Unai Emery

[SaddVillan]

A couple of whimsical thoughts:

Several of our goals recently have reminded me of the type we used to concede to better opposition when we were a crap huff and puff side.

The opposition just seemed to make it look so easy as they just passed the ball through and around us to set the goalscorer up with a relatively easy tap-in, with defenders appearing to be standing around like statues marking space unable to get near the ball or put in an effective challenge.


Reckon NSWE have invested in a supercomputer at BMH on which are recorded all of our fixtures, international games and breaks, players' minutes, their physical condition and fouls comitted.

The Professor uses it to plan who starts, who is subbed off and on and when, so as to optimise their contribution without risking burnout. It's got a genius algorithm predicting who will be on 4 yellows and when, and therefors likely to be suspended, so that potential replacements are fully fit and have had sufficient minutes to step in without the rhythm of the team being disturbed.

[PeterWithesShin]

Thirteen months ago, former Villa boss Steven Gerrard was sacked with the side outside of the relegation zone on goals scored.

Villa's total of 24 Premier League victories in 2023 is only bettered by Manchester City's 26. It is also level with the club record for a calendar year which was last achieved in 1931.

Villa have made their best start to a top-flight season since 1980-81, the year they last won the title.

[Toronto Villa]

Everything he has done and achieved in such a short length of time is beyond astonishing. And it will be hard to maintain because we are that much more of a target and we will need reinforcements who will have to blend in quickly to sustain our momentum. But what a joy this is and to think that the manager and his team are so obsessed with continuous improvement.

[SaddVillan]

Not surethosexwho were at the game yesterday would have heard this.

I think the word is obsessive.

https://x.com/mattlyynch/status/1733763413359100256?t=hepsJ1xVdwAYfDCyeDKH-w&s=08

[pablo_picasso]

Everything he has done and achieved in such a short length of time is beyond astonishing. And it will be hard to maintain because we are that much more of a target and we will need reinforcements who will have to blend in quickly to sustain our momentum. But what a joy this is and to think that the manager and his team are so obsessed with continuous improvement.

I had some idiot Liverpool fan tell me that Emery is shit & we are overrated because we spent nearly £500m, so we should be at the top of the table.

This is the same idiot who used to pop up every time we lost to remind me that we fired his wank-bank poster boy Gerrard.

He just cannot accept that Gerrard is so monumentally shit that a decent manager is proving just how shit he is by taking us from 16th to 3rd in the space of a year.

He also cannot accept that our NET spend in the past three years has been around £37m per year & our NET spend over the past decade is around £38m per year.

Plus, he is a monumental c**t...

Not surethosexwho were at the game yesterday would have heard this.

I think the word is obsessive.

https://x.com/mattlyynch/status/1733763413359100256?t=hepsJ1xVdwAYfDCyeDKH-w&s=08

Or genius...

[LukeJames]

Not surethosexwho were at the game yesterday would have heard this.

I think the word is obsessive.

https://x.com/mattlyynch/status/1733763413359100256?t=hepsJ1xVdwAYfDCyeDKH-w&s=08

That's phenomenal, going from roll your sleeves up to this, we are truly blessed rite now.

[KNVillan]

Here is a good article on Unai from The Athletic. I was going to cut & paste but it was a tad long...

https://archive.ph/Vh9G1

[Neil Hawkes]

Too many years supporting this club still leaves me with the feeling as through the bubble is going to burst!

And yet, everything SUE has said, from his plans to execution, has been exceptional.

I really want to believe, I'm not a Brummie, I'm a Villan - pessimism is ingrained I suppose; I think I need professional help.

[Monty]

Not surethosexwho were at the game yesterday would have heard this.

I think the word is obsessive.

https://x.com/mattlyynch/status/1733763413359100256?t=hepsJ1xVdwAYfDCyeDKH-w&s=08

He makes runs himself in training exercises to test the staff's ability to react!

Laughing my head off. The guy is the absolute best.

[pablo_picasso]

Too many years supporting this club still leaves me with the feeling as through the bubble is going to burst!

And yet, everything SUE has said, from his plans to execution, has been exceptional.

I really want to believe, I'm not a Brummie, I'm a Villan - pessimism is ingrained I suppose; I think I need professional help.

Im still in this camp too...

[algy]

Too many years supporting this club still leaves me with the feeling as through the bubble is going to burst!

And yet, everything SUE has said, from his plans to execution, has been exceptional.

I really want to believe, I'm not a Brummie, I'm a Villan - pessimism is ingrained I suppose; I think I need professional help.

Im still in this camp too...

Yep, I was wandering back from taking the kids to school this morning thinking about the Villa, and pretty much what I'd come to is that I'm going to enjoy this whilst it lasts, because it's inevitably going to turn to shit at some point soon, so I want to make the most of the short time when it seems like things might work out.

I've always felt I'm an optimistic sort, but yeah ... when it comes to Villa, that really gets turned on it's head.

[Monty]

I'm loving that we're this week's clickbait magnets, everyone's pumping out videos and whatnot about us to get attention and that's great - but I wouldn't be a Villa fan if it didn't make me a bit nervous!

Brentford's a tough game, we always seem to do rubbish there, and it's a classic kind of game for us to do a classic Villa defeat in.

I'm sure Emery's got them absolutely laser-focused on it though. I just hope it works! But good God if anyone can make it work...

[Somniloquism]

It is our first league match of the season without Dougie, so depending on what we change to take that into account could be the key.

[Monty]

It is our first league match of the season without Dougie, so depending on what we change to take that into account could be the key.

I'm thinking it's got to be McGinn or Tielemans central and Ramsey coming in wide left or right.

[Drummond]

I think Johan Lange probably deserves more praise than Gerrard does.

Oh I agree, but players signed are always the current managers signings, no one gives a shit or pays much attention to who did all the background work.  I'll bet Steve Bruce knew fuck all about John McGinn but McGinn will always be a Steve Bruce signing. 

I think in fairness, Gerrard deserves some small credit in persuading Kamara to sign for Villa.  Wasn't he part of a delegation that visited the player at his home?  For that alone Gerrard deserves a small bit of our thanks.

I think it's pretty easy to see to when it's a manager signing, and when it's a DOF job. Watkins and Konsa would have been down to Smith because of his Brentford days, and he's on record as saying that Luiz was offered to him by Pitarch. Danny Ings was almost certainly a Lange/Purslow emergency signing to distract the fans after the sale of Grealish. Kamara was definitely a Gerrard signing, as Bouba said this when he joined "When the coach comes to see you at home, when he makes the trip, when he explains the project, his ambition for me in the years to come, I take this into account. Especially when it comes from Steven Gerrard, one of the best midfielders in the world in his position. It leaned in my decision. I can’t wait to join him to work."

I thought it was an odd decision at the time, but selling Ings is one of the best decisions Emery has made. Trying to fit him in played a big part in the downfall of both Emery's predecessors I think. He's not a bad player and was a decent goal scorer, but added nothing else because his legs had almost totally gone.


I'm looking forward to seeing the sorts of players Monchi and Emery are looking at currently.

I've been away, so catching up.. but whilst Gerrard going out there almost certainly clinched it, we'd already identified Kamara as a target beforehand and Gerrard just clinched it.

Much like Duran coming in when he did, we'd already got the deal sorted before Emery confirmed he'd be happy to have him.