potential signings thinking of their professional development will look at Villa, and Emery, and appreciate that he will improve them.

It is good to see Villa up there. Their success is even more important because of the nature of some of the ownership models above them, the nation states (City and Newcastle, possibly Manchester United soon). Villa are respected for their balanced contributions in Premier League meetings, especially when it comes to debates about curbing clubs’ spending. Villa are an important and sound voice in the running of the Premier League. Just as they have an important and sound presence in the dugout.

[hilts_coolerking]

"Villa are respected for their balanced contributions in Premier League meetings..."

Didn't know that.  It's very pleasing to read.

[Drummond]

Purslow is a reasonable sort I think. Plus he helped to develop the FFP regs I think so should be well placed to understand it all.

I like that our club is gaining respect on, and off, the pitch.

[Hookeysmith]

I think we have always had the respect off the pitch, especially amongst those who follow football history, but now we are hopefully having a team on it to match.

I cannot wait to see the type of player we will be going after as i think NSWD will back him with whatever  and whoever he wants

[SamTheMouse]

I think we have always had the respect off the pitch, especially amongst those who follow football history, but now we are hopefully having a team on it to match.

I cannot wait to see the type of player we will be going after as i think NSWD will back him with whatever  and whoever he wants

And as the article above suggests, he should be able to attract some big names too. It's going to be a very interesting summer.

[pablo_picasso]

I find it hilarious that those cockerney beauts at Arsenal, who can barely speak their own language, were taking the piss out of a chap who can speak five languages, because of his accent.

Have they ever heard their own?

Fraudulent second hand car salesmen sounding dick fucks...

They could be speaking love poetry to you & you would think they are trying to steal your wallet...



Thats a decent article though.

Its about time someone stopped wanking over Newcastle & Arsenal & finally recognised our ridiculously quick turnaround.

I think we have always had the respect off the pitch, especially amongst those who follow football history, but now we are hopefully having a team on it to match.

I cannot wait to see the type of player we will be going after as i think NSWD will back him with whatever  and whoever he wants

Im not sure we have respect of other fans or the media.

The amount of unwarranted shit we get, with a lot of it being prejudice about our location, is ridiculous.

Most fans have no idea that we have a European Cup in our cabinet, let alone being founders of the football league.

We may have the respect of other clubs though. Especially if we are Switzerland in the ongoing battle of the plastic clubs & the subjectively smaller clubs...

[eamonn]

Cant' wait for the opening of the North Stand two years hence when the players do a lap of honour of the ground with our newly won pots (FA Cup and Europa) on parade. It's gonna be well-sick!

[Somniloquism]

I find it hilarious that those cockerney beauts at Arsenal, who can barely speak their own language, were taking the piss out of a chap who can speak five languages, because of his accent.

It wasn't just his own fans but others as well. Look at the crisp-munchers twitter when he was first announced. I also suspect if we were in the Prem the same time as he was there would have been comments on here about it.

[Ian.]

I really don’t mind Arsenal, I never have done and since the days of Wenger they have been great to watch. I’ve only got one mate who supports them, since his Uni days so he did adopt them and he’s a really good friend. He’s not the usual arrogant Man U/Liverpool type fan like most of my other mates. So I guess because of that I’ve never had any problems with them as a team.

[Sexual Ealing]

I really don’t mind Arsenal, I never have done and since the days of Wenger they have been great to watch. I’ve only got one mate who supports them, since his Uni days so he did adopt them and he’s a really good friend. He’s not the usual arrogant Man U/Liverpool type fan like most of my other mates. So I guess because of that I’ve never had any problems with them as a team.

Same here.

[john e]

I really don’t mind Arsenal, I never have done and since the days of Wenger they have been great to watch. I’ve only got one mate who supports them, since his Uni days so he did adopt them and he’s a really good friend. He’s not the usual arrogant Man U/Liverpool type fan like most of my other mates. So I guess because of that I’ve never had any problems with them as a team.

Same here.

And here

[pablo_picasso]

I really don’t mind Arsenal, I never have done and since the days of Wenger they have been great to watch. I’ve only got one mate who supports them, since his Uni days so he did adopt them and he’s a really good friend. He’s not the usual arrogant Man U/Liverpool type fan like most of my other mates. So I guess because of that I’ve never had any problems with them as a team.

Almost every Arsenal fan that I have ever come in contact with has been a monumental bellend. Whether lauding it during the Wenger years, or lauding it because of the Wenger years, I have never met one who hasn't been a giant cockend.

[hilts_coolerking]

I really don’t mind Arsenal, I never have done and since the days of Wenger they have been great to watch. I’ve only got one mate who supports them, since his Uni days so he did adopt them and he’s a really good friend. He’s not the usual arrogant Man U/Liverpool type fan like most of my other mates. So I guess because of that I’ve never had any problems with them as a team.

Almost every Arsenal fan that I have ever come in contact with has been a monumental bellend. Whether lauding it during the Wenger years, or lauding it because of the Wenger years, I have never met one who hasn't been a giant cockend.

My word you're on one tonight pablo.  Do you need a hug?

[Smirker]

I agree with Pablo but I think it's a London thing because I can say the same about all of them apart from Palace. Palace seem like the only decent bunch.