Unai Emery

[ozvillafan]

First 15 minutes against Everton you could easily see the style of play Emery wants: Ball retention, movement off the ball, play a little quicker than we have in the past. We had 70% possession and looked dangerous when we pushed the ball foward.

The next 30 minutes you can see he has a way to go to get everyone on board and to trust the system and not get flustered by the occasion (or the crowd, in this case).

I'm looking forward to a preseason and a few new faces. I have no doubt he'll get us going.

[fruitvilla]

The people management I liked today was ... he gave JJ 90 min. And for the people who thought JJ was absent, Unai must have seen something (I thought I did too). I wonder why no Durán minutes ... but is that a good sign?

[Johnnyp]

Love how he’s totally unmoved by the monies spent for Duran and Moreno. He’s like “ you’ll play more when your ready “

[Spoony]

4 hours ago, Villarocker said:

I love him! Seriously, no negativity please. Unai is the real deal and the man we've been praying for. 

My Dad watched the game with me today and he said to me that the biggest threat to our future success if the fans. How can we argue with that? Unai needs time and, if we give it, we will win trophies again. 

I completely agree with the highlighted bit. I got worried with that bad run. If we’d have lost today I think some would have turned. We need to back Unai all the way. If he fails/gets turned on I think i will just give up. 

[Johnnyp]

Just now, Spoony said:

I completely agree with the highlighted bit. I got worried with that bad run. If we’d have lost today I think some would have turned. We need to back Unai all the way. If he fails/gets turned on I think i will just give up. 

It’s amazing though when you think of it in context. Leicester was a freak show. Then got bet by Arsenal in a game we could easily of won. Very competitive in large parts against City. I’d hope we don’t soften mentally because it’s palace at home. That’s the growth we need to see. 

[Zhan_Zhuang]

24 minutes ago, Johnnyp said:

It’s amazing though when you think of it in context. Leicester was a freak show. Then got bet by Arsenal in a game we could easily of won. Very competitive in large parts against City. I’d hope we don’t soften mentally because it’s palace at home. That’s the growth we need to see. 

Absolutely.

Emery mentioned in his post-match interview that he needs to find a solution to our home form.

Hopefully we can put Palace to the sword next game.

[Johnnyp]

2 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

Absolutely.

Emery mentioned in his post-match interview that he needs to find a solution to our home form.

Hopefully we can put Palace to the sword next game.

I think, at home ( and it’s probably a false internal narrative with the players playing in front of a partisan home crowd more than a different setup ) we are forcing it a bit. Away from home it all looks a lot more fluid. We need to trust our processes a bit more. We didn’t buckle mentally infront of a raucous Goodison. It’s a different pressure at home but need to learn to stick to the work carried out Mon-Fri. If anything we are running on emotion a bit too much at home. We’ll fix this i feel. 

[Zhan_Zhuang]

7 minutes ago, Johnnyp said:

I think, at home ( and it’s probably a false internal narrative with the players playing in front of a partisan home crowd more than a different setup ) we are forcing it a bit. Away from home it all looks a lot more fluid. We need to trust our processes a bit more. We didn’t buckle mentally infront of a raucous Goodison. It’s a different pressure at home but need to learn to stick to the work carried out Mon-Fri. If anything we are running on emotion a bit too much at home. We’ll fix this i feel. 

Agreed. It's a new method which will be helped with confidence and patience.

 

[ozvillafan]

1 hour ago, Spoony said:

I completely agree with the highlighted bit. I got worried with that bad run. If we’d have lost today I think some would have turned. We need to back Unai all the way. If he fails/gets turned on I think i will just give up. 

For mine, there is a big difference between, say, our recent set of poor results and those spells under our former manager:

Even when we failed against Leicester and Arsenal - you can see a plan, a style, a way of playing that he is trying to implement.

While there might always be a minor segment of fans that will take issue quickly (fickle? Surely not!) I can see what he is trying to do - which means it should be obvious to everyone (as I'm no strategist/pundit/coach).

Trust and patience. We are at the beginning of something special.

Edited February 26, 2023 by ozvillafan
Forgot "at" in last sentence

[Johnnyp]

16 minutes ago, ozvillafan said:

For mine, there is a big difference between, say, our recent set of poor results and those spells under our former manager:

Even when we failed against Leicester and Arsenal - you can see a plan, a style, a way of playing that he is trying to implement.

