Unai Emery

[Mantis]

In some respects I feel like Emery is a younger, more accomplished version of Houllier (which is in no way a bad thing). Except this time we have much better owners and a better base on which to build.

But yeah, there's a reason why Emery was greeted with universal adoration the moment he walked through the door. This was a coup.

[Tayls]

5 minutes ago, Johnnyp said:

Good shout. Forgot about Houllier. 

I still believe that had Houllier stayed with us and his health didn’t interfere with his decision to leave then he would have been successful with us. We were at a point where we started to have a lot of bad eggs within the squad and he’d have sorted us out. 

However, it wasn’t to be. And now Unai is the man to do it, after all of the years of struggle. 

Edited November 7, 2022 by Tayls

[Zatman]

8 minutes ago, Johnnyp said:

Good shout. Forgot about Houllier. 

He goes under the radar as think he might be the last Villa manager not to get sacked after a rotten run of form

[VillaChris]

26 minutes ago, Johnnyp said:

Without a doubt. The only one who would stack up in some respects was O’Neill but he won trophies in a 2 team league essentially. Atkinson, Little and Gregory had relative success here but their CV coming into the job wouldn’t of touched Emery’s. 

Houllier's CV was on par with Emery given he won all the cups available at Liverpool and also won French league with Lyon.

However we got him when he was in semi retirement so similar to signing Ginola or Pires when they were well into their 30s and past their best.

What's so exciting is Emery is in his prime as manager. 18 months back he was winning europa against the odds with Villareal. Six months ago he was leading them to CL semi finals after knocking out Juventus and Bayern Munich back to back.

As much as I'd have loved Pochettino his more recent seasons don't really come close to touching that.

[TomC]

From Ollie:

Quote

Watkins explained a key difference between Emery’s methods and Steven Gerrard’s, and said: “It was all about on the ball, staying calm, especially defenders. Before there were a lot of long balls to me and Ingsy and we were battling with the defenders. We used a lot of energy through battling. Now, when the ball comes into us, because defenders are taking time on the ball and we're making more passes, it's easier for us because we've got more time. It was more just to take time on the ball, suck them in, then it gives others time on the ball. It was 4-4-2 and we weren't overloaded with information.”

It sounds like Unai welcomes being pressed by the other team. Interesting to hear that SG overloaded them with information. Also:

Quote

Emery, meanwhile, told the Villa players his starting XI just two-and-a-half hours before kick-off on Sunday which came as a surprise amongst his squad. “No-one had a clue who was playing,” Watkins added. “It was a guessing game but everyone bought into it and we were all involved."

Different!

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-emery-gerrard-watkins-25456497

 

[Keyblade]

1 hour ago, TomC said:

From Ollie:

It sounds like Unai welcomes being pressed by the other team. Interesting to hear that SG overloaded them with information. Also:

Different!

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-emery-gerrard-watkins-25456497

 

Our defenders were being slaughtered for the long balls but it was clear it was a tactic, even in the tail end of Smith's reign. Ty for example can definitely play, and we saw that yesterday.

[viivvaa66]

Under Gerrard, both wing backs were pushing forward, same for McGinn and Ramsey, that means it wasn’t really anyone to pass to at the back, and we had to go long.

Under Emery, the back four, Martinez, Luiz, Dendoncker were available on our half, made it impossible for ManU to press them all, meaning there were always somebody available to pass to.

 

[Demitri_C]

6 hours ago, Zatman said:

Houllier had a much better CV than MON 

Yes forgot about houllier

[StanBalaban]

13 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

If you look at these mangerial appointments 

Mcleish

Sherwood 

Garde

Di matteo

Bruce

Smith

Gerrard

Emery

With all due respect to smith None of the managers come anywhere near to emerys CV. It really is a massive coup for us

This goes to show why we perceive the Villa job as a poisoned chalice.

With the exception of Big Ron and Houllier, this was the biggest club any of those guys had managed. They should never have been give the keys to the joint in the first place, hence why they tend to end up on the scrapheap after.

  

[M_Afro]

2 hours ago, viivvaa66 said:

Under Gerrard, both wing backs were pushing forward, same for McGinn and Ramsey, that means it wasn’t really anyone to pass to at the back, and we had to go long.

Under Emery, the back four, Martinez, Luiz, Dendoncker were available on our half, made it impossible for ManU to press them all, meaning there were always somebody available to pass to.

 

That Man Utd team that was selected on Sunday was never going to be that effective in the press. It will be really interesting to see how we cope against Brighton next weekend as they press very well. They will certainly test us much more than Utd did.

[Pinebro]

7 hours ago, Tayls said:

I still believe that had Houllier stayed with us and his health didn’t interfere with his decision to leave then he would have been successful with us. We were at a point where we started to have a lot of bad eggs within the squad and he’d have sorted us out. 

However, it wasn’t to be. And now Unai is the man to do it, after all of the years of struggle. 

I don't think so.

