Unai Emery

[Mellin]

That isn't the bounce of a man who has achieved everything he wants to. That's the bounce of a man who is excited about what we're gonna do next year.

[Skipper_The_Eyechild]

Imagine being disparaged. I’d be fuming.

I reckon someone may have disagreed and said it wasn't a 'good idea' 😡. 'I've got one word for you - Ombudsman. I'm going to the Ombudsman'.

[SaddVillan]

The Guardian

Premier League Review 2025-26: managers of the season

From the experience of Emery to European-bound Le Bris there are a handful of managers whose work stood out

Regis Le Bris (Sunderland)

Unai Emery (Aston Villa)
If the Premier League had waited until after the title was decided to release its six-man shortlist for manager of the year, one suspects Emery would have featured instead of Pep Guardiola. Despite what seems like an obvious and understandable exercise in arse-covering, the absence of the Aston Villa manager still seems extraordinary. After a dismal start in which his team took only three points from 15 available, any murmurings of disquiet were silenced by a run of 12 wins in 13 top-flight games. The squad management and tactical nous required to orchestrate such an impressive mid-season turnaround cannot be overstated, not least because Emery was hamstrung by profitability and sustainability rules, masterminding a successful Europa League campaign and coping with a midfield injury crisis. Transforming a season that began so woefully into one of the most successful in the club’s history is a remarkable feat and Emery’s name should feature prominently in any conversation about the top flight’s most impressive coach.

Mikel Arteta (Arsenal)

Keith Andrew (Brentford)

Andoni Iraola (Bournemouth)

[danno]

September seems so long ago now but I don’t remember any reports of players being unhappy with training or tactics etc.

Chelsea Man Utd etc go five without a win and there’s no shortage of players leaking stories criticising the manager.

That spirit and togetherness is a credit to them and the manager and a big reason why we pulled ourselves out of a rough start.

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

Our brilliant end to the season coincided with Lindelof playing in midfield.

We were being talked about as title challengers at one stage of the season but then had an awful run which coincided with the injuries to McGinn, Kamara and Tielemans.

It’s a shame Unai either hadn’t worked out Lindelof could play in the midfield or preferred not to use him during those couple of months when we were bereft of midfielders.

In the end, I don’t think it made much difference, but i do wonder why he wasn’t played there much earlier.

When I suggested he play there before the Forest game it got disparaged.

To me it seemed that a huge part of our system was winning duels to allow the one touch passing etc and to raise tempo. He proved perfect for that. Better than Onana IMO.

I disagreed with you, not because it was a poor idea just that I thought it unlikely to happen in a European Semi final if it hadn’t been done before, save for the odd few minutes at the end of a game when Lindelof first arrived.

[PaulWinch again]

I know everyone knows this but when you lay it out:

League:

7th
4th
6th
4th

Cups:

FA Cup Semi-Final
Conference League Semi-Final
Champions League Quarter-Final
Europa League winners


It’s crazy how much he’s done.

[pauliewalnuts]

Imagine being disparaged. I’d be fuming.

“Wild? I was livid”

[Toronto Villa]

Our brilliant end to the season coincided with Lindelof playing in midfield.

We were being talked about as title challengers at one stage of the season but then had an awful run which coincided with the injuries to McGinn, Kamara and Tielemans.

It’s a shame Unai either hadn’t worked out Lindelof could play in the midfield or preferred not to use him during those couple of months when we were bereft of midfielders.

In the end, I don’t think it made much difference, but i do wonder why he wasn’t played there much earlier.

When I suggested he play there before the Forest game it got disparaged.

To me it seemed that a huge part of our system was winning duels to allow the one touch passing etc and to raise tempo. He proved perfect for that. Better than Onana IMO.

I disagreed with you, not because it was a poor idea just that I thought it unlikely to happen in a European Semi final if it hadn’t been done before, save for the odd few minutes at the end of a game when Lindelof first arrived.

You’re close to disparaging him again. Shame on you. You are a cad and a bounder sir.

[Dave]

F365's winners of the season:

Unai Emery

There cannot have been many more impressive single-season coaching achievements in the history of British football than taking Aston Villa from a crushing, actively damaging summer transfer window to a five-game winless start, then a comfortable fourth-place finish supplemented by a shiny, drought-ending Europa League trophy.

