Unai Emery and the theory of evolution

On March 8, 2017, PSG received the historic 6-1 victory on that controversial and memorable night in which Neymar created a historic comeback for FC Barcelona. At that moment the focus was on the referee controversy first, and the mockery towards Unai Emery second. Memeslack of respect, hypercritical analyzes taken out of context… For some time now, in this strange world, we have focused more on laughing at those who suffer than on admiring those who are triumphing.

Five and a half years later, Emery has reached two more Europa League finals: one lost with Arsenal and another won in historic fashion with Villarreal. Furthermore, he has returned a historic team like Aston Villa to the place that a European Cup champion deserves. If you look at the Premier League table, Emery and his Villa are fourth. They are above Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham, three tenants of the Big Six.

Since Emery arrived, who has now played 38 Premier games with the club, Villa has earned 77 points. It’s not a score to fight for a title, that’s true, but it’s numbers to easily enter the Champions League. In the 2022/2023 Premier League, United finished third with 75 points.

Emery is a coach top, and that is something as irrefutable as having four Europa Leagues and five finals played. He was seriously injured when he was a soccer player for Lorca Deportiva in 2003/2004 and that same season he began to train that Lorca after his mandatory retirement. There are almost 20 years on the bench in which Emery has been able to evolve. This is indicated by two former members of his coaching staff.

“Now Emery is a more balanced coach. Before, his teams were a little more suicidal, but over the years he has been able to provide his teams with a more solid structure. Of course, he continues to make a difference in offensive set pieces,” highlights Juanjo Vila. We saw this this weekend against Tottenham.

“It has never been rigid with a structure, with the same system,” highlights Juan Carlos Carcedo, current coach of Pafos, which leads the Cypriot league. He arrived in Seville with a 4-2-3-1, at PSG he used a 4-3-3, a 5-3-2 at Arsenal, he has played more on the counterattack with Arsenal and Vila… In short, the of the memeswith Emery, they are surely hidden.

Analysis in Play Fútbol

Emery joined the Birmingham team on October 24, 2022. He left Villarreal, a club he led to win the Europa League, to go to the Premier League. He inherited a very weak Aston Villa after Gerrard’s dismissal. After 38 games with the villains, he managed to get the team into the Conference League and this season they are fourth, two points behind the leader, after 13 games.

“These are numbers that should be as high as possible if you are not an alien (…) It is a historic team, which in recent decades had collapsed and the leap it has made since Emery’s arrival has been tremendous”

— José David López, in Play Fútbol, ​​about Villa de Emery

“They have signed people who are also great in the offices, people like Monchi, and they have moved well in the market: Tielemans for free from Leicester, Diaby, Zaniolo, Pau Torres… Almost all the movements are interesting”

— Bruno Alemany, in Play Fútbol, ​​about Emery’s Villa