With the Emery engine, Aston Villa became Aston Martin
Defeated Tottenham Hotspur, who had a great start to the season, 2-1, Aston Villa became the new super dark horse of the Premier League. Villa, who finished 15th at this time last year, are now fourth in the Premier League, just two points clear of Arsenal at the top of the table. This is the first time since 2009 that Villa are in the top four of the Premier League after 13 league games.
It was Unai Emery's 38th Premier League game since October last year, just in time to complete the season cycle. In terms of "Unai Emery's season", Villa is third with 77 points, surpassing Liverpool and Manchester United (76 points), behind Arsenal (80 points) and Manchester City (86 points). Villa is only 8th in the Premier League, and Chelsea, which is worth 350 million euros more, has smashed 792 million euros in the ball market this year, which is 6.5 times that of Villa, and only 39 points in the same period, which is only half of Villa's!
Fans ridiculed: Unai Emery, the Spanish "racing driver", really turned Aston Villa into Aston Martin...
Arsenal legend Adams asserts that if Unai Emery had been in charge of Arsenal last season, the Premier League trophy would not have been lost. Unai Emery is now the most popular coach in the Premier League, but behind the scenery is a bitter enduring. When Emery arrived at Villa early last year, Emery and his assistant Vidagani often stayed at the training ground until 10 p.m., so much so that the base security guards complained that they could not finish work on time.
Unai Emery has been "7 to 7" this season, but the intensity of his work has not diminished. He has always been ashamed of being sacked by Arsenal four years ago, and the lesson was learned from building a fully controlled management team first. This summer, his friend Vidagani has been promoted to director of football, and Sevilla's legendary manager Monchi is in charge of recruitment. The three-man management team is solid, with Unai Emery and Monchi jointly identifying the recruits, and Vidagani, who speaks fluent English, as the bridge of communication.
The summer introduction of striker Diaby, centre-back P. Torres, midfielders Illerence Tile Mans and Zaniolo are all considered successful, and are the result of the successful cooperation of Villa's "troika". The Villa boss has fully delegated authority, scouting director McKenzie, and the head of the team medical team, Rosk, who is at the behest of Unai Emery, which is the fundamental reason why he politely refused to offer Newcastle United with a high salary and chose Villa.
Unai Emery likes to keep his distance from his players, but he talks to all the players in the summer and knows everything about them. There were more than a one-hour tactical sessions before the game, with six analysts providing customized video clips and Emery deploying tactical details. The team dominated the 4222 formation, with Douglas Ruiz and Kamara in the middle, captain McGinn and Eric Bailly on the wings, and Watkins and Diaby in the attack. Douglas and Kamara are the twin centres, providing midfield protection and support. After Villa regained possession, Watkins stepped back to tandem and Kamara provided pace support to open up space on the wing.
Offensively, Douglas worked closely with set-piece coach Mike Afee to reinforce corner kicks and free-kick practice. The Brazilian became the first Villa player to score six consecutive Premier League home goals, breaking the record set by York in 1995/96. Unai Emery corrected the running habits of center forward Watkins, using big data analysis to improve the tacit understanding with his partner in the penalty area, improving the shortcomings of excessive movement, and assistant coach Rodri was responsible for one-on-one "coaching" after daily training.
Watkins scored 12 goals and 5 assists in 20 games this season, and the "Emery cycle" totaled 26 goals and 8 assists in 48 games, and only Salah and Haaland had more than him in the same period!
Unai Emery's defensive tactics are based on offsides, with Villa causing their opponents to be offside 168 times in one year, compared to 102 times for second-placed Liverpool in the same period. Villa have made 63 offsides this season, an average of over 4.8 per game. Conversely, Villa have been offside 14 times in 13 Premier League games this season, just fewer than Manchester City (10). Villa are on average 44.5 metres from their own goal, but the defence is 39.2 metres from their own goal, so the offside tactics clearly take precedence over high defence.
VAR is the central reason why Unai Emery tends to create offside, and defender Konsa revealed that Emery has been training for offside tactics since he took over. Now Konsa is the leader of the Villa Line, commanding the entire line. The success of the offside tactic is inseparable from the initiative of goalkeeper Martinez, who is the goalkeeper who has broken out of the box the most times per game in the top five leagues (2.86 times per game), which is a key compensation for the offside tactic. The offside tactic shortened the distance between the three lines, and the tighter midfield helped the attack significantly.
Unai Emery's 4222 moved 15 metres in front of the defence, keeping the midfield high pressing, with more wide players moving inside and making room for full-backs to assist. Unai Emery's 4222 is quite unique and has been a decisive factor in Villa's transformation from a relegation team to a Champions League team in the past year. Of course, the last two-thirds of the schedule and injuries are the key to determining the ceiling of Villa's results. The injuries of centre-back Mings and winger Buendia are already early warnings, and they have only played four games in the first 13 rounds against the big seven teams (Big6 + Newcastle). Unai Emery is mentally prepared for this, and he still believes that Villa are the eighth team in the Premier League, and the devil's schedule next April will be the decisive moment.