Unai Emery - our manager

[Rory]

I love how much he enjoyed our goals today. He looked less like a manager, and more like me in my living room.

He loves it here, and there is not a manager in world football that I'd rather have in charge.

[Monty]

I love how much he enjoyed our goals today. He looked less like a manager, and more like me in my living room.

He loves it here, and there is not a manager in world football that I'd rather have in charge.

Exactly. I think he's found his perfect club with us.

[AV84]

I love how much he enjoyed our goals today. He looked less like a manager, and more like me in my living room.

He loves it here, and there is not a manager in world football that I'd rather have in charge.

I noticed Olsen really enjoying one of our goals too, might have been the OG, not sure, but he was loving it.

[The Edge]

I love how much he enjoyed our goals today. He looked less like a manager, and more like me in my living room.

He loves it here, and there is not a manager in world football that I'd rather have in charge.

I noticed Olsen really enjoying one of our goals too, might have been the OG, not sure, but he was loving it.

It's fantastic to see the players and the staff all seem to be in complete unison on days like yesterday. There's been the occasional bump in the road like Everton & Legia but I put that down to individuals like Tielemans who has bags of ability but he doesn't seem to chime with the club yet but if anyone can turn that around It's going to be Senor  Unai Emery. I commented on here during the week that I was worried that other teams coaches had worked out our playing style and we had been rumbled. Shame on me for questioning the boss. He completely bamboozled Brighton with a couple of subtle changes. Instead of always playing short and drawing the opposition out we mixed it up. Sometimes playing out from the back Sometimes playing it out wide and bombing on. They had probably spent all week concentrating on how to stop us playing out from the back. A small change to our style that had a huge effect. Brighton players looked baffled at times. What a coach.

[Risso]

I love how much he enjoyed our goals today. He looked less like a manager, and more like me in my living room.

He loves it here, and there is not a manager in world football that I'd rather have in charge.

I almost felt sorry for Brighton yesterday. They're a good team and I like De Zerbi, who I think will be a really top manager in years to come. The atmosphere at Villa Park last game of last season was great too, with both sets of fans applauding the other teams' European qualification. I did say almost, I am of course entirely overjoyed that we gave them a good funeralling.

[Monty]

I love how much he enjoyed our goals today. He looked less like a manager, and more like me in my living room.

He loves it here, and there is not a manager in world football that I'd rather have in charge.

I almost felt sorry for Brighton yesterday. They're a good team and I like De Zerbi, who I think will be a really top manager in years to come. The atmosphere at Villa Park last game of last season was great too, with both sets of fans applauding the other teams' European qualification. I did say almost, I am of course entirely overjoyed that we gave them a good funeralling.

Yeah, the only thing missing was schadenfreude, as I quite like Brighton and I didn't get the pure violent joy I got from when we destroyed Newcastle for instance.

Man we're so spoiled!

[Richard]

Think Unai is aiming to finish top 4 and win the ECL, probably at the expense of the domestic cups but personally I think its worth that. I also believe we have a good chance of achieving both.

[Ads]

Absolutely tonnes of tactical nouse went into Saturday, but I liked the long ball variation we had from Martinez, mainly in the first half.

Dougie would drop deep into the 18 yard box, to drag a Brighton midfielder with him, so we had a longer ball in toward Zaniolo in acres of space. Dead simple, but it was just one of multiple variations we deployed.

Absolute genius.

[Chris Smith]

Absolutely tonnes of tactical nouse went into Saturday, but I liked the long ball variation we had from Martinez, mainly in the first half.

Dougie would drop deep into the 18 yard box, to drag a Brighton midfielder with him, so we had a longer ball in toward Zaniolo in acres of space. Dead simple, but it was just one of multiple variations we deployed.

Absolute genius.

The other was physically dominating their midfield and then quickly exploiting the multiple turnovers this caused.

[LeeB]

Absolutely tonnes of tactical nouse went into Saturday, but I liked the long ball variation we had from Martinez, mainly in the first half.

Dougie would drop deep into the 18 yard box, to drag a Brighton midfielder with him, so we had a longer ball in toward Zaniolo in acres of space. Dead simple, but it was just one of multiple variations we deployed.

Absolute genius.

It also works extremely well against naive young players that are drilled to one system and can't yet works things out on the fly, and a pair of right donkeys at centre half.

Webster was a car crash against West Ham and I've never rated Dunk, who seemed to be genuinely terrified from the kick off. Watch Dunk for Watkins 2nd, it's absolute comedy, he comes over to stand him up and ends up on his arse about 10 yards for him. Watkins has totally annihilated him every time they've met.

[Risso]

Absolutely tonnes of tactical nouse went into Saturday, but I liked the long ball variation we had from Martinez, mainly in the first half.

Dougie would drop deep into the 18 yard box, to drag a Brighton midfielder with him, so we had a longer ball in toward Zaniolo in acres of space. Dead simple, but it was just one of multiple variations we deployed.

Absolute genius.

It also works extremely well against naive young players that are drilled to one system and can't yet works things out on the fly, and a pair of right donkeys at centre half.

Webster was a car crash against West Ham and I've never rated Dunk, who seemed to be genuinely terrified from the kick off. Watch Dunk for Watkins 2nd, it's absolute comedy, he comes over to stand him up and ends up on his arse about 10 yards for him. Watkins has totally annihilated him every time they've met.

Agree with all that mate.

He might have a twatty name, but I thought Solly March was their best player. If he was a bit younger I wouldn't be against trying to get him to Villa, seems to be a very good all rounder.

[LeeB]

Absolutely tonnes of tactical nouse went into Saturday, but I liked the long ball variation we had from Martinez, mainly in the first half.

Dougie would drop deep into the 18 yard box, to drag a Brighton midfielder with him, so we had a longer ball in toward Zaniolo in acres of space. Dead simple, but it was just one of multiple variations we deployed.

Absolute genius.

It also works extremely well against naive young players that are drilled to one system and can't yet works things out on the fly, and a pair of right donkeys at centre half.

Webster was a car crash against West Ham and I've never rated Dunk, who seemed to be genuinely terrified from the kick off. Watch Dunk for Watkins 2nd, it's absolute comedy, he comes over to stand him up and ends up on his arse about 10 yards for him. Watkins has totally annihilated him every time they've met.

Agree with all that mate.

He might have a twatty name, but I thought Solly March was their best player. If he was a bit younger I wouldn't be against trying to get him to Villa, seems to be a very good all rounder.

Sorry, black mark on him from the game in covid when they last beat us, it was him with the foul on Trez that got overturned and he and that troll Cucarella were a pair of snide twats.

[pauliewalnuts]

Absolutely tonnes of tactical nouse went into Saturday, but I liked the long ball variation we had from Martinez, mainly in the first half.

Dougie would drop deep into the 18 yard box, to drag a Brighton midfielder with him, so we had a longer ball in toward Zaniolo in acres of space. Dead simple, but it was just one of multiple variations we deployed.

Absolute genius.

This is the thing about Emery.

When I talk to people who support other clubs, they sometimes ask about what formation he prefers and I find myself saying that he genuinely sets us up differently pretty much every game to match the opposition, and to that extent, it's not really about formation, it's about what he has the players do on the pitch.

It's pretty remarkable really, he and his team put so much effort and preparation work in to every match. It's not going to work every time, but to be taking 2 points per match over a long period of time is truly excellent, especially when you factor in he has done this here, whilst starting with a team of shattered confidence stuck in 17th place.

[LeeB]

It's almost laughable the gap in ability between him and the bloke he replaced.

[pauliewalnuts]

And the toxicity he produced.

Gerrard was basically an inflated ego out of control.