Unai Emery Has Defied A Former Aston Villa Managers Expectations Since Taking Over

Former Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neil has spoken about the pleasant surprise caused by Unai Emery since joining.

O’Neil enjoyed four years with Aston Villa before departing the club. In that time he brought joy back to Villa Park, narrowly missing out on Champions League qualification.

Now, Villa have Emery in charge. He has turned the club from a relegation threatened team, to a team in Europe again.

I’ve seen great teams and managers down VP, from the Vic Crowe days through to Atkinson, Taylor & O’Neil.

But this team and this Manager are the best we’ve had since Ron Saunders without a shadow of doubt.

🎶..We’ve got Super Unai Emery, he knows exactly what we need..🎶#UTV pic.twitter.com/9E6lfxJ9gX

— Nigel B6🦁⭐️ (@B6Nigel) October 22, 2023

Speaking to talkSPORT recently, O’Neil claimed he expected Emery to start well, but fall off quickly.

Here’s what he had to say:

“They’re riding the crest of a wave at the moment.

“It’s been a fantastic year for the football club, a fantastic year for the manager.

“He’s an exceptional manager. I think he got… harshly treated might be too strong, at Arsenal before. But his record would suggest that he has got something.

“Aston Villa were in a bit of turmoil before he arrived. Up he comes, there he arrives, and you expect maybe a manager stepping in there, results going in his favour early on and things plateauing.

“In the end it’s just been a continuous rise. Absolutely fantastic. Really, really good. Good manager, good set of players as well.

“I was just saying off-air they had spent some money on the players, Simon (Jordan) rebuked me by saying they had spent £290million but had recouped £200million – so well done to them if that’s the case.

“They have an excellent manager, the players look as if they believe in exactly what he’s telling them. I was listening to a couple of interviews in the last number of weeks by (John McGinn) and they really do like (Emery).

“Now liking a manager and respecting a manager might be two different things, so I think they’ve got a bit of both about them. They look as if they’re on the rise, and why not?”