Unai Emery

[Stevo985]

I said in the pre match thread that I was worried about losing last night.

Not because of going out of the cup, to be honest I'm not particularly bothered about that. With our injuries and depth I think less games is a positive thing now. We weren't going to win the FA Cup

My worry was around confidence and getting out of our slump. Beating Sheff Utd 5-0 did not signal the end of our slump for me. They were awful, one of the worst teams in prem history, and played right into our hands. We were excellent but it was barely a test.
My worry was that if we put in a poor performance last night then any confidence we'd have gained from the SHU game would have gone out of the window.

And unfortunately that's exactly what has happened imo.

 

Emery desperately needs to get our confidence back. We're lacking it big time, and it's key to getting our results back on track. The longer this goes on the harder it will be to drag us out.

I'm worried about Sunday. 

[The Fun Factory]

47 minutes ago, striker said:

Watched Emery’s post match interview this morning. To tell you the truth I was totally disgusted by it. No real hint of criticism and deflecting the result by saying that Villa are strong in the league.

Placement is strong however recent performances (with the exception of Sheffield) have been poor, really poor. I don’t know what he’s been saying to the players in the dressing room but performances aren’t improving. In fact no changes last night after a terrible first half is basically saying to the players carry on what you’re doing which they did.

Total apathy which is being repeated in recent performances on the pitch. I’ve also read one or two posts on here suggesting Villa threw the game? I can understand that as the players looked totally disinterested last night with few breaking sweat.

For me though Emery needs to start showing the same passion and disgust evident while watching the game last night and throwing several of his players under the media bus. He might then get a reaction.

Show the same apathetic nature and performance level against Man U on Sunday it just won’t cut it with me or many other Villa fans!

Haven't you got better things to do than analysis post match interviews of managers of clubs you don't support?

How odd.

[Captain_Townsend]

Since 2017 we seem to have a bad run every January/Feb? 

[Leeroy]

No one in their right mind wants him out, he's the best manager we've had since Saunders, and has the highest win rate % of any manager in Villa's history. Overall he's done a fantastic job but is not immune from constructive criticism. 

 

The issue I have is not losing, losses can happen, it's more losing in the manner we are and not doing anything about it until the game is over. No changes made in the last 2 games until 3-0 down and the game is over is madness really for a manager with his success in the game. Ramsey, Diaby and Zaniolo at half time would have made a lot of sense and told the players starting that it wasn't good enough to perform like that. 

 

I also think he should adapt his style to mitigate the losses of Konsa, Pau and Digne. With three of our usual back 4 out I think he needs to be more pragmatic, playing such a high line and trying to beat the press obviously isn't working especially against top half teams so he needs to change it.

 

I hope we see a response on Sunday.

[Mantis]

1 hour ago, Spoony said:

So true. If he hadn’t got us to where we are now and somehow getting Europe against all odds last season, we’d have been thrilled to be mid table. 

If we end up finishing 6th this season, I think there will be some genuine calls for him to be sacked, even though if you'd gone back in time to when Gerrard had just been sacked and said "Villa will finish 6th next season", literally every single Villa fan would've bitten your arm off for it.

[Wainy316]

6 minutes ago, Mantis said:

If we end up finishing 6th this season, I think there will be some genuine calls for him to be sacked, even though if you'd gone back in time to when Gerrard had just been sacked and said "Villa will finish 6th next season", literally every single Villa fan would've bitten your arm off for it.

Well those claims will be rightly ridiculed and I for one will be telling anyone making those calls to **** right off.

[KentVillan]

He’s dealing with an enormous injury crisis, and a lack of depth in key positions which means some players are starting to look tired.

I think it’s as simple as that tbh. The teams around us have deeper squads. He has tried to rotate and sign depth, but it’s a work in progress.

The knock on effect is that we’ve become more predictable, too. But again, not really Unai’s fault.

[Callum]

6 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

He’s dealing with an enormous injury crisis, and a lack of depth in key positions which means some players are starting to look tired.

I think it’s as simple as that tbh. The teams around us have deeper squads. He has tried to rotate and sign depth, but it’s a work in progress.

The knock on effect is that we’ve become more predictable, too. But again, not really Unai’s fault.

We, Unai and backroom staff knew the position we were in and what we can achieve this season - We also knew we had JJ coming back, Pau out, Digne, Mings, Buendia, Bailey Prone and did absolutely **** all about it in January. Buying kids, who might come good in 2/3 years. Brilliant. What we needed was support NOW. Even loan players. It's honestly baffling and more frustrating than some of the underwhelming seasons gone-by. 

I don't understand the ins and outs of football business, so try not to speak too much about what I don't know so this is probably a naive post, but I don't care. We needed players, we had an opportunity and we **** it. 

Everyone was blowing their beans over 2 kids and Morgan Rogers, without really sufficing the immediate needs this squad has. 

[DJBOB]

I think it will be a fight, but we'll get there in the end for Champions League.

What he's got to do now is grind out results and stop expecting to play perfect Unai football with the tools at his disposal. Get players back playing their best positions, live with the results in the deficiencies and stop trying to overcomplicate our system to accommodate these injuries.

I worry the tiniest bit that he's got that stubbornness to try to see it out his way, but hope that he's got the trusty video review to see what's clearly not working and adjust it.

[HKP90]

8 minutes ago, Callum said:

We, Unai and backroom staff knew the position we were in and what we can achieve this season - We also knew we had JJ coming back, Pau out, Digne, Mings, Buendia, Bailey Prone and did absolutely **** all about it in January. Buying kids, who might come good in 2/3 years. Brilliant. What we needed was support NOW. Even loan players. It's honestly baffling and more frustrating than some of the underwhelming seasons gone-by. 