While there might always be a minor segment of fans that will take issue quickly (fickle? Surely not!) I can see what he is trying to do - which means it should be obvious to everyone (as I'm no strategist/pundit/coach).

Trust and patience. We are at the beginning of something special.

If Smith went on a 3 game losing streak after “ trying to play football “ he’d buckle and compromise on his principles. Emery is made of elite stuff. 

[KentVillan]

What I love about the record at the moment is that we're achieving it while trying to instil new ideas in the team. That's really hard to achieve.

Some people have commented on social media that Unai's record in his first 10 games is the same as Gerrard's, but the difference is I see a direction of travel here where we will keep improving. And I don't think he has favourites. Players get a run in the side, but they can always lose their place... or a run on the bench, but they can always come back in - that's how it should be.

[Dodgyknees]

I feel confident in our future 

[Demitri_C]

We need to as fans back him 100% lets enjoy the ride its going to be awesome under him

Edit i also read that emery has never had a 0-0 in england. Thats fun alone!

Edited February 26, 2023 by Demitri_C

[M_Afro]

30 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

I understand that ppl dont like the playing out right now at times, as we do have some players who really cant do it.

However, at least Emery is implementing his style come hell or high water, which is something many of our previous managers failed to do, and look where that got them.

The way i see it right now, is it can look a bit painful at times, and it can cost us, but he is implementing the style he wants and it is allowing him to clearly see which players can do it, and which players cant, so its helping Emery to see who stays/goes in the summer, and exactly what we need players wise.

At last we have a manager who is saying to the players, you play my way, if you cant do it, you will be gone, my way or the highway, and for that im happy tbh (if we do have a big summer...), too often these players have flattered to deceive, reverted to type etc, and Emery is basically saying that aint happening, you do it my way or there is the door.

as i say, i understand the playing out is a little painful right now, but i think in the big picture, its the right thing to do.

I totally agree with this. I’m glad that we didn’t buy too many in Jan. Emery is giving our players a fair chance. Let’s see how good they can be once they have had some quality coaching. If they still can’t do it then we will try and move them on over the next few transfer windows.

I think SJM and Watkins have benefited massively from this. They both look like different players under Unai and if they can keep it up they deserve to stay. Hopefully a few more will step up to the mark. I still think that we have the skeleton of a good team that will really improve with a few well chosen signings. The summer should be really exciting.

[KentVillan]

1 hour ago, M_Afro said:

I totally agree with this. I’m glad that we didn’t buy too many in Jan. Emery is giving our players a fair chance. Let’s see how good they can be once they have had some quality coaching. If they still can’t do it then we will try and move them on over the next few transfer windows.

I think SJM and Watkins have benefited massively from this. They both look like different players under Unai and if they can keep it up they deserve to stay. Hopefully a few more will step up to the mark. I still think that we have the skeleton of a good team that will really improve with a few well chosen signings. The summer should be really exciting.

You can see who the more disciplined, intelligent, tactically receptive players are in the side. It’s players like Watkins, McGinn, Mings, Dougie, Kamara. Probably Buendia and Moreno as well.

What will be interesting is whether a full summer allows Emery to bring a few of the other players round to his way of thinking. I think there’s a few slow learners in the squad who he will persist with because they have the physical and technical attributes, but it just isn’t quite clicking yet.

I don’t think Emery has completely written anyone off yet, but a few are skating on thin ice.

[The Fun Factory]

I am so glad we managed to get a coach of his class at Villa. Just imagine had we brought in Potter. Shudders.

Edited February 26, 2023 by The Fun Factory

[KentVillan]

1 minute ago, The Fun Factory said:

I am so glad we managed to get a coach of his class at Villa. Just imagine had we brought in Potter. Shudders.

It’s amazing really how quickly Potter has destroyed his reputation. Just shows how hard it is to step up from managing a mid table Moneyball side to handling a squad full of big money Champions League players.

Emery is ideal for us because he’s done a bit of both, so he’s a good short term option but also a good long term option if we keep progressing. He’s one of the few managers around at the moment who seems to be comfortable handling either type of situation.

[KMitch]

6 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

I am so glad we managed to get a coach of his class at Villa. Just imagine had we brought in Potter. Shudders.

