Manchester United fans had to face up to another loss on Saturday afternoon, this time coming against Chelsea.
Current situation
Michael Carrick’s job appears safe until the next international break, which begins in a week, but he must navigate matches against AS Roma and Aston Villa at Old Trafford.
It is widely expected that Carrick will lose his job in the not-too-distant future, with the side sitting seventeenth in the league, above the drop zone on goal difference. There have been numerous names linked to the Old Trafford hot seat, such as Eddie Howe, Julian Nagelsmann and Fabian Hürzeler.
Nonetheless, one name that should also be one hundred percent on the club’s list is Unai Emery. Fabrizio Romano has stated that the club do in fact admire the Spaniard and he would be an incredible choice to replace Carrick.
The case for Unai Emery
Villa job
The job Emery has done at Aston Villa is nothing short of spectacular. In the context of regularly having to sell his best players and failing to replace them with huge names, he continues to get his side firing.
They won the Europa League last season and also finished fourth in the league. He has won 116 of his 211 matches at Aston Villa, boasting a win percentage of 55.
The Spaniard is also a winner, as he has won five separate Europa Leagues: three with Sevilla, one with Villarreal and, of course, last season’s with Villa.
Tactics
What’s more, Emery is a strong tactician who regularly gets the best out of players.
Villa lost Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans, Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins this summer, all crucial players to the first eleven.
Most managers would crumble or throw their toys out of the pram. Emery’s response: second place in the Champions League with three wins from three.
The league has been tougher going as they currently sit ninth, but showed their quality by beating Manchester City 2-1 two weekends ago. Emery has been described as a manager who is “the outstanding current example of the game-plan school: a stable structure underneath, an opponent-specific plan on top, and a depth of preparation that turns information into confidence.”
He can be flexible and instructs his team to play with and without the ball with ease.
The Spaniard is also famed for his tactical preparation, with “Emery’s weeks being built backwards from the opponent. Video analysis is the spine of preparation, hours of it, with the plan fed to players across the week through unit meetings, individual clips and walkthroughs rather than dumped on them the day before the game.”
An itch to scratch at bigger clubs
Finally, while it may be hard to see Emery walking away from the success he has built at Villa, he will have an itch to scratch at a truly massive football club.
At Paris Saint-Germain, he did win one league, two national cups and two league cups. Nonetheless, as he did not win the Champions League, he was never given the respect he probably deserved in France.
What’s more, his time at Arsenal is probably viewed as a failure given he lost the final of the Europa League and did not win a trophy. He could well see the United job as an attempt to finally gain recognition at one of the hottest seats in world football.
Final thoughts
There is no doubt extracting Emery from Villa could be difficult and expensive. What’s more, his style of football may not always bring United fans to their feet.
Nonetheless, his tactical excellence, ability to build coherent teams according to the tools available to him, and his hunger to succeed at a truly giant global name make him an outstanding candidate to turn Manchester United’s sinking ship around. United fans will get another sample of his work this weekend when his Villa side travel to Old Trafford this coming Sunday.
Unai Emery Aston Villa record
| Games played | Wins | Draws | Losses |
|---|---|---|---|
| 211 | 116 | 37 | 58 |
Featured image by Carl Recine via Getty Images
