Aston Villa face Manchester City on Sunday looking to bounce back from their surprise midweek defeat to Go Ahead Eagles and with Unai Emery making his demands very clear to his team on what he wants this season
Unai Emery celebrated his three-year anniversary at Aston Villa this week and knows exactly what he wants to mark the occasion: Silverware.
The Spaniard has enjoyed considerable success as manager, steering the club away from relegation trouble in his first season, securing European qualification months after his arrival, and bringing Champions League football to Villa Park. But he is hungry for more.
Emery said: “I am a better coach than I was three years ago and I’m thankful to the players for helping me improve. But there is still work to do and objectives to achieve. One of them is some titles – the Premier League, the cups in England and silverware in Europe, these are all targets for us.’’
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Villa have been installed as early favourites to win the Europa League this season, but suffered a shock defeat to Go Ahead Eagles on Thursday, having previously beaten Bologna and Feyenoord in their first two league stage fixtures. But Emery put a positive spin on the setback.
He said: “That defeat didn’t shock me because we have had previous experiences like that in Europe. Legia Warsaw beat us two years ago and last year it was Brugge. It’s all a learning experience.
“Our objective is to be in the top 24 at the beginning and then the top eight. We are learning about different issues, collectively, individually and tactically.
“But for now, we are parking the Europa League and focusing on Manchester City.”
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As he prepares to face his former club today, Morgan Rogers has been challenged by Emery to better the stats he produced last season. Rogers has been involved in goals in each of his last three Premier League appearances – but Emery wants more. The Villa boss added: “Morgan is improving as the team are improving. The goals and assists, his movement and confidence to beat an opponent is helping the team, but I want to see further improvements.
“I want him to match or beat the numbers he had for us last season. I also want players to help each other. That way more players will feel like Morgan is feeling, and up their performance level.
“We need to support every player and bring out their individual qualities.”
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