Unai Emery held his first press conference as Aston Villa boss on Friday and provided an exciting, but balanced, outlook for the job ahead.
The 51-year-old takes charge of us following a disappointing spell under Steven Gerrard, which has ultimately left us languishing just above the relegation zone after 13 games of the Premier League season.
READ MORE: Key takeaway as Unai Emery takes charge of first Villa training session
In comes Emery as our most high profile and ambitious managerial appointment in years, with the experience, pedigree and tactical acumen to hopefully oversee significant and important changes to get us moving in the right direction, both in the short-term and long-term future.
While it will no doubt take time for him to get his ideas and philosophy fully across to try and stamp his identity on the players and squad as a whole, he has not shied away from what he hopes to achieve during his time at Villa, while also insisting that the focus is purely on Sunday’s encounter with Man Utd for now as we take it one game at a time.
Emery on his Villa dream and need for focus on Sunday
“My dream is to win a trophy with Aston Villa,” Emery told the media, as seen in the video below. “It’s my challenge. My second dream, is to play with Aston Villa in Europe. But now, we have to start thinking only the next match because we are not in good position in the table now. Each match is going to give us information about the players and I want to test and check the individual and collective. My only focus is on Sunday against Manchester United.
“I want to create a new way and in football, time isn’t as much. I want to be here for a long time and each step ahead thinking to improve. With our dreams and my ambitions, they gave me the same idea that I have and the ambitions to improve as soon as possible but thinking each step to be strong.”
It’s absolutely the right approach from Emery, as while we may well have big plans and ambitions for the future, the reality in front of him – and us – right now is that we’re in a dangerous position heading into the break for the World Cup.
The new Villa boss will hope to get an immediate reaction this weekend to alleviate some of that pressure and build confidence, while we face Man Utd again in midweek in the League Cup before a trip to Brighton in our last outing before Christmas.
Given his track record and achievements in the game over a glittering career that has seen him coach in Spain, France and England at the very top level, Emery’s appointment brings plenty of optimism and excitement as we finally could have a top-class coach capable of getting the best out of the players at his disposal.
Further, it will be fascinating to see what improvements he makes in January, but before that, albeit he has only had a limited amount of time this week to take a closer look at the players and make his assessments and prepare a game-plan for Sunday, it’s hugely intriguing as we await to see what tweaks and changes he makes to start us on our new path under his stewardship.
🗣 "My dream is to win a trophy with Aston Villa."
Unai Emery outlines his personal challenges he has set during his time at Aston Villa pic.twitter.com/y9jHGIWdAR
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) November 4, 2022