Ty Bracey: Unai Emery to follow Aaron Danks lead at Aston Villa after Brentford win
We’re delighted to welcome Villa View host Ty Bracey as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
Aaron Danks made the right changes for the 4-0 Aston Villa win over Brentford and new boss Unai Emery will keep the same shape, believes Ty Bracey.
The Lions’ interim presided over a morale-boosting victory on Sunday (23 October) in the first game since Steven Gerrard was sacked following the miserable 3-0 loss at Fulham (20 October), notably starting Danny Ings, Leon Bailey and Emi Buendia for the first time since they all arrived at the start of last season.
The atmosphere around the team appears to have already lifted a fair amount with the former manager’s exit, and Bracey expects incoming boss Emery to stick to some of the moves Danks made, but has given him one key task when he arrives.
Talking exclusively to Villa News about the win over the Bees he said: “Morale would have been low across the team, but the lads didn’t have anything to lose because they were probably already at rock bottom after the Fulham game.
“We changed the shape, we changed the system, and Leon Bailey, Emi Buendia and Danny Ings, who were ultimately the three players brought in to replace Jack Grealish’s attributes – that was the first time they’d started together as a three since we bought them, £80million worth of players.
“And it worked. We changed the formation and shape, and Danks said he wanted to keep it simple so they would go out there and enjoy themselves and that’s exactly what they did.
“I think it will be a similar shape under Emery. I think we’ll set up in a 4-2-3-1 with the two defensive midfielders, left and right attacking mids, a CAM and a striker.
“I think that will be the shape, but one thing is he’s a no-nonsense guy, he’s very good at what he does.
“But he’s also a very pleasant man if you listen to his interviews. He’s very well spoken, he knows five languages and he seems like a really nice guy.
“I think it’s important that he gets the fans on board because Gerrard didn’t do that.
“There was no connection really between Gerrard and us from day one, so I think it’s important that he gets behind the fans we get behind him.”
Gerrard leaving felt like a foregone conclusion for some time, and it had reached the point where any change at the top would have been freeing for the players.
The size of the win over Brentford was a surprise all the same and provides some encouraging signs for the rest of the season if ex-Villarreal boss Emery can get something similar on a regular basis.
Gerrard’s reign might provide somewhat of a blueprint for the new man of what not to do in many situations, considering how badly things soured in a short time, leaving the club in need of a sustained improvement to rescue the campaign.
In other Aston Villa news, Darren Bent says the capture of Emery is a statement for the Villans.