Unai Emery

[Adam2003]

I happened to speak to someone who knows him well and they said it is night and day his time with Arsenal vs here in terms of his stress levels and enjoyment. They said even he isn’t sure whether it’s because he knew what to expect of the PL pressure cooker this time round, or if it’s club expectations at Arsenal following Wenger vs Villa following Gerrard, but that he’s far happier and more relaxed and thinks that’s why the success is coming more easily. Quite interesting that that’s his own (second hand) take.

Edited May 22, 2023 by Adam2003

[Mantis]

22 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

Unai has talked in his biography and interviews several times about how he had language problems at Arsenal and PSG, wasn’t as confident taking on the toxic squad players, and didn’t make enough effort with the fans. 
 
I would say he’s learned a lot from his time there. Constantly lauds the fans and goes out of his way to address them first. Rightly kept McGinn as captain to avoid rocking the boat but also boosted him as a high character part of the squad.

Could have alienated Digne after bringing on Moreno but has kept the Frenchman involved. Loaned out all the players who wanted playing time instead of keeping them on the bench for token playing time even at the expense of having a smaller squad overall. 
 
I see a manager who was great tactically but still had some things to learn when he was hired at Arsenal. We have Unai mk. II, much improved and ready to bring Villa a trophy. 

One of the most common reasons why things go wrong for many managers is stubbornness and a refusal to change their ways, even if it isn't working. I think Emery's humbleness is just as much a reason as any behind his success.

That said, he's also confident enough to try something he believes will work (e.g. changing our style of play mid-season). He's basically in the sweet spot when it comes to humbleness/arrogance.

[Tom13]

1 hour ago, DJBOB said:

Unai has talked in his biography and interviews several times about how he had language problems at Arsenal and PSG, wasn’t as confident taking on the toxic squad players, and didn’t make enough effort with the fans. 
 
I would say he’s learned a lot from his time there. Constantly lauds the fans and goes out of his way to address them first. Rightly kept McGinn as captain to avoid rocking the boat but also boosted him as a high character part of the squad.

Could have alienated Digne after bringing on Moreno but has kept the Frenchman involved. Loaned out all the players who wanted playing time instead of keeping them on the bench for token playing time even at the expense of having a smaller squad overall. 
 
I see a manager who was great tactically but still had some things to learn when he was hired at Arsenal. We have Unai mk. II, much improved and ready to bring Villa a trophy. 

Unai outclasses Steven in many, many ways. But the captaincy thing sums a lot of it up. Look at the drama Gerrard caused with all that. Unai has barely mentioned the captaincy once has he? Was probably asked about it early on but gave it such little importance/attention that probably no-one bothered asking again.

[villa89]

29 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

Was probably asked about it early on but gave it such little importance/attention that probably no-one bothered asking again.

Seems to be an English thing to be obsessed with captaincy in fooball. It's meaningless. In the rest of Europe nobody cares who's captain but English "football people" make a big out of it for no reason. 

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, Adam2003 said:

I happened to speak to someone who knows him well and they said it is night and day his time with Arsenal vs here in terms of his stress levels and enjoyment. They said even he isn’t sure whether it’s because he knew what to expect of the PL pressure cooker this time round, or if it’s club expectations at Arsenal following Wenger vs Villa following Gerrard, but that he’s far happier and more relaxed and thinks that’s why the success is coming more easily. Quite interesting that that’s his own (second hand) take.

It probably helps we took to him quite early, I dont think Arsenal fans ever did

[Made In Aston]

6 minutes ago, Zatman said:

It probably helps we took to him quite early, I dont think Arsenal fans ever did

He did go 22 games unbeaten in his first season there. I'm sure they appreciated that at the time. 

Edited May 22, 2023 by Made In Aston

[lapal_fan]

1 hour ago, villa89 said:

Seems to be an English thing to be obsessed with captaincy in fooball. It's meaningless. In the rest of Europe nobody cares who's captain but English "football people" make a big out of it for no reason. 

