Unai Emery

[Baldy]

This season we're behind our xG and xPts. Last season we were ahead and this season we're behind and therefore not as clinical/lucky.

If nothing has changed with the back 4 and our xG/xPts are down then we might be missing Dougie more than we'd like to think.

And Moreno, look what he is doing for Forest.

[VillaTim]

Barring a couple of brain fart moments we could be sat 2nd. The league is very much still working itself out , this season more than ever it feels

[eye digress]

Our form so far this season is very similar to the back end of last season, when Luiz was playing.

Agreed - you could look at it as a continuation of last season (as last season's start was a continuation of the prior season finish).

Personally, I expected us to start slowly this year on that basis - I think Risso, you were among those of that persuasion too.

All of which requires a belief that Unai will know how to turn us into killers come the business end of the season when the prizes are given out...

[RamboandBruno]

This season we're behind our xG and xPts. Last season we were ahead and this season we're behind and therefore not as clinical/lucky.

If nothing has changed with the back 4 and our xG/xPts are down then we might be missing Dougie more than we'd like to think.

And Moreno, look what he is doing for Forest.

Moreno didnt really play that much last season compared to when he first game and was more more influential in the run to 7th.

[usav]

Barring a couple of brain fart moments we could be sat 2nd. The league is very much still working itself out , this season more than ever it feels

I tend to agree with that.  Let's not get too high with the highs, and don't go to low with the lows.  We are on a bad run, but with 3 winnable games coming up in the league we should be right back in it.

[Olneythelonely]

Has anyone got any idea why we don't play a high line any more?

I think its because our teams become slower and if a player with pace gets in behind our high line we are stuffed. Either that or unai just felt we got found put towards end of last season

Our back 4 has been the same as last season. How has it become slower?

Its not just the back four if you look back alot of last season we also had diaby coming back and helping get back when we pushed up. We lose alot of that now as a majority of the team is nowhere near as quick as he is.

Not with a high line, that is specifically about the back four’s speed of recovery.

[Olneythelonely]

Has anyone got any idea why we don't play a high line any more?

I think its because our teams become slower and if a player with pace gets in behind our high line we are stuffed. Either that or unai just felt we got found put towards end of last season

Our back 4 has been the same as last season. How has it become slower?

Injuries mainly I would guess. We have only played three times in the league this season with the same defense. Unai maybe thinks it is a bit risky to expect players coming back from injury to be fully up to speed and play the high line.

That might be true. I think it’s more likely a deeper tactical change than that though.

I suppose we’ll see if it returns at some point.

[Tuscans]

Unai Emery doubling down on his workload to reverse Aston Villa’s drop in form.

Aston Villa help organise a regular charter flight from Birmingham to Spain whenever Unai Emery wants to take a trip home.

Emery books and pays for it himself and often goes during an international break, allowing a couple of days of rest and an opportunity to refresh.

Yet, four days after Villa’s 2-0 defeat at Anfield, a fourth consecutive loss, Emery was pictured at Bodymoor Heath, clipboard in hand, alongside the players who had not gone away with national teams, back in training.

Sources — who spoke on the condition of anonymity, like all in this article, to protect relationships — describe the work undertaken over the last 10 days as “huge”. Emery is resolved to arrest the acute decline in form, having entered uncharted territory himself after losing four straight matches for the first time in his 1,026-game managerial career, according to Opta.


Although training has been regarded as positive, the biggest focus and effort has been the sheer volume of analysis. Coaching staff believe that in parts of the losing run, Villa have been on the right track at certain points — aside from the 1-0 loss to Club Brugge, arguably the nadir of Emery’s tenure — but lost the smaller, key details. The Liverpool game served as a case in point; Villa restricted their opponents to little in open play but were punished ruthlessly on transition, from their corners in the 2-0 loss.

To underline the attention to detail, Villa have two staff members focusing solely on defensive and attacking set plays — Austin MacPhee works in tandem with set-piece analyst Jose Rodriguez Calvo, who compiles dossiers of opponents’ dead-ball approach.

Emery’s work ethic is renowned. His commitment, doing 12-hour days (and sometimes longer), has delighted internal staff and members of the dressing room, who have recognised the improvements made during his two-year tenure.

Meetings are typically long and results had been vindicating his methods. His lengthy presentations are partly designed to test players’ concentration but there remains total buy-in. Since Emery’s arrival, recruits must be viewed as psychologically robust to cope with Emery’s intensity.

