Unai Emery

[duke313]

18 minutes ago, IrishVilla10 said:

I would say it’s highly unlikely he would leave now, but has anyone thought Levy might want him at spurs? I think Unai’s smart enough not to touch that job but I have been thinking about it 

I don't think he'd leave until he's achieved what he said he wanted to achieve.

And anyway, he's contracted for 4 and 1/2 years, so would take him up to the end of 2026-27 season.  And unless he has some sort of clause where he can leave for a CL club, Spurs would have to pay more than Chelsea did for Potter. Which ain't happening.

[KMitch]

On 20/03/2023 at 08:43, Zhan_Zhuang said:

Wow, Emery got seventy points in his first season with Arse. And they thought he was a failure?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Arsenal have the most delusional fans with the highest sense of entitlement out there.  They honestly thought that Wenger was the reason they weren't winning titles every season and all they needed was a new coach.  The way those lunatics on AFTV treated both Wenger and Emery is deplorable.  

[KMitch]

4 hours ago, Reivax_Villa said:

I said whilst Gerrard was manager that if we get Emery he will get us in the top 10 this season and Europe next season.

I am extremely delighted that we have this man in charge, with his backroom staff, his footballing brain and high level coaching ability..

IF we are able to get Antonio Cordon as Sporting Director then I think we all will need to hold on tight because we'll be on one hell of a ride.

The most  impressive thing about Unai is that he has our players adopting his style and gameplan, just imagine if he has the resources and a full pre season.. 

I honestly cannot see how this can possibly go left..

Exciting times ahead!

What most impresses me most about Emery is that the entire squad is completely bought into him and his style of play, which is crazy considering the only players he has signed so far have been Moreno & Duran.  The only way this can go sideways is if our recruitment isn't good this summer.  We HAVE to get this right.  

[TheMelvillan]

still find it crazy that we were able to get Unai as our manager.

looking at the state of the conte situation at spurs and how Unai just seems to have such a different attitude and work ethic to him And is just a more likeable character too.

We really are very lucky. Wouldnt swap him for anyone

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, IrishVilla10 said:

I would say it’s highly unlikely he would leave now, but has anyone thought Levy might want him at spurs? I think Unai’s smart enough not to touch that job but I have been thinking about it 

Sawiris is probably a bigger power player than Levy now

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

Unai cam is back. Love that he high fives the whole bench just as he did against Utd in his first game. 
 

 

[MWARLEY2]

9 minutes ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said:

Unai cam is back. Love that he high fives the whole bench just as he did against Utd in his first game. 
 

 

Barely clapped after the 2nd and 3rd goals. Obviously bored and wants to leave ....

 

 

[MaVilla]

17 minutes ago, MWARLEY2 said:

Barely clapped after the 2nd and 3rd goals. Obviously bored and wants to leave ....

 

 

[Don_Simon]

Do you reckon Unai is loving Villa as much as Villa is loving Unai?

[stewiek2]

I don't think we can underestimate the benefits we are reaping from his time at Arsenal. If you look at Wolves and seemingly how Loputegi is struggling, Unai having had that experience in the Premiership before, learnt from the plus and minuses of that is really to our benefit.

[skarroki]

1 hour ago, Don_Simon said:

Do you reckon Unai is loving Villa as much as Villa is loving Unai?

I do think he's happy to be here and happy that's he's starting to re-write the British narrative about him as being boring and defensive and only good in the cups. Plenty of evidence against this but as it's not been shown in highlights on MOTD in the last 6 months the wider footballing fanbase I think just remembers he came in at Arsenal, didn't win anything or get top 4 and got sacked, rather than adding any context. 

So in short I think he's happy he's starting to change people's mind on him but I don't think he'll feel his work is done for a while yet which benefits us. The bad thing I think is he's done well everywhere and so most fans like him at their clubs. I worry that he won't feel any more attachment to us than he would to Sevilla or Villarreal and he left them fairly promptly when an offer to step up again in his career came about. 

That's a future problem and a big "if" though so I'll shut up 

[DevonIsAPlaceOnEarth]

I think Emery thrives off of being at clubs of our size. Exceeding expectations and building with less resources, albeit with large resources with us now.

We are so used to false dawns, but I think if Emery can’t do something with us I don’t know who will. He’s clearly the most advanced manager we have ever had.

[Powehi]

Tried to look for a "Villa in the Media" thread as I thought there was one, but couldn't seem to find it (not the Athletic one) so am posting here:

Very grudging praise in the normally even-handed Guardian football page today for the work Emery has done:

FA Cup and Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action | Football | The Guardian

Quote

Has Emery finally found best system?

