In this season's Champions League group stage, Villarreal led by Emery pressed the "true blue and black" Atalanta, and rushed to the knockout round in the second place in the group. In the quarter-finals they defeated Serie A giants Juventus and are about to face the more powerful Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.
When the Champions League was rekindled, Emery once again thought of the conversation with Ferguson.
"Once, we were at a coaching summit with Sir Alex and I won three Europa Leagues and Ferguson asked me, 'Seriously, don't you want to win the Champions League?' ”
Faced with this question, Emery gave a positive answer. Perhaps it was Ferguson's problems that stimulated him, or perhaps it was the Europa League's three consecutive games that gave him confidence, and in the summer of 2016, Emery took the step of coaching abroad and walked into the locker rooms of the two giants.
Coaching at Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal did not allow him to complete the Champions League level and did not meet the expectations of most fans, but in the past three years, he has gained a lot.
Just like everything in the past, it made him a better coach.
【1】
Emery used to hate football.
In fact, Emery's family can be called a family of footballers, his grandfather and father were both professional players, and his grandfather even had a place in the history of La Liga: in 1929, Emery's grandfather became the first goalkeeper in La Liga history to concede a goal.
Naturally, Emery also became a professional player. However, he didn't have the big heart of his grandfather, and the psychological pressure to take responsibility in the game prevented him from becoming a good player.
Teammate Bertoni said that "in training, he can play well, but he is not very confident in his ability", and even, sometimes when he learns that he is not selected for the competition roster, Emery will breathe a sigh of relief, and even before the game starts, he will bet that the opponent will win.
"My football career has been more painful than happy. In a way, the sense of fear is always lingering in my head. ”
In a way, Emery's sense of dread comes from the fact that he can see things that a lot of people don't see.
While playing for Leganes, Emery found in a match against Albacete that his opponents had a good strategy of throwing the sideline balls, as well as corner kicks and free kicks.
However, his coach did not notice, but kept shouting on the sidelines, and Emery, who was standing on the field, looked dazed and thought: "Our head coach did not realize that their running position was prepared in advance, and we did not know anything." ”
In that game, they naturally lost to Albacete.
In 2004, Emery, who was plagued by a knee injury, chose to retire at the age of 33, and he did not know what he should do, so he had to go to the coaching license first.
At one point, he met Toshak, then Real Sociedad manager, who told him: "A good coach has to be the opposite of who they were when they were players. ”
It is this sentence that illuminates the way for Emery to become a professional coach.
As a player, no coach has found Emery's psychological problems, let alone helped Emery become a better version of himself, so from the beginning of coaching Athletic Lorca, he tried to guide the development of players with a good mentality, and used video analysis to help the team gain an advantage on the field.
Even though these video conferences are often hours long, so many players find it boring, they even fall asleep in the meeting, and when they wake up, the video is still there.
But as one of the players he coached put it, "Over time, there will always be some effect." ”
Led Athletic Lorca to Promotion to La Liga, Led Almeria to La Liga, and finished third in the league for three consecutive seasons in the financially poor Valencia. To outsiders, these are not an honor, but in Emery's view, these are all proud achievements.
"The winner mentality doesn't mean you can always win, it means you always pursue victory tirelessly."
When playing in La Liga, Emery's contract with the club has never exceeded two years, and although the pressure has affected him, it has forced him to work hard to constantly get new contracts to support himself, and the same is true after becoming a coach.
"I wasn't born a coach, so I need to prove myself. I wasn't born to be at the highest level, so I needed to work on it. ”
'If I get better and be successful, it's because I have a team that works as hard as I do and they know they need to work harder when they fail.'
【2】
After winning three consecutive Europa League attempts, Emery took on a challenge from France.
He got a significantly better team, and the expectations of the outside world are naturally higher. He's still working as hard as he did at Athletic Lorca, he's helping the young Mbappe get used to it as quickly as possible, he has great expectations for Neymar, and he wants Thiago Silva to try to get out of his comfort zone.
However, he soon encountered entirely new problems.
In Emery's philosophy, teams should first do a good job of football before dealing with problems in the dressing room, but "big stars seem to have a lot of things to do, and these things have nothing to do with football." ”
"There are some big stars who have a lot of things around them every day. With so many things to deal with, it's hard to get them to focus all their attention on football. ”
Like Neymar, he has to go back to Brazil every year to celebrate his birthday, which means he has to go through a long flight and spend his time and energy on the journey.
In his two years at Paris Saint-Germain, Emery helped the club win seven titles, but a 1-6 draw wiped out all the efforts and achievements.
In the summer of 2018, after the contract with Greater Paris expired, the two sides did not continue to cooperate, and Emery flew over the English Channel and came to England, a hot land of football.
