Unai Emery - our manager

[OCD]

I think I would be whining if I were a United fan too. Even though they've some how found a way of winning, often they've played awful and didn't deserve to win.

[Clark W Griswold]

i do wish somebody at Villa would media train him not to scratch the left side of his face.

He can scratch it as much as he wants, as far as I'm concerned.

In fact, I'd happily do it for him.

Sometimes his right side !

Better than scratching his arse.

[dave shelley]

Just a thought but maybe he scratches his face subconsciously as an aid to translating in his head from Spanish to English before speaking.

[Risso]

Just a thought but maybe he scratches his face subconsciously as an aid to translating in his head from Spanish to English before speaking.

Yes, it's a nervous reflex. The more unsure he is of the question or what he's saying, the more he does it. Personally I think his English has improved no end in his time with us so far.

[Brazilian Villain]

Just a thought but maybe he scratches his face subconsciously as an aid to translating in his head from Spanish to English before speaking.

Yes, it's a nervous reflex. The more unsure he is of the question or what he's saying, the more he does it. Personally I think his English has improved no end in his time with us so far.

No sign yet of him acquiring a Brummie accent, like Jan Molby did with the Scouse accent.

[olaftab]

i do wish somebody at Villa would media train him not to scratch the left side of his face.

He can scratch his left bollock as far as I am concerned on TV if he keeps delivering results.

[Rory]

Just a thought but maybe he scratches his face subconsciously as an aid to translating in his head from Spanish to English before speaking.

Yes, it's a nervous reflex. The more unsure he is of the question or what he's saying, the more he does it. Personally I think his English has improved no end in his time with us so far.

No sign yet of him acquiring a Brummie accent, like Jan Molby did with the Scouse accent.

Or our very own Hitz.

[Simon Page]

All the best Villa people favour The Left Side.

And Tiswas.

[Risso]

Some people just pick up languages and accents a lot more easily than others. I was good at French and German at school, and could speak, read and write both to a good standard but really struggled with understanding what was being said to me, due in part to my hearing being a bit rubbish. I would guess it's similar in some ways to how some people are inherently more musical than others and can pick out a tune, something I also struggle with.

In any case, it's clearly not holding Unai back at all.

[mrfuse]

How Unai Emery Made Aston Villa Champions League Contenders

I thought this was a good watch and discusses with a little bit of detail why we are successful. A lot of it we already realise but a few of the stats were surprising.

[Somniloquism]

I liked Cleary when he was on WhatCulture. I didn't realise he was now at 442 since the Future Publishing buyout.

[paul_e]

I liked Cleary when he was on WhatCulture. I didn't realise he was now at 442 since the Future Publishing buyout.

Yeah he's pretty good. There are a couple of things he missed in review but he's mostly right. (the big one he missed is that when we switch to 325 quite often one of the 2 is the opposite fullback who stays fairly wide and Kamara steps in, the reason is that it lets us recycle across the back and attack down the opposite wing a little faster)

Nothing really surprising even in those stats, the most interesting one is around the high press and is something I think a lot of people have missed about us. We do press but we don't try particularly hard to win the ball, instead, as he said, we're trying to control how they move the ball into our half so we can win in back and counter-attack on our terms. By letting them get the ball to their fullbacks fairly easily we encourage teams to push wider, creating the space for McGinn/Bailey/Zaniolo/etc to step inside and carry the ball into the final third.

[mrfuse]

I liked Cleary when he was on WhatCulture. I didn't realise he was now at 442 since the Future Publishing buyout.

Yeah he's pretty good. There are a couple of things he missed in review but he's mostly right. (the big one he missed is that when we switch to 325 quite often one of the 2 is the opposite fullback who stays fairly wide and Kamara steps in, the reason is that it lets us recycle across the back and attack down the opposite wing a little faster)

Nothing really surprising even in those stats, the most interesting one is around the high press and is something I think a lot of people have missed about us. We do press but we don't try particularly hard to win the ball, instead, as he said, we're trying to control how they move the ball into our half so we can win in back and counter-attack on our terms. By letting them get the ball to their fullbacks fairly easily we encourage teams to push wider, creating the space for McGinn/Bailey/Zaniolo/etc to step inside and carry the ball into the final third.

Like you say we are not really one of the top teams in the high turnovers league but I didn't expect us to be in the bottom three for that. I think the surprising one for me was the total number of Direct attacks. We are top of the league with regards to those and yet Manchester City are in 15th, which is probably why I find them boring to watch. Nothing was mind blowing just quite interesting.

[Somniloquism]

Nothing was mind blowing just quite interesting.

Which is what he stated at the end.

[Toronto Villa]

Nas on growing the “Emery family” as we Real Union joins up. It’s all part of the plan to keep Unai more than just a manager of the club but a central feature in the overall infrastructure. He’s clearly absolutely critical to everything we are now and will be in the future.

https://x.com/jayvtid/status/1729497694085816541?s=46