Unai Emery

[PeterWithesShin]

Since losing to Liverpool W7 D1 L1.

[Brazilian Villain]

Thank you Unai. This win underlines, more than any other win this season, our current status in the League.

Agree it was a statement win, and perhaps worthy of another Footy-Vill opus.

[PeterWithesShin]

35 league games in 2023, 71 points. Joint second with Arsenal, and behind Man City.

[Monty]

This man is absolutely amazing.

[Brazilian Villain]

Looking at other club forums, most neutral fans seem to really like him as well as rating him as a manager. I get the impression that many would find it hilarious if he/we pipped Arsenal to a title win.

[PaulWinch again]

He’s ridiculously good - and great today that he proactively addressed our problems at half time.

[Nii Lamptey]

Unai is the real world equivalent of the Fonz in the Waterboy when he gets his mojo back.
Felt if we could get into HT at 1-0 (*turned out we made it 1-1!), we’d turn it around 2nd half.
We’re going places under this man, a legend in the making. UTV

[Brazilian Villain]

And this is just the overview. https://twitter.com/JimenaJuani/status/1728808173945888926

[PeterWithesShin]

Unai Emery gave an emphatic answer when asked about what makes his AVFC team so special.

"Commitment. Demanding in the mentality to win. We struggle together, enjoy together and in good connection with our supporters."

[PeterWithesShin]

22 league wins so far in 2023. The most in a calendar year since 1980 when we had 23.

We played 45 league games in 1980, we've played 35 so far this year.

[RamboandBruno]

22 league wins so far in 2023. The most in a calendar year since 1980 when we had 23.

We played 45 league games in 1980, we've played 35 so far this year.

Thats an incredible stat. Wow!!

[Mister E]

22 league wins so far in 2023. The most in a calendar year since 1980 when we had 23.

We played 45 league games in 1980, we've played 35 so far this year.

And the following year? ...

[PeterWithesShin]

22 league wins so far in 2023. The most in a calendar year since 1980 when we had 23.

We played 45 league games in 1980, we've played 35 so far this year.

And the following year? ...

17 wins

[SaddVillan]

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

Unai Emery is the Premier League manager of 2023 – he is working miracles at Aston Villa

MATT LAW
AT TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM

Those who like their calendar year awards should look no further than Unai Emery for the best manager of 2023.

Pep Guardiola may have won the Treble with Manchester City this year, but the job Emery is doing at Aston Villa is miraculous.

An Ollie Watkins goal made it 22 Premier League wins for Emery’s Aston Villa in 2023, with a month of the year still remaining. Not since 1980 have the club managed that.

This was the first time since December 2009 that Villa finished the day in the top four at least 13 games into a season, having leap-frogged the injury-ravaged Tottenham Hotspur.

The Midlands club can book their passage into the knockout stages of the Europa Conference League with a game to spare on Thursday night. The fans have rarely known it so good since that famous night in 1982 when the club won the European Cup, which they still sing about.

Emery’s team are only two points behind League leaders Arsenal, his old club, yet he still claims there are seven stronger contenders for the top four. Asked to name them, Emery said: “Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Newcastle and Chelsea.”

Chelsea are 12 points behind Villa and their £220 million midfield duo of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo are currently being outperformed by Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara, who cost a combined £15 million.

Both players were excellent against Spurs, with Luiz setting up a headed equaliser from defender Pau Torres, which will only heighten Arsenal’s interest in the Brazilian midfielder.

“Douglas Luiz is playing very good, he has improved a lot,” said Emery. “We are very happy with him and want to keep him. He is happy with us. He is back in his national team and he is playing amazing. I want him.”

This was by no means a comfortable afternoon for Emery. He jumped up and down on the touchline, threw his arms all over the place, barely ever sat down, but loved every minute of it.

“It was an amazing match,” said Emery. “They created chances, we created chances. We were efficient and clinical and I enjoyed it, but I lost all my energy.”



Emery was once again celebrating at the end and it was another piece of tactical brilliance from him that helped Villa inflict Tottenham’s third successive league defeat.

Villa were fortunate to still be in the game at half-time and Emery took full advantage, sending on Youri Tielemans, as one of two substitutions, to replace Moussa Diaby.

It looked like a negative move yet it was Tielemans, with a superb no-look pass, who sent Watkins through to score the winner.

Leon Bailey, Villa’s other half-time substitute, had already hit the post by then. His introduction stretched Tottenham’s makeshift defence and spared Matty Cash, who had been booked for a hack on Rodrigo Bentancur, what would have been an awkward second 45 minutes.

Emery, like most people inside Tottenham’s stadium, appeared to have been caught out by Ange Postecoglou’s line-up, but Emery’s tactical reshuffle, after Torres scored on the stroke of half-time, proved decisive.

“We were struggling on the right and, tactically, it was my correction,” said Emery. “Offensively, we weren’t attacking this side like the left. Also the yellow of Matt Cash and after the solution was with Bailey and Tielemans.”

On his incredible 2023, Emery joked that “life goes fast”, but stressed he would not be getting carried away even though he wants his players to enjoy their position in the table.

Not since the days of the Ossie Ardiles ‘famous five’ have Tottenham fans seen their team sent out quite like this, yet Postecoglou’s side have now lost three successive Premier League games and slipped out of the top four.

Postecoglou was told by one of his best mates that he “had to meet Ardiles and Villa” when he took the Spurs head coach job.

He revealed over the weekend that he has already met Ardiles and Postecoglou channelled the spirit of the former Tottenham player and manager for the visit of Emery’s Villa.

Postecoglou’s ‘famous five’ were Son Heung-min, Brennan Johnson, Bryan Gil, Dejan Kulusevski and Giovani Lo Celso, who opened the scoring.

Kulusevski and Pedro Porro both struck a post, and Son had a goal disallowed. Postecoglou felt that on another day his attack, attack, attack approach would have paid dividends.

“Some of our football was as good as we’ve played all year,” said Postecoglou. “We’ve got to take the pain of the defeat, but continue down that road. We’ll get to where we want to.”

Already without half a team because of injuries and suspensions, Postecoglou had to replace Bentancur with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg following Cash’s challenge. The Australian said: “I’m not sure [how bad it is], it’s his ankle. It wasn’t a great tackle. It’s the last thing we needed, he had started so well.”

[Toronto Villa]

Injury ravaged Villa beat injury ravaged Spurs. Otherwise fair reporting by Matt.