Gabby Agbonlahor has shared what people at Aston Villa have told him about what manager Unai Emery has been doing behind the scenes.
Agbonlahor was speaking on TalkSPORT about the impressive Spanish coach.
Unai Emery has almost single-handedly turned Aston Villa’s fortunes around since joining the club.
When he joined the club, Villa fans were wondering if they were going to witness another battle against relegation after a 3-0 defeat to Fulham.
Emery turned their fortunes around immediately and Aston Villa shot up the table.
They took full advantage of Tottenham’s late capitulation, qualifying for the Conference League with an impressive seventh-place finish.
Gabby Agbonlahor has now shared what Emery has been doing at Villa to get the most out of his players.
The 51-year-old has had a phenomenal coaching career, however, his reputation in England is tarnished by his spell at Arsenal.
If he continues to improve Aston Villa in the way he has in the past few months, that spell will be quickly forgotten.
Agbonlahor shares what Emery is doing at Aston Villa
Speaking about the impressive coach, Agbonlahor said: “They’re in very good shape. I mean last season when he came in, the outstanding job that he did and it’s not by fluke or luck.
“Speaking to people at the club, they say he’s there until 8pm most nights.
“He’s not one of those managers that leaves an hour after the players leave at 1:30pm.
“He’s there to do a job, he’s in England to do a job, he’s living in Birmingham to do a job.
“His job is to get them into Europe, which he’s done and continue that, can you go higher this season?
“And you can tell his obsession. There was a game last season where Villa won and on the coach back he’s already watching the club they’re playing next. So that game’s gone.
“That’s why the results have been so good and you watch pre-season and I don’t really care about the scores and conceding goals, I look at how the team’s playing and after that drinks break [against Brentford] I was watching it and I was like, ‘Wow, this team are organised’.”
Emery’s work ethic at Villa has impressed Agbonlahor and will be fantastic to hear for their fans.
He appears to already be getting the best out of new signing Moussa Diaby, while youngster Jaden Philogene-Bidace has impressed in pre-season.
Agbonlahor has already made his prediction for who might start Villa’s opening game of the season.
Emery is the sort of manager who will already know his line-up and it will be interesting to see if he springs any surprises.
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