Unai Emery

[Farlz]

We've got a good knack of beating the teams below us it seems. It's not always pretty or convincing (although sometimes our football can be very good to watch) but it's getting the job done. I'm very much enjoying the continued improvement of building up from the back, taking our time and waiting for the right opportunity. If anything is going to stop us it's going to be our own fans at Villa Park demanding we get it forward at 100mph all the time. Hopefully over time that stops but you never know with our fans. 

Most importantly, no matter how ugly we win, I'm just very happy we're seeing clear and obvious game plans being laid out in front of our eyeballs every week. It makes a nice change, long may it continue. 

Very pleased with how things are going right now at this club. 

[DaveAV1]

18 hours ago, Tom13 said:

Hugo Boss and CP Company (brand of Unai's coat and his gilet).

I’m concerned that you can find out this sort of information on a football blog. The game’s gone. 

[nick76]

 

[AVFCDAN]

16 hours ago, Farlz said:

We've got a good knack of beating the teams below us it seems. It's not always pretty or convincing (although sometimes our football can be very good to watch) but it's getting the job done. I'm very much enjoying the continued improvement of building up from the back, taking our time and waiting for the right opportunity. If anything is going to stop us it's going to be our own fans at Villa Park demanding we get it forward at 100mph all the time. Hopefully over time that stops but you never know with our fans. 

Most importantly, no matter how ugly we win, I'm just very happy we're seeing clear and obvious game plans being laid out in front of our eyeballs every week. It makes a nice change, long may it continue. 

Very pleased with how things are going right now at this club. 

Emery is clearly the best manager we are going to get. Yes we’ll get frustrated at times and probably hit bad runs of form but he has the length of his contract regardless for me. We aren’t going to get a better manager, we just need the players to catch up with him now.

Edited March 5, 2023 by AVFCDAN

[TheMightyVillans]

46 minutes ago, nick76 said:

 

still hard to believe this guy is our manager.

Also crazy how young he is with those stats.

[MWARLEY2]

46 minutes ago, nick76 said:

 

He is pulling down his percentage at VP. 7 wins out of 14  competitive games...a  measly 50 percent win rate.

[Zhan_Zhuang]

Interesting to see the development in Villa especially the last two games, tactics, patience etc.

It is a shame we didn't implement this against Leicester.

Fascinating to see how the remaining games play out, many points to play for and it'd be great to see us grinding out some wins. 

[KentVillan]

Thing with Emery is he seems willing to work with whoever’s available. He’s not the type of manager to blame a bad run on injuries or whatever. He’ll come up with a game plan that suits the players, and he’ll get them to execute it. Won’t always work, but we’ll punch above our weight.

[MrBlack]

Now we get to see how extraordinary his genius is. Figure out how we can play without Kamara and there is surely nothing this man can't do.

The craziest thing is, I'm sure he will.

[DJBOB]

It will either work with Unai or it won't, in terms of NWSE being able to keep pumping investments into the side.

My dream set up would be a structure where it won't matter if Unai is manager or not as we recruit and graduate youth to be more sustainable over the long term.

But my feeling is that NWSE want to win and win soon (European competition within Unai's current contract).

[TheMelvillan]

On 04/03/2023 at 19:15, KevinRichardsonsMoustache said:

The guy is like a scholar of the game: the tram will go to BMH on Monday and it’ll be like going to college or university: analysis, emphasis on tactics, actually improving those we have at the club. 
 

The contrast with his predecessor is remarkable. 

To "train", presumably !

[tomsky_11]

On 05/03/2023 at 16:29, MWARLEY2 said:

He is pulling down his percentage at VP. 7 wins out of 14  competitive games...a  measly 50 percent win rate.

Improving his league PPG though. Was 1.756 from 659 games prior to joining us. 1.833 from 12 games since means he's now 1.757 PPG from 671 games.

[Made In Aston]

2 hours ago, DJBOB said:

It will either work with Unai or it won't

Great analysis

[Rodders]

50/50 you say?

[Villa Gaffa]

We are so Lucky  to have such a successful, experienced and passionate manager at our club !

[KMitch]

On 05/03/2023 at 10:41, nick76 said:

 

Still incredible how underrated he is by armchair fans around the world.  He's arguably one of the top 10 managers in the game right now by what he has achieved, but Google lists of the best mangers and you'll rarely find him in the discussion...  It's sickening to see lists that include Eddie Howe, Graham Potter, and Steve Fookin Cooper in them and Count Unai isn't even an honorable mention...

