It has been just over 12 months of Unai Emery at Aston Villa and the transformation has been amazing. Now reports have emerged of what it is like to play under his leadership.
Following the sacking of Steven Gerrard, Aston Villa were in dire need of a manager to take the club in a new direction.
The Villa faithful were delighted to see that Unai Emery was going to be coming in but couldn’t have dreamed of what was to come.
In his first campaign, he secured a top-seven finish and a place in the Europa Conference League. This season, his first full in charge, the Villans currently sit in fifth place.
With several players performing at the top of their game right now, it is safe to say the impact of the Spaniard has been huge.
What has been said about Unai Emery?
It is safe to say that Villa have been a different animal this season. Given the 5-1 loss on the opening day, things could have been so much different.
Every game at Villa Park has been won and there have only been three defeats on the road so far this campaign.
Speaking to Give Me Sport, Neil Moxley has opened up about what it is like behind the scenes. Also delving into why Villa have been so successful under Mister Emery.
On that, he said: “What he’s done has been absolutely fantastic. The one thing that does stick out from speaking to the players on a regular basis, is the fact that they all buy into him.
“It’s very common for disaffected players to grumble and moan a little bit, but even players who are on the edges of the Villa side have nothing but good words to say about him.”
It has to be said that stars like Ollie Watkins, Douglas Luiz and John McGinn had been dropped by the previous manager. Now they are all undroppable in the current regime.
This is also true of other players like Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne who had struggled for minutes under Emery at times. Now they are key features of the starting XI and are performing at the top of their game in B6.
Continuing on, Moxley said: “So they’ve absolutely bought into Unai Emery, absolutely bought into his method, and the results are following. And that’s the sort of ingredients really for a successful football club that Aston Villa have ambitions to become.”
It has been a successful start for the Villans and their fans will be hopeful that this can continue. With them three points off top spot, the title charge is on…
