Why the Unai Emery effect has to work as Pal Fjelde makes Aston Villa move

Aston Villa have swooped to bring in Burnley set-piece coach Pal Fjelde.

The Villans have been on the lookout for a new face in that role after the sudden departure of Austin MacPhee.

He surprisingly departed earlier in the summer and joined Chelsea.

That came just days after Morgan Rogers made the same move from B6 for a British record fee of £117million.

Villa have been left scrambling to land an alternative to the Scot, who was deemed as best in class.

Fjelde has now come in, but has some serious work to do with Unai Emery to get upto the required level.

Why Austin MacPhee was rated highly at Aston Villa

It's safe to say that MacPhee had become somewhat of a cult figure at Villa Park over the years.

He had worked under Dean Smith, Steven Gerrard and Emery, making a positive impression under all three.

The 46-year-old has been famed for inventive set-piece routines, with his last coming as Youri Tielemans found the net with a stunning volley against Freiburg in the Europa League final.

The Belgian started deep and looked unassuming at a clear distance from the box.

Lucas Digne took a short corner and that sparked the midfielder into life as he charged into the penalty area.

Tielemans then connected with the Rogers cross and found the corner with aplomb.

That is just one example of a simple, yet effective piece of work from MacPhee that worked a treat in B6.

Villa scored 18 set-piece goals throughout the Premier League season, something which Fjelde has to work towards.

Why Unai Emery must now work closely with Pal Hjelde

A Wednesday report from The Athletic revealed that Hjelde has been appointed as the new set-piece coach in B6.

He has now started work at Bodymoor Heath ahead of the Premier League opener against Brighton.

There will be questions surrounding the Norwegian after failing to truly rip up any trees at Burnley.

The Clarets scored the least goals from set-pieces in the entire Premier League last season with 10.

That came while conceding the fifth most in the division with 22.

Villa conceded six less and scored eight more, proving the immediate gulf in class between MacPhee and Hjelde.

Emery now has a mission on his hands to bring the new coach up to scratch at Villa Park.

The Spaniard can work closely with the new appointment and can help him move to the next level with the claret and blue outfit.

He simply has to do that otherwise Villa risk moving backwards due to one simple coaching change.