Lerner had just turned the tap off which is why MON walked.

We were always going to lose Young and Downing the following year. Any manager would have struggled.

[punkiller1981]

2 hours ago, viivvaa66 said:

Under Gerrard, both wing backs were pushing forward, same for McGinn and Ramsey, that means it wasn’t really anyone to pass to at the back, and we had to go long.

Under Emery, the back four, Martinez, Luiz, Dendoncker were available on our half, made it impossible for ManU to press them all, meaning there were always somebody available to pass to.

 

I remember the palace game at home last season sitting in the holte end and we were passing the ball across the back line and it found it’s way to cash and he looked up and both mcginn and Buendia who was on the right tucked right inside and cash had no options up the line which he was clearly looking for. He ended up trying to go inside to emi which got cut out and gave he ball away because everybody was packed into a tiny area of the pitch. I remember thinking that it must have been an arrow between mcginn and emi until it happened 4/5 more times in the first half until cash gave up and started limping it down the line into space. That’s when the penny dropped with her they gerrard was asking them to play like this and that he was actually tactically inept, it genuinely was the moment I thought this guy don’t know what he is doing and is out of his depth.
 

compare to Sunday and the players are finding pockets making runs offering themselves for a pass and a give and go. Amazing what a real coach with plans and tactics can do to a team getting beaten by Fulham 3 weeks ago. 

[Demitri_C]

1 hour ago, StanBalaban said:

This goes to show why we perceive the Villa job as a poisoned chalice.

With the exception of Big Ron and Houllier, this was the biggest club any of those guys had managed. They should never have been give the keys to the joint in the first place, hence why they tend to end up on the scrapheap after.

  

These appointments have been as successful as your names time at villa

[Wainy316]

8 hours ago, Tayls said:

I still believe that had Houllier stayed with us and his health didn’t interfere with his decision to leave then he would have been successful with us. We were at a point where we started to have a lot of bad eggs within the squad and he’d have sorted us out. 

However, it wasn’t to be. And now Unai is the man to do it, after all of the years of struggle. 

Yep, if we'd gone until the 11/12 season with Houllier at the helm rather than McCleish (ugh), we'd have fared much better.

It looked nailed on that we would have had Cabaye that year if Houllier stayed and he was brilliant for Newcastle when he joined them.

[LondonLax]

18 hours ago, a-k said:

2-nil up though

That video of Sherwood’s madness was taken 7 minutes before we let in 3 quick goals, lost 3-2 and ended up getting relegated that season

 

[Philosopher]

We finally have a good manager. Finally an end to the mediocrity that was an Aston Villa manager.

I have to beg to differ on one thing. Emery isn't a coup! He is what this club deserves.

We are a big club historically, and structurally (stadium, fanbase, training facilities). We have billionaire owners. A squad easily capable of midtable, europa league is a real possibility with a good manager.

Villareal simply aren't on Villa's level. We are a much bigger club, with an arguably slightly weaker first team, in a superior league.

 

[ender4]

1 hour ago, LondonLax said:

That video of Sherwood’s madness was taken 7 minutes before we let in 3 quick goals, lost 3-2 and ended up getting relegated that season

 

And Leicester were below us in the table at that point, and they went on to win the Premier League title that season. 
 

Basically if Sherwood doesn’t do that tactical masterclass with his arms, Leicester don’t score 3 goals, win the match and start an amazing run that ends with the league title. 
 

Shows how important a manager like Emery will be for us.

[Don_Simon]

I'm so excited to see what Villa look like after six weeks in The Unaiversity!

After last seasons mini break with Gerrard at Spring, and then the entire pre-season, we came back multiple times worse. Given what Emery achieved after three days, six weeks could be monumental for us.

[sidcow]

Yeah, I think our issue for years has been going cheap on managers.

We've had times when we've invested heavily in players.  We've had times when we've had a good squad.

But generally we've cheaped out on the manager.   It is without any doubt the single most important position at the club. 

We've always had the history, the big stadium, the facilities and structure.  It should not be beyond the realms of possibility that a top manager would want to come here.

You really are better off not buying that extra player and instead throwing the kitchen sink at a manger.   It's one of the reasons why we've fallen further and further behind.

We've rarely gone foreign.  We've tried young and inexperienced, we've gone journeyman, we've gone for older (probably washed up) names.  MON aside not since Big Ron have we really gone all out to get a proven big name in.  

Kind of mad really when you look at our list.  Most of that time we've been a reasonably decent club in the richest league in the world and it's so uninspiring.  It's often stated how no one manages us then goes on to anything else, but it's no real surprise when you look at the quality of them.  We were always likely to be the biggest club they ever get to manage. 

Edited November 8, 2022 by sidcow

[dudevillaisnice]

49 minutes ago, sidcow said:

It's often stated how no one manages us then goes on to anything else, but it's no real surprise when you look at the quality of them.  We were always likely to be the biggest club they ever get to manage. 

Yep totally agree.