Unai Emery

[ChicagoLion]

The squad is good enough to have a tilt at the Europa League and I think that will be our target this season.

That and getting back into the CL.

I don’t think we can do both, ie win Europa League and get 4th 5th in the Prem.

Well, maybe not, but winning the Europa would give us Chumps League qualification.

So he will try and keep us in touch in both, but at some point he will have to prioritise.

[Mister E]

The squad is good enough to have a tilt at the Europa League and I think that will be our target this season.

That and getting back into the CL.

I don’t think we can do both, ie win Europa League and get 4th 5th in the Prem.

Well, maybe not, but winning the Europa would give us Chumps League qualification.

So he will try and keep us in touch in both, but at some point he will have to prioritise.

Yeah.

[PaulWinch again]

I have complete faith in Unai, but Saturday was odd for a couple of reasons. Firstly not only did I think the way we set up entirely play into Newcastle’s hands, but it also screamed “we’re afraid of you”. Secondly it wasn’t anything like what we’d been doing in preseason.

Now we got a point, which looks ok after the red card, but I hope we never set up like that again. We are short of options, but there were players on the bench who could have given us much better balance and an attacking threat.

I hope if we get a couple of players in it’ll embolden us a bit.

[Toronto Villa]

For me, if I was to be a little critical of Emery’s tactics at times he plays too much rope-a-dope. That is taking blows or ducking and weaving tiring out the opponent, aiming to hit them at the end. I appreciate why we might use it in certain situations but I don’t like it and certainly not when we are at home or against any team we shouldn’t feel inferior to.

[djbone]

We're on holiday nearby (Bilbao) so went to take a look at Unai's pretty hometown Hondarribia and the Real Unión stadium today.
We thought the latter would be shut as it was late afternoon and their season doesn't start for 3 weeks, but they let us in and rang up Unai's brother Igor who's the club president and he insisted on coming down to the stadium (he lives nearby) to give us a tour, including their four Spanish Cups and pics of their grandad who kept goal for the last two, in the late 1920s. Top bloke, lovely staff + great little stadium, well worth a visit if you're in the area (Irun, near San Sebastian and the French border).
Igor's been over to VP a fair bit and said the team came and trained at Bodymoor last summer while our lot were touring the States. He'd been doing the paperwork today to bring over our U21 defender Thierry Katsukunya for Sept.
He said Unai is 'very very happy' at Villa, but always wants 'more more more'!  Couldn't resist picking up their Villa-inspired second shirt (home kit looks like Newcastle) and of their class black scarves with the Basque colours.

[Meanwood Villa]

Sounds (and looks) a great afternoon dj

[djbone]

It was class MV.
Not sure some of their fans are as keen on their corporate overlords mind, given they got relegated to the Spanish fourth division last season.
The club (somewhat embarrassingly) tweeted /Insta'd a pic of our visit after and there's some choice comments from locals

[enigma]

I hope I'm wrong, but that audio of him snapping at the Talksport reporter and also the program notes, I have a feeling that Unai will leave at the end of the season.

For someone so calm and composed, to see him starting to get so frustrated with the PSR stuff, I fear he will end up leaving sooner rather than later. Especially when he said he wasn't here to waste his time.

Like I said hope I'm wrong.

He's never struck me as being all that calm and composed. Have you seen him on the sidelines? Constantly blowing his top, bollocking his staff, berating the fourth official etc. I've no doubt the financial restrictions are frustrating but don't see him quitting because of it.

[cdbearsfan]

That's great DJB.

[Pat McMahon]

It was class MV.
Not sure some of their fans are as keen on their corporate overlords mind, given they got relegated to the Spanish fourth division last season.
The club (somewhat embarrassingly) tweeted /Insta'd a pic of our visit after and there's some choice comments from locals

Blimey Lee, that’s a cracking afternoon trip. I was in Bilbao and San Sebastien about 3 years ago and loved them both.

Did you offer to DJ for them?!

[ChicagoLion]

Great stuff dj.

[dave shelley]

A nice post.

[john e]

That’s brilliant DJB what a trip you had (experience not acid)