Unai Emery has warned his Aston Villa group not to get too comfortable given the side’s rise from 16th to sixth during the Basque’s first five months at Villa Park.
It’s been an incredible start by Emery who has overseen six victories and a draw in Villa’s last seven matches. If Villa manage to beat Newcastle this lunchtime then Emery’s men will be just six points off the Champions League places with seven games left to play.
Emery, meanwhile, fired a message to his squad earlier this week off the back of last week’s victory over Nottingham Forest. Detailing what was said,
Unai Emery replied: “Being in the top six is our first motivation, but it’s very difficult. Everybody here is trying to keep consistent, this is the idea. It’s a process…. We have a chance of the top six, of Europe, of course. It’s amazing. I want to make us progressively stronger and stronger. We are always focusing on adding something to improve us, with adding players, or a new mentality. I can’t stop – I don’t want players relaxing, if I see it, I will change it. I have experiences and I’m so happy. But I don’t want to waste time here – I enjoy working and I want everyone else to make the same move. I want everyone to be united in our commitment to get better. The opportunities are coming because we achieved the objectives we had before. When we were speaking each match before we were thinking if we can win we added a new objective. We were concerned and demanding to try and do it. Now we are in the top six. Liverpool have played one match less and Brighton two. But we are a candidate now and really, we deserve it. We have to be very focused and in our mentality very strong to keep this possibility. In football everything happens so quickly and you have to be ready when you have the opportunity in front. We have that now. Against Newcastle, for me, is the best possibility to have. Two months ago we were talking about escaping from the bottom. Doing it and having the motivation to add more is amazing. We have to be excited and focused. Our motivation is a good energy to get this opportunity and keep it as long as possible and at the end, to get it.”
Emery was also asked about turning down Newcastle in 2021 to remain at Villarreal,
Unai Emery said: “I appreciated [the offer] and was thankful but in football a lot of things happen, the circumstances. Now I am very happy here and proud of my decision to stay here, to come here and try to do my best. Newcastle have a very good coach, are doing very good work and have the advantage of working one year ahead of us, working and progressing, improving and adding players – Guimaraes, Isak, Botman. They are doing it and with a very good coach, living it.”