It might not be Manager-of-the-Year-shortlist-worthy, but it is a remarkable feat and testament to Emery’s genius.

Even just qualifying a team outside the gilded, traditional elite for European football through Premier League position four years in a row is astounding and should be neither underplayed nor overlooked.

Doing so with a free Victor Lindelof as their most-used new signing is absurd. Villa are, somehow, arguably the best-set title challenger next year under Emery.

[Ianu]

Our brilliant end to the season coincided with Lindelof playing in midfield.

We were being talked about as title challengers at one stage of the season but then had an awful run which coincided with the injuries to McGinn, Kamara and Tielemans.

It’s a shame Unai either hadn’t worked out Lindelof could play in the midfield or preferred not to use him during those couple of months when we were bereft of midfielders.

In the end, I don’t think it made much difference, but i do wonder why he wasn’t played there much earlier.

When I suggested he play there before the Forest game it got disparaged.

To me it seemed that a huge part of our system was winning duels to allow the one touch passing etc and to raise tempo. He proved perfect for that. Better than Onana IMO.

But the question remains why he wasn’t played there earlier.

[paul_e]

F365's winners of the season:

Unai Emery

There cannot have been many more impressive single-season coaching achievements in the history of British football than taking Aston Villa from a crushing, actively damaging summer transfer window to a five-game winless start, then a comfortable fourth-place finish supplemented by a shiny, drought-ending Europa League trophy.

It might not be Manager-of-the-Year-shortlist-worthy, but it is a remarkable feat and testament to Emery’s genius.

Even just qualifying a team outside the gilded, traditional elite for European football through Premier League position four years in a row is astounding and should be neither underplayed nor overlooked.

Doing so with a free Victor Lindelof as their most-used new signing is absurd. Villa are, somehow, arguably the best-set title challenger next year under Emery.

Hard to argue with any of that, which makes the decision to not shortlist him all the more bizarre.

[Ian.]

Our brilliant end to the season coincided with Lindelof playing in midfield.

We were being talked about as title challengers at one stage of the season but then had an awful run which coincided with the injuries to McGinn, Kamara and Tielemans.

It’s a shame Unai either hadn’t worked out Lindelof could play in the midfield or preferred not to use him during those couple of months when we were bereft of midfielders.

In the end, I don’t think it made much difference, but i do wonder why he wasn’t played there much earlier.

When I suggested he play there before the Forest game it got disparaged.

To me it seemed that a huge part of our system was winning duels to allow the one touch passing etc and to raise tempo. He proved perfect for that. Better than Onana IMO.

But the question remains why he wasn’t played there earlier.

I guess he had to earn Emery’s trust like most of our signings, even with those players bought for that specific role. Considering he was purchased to cover centre back, maybe the manager had already thought of it, but was practicing this situation during the training sessions and not pinching ideas off H&V.

[Crown Hill]

Our brilliant end to the season coincided with Lindelof playing in midfield.

We were being talked about as title challengers at one stage of the season but then had an awful run which coincided with the injuries to McGinn, Kamara and Tielemans.

It’s a shame Unai either hadn’t worked out Lindelof could play in the midfield or preferred not to use him during those couple of months when we were bereft of midfielders.

In the end, I don’t think it made much difference, but i do wonder why he wasn’t played there much earlier.

When I suggested he play there before the Forest game it got disparaged.

To me it seemed that a huge part of our system was winning duels to allow the one touch passing etc and to raise tempo. He proved perfect for that. Better than Onana IMO.

But the question remains why he wasn’t played there earlier.

Yep loath to start this all up again but the point I was making in this post was that the idea was widely ridiculed at the time (at least on here).

“mental” “ridiculous” “overthinking” “not happening” and then same again after the line up was announced.

So nobody was asking why it took so long at the time. They were asking why it was happening at all. So really it’s 20/20 hindsight to ask why it took so long.

[Skipper_The_Eyechild]

And again, I also brought it up prior to the Forest game and no-one was saying things like it was 'mental'. You sound strangely precious about this for some reason.

[eye digress]

He played in midfield in his first appearance for us, up at Everton.

Maybe Unai saw something that turned him off the idea.