Unai Emery shares heart-to-heart with Philippe Coutinho over his Aston Villa career – report
Unai Emery is focused on getting the best out of his Aston Villa squad, and the Spaniard is reportedly a big fan of one-to-one meetings with his players.
Emery has made an instant impact at Villa Park and already a handful of players look reinvigorated under his stewardship.
He’ll no doubt want to dip into the January transfer market and improve upon his squad ahead of the second half of the season, but Emery will also need to show faith in a few out-of-form Villa stars.
One of which is Philippe Coutinho, who has failed to live up to the standards he set in his loan spell last season. The Brazilian playmaker made a permanent switch to Aston Villa for £17million [Sky Sports] in the summer but has failed to register a single goal or assist in the Premier League since.
In an attempt to rediscover his form and remotivate the player, Emery has reportedly shared a “heart-to-heart” conversation with Coutinho according to Birmingham Mail.
“Head coach Emery, meanwhile, plans to sit down with his non-World Cup players once they’re back from their week-long break. The boss, who’ll take the squad to Dubai in December, is big on one-to-one meetings and had a heart-to-heart with Philippe Coutinho in his office prior to the World Cup break,” read the report.
Confidence crisis
After shining under Steven Gerrard last season, Coutinho seemed to be the player most affected by the side’s poor form under the former Villa boss this season.
There was a lot of pressure on his shoulders to carry the side and Coutinho seemingly struggled to live up to that demand. Gerrard has now been given the boot and Coutinho has only further retreated into his shell.
Emery’s job will be to remotivate Coutinho and show faith in a player going through a confidence crisis at the moment. Now only has his form been poor this season, but his latest injury ruled him out of the World Cup with Brazil which will inevitably knock his confidence and mood.
But Emery’s arrival should excite Coutinho. He showed last season that he still has bags of ability and talent, and as the form of the side improves he can play a huge part in the second half of the season.
A one-to-one with a new manager willing to trust him could be exactly what he needed.
In other Aston Villa news, Matty Cash is stunned by Danny Ings after his quick start under Unai Emery