Inside Unai Emery’s journey to Premier League redemption: ‘People didn’t see the full picture’
As Mikel Arteta’s staff began preparations for Saturday’s increasingly important Premier League clash at Aston Villa, they noticed elements that were profoundly different from Unai Emery’s time at Arsenal. Some were even markedly different to last season.
Emery is playing far higher up the pitch than he has ever done in his career. A sporting director at one major club was shocked by it, as it went against acres of analytics they had from the Spaniard’s previous teams. Even some of the Villa players were initially surprised, immediately sceptical given the risk of it. Emery, contrary to both perceptions of his coaching and his time at Arsenal, was more than willing to take that risk. His belief similarly meant the players were more than willing to buy in. They were soon fully sold as results immediately improved, and have gone on to reach new levels.
It has all served to set up one of the Premier League’s standout performances of recent years, in the way on Wednesday.. They created nothing, because they could barely get on the ball. It is not an exaggeration to say that just isn’t done to a Pep Guardiola side. It’s hard to even think of similar games. You probably have to go back to Guardiola’s first months in England, when both Everton and Leicester City each put four past a nascent Guardiola team. That was a side still learning his way, though, and those oppositions really just hit the glass jaw of the City at the time, rather than smashing them to pieces in the way Villa did.