When he was coaching Valencia, Emery worked with David Silva, and the latter, who has been successful in the Premier League, once advised Emery: "Coach, if you can, you should go to England to coach." ”
Rustic Premier League fans love to see the hard-working side of the team, and that's exactly what Emery is good at and what Arsenal need to do after sending Wenger away.
In his first season in the Premier League, Arsenal's performances delighted Emery, who often watched the team running on the pitch from outside the sideline and thought, "This is my team".
Sadly, in another European final after 2006, Arsenal lost to their city rivals Chelsea.
At that time, Emery often wondered if Arsenal had won the Europa League, if they hadn't lost so many experienced players in the summer, if Zaha had joined instead of Pepe... Will everything change?
However, nothing can be changed. All he can do is work hard to improve his English skills. While coaching at Arsenal, English became an obstacle to his communication with the players and a point of ridicule for him in the media and fans. Whenever he speaks good evening (good night) as good ebening according to the pronunciation characteristics of Spanish, it will attract heated discussion on social media.
So he studied hard, watched TV shows, chatted with friends, bravely spoke English in front of players and reporters, and even stopped talking when dating his ex-girlfriend.
"Then check your own wording with Google Translate on your phone."
However, seven months after that final, Emery received a notice of dismissal.
"For a month after I was fired, I dreamed about Arsenal."
【3】
As Silva had hoped, Emery felt a lot of joy in the Premier League.
He was amazed at the intensity of the Premier League, he was also amazed at the hostile atmosphere that prevailed in the Premier League away games, and the first season in charge of Arsenal, these are the moments he enjoyed.
However, the truth does not lie, Arsenal is the second club to fire him after Spartak Moscow, which is doomed to be a failure. Although his failure was based on poor results, Emery also realized that "the language problem is very important, my French and English, although improved, are certainly not as good as my Spanish and Basque, and my best time is spent in La Liga." ”
After watching the video for months during the pandemic, Emery took the position of Captain Villarreal.
In the first season, the team only finished seventh in the league and failed to complete the season goal of winning a Place in the Europa League, but by chance, they reached the Final of the Europa League, which gave them the opportunity to win a direct Place in the Champions League.
In preparation for the final, the villarreal team arrived at the training ground at 6 a.m. for a few days and began practicing the first half, the second half, and extra time, including penalties. "There's a plan for how to play when it happens, because anything can happen."
It was under such meticulous planning that Villarreal's entire squad won all penalties in the penalty shootout, which made them wait until the moment United made a mistake.
Having won the Europa League four times, Emery became the biggest winner in the history of the tournament.
Just as they were using the experience of winning the title to experience a new experience in the Champions League group stage, Emery once again received an invitation from England. Newcastle, which was acquired by a Saudi consortium, wanted to make a big show, and they wanted Emery to be the first painter of this grand plan.
However, money doesn't necessarily make great teams.
In April 2021, the UEFA Premier League was announced, and when asked by the media about Emery's views on this, he said: "The economic part of football is a very important and crucial part of the sport of football, but beyond that, football is another thing. ”
"The football I've been exposed to since I was born was the football of my grandfather in the early 1920s and my father in the '50s, '60s and '70s. It's because I lived through football in that era that I hope the situation will continue, but sometimes economic factors will destroy it. ”
As a result, Emery did not abandon Villarreal halfway through.
"I communicated with the president and I want to continue to be part of the club's programme because I feel the commitment from the club, the respect from the players, it's mutual and reciprocal."
It turns out that football itself will always be the protagonist of football.
1-1 at home and 3-0 away, Villarreal beat Juventus, allowing Emery to qualify for the next round in the Champions League knockout round for the first time.
In not so much money, but full of trust in Villarreal.
For the first time out of the Spanish country, Emery encountered a lot of difficulties.
When he coached Paris Saint-Germain, although he had good relations with Neymar, Mbappe and Cavani, in his eyes, Ben Alpha was a real thorn.
According to media reports, in training, Ben Alfa often imitates Emery in front of his teammates to make fun of his coach, and after that 1-6 game, Ben Alfa even openly said: "Even with the best team, Emery still can't advance to the quarterfinals of the Champions League." ”
Four years later, however, Emery did.
Even though his side is likely to lose to another title-winning favourite, Bayern Munich, in the quarter-finals, as Emery himself put it: "Playing against the top teams really makes us feel satisfied and excited." ”
Eighteen years of coaching career, four Europa League winning process, during this period, Emery showed his strengths in success, but also in the face of the wall to realize his shortcomings.
"I'm not a dreamer, I prefer to take every step of the way."
Although it was a little slower, Emery finally reached today's height.
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