We often hear Emery hates being done on transition. I wonder if his reaction to football becoming more chaotic / transitional and looking at the fwd players we have, is to double down on being solid / maximising control?
Replies
It might be. When he joined Villa, my recollection of his sides in LaLiga was of a defensive, quite dull approach. He always did well with his teams (who were forced to compete with Barca/Real), but it wasn't the best watch. I was shocked at how attacking & entertaining Villa were when he joined.
aug 28, 2025, 9:53 am • 0 0 • view
I think it's somewhat of a selection bias of seeing his teams in Europe against better opposition or the bigger domestic games. Plus it's hard to judge his Arsenal time with the club being a mess then.
aug 28, 2025, 1:28 pm • 1 0 • view
For sure. I'd say most of the games I saw Unai's Valencia play was against Barca/Real. But football was also still heavily influenced by the Mourinho/Rafa Benitez style at that point as well, until Guardiola's Barca came along & changed everything.
aug 28, 2025, 2:21 pm • 1 0 • view
Yeah & people forget how much of Pep's possession was also defensive, his Barca pressed! Not nearly as much as his Bayern & City 1.0 but it was there. Just had a look at Emery's 21-22 with Villarreal & they had a run of 6 or 7 where they didn't score less than 3 at home except for both Madrids.
aug 28, 2025, 2:38 pm • 1 0 • view
Wow, that Villarreal stat highlights how much Unai adapted over the decade leading up to it. Top coach. I was enthralled by Pep's Barca. It felt so revolutionary in that they played like a 6-aside team playing 11's. Their press was noticeable - Pedro was such an intense runner in that regard.
aug 28, 2025, 2:44 pm • 1 0 • view
So it was actually a run of 5 but they're good on the xG in that run too. About a week after that league run ended they turned Juve over 3-0 in Turin & start to focus on the CL.
aug 28, 2025, 2:56 pm • 1 0 • view
Such a shame they couldn't go all the way in the CL. It is definitely the trophy Unai wants most. Wonder if he'll be a bit more proactive against Palace this weekend than he has been in the previous two games?
aug 28, 2025, 2:59 pm • 1 0 • view
Got to be at home, surely you can't keep Malen in the bench now.
aug 29, 2025, 6:02 am • 1 0 • view
Yeah agree tho think that was after the first summer. In his first half season we had a lot of v boring away performances: Brighton, spurs, soton, Everton, Leicester (Traore last min goal). Dif was we won / scorer first. When we lost w a similar perf at wolves there was outcry similar to Brentford
aug 28, 2025, 10:25 am • 1 0 • view