Try telling Italian fans captains aren't important.

Baresi, Maldini, Totti, Zanetti, Maradona, Cheillini, Davids, Cannarvaro..

Or Spanish fans, with the likes of Messi, Xavi, Ronaldo, Raul, Joaquin etc.

Or German fans with Kahn, lahm, Mattehus etc etc

Captain's do matter.. a lot.  The captain of a club often reflects the ethos and attitude of the club and squad, even the fans if they connect with them.

A good captain can lift the performance of everyone.

[catanzaro]

I am so impressed with how he’s managed to gel the entire squad.. The team haven’t really struggled when we suffered from injuries. Everyone slots in and delivers what has been asked of them. It really bodes well for when we play in Europe, handling multiple players in each position who believe they are starter quality..

[Mantis]

2 hours ago, Zatman said:

It probably helps we took to him quite early, I dont think Arsenal fans ever did

I was thinking about this earlier. We really did take to him right from the off in a way that's relatively rare in football these days. As has been said many times, perversely the Gerrard catastrophe did help to wipe the slate clean.

[ozvillafan]

6 hours ago, catanzaro said:

I am so impressed with how he’s managed to gel the entire squad.. The team haven’t really struggled when we suffered from injuries. Everyone slots in and delivers what has been asked of them. It really bodes well for when we play in Europe, handling multiple players in each position who believe they are starter quality..

It's an important point to make.

Consider our last minute cup capitulation against Stevenage earlier in Unai's run with us. That included a lot of second streamers which he could have thrown under the bus - but he still utilizes them, including the ones you might directly blame for that loss.

Compare that to Gerrard and his "handling" of players and losses and you can see why one succeeds and the other failed.

[skarroki]

7 hours ago, lapal_fan said:

Try telling Italian fans captains aren't important.

Baresi, Maldini, Totti, Zanetti, Maradona, Cheillini, Davids, Cannarvaro..

Or Spanish fans, with the likes of Messi, Xavi, Ronaldo, Raul, Joaquin etc.

Or German fans with Kahn, lahm, Mattehus etc etc

Captain's do matter.. a lot.  The captain of a club often reflects the ethos and attitude of the club and squad, even the fans if they connect with them.

A good captain can lift the performance of everyone.

Think leaders in the squad are important and especially long standing ones at the club who as you say, can reflect the ethos and attitude of a club. But I don't think it matters who's got the armband on. I'd consider Mings, Young, Martinez and McGinn all equally important in our squad in terms of having the right mindset and character that can spread across a squad. I think you can see it in the likes of Ramsey too, not that he's not a good lad with a good family and a strong mindset of his own, but I think characters in the squad won't be doing any harm to that at all which is key.

I don't think there was any suggestion that anyone had an issue with Mings as captain internally and so when you pick McGinn instead, to me that sent the message "this guy is above you in the dressing room" whereas I imagine Emery has more of a modern approach like you see at a lot of top clubs, a captain's group, there's always one of them in the team and whoever it is will get the armband that day. If you're out of form or you don't suit the game tactically you're not kept in just because of your status. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

11 hours ago, TRO said:

what do you mean, his confidence?....can you explain more?......because I think he is hugely confident.

not saying your wrong, just interested on your take.

Agreed, he doesn't seem to lack confidence whatsoever.

If anything, someone may be taking his pauses for language out of context.

[Pinebro]

14 hours ago, TRO said:

While I am astonished in what he has achieved with us, so far and never thought it possible with the same team......I have always thought the team mirrors the manager.

He hasn't achieved anything with us.

I'm old school. Achieving something is reaching finals but more importantly winning trophies.

I feel like the words success is gettign thrown around way too lightly and frequently in this day and age.

This isn't meant to be a negative post. Emery has done a fantastic job so far but let's hope he can take us to the next step.