I honestly don't think Potter would have been a bad appointment instead of Gerrard...  but Emery is in another class all together.  Potter is in over his head at Chelsea now because they're going all in on this newer younger rebuilding team, but Chelsea the club has always had a "win now" mentality since Abramovich took over their club.  Their fans aren't used to seeing them struggle like this and are turning on him.  I can't see him surviving the rest of the season at this point and they'll try to bring in another elite manager.  

[Dodgyknees]

10 minutes ago, KMitch said:

You need to keep in mind too that massive change in team culture doesn't happen overnight.  It needs to be drip fed over time to see serious results.  We're going to make mistakes.  We're going to lose games.  We're going to be frustrated as fans at times, but we've already seen glimpses of just how awesome Emeryball can be.  The payoff will be worth it.

Also, some players are going to take longer to learn and adapt to this style of football than others.  Take for example Ollie's form since Emery came to the club.  He is a very quick learner and is starting to look like the player we hoped he would be for us when we spent all that money on him a few seasons back.  Mings is another very quick learner himself, considering he didn't even play as a central defender until he came to Villa and ended up in the England squad the following season.  He's mentioned how Emery's coaching staff is teaching him more about the CB position than he thought was possible and has spoken about how much nuance there is with Emery's tactics.  It's paying off and he's already improved a lot, especially in possession. Other players will take a lot longer to adapt to this new way of playing and approach to the game.  The only way they're going to learn is by playing, making mistakes, and learning from them. 

Just saying "we can't afford to make mistakes" and switch back to a low block and hoof ball because a lot of our team hasn't built from the back before is just going to delay the learning process.  It would be different if we were Dyche's Burnley and had a back line of thuggish cloggers trying to do this, but we have a world cup winning keeper, 3 international defenders, and Konsa, who is a serviceable enough backup, but will be dropped for a massive upgrade in Diego Carlos when he's fully fit again.  These players can do this, but they will need time to figure it out themselves.  

Fantastic

[allani]

19 hours ago, KentVillan said:

What I love about the record at the moment is that we're achieving it while trying to instil new ideas in the team. That's really hard to achieve.

Some people have commented on social media that Unai's record in his first 10 games is the same as Gerrard's, but the difference is I see a direction of travel here where we will keep improving. And I don't think he has favourites. Players get a run in the side, but they can always lose their place... or a run on the bench, but they can always come back in - that's how it should be.

I completely agree.  UE has a plan, an ethos, a style of playing - something that I don't think we've had for a while.  It is going to take us a while to get it right and some of our players might never be able to adjust.  But we are 1 win away from pretty much being certain on PL survival, we've had a freak game at Leicester where we've given four silly chances away and conceded each time, played Man City the week after they decided the whole world was against them and despite being awful in the first half almost set up a grandstand finish (had Coutinho's shot been an inch or two lower) and then played Arsenal when they thought they'd been cheated out of two points and (whilst being second best) had chances to go 3-2 up, then lost to a freak goal with 2 players offside in added time.  Despite that I think our form is still something like 7th since UE arrived.

The calls for us to revert to playing long balls to Ollie on Saturday were madness.  You don't sign Emery to play Bruceball.  The team WILL get better at recognising when to play tappy-tappy at the back and when to try and exploit a quicker, longer ball.  The point is that you need to do the tappy-tappy to give the likes of Ollie more space so that when you do go long he's in a better position to try and fashion a chance.  Just hoofing it down the channels all the time doesn't work - we have the best part of 2 seasons' worth of results to show that.

We need UE to stick to his principles here - he'll find out which players can't play this way (and so we'll be able to start trying to move them on), it will give some players another 14 matches to learn how to play ahead of next season (some are already starting to thrive) and we'll form a really good view on our exact priorities for incoming transfers for the summer.  I am sure we'll have another Leicester result between now and the end of the season (possibly a couple) but it is 95% about preparing the groundwork for next season now.  I think we'll do this AND finish in the top half - which is incredible given where we were just a few months ago.  I still think Top 10 is an important target to hit as it will make it easier to sell the project to the type of players that we want to sign - but even so I think we've got more buying power than some of the teams above us.  But Top 10 at "all costs" is less important than properly embedding a new style throughout the club - even if that style misfires a few times along the way.

Edited February 26, 2023 by allani