“We don’t have to do meetings because we are together all day,” Monchi, president of football operations, told Movistar. “We meet for breakfast, for lunch, we live here, we are here all day, we spend 12 or 13 hours practically together.”

The Villa manager does his own analysis on top of the work his six analysts do in preparation for games, before then comparing notes. Often, he will watch footage of upcoming opposition on the treadmill or static bike, using software to clip analysis footage together. He ensures he prepares in the most granular detail possible.

Last season, one source joked how Emery would work past 8pm on Fridays, which would eat into his staff’s weekend plans.

“He is just so driven,” said midfielder John McGinn after Villa’s 2-0 win against Bologna last month. “I have never met anyone like him. He has a few times, he was an OK footballer but he wishes he had the determination and work rate he has as a manager. No one can question what he puts in, the effort — everything that comes his way and our way is on the back of hard work. You feed off your leader. He is our leader and we feed off that.”

Emery and his coaching staff’s diligence has been doubled down upon over the international break. Sources insist Villa have worked “harder than ever” to overturn their form.

Rectifying the finer details in matches has been among the key points of consideration, especially given Villa’s intense fixture schedule — they will play eight games in 28 days.

Villa’s ‘triangle of power’, comprising Emery, Monchi and director of football Damian Vidagany, lead all footballing decisions. The power structure is in charge of recruitment, squad building, long-term aspirations and general direction.

The roles of Monchi and Vidagany, as Emery’s closest confidantes, are to regulate the environment around the manager, enabling him to maintain his focus, specifically, towards on-field matters. The pair look to provide a robust footballing structure for Emery, one strong enough to withstand downturns in form and quickly rectify shortcomings.

“It’s about keeping us close to success, that we don’t go back to the Aston Villa that was in the middle of the table looking down, even in the Championship,” Monchi told Movistar.

Those close to Emery draw comparisons between Villa’s setup and how Manchester City have built a team around a figurehead coach. On the rare occasions City experience setbacks, there has been a support network behind Pep Guardiola to find swift resolutions. In some ways, it is fitting that City and Villa are coming out of the international break having suffered four successive defeats for the first time in their managers’ tenures.

“We can create strong structures so that the Champions League is not too far above us, but that we are very much on a par,” Emery told Movistar.

“The Premier League has 20 of the best 50 managers in the world,” Vidagany said to The Athletic in an interview in 2023. “Unai is close to the top level that marks Guardiola. It’s a matter of time to get there for him. I’ve never seen anyone in my life work as hard as him. This is leadership. He also has a good heart.”


Vidagany has repeatedly explained how a robust upward structure tends to elicit success on the pitch and to go from a “medium club to a great club again”. Villa now have a Spanish-speaking contingent running to more than two dozen, all people Emery wanted and knew he could trust.

“It’s the only place where I feel it’s a project, but I can never forget the results,” said Emery to Movistar. “Everything has gone very well. Some teams are stronger than us, but we want to compete and try to consolidate this project with sustained growth so that we can compete in Europe. If it is in the Champions League, all the better. Aston Villa can recover the greatness of its history.”

“You can see the fever for Aston Villa in the school playgrounds,” added Vidagany. “You walk down the street and you can see the enthusiasm. We are talking about one of the six English teams to have won the European Cup and it was too long without Aston Villa being a source of pride. I think people are proud now.”

Villa’s regeneration under Emery has elevated expectations, to the point where the recent run of results is deeply incongruous. Emery’s hard work has provided the foundations for their raised expectation levels. The international break has allowed him to reiterate those characteristics. He will be hoping those long hours pay off against Crystal Palace at Villa Park on Saturday.

[SaddVillan]

In Unai we trust.

[Nelly]

Thank you for sharing that, Tuscans. Always wonderful to read about Emery and it reiterates for me how incredibly fortunate we are to have him.

[Risso]

I'm sorry, but getting done at a corner because we didn't leave a single player back isn't 'small details' it's just terrible tactics. I don't know if it's more MacPhee's domain than Unai's, but to then repeat the same mistake nearly leading to another goal a few minutes later is unbelievable. I keep banging on about it, and I will do until it improves, but the defence is awful, and has been for nearly a year. However hard Unai is working, he hasn't solved that issue, or even got close to sorting it.

[jwarry]

That’s what I wanted to hear (not Risso’s post by the way!)

[Drummond]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cx2d1j0v082o

Good article this about what's changed for us this season..

[edgysatsuma89]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cx2d1j0v082o

Good article this about what's changed for us this season..

Interesting article. Sell Martinez and bring back Dougie 😉.

[Louzie0]

Tap up Doug for a loan next week.