 

[Vive_La_Villa]

31 minutes ago, KMitch said:

Still incredible how underrated he is by armchair fans around the world.  He's arguably one of the top 10 managers in the game right now by what he has achieved, but Google lists of the best mangers and you'll rarely find him in the discussion...  It's sickening to see lists that include Eddie Howe, Graham Potter, and Steve Fookin Cooper in them and Count Unai isn't even an honorable mention...

 

I checked 442’s 50 best current managers in the world and he was 20th and above some pretty big names. 

[nick76]

1 hour ago, KMitch said:

Still incredible how underrated he is by armchair fans around the world.  He's arguably one of the top 10 managers in the game right now by what he has achieved, but Google lists of the best mangers and you'll rarely find him in the discussion...  It's sickening to see lists that include Eddie Howe, Graham Potter, and Steve Fookin Cooper in them and Count Unai isn't even an honorable mention...

 

I love it because he’s ours and being underrated will only come back to bite them hard.

[BOF]

Wasn't sure where to put this, but as it kinda relates to Emery's style I'll put it here.

There's a huge difference in total goals (for both sides) in the games where we out-possess our opponent versus being out-possessed. Games where we get out-possessed are absolutely bonkers games.

There's an average of 2 goals per game in the 12 games where we have had more possession.
Compare that with an average of 3.46 goals per game in the 13 games where we've been out-possessed.

I guess when you look at the calibre of opposition holding us to less possession, it shows we're far worse at capitalising on our possession against the lesser sides than the top sides are at capitalising against us. Ho hum, just thought the discrepancy was interesting.

65% 0-2 L @ Bou
63% 1-0 W @ Sou
63% 2-4 L v Lei
60% 1-1 D @ Not
58% 1-0 W v Cry
57% 0-1 L v Wes
57% 2-1 W v Eve
56% 0-0 D @ Lee
55% 1-1 D v Wol
53% 2-0 W @ Eve
53% 2-1 W v Lee
52% 1-0 W v Sou

49% 1-3 L @ Cry
48% 1-3 L v Liv
45% 4-0 W v Bre
41% 3-1 W v MUn
41% 1-2 L @ Ars
41% 0-2 L v Che
40% 2-0 W @ Tot
40% 0-4 L @ New
39% 0-3 L @ Ful
34% 2-1 W @ Bri
33% 2-4 L v Ars
32% 1-3 L @ MCi
27% 1-1 D v MCi

[KentVillan]

21 minutes ago, BOF said:

Wasn't sure where to put this, but as it kinda relates to Emery's style I'll put it here.

There's a huge difference in total goals (for both sides) in the games where we out-possess our opponent versus being out-possessed. Games where we get out-possessed are absolutely bonkers games.

There's an average of 2 goals per game in the 12 games where we have had more possession.
Compare that with an average of 3.46 goals per game in the 13 games where we've been out-possessed.

I guess when you look at the calibre of opposition holding us to less possession, it shows we're far worse at capitalising on our possession against the lesser sides than the top sides are at capitalising against us. Ho hum, just thought the discrepancy was interesting.

65% 0-2 L @ Bou
63% 1-0 W @ Sou
63% 2-4 L v Lei
60% 1-1 D @ Not
58% 1-0 W v Cry
57% 0-1 L v Wes
57% 2-1 W v Eve
56% 0-0 D @ Lee
55% 1-1 D v Wol
53% 2-0 W @ Eve
53% 2-1 W v Lee
52% 1-0 W v Sou

49% 1-3 L @ Cry
48% 1-3 L v Liv
45% 4-0 W v Bre
41% 3-1 W v MUn
41% 1-2 L @ Ars
41% 0-2 L v Che
40% 2-0 W @ Tot
40% 0-4 L @ New
39% 0-3 L @ Ful
34% 2-1 W @ Bri
33% 2-4 L v Ars
32% 1-3 L @ MCi
27% 1-1 D v MCi

It makes sense I think.

The games where we dominate possession are against weaker and more defensive sides, and typically we lack a bit of cutting edge to break that down.

The games where we’re out possessed are against stronger sides, but also play to our attacking strengths on the counter, so tend to be more goals at both ends.

The thing with Emery is he doesn’t play a “park the bus” setup when he concedes possession. It’s conceding possession with a view to scoring goals - leaving players up, full backs overlapping on the counter, etc. That’s what makes it quite interesting.

The setup where we try to play on the front foot is more conventional, and less exciting tbh. That could change with a bit more quality in the front 6 but for now I don’t think we scare teams when we control possession.

Edited March 7, 2023 by KentVillan