After a delayed arrival, Unai Emery has finally taken charge of his first training session as Aston Villa Head Coach.
The Spaniard will prepare his players for his first game at the helm against Man Utd on Sunday, and he’ll have wasted little time in trying to get his ideas and principles across to the squad to try and stamp his identity on the group as soon as possible.
READ MORE: Balague provides fascinating insight on what Villa can expect from Emery
It won’t be easy to do that over a short period of time and so patience will be needed in terms of seeing real, tangible changes and improvement on what we’ve seen previously, but there is hope that Emery will make a strong start to life at Villa and build some immediate confidence for all concerned.
Villa confirmed last week that Emery would begin work on November 1, but after an anxious wait for news on his arrival, it wasn’t until Wednesday that the club confirmed that the 50-year-old had overseen his first session at Bodymoor Heath.
At this early stage, it’s likely that he was getting a closer look at individuals and assessing where they’re at in terms of fitness and availability, and he’ll no doubt have been working hard in the background on formulating his game-plan and tactical solutions for the upcoming game.
However, one of the big standout takeaways from the images that the club shared from that first training session was just how hands-on and involved Emery appeared to be.
Stark contrast with Emery to what we’ve seen before him
It’s important to note that we of course don’t see training sessions in their entirety and so are not privy to everything that goes on at Bodymoor Heath, while it’s understood that Emery is still assembling his coaching staff and so he may not have had his entire team with him on Wednesday.
That said, it was a refreshing change to see him get heavily involved in the preparation of the training drills and also take part in some too, as per the images below.
Whether it was Dean Smith or Steven Gerrard, from what we were given an insight into, they were largely on a watching brief from a distance in training as their coaching staff could be seen and heard instructing the players as well as offering encouragement.
Every coach is different and certain things work better for them as they may feel as though they take more away from watching on and picking things up that they wouldn’t necessarily see if they were in the middle with the players.
Nevertheless, for someone who has been widely praised for his coaching ability, man-management skills, tactical know-how and flexibility as well as strengths in improving individuals and the team as a collective, it was both an interesting and fascinating look inside to see Emery take such a different approach.
It’s obviously hoped that the players warmed to him immediately and vice versa, and that they build chemistry and trust in each other now to ensure that the new Villa boss gets the very best out of those at his disposal.
He will likely want to bring in new faces in January to help him put his mark on the squad, but for now, Emery looks ready to grab this new challenge with both hands and really get amongst it by leading from the front and not taking a step backwards and lean on his coaching staff around him, and that can be seen as a real positive from his first day on the job.
🚨✅ Villa confirm Unai Emery took charge of his first training session this morning.
Know we don't see everything in sessions, but refreshing sight seeing him appear to be more hands on & directly involved with players & not just the coaching staff.#avfc #UTV pic.twitter.com/OiOu5P9bcH
— Talk Villa (@thetalkvilla) November 2, 2022