I don't understand the ins and outs of football business, so try not to speak too much about what I don't know so this is probably a naive post, but I don't care. We needed players, we had an opportunity and we **** it. 

Everyone was blowing their beans over 2 kids and Morgan Rogers, without really sufficing the immediate needs this squad has. 

You do realise we're close to being pumped up the jacksie by FFP, right? 

[HKP90]

25 minutes ago, Wainy316 said:

Well those claims will be rightly ridiculed and I for one will be telling anyone making those calls to **** right off.

I would go one further and conjecture that their mothers were prostitutes. 

[IrishVilla10]

13 minutes ago, Callum said:

We, Unai and backroom staff knew the position we were in and what we can achieve this season - We also knew we had JJ coming back, Pau out, Digne, Mings, Buendia, Bailey Prone and did absolutely **** all about it in January. Buying kids, who might come good in 2/3 years. Brilliant. What we needed was support NOW. Even loan players. It's honestly baffling and more frustrating than some of the underwhelming seasons gone-by. 

I don't understand the ins and outs of football business, so try not to speak too much about what I don't know so this is probably a naive post, but I don't care. We needed players, we had an opportunity and we **** it. 

Everyone was blowing their beans over 2 kids and Morgan Rogers, without really sufficing the immediate needs this squad has. 

Look at the lack of spending in January across every league. We didn’t have the spending room to sign players to come in and improve the 11. And no one’s giving loan moves to players good enough to play for us either. 

[Callum]

8 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

You do realise we're close to being pumped up the jacksie by FFP, right? 

I kind of understand it. Just letting the frustration get the better of me. We've waited so long for this opportunity

[foreveryoung]

33 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

He’s dealing with an enormous injury crisis, and a lack of depth in key positions which means some players are starting to look tired.

I think it’s as simple as that tbh. The teams around us have deeper squads. He has tried to rotate and sign depth, but it’s a work in progress.

The knock on effect is that we’ve become more predictable, too. But again, not really Unai’s fault.

If fans stop trying to analyse all situations,  they will come back to this one issue.

Absolutely on the money about players missing. 

[Wainy316]

This slump is unavoidable.  Unai won manager of the month.

[KentVillan]

33 minutes ago, Callum said:

We, Unai and backroom staff knew the position we were in and what we can achieve this season - We also knew we had JJ coming back, Pau out, Digne, Mings, Buendia, Bailey Prone and did absolutely **** all about it in January. Buying kids, who might come good in 2/3 years. Brilliant. What we needed was support NOW. Even loan players. It's honestly baffling and more frustrating than some of the underwhelming seasons gone-by. 

I don't understand the ins and outs of football business, so try not to speak too much about what I don't know so this is probably a naive post, but I don't care. We needed players, we had an opportunity and we **** it. 

Everyone was blowing their beans over 2 kids and Morgan Rogers, without really sufficing the immediate needs this squad has. 

Well-run clubs don't sign many players in January. It's always been a seller's market.

Just looking through Man City's transfer history over the last few seasons. The only first team players they've signed in a January window were Laporte (2018) and Alvarez (2022). They do almost all their business in the summer.

FFP makes it even harder for us.

If we overpay for players in January, we just end up with less budget to spend in the summer transfer window when there are more quality players at better prices available.

And it's not even clear to me how much authority Unai has to demand signings.

[Marka Ragnos]

20 minutes ago, Callum said:

I kind of understand it. Just letting the frustration get the better of me. We've waited so long for this opportunity

I appreciate your vulnerability and honesty. Villa fans have been so patient, for so many years. We all got a little taste of heavenly ambrosia this year, and it’s hard not to want more and more and more right now.

But this project has been years in the making, and one or two disappointing losses with so many injuries in the squad isn’t in the end going to deter us from our steady rise. Let’s play with passion against ManPoo and keep up the pressure, one match at a time. 

#UTV

[wishywashy]

1 hour ago, KentVillan said:

He’s dealing with an enormous injury crisis, and a lack of depth in key positions which means some players are starting to look tired.

I think it’s as simple as that tbh. The teams around us have deeper squads. He has tried to rotate and sign depth, but it’s a work in progress.

The knock on effect is that we’ve become more predictable, too. But again, not really Unai’s fault.

Can make an entire backline with our injuries alone in Digne-Pau-Mings-Konsa.

We'll miraculously start playing great again once we're no longer forced to play our (ideally) 4th and 5th choice centrebacks, and the backline doesn't have to be set up in a way that Emery clearly doesn't like (not having a third CB in the back 4). Pau and Digne being back inevitably will help, and Konsa should hopefully only be out for a few games.

Edited February 8 by wishywashy

[juanpablosaliceband]

We can’t start using tiredness as an excuse already. We have had a good break since Christmas. The squad has been well rotated all season. We may not have huge quality in depth but we do have depth and numbers. Most players have had time out with a combination of injury, suspension or squad rotation. Konsa, Luiz, McGinn, Kamara and Watkins are probably our most used players. Konsa now has a good break. Luiz had a short suspension. Kamara had a long suspension. None of them play international games other than McGinn. The rest of our squad should have a full tank of fuel. I’d be surprised if any of our players have played significantly more minutes than any of the top six, in spite of their deeper squads. 

[Follyfoot]

5 hours ago, Zatman said:

Maybe not hound out soon but online you can feel some idiots turning and dont realise how shit we were when he took over

Naturally would prefer that we have a passion merchant like Pulis or someone similar

Big Sam, first thing he would do is make us hard to beat