Unai Emery sat down for a wide-ranging interview with VillaTV this week.
Aston Villa’s head coach discussed his vision for the club, aims for the season, fantastic support from the claret and blue faithful and much more.
Read every word from the interview below…
Unai, thanks for joining us. How do you feel, in this second season, about the Aston Villa project and objectives?
“Good afternoon, I am delighted for the project, like when I arrived here for the first day. I want to and I can understand the project like a table, which needs four legs to sustain it. And one of them is Aston Villa Football Club with the idiosyncrasies, with the identity of the supporters. And the second leg is the owners. Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, when they arrived here, started the project. The third leg is the coach with Monchi, with Damian Vidagany, with the workers that we have here. And the fourth leg is the players.
“We are very involved with the owners, their project. We are very involved with the first leg, the history. We want to try and write a new history here in Aston Villa in our period here, always respecting the history, always respecting the supporters, always respecting the idiosyncrasies, the identity. And then it is with the players.
“Now is the moment that I am excited with this project, and I want to use my experiences, everything I learned in my career as a player and as a coach, to do here and to be very focused in this moment.”
How do you feel the season has started?
“I feel great. Understanding the English culture, understanding English life and understanding English football; those things here are amazing because everything involved around football in England is I think the most exciting feeling in football.”
How good was it to qualify for Europe?
“Always it’s prestigious to play in Europe. And I remember with the players in 1982 when Aston Villa won the Champions League. And for me, playing in Europe 16 years in a row, it’s very important to play with Aston Villa in the first year I am here, and we did the big effort last year to get it. Now I want to enjoy with our supporters every day in Europe – every match, every moment, because the aim is not my objective, it’s to enjoy the way we are doing it.
“Playing 16 years in a row, I played seven times in semi-finals, five times in finals and I won four times. These experiences I had in my career, I want to try to do here with everybody in Villa Park and in Aston Villa matches. Then we try to know another football culture when we are playing in Europe. You can know different football. Football is the same with one ball, 11 players, but it’s different as a culture in different countries. I really enjoy it and I want to enjoy it this year.”
What are the goals for this season?
“I want to raise my level, and I want to raise the level of the players, of the club, of our target we are going to face. I want to do it progressively, of course, but being very demanding in each moment we are working, playing matches and practicing. Then, to be a contender in different competitions we are going to face.
“For me, the most important competition is the Premier League; it’s the most difficult league in the world because every match is being very difficult. The first target we can take in the season is through Premier League. It’s 38 matches of trying to be consistent, trying to be focused on being a contender to play again in Europe. But of course, I want to raise our level trying to be competitive with the top seven teams that there are now. Second is to be a contender in Europa Conference League and try to do one way being always with the possibility to end the season playing for a trophy. FA Cup and League Cup as well are two cups in England and another opportunity to try to contend for them and be close to fighting for a trophy.
“Again, the most important thing is to try and get the players to perform, take more experiences, play with a style, with a personality. We can show everybody our identity as a team is clear and strong, and the consequence is to create a strong mentality in our mind, in our club and in each individual player.”
How would you assess the new arrivals and your squad in general?
“I am very happy with the players in our squad and the players we decided to be in our 25 players that we have now, and with some young players in the Under-23s, who are usually training with us. I'm very happy with Nassef, with Wes, and Monchi’s work in the transfer window. Now I am trying to understand that we are going to play more matches than they were playing because playing in Europe and trying to be a contender in different cups, I think we are going to play, more or less, 55 to 60 matches this year.
“And some players are in their national teams and adding more minutes in their legs. The worst thing we can have in the squad is the injured players and we had two very hard injuries this year with Tyrone Mings and Emi Buendia. We have to be ready in the squad with 20 to 25 players ready to play when circumstances like that are coming.
“The players we added for this year, with Pau Torres, Clement Lenglet, Youri Tielemans, Nicolo Zaniolo and Moussa Diaby, we can feel stronger than last year and we can be contenders in different competitions because we can use different players, playing Sunday, playing Thursday, playing in cups. That is our challenge this year: try to be a contender and be ready with our players to take a high level in different competitions we are going to face.”
How important will the Academy be for you?
“It’s always very important, the Academy players. We have a plan with them. We have to support them. We have to help them and we have to give them, being for them very important, to play consistently, regularly. They take confidence from practicing a lot, playing in official matches. When we are letting some players to leave from here, it’s always thinking they will come back here with this idea – minutes, confidence and performances.
“We try with this plan at the end that they will finish playing for Aston Villa. And then we have to use the young players playing in the Under-23s, but also regularly practice with us. That is the mix we are doing. But at the end, the Academy is very important because we are here thinking they are working very well in every process in the Academy. But at the end the last step is the most difficult step for them. But the plan is very important and the consequence at the end is trying to get them to be with us.”
The atmosphere at Villa Park has been excellent. What have you made of the support?
“I am feeling especially very, very good with a very great connection with the supporters at Villa Park. The atmosphere we had last year, the atmosphere we are having in the first matches we are having at home [this season], is really very important, trying to make the players feel like I am feeling: comfortable, stronger. They are supporting us in 90 minutes to be consistent with our idea, with our wishes in every match to connect with them. This great atmosphere is very important.
“And we are feeling it at home but also when they are travelling away we are feeling very well with their support. I think we have a very strong identity when we are together, trying to get a family between Aston Villa fans, players and workers and everybody feeling as a family.
“The consequences are a good result, a good atmosphere, being excited before each match that is coming. I want to feel it every match. And the next match at home against Crystal Palace, we will need the supporters supporting us. If we are connecting like we were doing, I think at home we are going to feel strong and make it really difficult to beat us in Villa Park.”