[HKP90]

13 hours ago, Adam2003 said:

I happened to speak to someone who knows him well and they said it is night and day his time with Arsenal vs here in terms of his stress levels and enjoyment. They said even he isn’t sure whether it’s because he knew what to expect of the PL pressure cooker this time round, or if it’s club expectations at Arsenal following Wenger vs Villa following Gerrard, but that he’s far happier and more relaxed and thinks that’s why the success is coming more easily. Quite interesting that that’s his own (second hand) take.

The fact that our players aren't prissy prima donnas might help.

That's why I've said before that personality will form a big part of our recruitment this summer, not just ability. 

[duke313]

7 hours ago, ozvillafan said:

It's an important point to make.

Consider our last minute cup capitulation against Stevenage earlier in Unai's run with us. That included a lot of second streamers which he could have thrown under the bus - but he still utilizes them, including the ones you might directly blame for that loss.

Compare that to Gerrard and his "handling" of players and losses and you can see why one succeeds and the other failed.

He didn't throw them under the bus, he just got rid of half of them instead  - Augustinsson, Sanson, Bednarek, Ings all gone.

[blandy]

5 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Agreed, he doesn't seem to lack confidence whatsoever.

If anything, someone may be taking his pauses for language out of context.

Where he comes across well is there's no hint of arrogance. Maybe that humility combined with a (relatively) sticky patch at Arsenal did come across at the time as slightly lacking confidence (then, in that situation). But now, a few years on he just comes across really well, but humble.

[bobzy]

12 hours ago, Mantis said:

I was thinking about this earlier. We really did take to him right from the off in a way that's relatively rare in football these days. As has been said many times, perversely the Gerrard catastrophe did help to wipe the slate clean.

I think that's largely because it's relatively rare for genuine top level managers to be managing mid table (or even lower mid table, as we were) clubs and we also went from having the inexperienced manager to a very experienced one.  He was pretty much the absolutely best manager we could've hired.

I just hope we continue to appreciate what we've got when the going gets tough.

[Guest av1]

3 hours ago, blandy said:

Where he comes across well is there's no hint of arrogance. Maybe that humility combined with a (relatively) sticky patch at Arsenal did come across at the time as slightly lacking confidence (then, in that situation). But now, a few years on he just comes across really well, but humble.

Which in our sport, especially at elite level is rare indeed. I can’t speak for everyone obviously but i think this is why so many of us love him so much. Elite manager that comes across as an even better bloke.

Everytime I hear him speak he comes across as someone that thinks he’s lucky to be here, whilst every one of us is still wondering how the f##k we got him.

When they come out at the end of the game on Sunday I hope he gets the ovation he deserves.

[TRO]

7 hours ago, Pinebro said:

He hasn't achieved anything with us.

I'm old school. Achieving something is reaching finals but more importantly winning trophies.

I feel like the words success is gettign thrown around way too lightly and frequently in this day and age.

This isn't meant to be a negative post. Emery has done a fantastic job so far but let's hope he can take us to the next step.

I guess its about interpretation.....what he has done so far is an achievement, in my eyes.....but yes, in terms of trophies, he has not done anything, but thats a bit premature, don't you think.

I am old school too.....and serial winning is an achievement in its self, in this arduous league.

[Pinebro]

3 hours ago, TRO said:

I guess its about interpretation.....what he has done so far is an achievement, in my eyes.....but yes, in terms of trophies, he has not done anything, but thats a bit premature, don't you think.

I am old school too.....and serial winning is an achievement in its self, in this arduous league.

Not if it doesn't lead to anything or you can build from it.

Aim of elite sport is winning trophies.

We had 3 consecutive 6th place finishes under MON but I don't see it as an achievement because ultimately we didn't win anything and it didn't lead to anything.

Next step is where the real achievement lies and I think Emery will do it. He has won everywhere he's been.

It's a disgrace we've not won a trophy since 96 and it's time to change that.

Edited May 23, 2023 by Pinebro