Aston Villa help organise a regular charter flight from Birmingham to Spain whenever Unai Emery wants to take a trip home.
Emery books and pays for it himself and often goes during an international break, allowing a couple of days of rest and an opportunity to refresh.
Yet, four days after Villa’s 2-0 defeat at Anfield, a fourth consecutive loss, Emery was pictured at Bodymoor Heath, clipboard in hand, alongside the players who had not gone away with national teams, back in training.
Sources — who spoke on the condition of anonymity, like all in this article, to protect relationships — describe the work undertaken over the last 10 days as “huge”. Emery is resolved to arrest the acute decline in form, having entered uncharted territory himself after losing four straight matches for the first time in his 1,026-game managerial career, according to Opta.
Putting in the work 👊 pic.twitter.com/I84ffUJtUG
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) November 13, 2024
Although training has been regarded as positive, the biggest focus and effort has been the sheer volume of analysis. Coaching staff believe that in parts of the losing run, Villa have been on the right track at certain points — aside from the 1-0 loss to Club Brugge, arguably the nadir of Emery’s tenure — but lost the smaller, key details. The Liverpool game served as a case in point; Villa restricted their opponents to little in open play but were punished ruthlessly on transition, from their corners in the 2-0 loss.
To underline the attention to detail, Villa have two staff members focusing solely on defensive and attacking set plays — Austin MacPhee works in tandem with set-piece analyst Jose Rodriguez Calvo, who compiles dossiers of opponents’ dead-ball approach.
Emery’s work ethic is renowned. His commitment, doing 12-hour days (and sometimes longer), has delighted internal staff and members of the dressing room, who have recognised the improvements made during his two-year tenure.
Meetings are typically long and results had been vindicating his methods. His lengthy presentations are partly designed to test players’ concentration but there remains total buy-in. Since Emery’s arrival, recruits must be viewed as psychologically robust to cope with Emery’s intensity.
“We don’t have to do meetings because we are together all day,” Monchi, president of football operations, told Movistar. “We meet for breakfast, for lunch, we live here, we are here all day, we spend 12 or 13 hours practically together.”
The Villa manager does his own analysis on top of the work his six analysts do in preparation for games, before then comparing notes. Often, he will watch footage of upcoming opposition on the treadmill or static bike, using software to clip analysis footage together. He ensures he prepares in the most granular detail possible.
Last season, one source joked how Emery would work past 8pm on Fridays, which would eat into his staff’s weekend plans.
“He is just so driven,” said midfielder John McGinn after Villa’s 2-0 win against Bologna last month. “I have never met anyone like him. He has a few times, he was an OK footballer but he wishes he had the determination and work rate he has as a manager. No one can question what he puts in, the effort — everything that comes his way and our way is on the back of hard work. You feed off your leader. He is our leader and we feed off that.”
Emery and his coaching staff’s diligence has been doubled down upon over the international break. Sources insist Villa have worked “harder than ever” to overturn their form.
Rectifying the finer details in matches has been among the key points of consideration, especially given Villa’s intense fixture schedule — they will play eight games in 28 days.
Villa’s ‘triangle of power’, comprising Emery, Monchi and director of football Damian Vidagany, lead all footballing decisions. The power structure is in charge of recruitment, squad building, long-term aspirations and general direction.
The roles of Monchi and Vidagany, as Emery’s closest confidantes, are to regulate the environment around the manager, enabling him to maintain his focus, specifically, towards on-field matters. The pair look to provide a robust footballing structure for Emery, one strong enough to withstand downturns in form and quickly rectify shortcomings.
“It’s about keeping us close to success, that we don’t go back to the Aston Villa that was in the middle of the table looking down, even in the Championship,” Monchi told Movistar.
Those close to Emery draw comparisons between Villa’s setup and how Manchester City have built a team around a figurehead coach. On the rare occasions City experience setbacks, there has been a support network behind Pep Guardiola to find swift resolutions. In some ways, it is fitting that City and Villa are coming out of the international break having suffered four successive defeats for the first time in their managers’ tenures.
“We can create strong structures so that the Champions League is not too far above us, but that we are very much on a par,” Emery told Movistar.
“The Premier League has 20 of the best 50 managers in the world,” Vidagany said to The Athletic in an interview in 2023. “Unai is close to the top level that marks Guardiola. It’s a matter of time to get there for him. I’ve never seen anyone in my life work as hard as him. This is leadership. He also has a good heart.”
Monchi, left, and Vidagany are a key part of Emery’s staff (Valery Hache/AFP via Getty Images)
Vidagany has repeatedly explained how a robust upward structure tends to elicit success on the pitch and to go from a “medium club to a great club again”. Villa now have a Spanish-speaking contingent running to more than two dozen, all people Emery wanted and knew he could trust.
“It’s the only place where I feel it’s a project, but I can never forget the results,” said Emery to Movistar. “Everything has gone very well. Some teams are stronger than us, but we want to compete and try to consolidate this project with sustained growth so that we can compete in Europe. If it is in the Champions League, all the better. Aston Villa can recover the greatness of its history.”
“You can see the fever for Aston Villa in the school playgrounds,” added Vidagany. “You walk down the street and you can see the enthusiasm. We are talking about one of the six English teams to have won the European Cup and it was too long without Aston Villa being a source of pride. I think people are proud now.”
Villa’s regeneration under Emery has elevated expectations, to the point where the recent run of results is deeply incongruous. Emery’s hard work has provided the foundations for their raised expectation levels. The international break has allowed him to reiterate those characteristics. He will be hoping those long hours pay off against Crystal Palace at Villa Park on Saturday.
Additional reporting: Guillermo Rai
(Top photo: Emery was frustrated in the away defeat to Liverpool; Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