Unai Emery took over from Steven Gerrard in October, and since then Aston Villa have been better but still erratic, winning two consecutive league games just three times. The problem has not been a lack of good players – the club has plenty – but which of them to deploy, and in what formation. Perhaps, though, the right blend has finally been found, a 4-2-3-1 giving good balance between attack and defence – especially in midfield, with John McGinn and Douglas Luiz driving from deep while Leon Bailey, Emi Buendía and Jacob Ramsey dash and prompt in behind Ollie Watkins. All five were excellent against Bournemouth with Douglas Luiz, Ramsey and Buendía scoring. Emery faces a difficult decision when Boubacar Kamara is fit again – prior to his injury, McGinn was being crowbarred into the team on the right of a 4-4-2. In the meantime the current starting XI, which looks far more flexible than previous iterations, can bed in, allowing those in it the opportunity to make themselves undroppable

Maybe its because the article is not written by Paul Doyle, who normally covers us on the reg, but this seems a pretty big understatement of the upturn in our form since Emery arrived. 

Oh well, let them all continue to underrate us and then be shocked when we sneak 8th or 9th.

[IrishVilla10]

37 minutes ago, DevonIsAPlaceOnEarth said:

I think Emery thrives off of being at clubs of our size. Exceeding expectations and building with less resources, albeit with large resources with us now.

We are so used to false dawns, but I think if Emery can’t do something with us I don’t know who will. He’s clearly the most advanced manager we have ever had.

Completely agree. It’s as frightening as it is exciting 

[MrBlack]

11 minutes ago, Powehi said:

Tried to look for a "Villa in the Media" thread as I thought there was one, but couldn't seem to find it (not the Athletic one) so am posting here:

Very grudging praise in the normally even-handed Guardian football page today for the work Emery has done:

FA Cup and Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action | Football | The Guardian

Maybe its because the article is not written by Paul Doyle, who normally covers us on the reg, but this seems a pretty big understatement of the upturn in our form since Emery arrived. 

Oh well, let them all continue to underrate us and then be shocked when we sneak 8th or 9th.

There's nothing difficult about the decision to bring Kamara back in, as McGinn was looking brilliant as part of the front 2/3 before Kamara's injury, and Kamara was our best player. 

The difficulty will be who gets dropped from the front 3.

Still, that story strikes me as someone that hasn't really watched us play until this weekend, and is just using the historic scorelines to backfill his article, on a topic that he's actually pretty clueless about. 

[Mantis]

8 hours ago, KMitch said:

Smith had near universal support from our fanbase after our 10 game winning streak/promotion bid, except for a handful of very vocal people who wanted to be the first ones to say "I told you so".  I remember there being more people not convinced with Martin O'Neill after his first season than those unhappy with Smith.  

Of course but prior to that there were some serious grumblings of discontent. Was around January/February 2019 I think, after just a few months in the job when we went through one of his bad streaks. So even though he was able to win basically everyone back there was a brief period where there were some doubts.

Emery on the other hand has pretty much been universally popular non-stop since day 1.

Edited March 21, 2023 by Mantis

[TRO]

During my Villa Supporting lifetime, I have supported teams who I felt would struggle in every game, and teams where I feared No one.

Under Ron Saunders, Ron Atkinson, Brian Little, John Gregory and Graham Taylor Mk 1........I felt we had a chance with every opponent, I felt we could give everyone a game.

bar for the hiccup, I feel that right now.

This Style Unai has brought, is mature, its professional and its functional.....I have made rakes of comments on here, and my main gripe was, being too easy to play against......I feel we are some way to fixing that, despite him having the same players, which I find amazing.

There is still some way to go and the recent 3 game blip, reminds us of that.....Thats what WIP does, when the methods have not quite been nailed down.

My fear is disippating, as we go in to each game now, I feel we are equipped to get something out of every game.....sure, we have to be on it, to do so.

Players are now getting 7, 8 & 9's.....as opposed to 5 ,6s and 7s......we are playing as a team, not a bunch of individuals and the players look settled in their objectives.

This feeling of going in to games, suspecting there is a realistic chance of getting something, is so satisfying.

We know we can't win every game, and we know we have to battle the officials with their selective views, particulalry playing the top clubs.....but this new found resillience, and hope, is great to have.

I have found peace away from the ping pong open football, where you need to be 4-0 up to have a chance......this is more my style.

Thank you Unai.

Edited March 23, 2023 by TRO

[TRO]

On 20/03/2023 at 18:12, Talldarkandransome said:

I've totally wiped Gerrard from memory even though I was desperate for it to work with him. I suppose when you get to our age most things are meh, but I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season and the future seasons. I think Emery wants to be successful with Villa and he's deffo got the tools to do that (with a few more top signings)

I've wanted every Villa manager to work.....but when it doesn't, I have to accept it.

I can clearly see a huge gap in Nous with UE...and its great to see.

However, I am not naive enough to think everything he touches will turn to gold.....but I do think, if we have any setbacks, he will work his way through them, as opposed to waiting for divine intervention.

[MWARLEY2]

Unai is just one of those people who is all about the football on the pitch and not about himself. Actions not words.  Doesnt spend an age talking about how good he is . Doesnt spend an age talking about how good the players are. Just all business. We had probably had 3 or 4 Gerrard videos in his first 6 months being interviewed by his mates in the media, talking all about style and identity   whilst in reality not creating any kind of style or identity.

We get little snippets but that is all. And to be fair we csn see exactly what he is trying to do. A style and identity that hasnt been more clear since the days of Ron Saunders. 

 

[Thug]

I would happily lose any player before we lose him.

 

No contest.