LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 14: Unai Emery, Manager of Aston Villa, gives the team instructions during ... [+]
If there is one consistency in English soccer it is that there is rarely a time when the phrase ‘they are victims of their own success’ isn’t applicable.
Success in the Premier League breeds expectation which has a habit, more often than not, of spiralling out of control.
Rarely has there been a clearer-cut case than that of Aston Villa, who just one season ago were in the midst of crisis having won just two of their first eleven games and playing dismal soccer under manager Steven Gerrard.
Axing the former Liverpool midfielder with a third of the season gone and replacing him with the experienced nous of Unai Emery not only delivered survival, it brought European soccer to Birmingham for the first time in years.
This campaign has been even more remarkable. As we stand in the final months of the season the club is in pole position to qualify for the Champions League and has a UEFA
Yet somehow with the drama of a three-horse title race and the exit of Jurgen Klopp from his post at Liverpool, the story of success at Aston Villa has fallen down the pecking order.
It’s unfair because the job Emery has done in lifting the club to these heights and the remarkable form of players like Ollie Watkins or John McGinn needs to be celebrated.
Part of the reason might be the fact that Emery has made a habit of turning brilliant overperformance into an expectation regardless of the prestige of the club.
At both Sevilla and Villarreal, he delivered trophies and Champions League soccer in a manner that surpassed supporters' expectations.
He appears to be repeating the trick at Aston Villa who, it should be pointed out, is a club with far bigger ambitions and reputation.
As Emery has pointed out himself, this has all been planned.
Asked about challenging the established big six English clubs the Spanish coach replied: "Hopefully, that is the idea, but to confirm it we will need time.
"We will need how we are progressing even after we are arriving here. We have here the possibility to be fifth or fourth but even getting the Champions League position, we have to confirm it in the next month, the next year, maybe even the next two years.
"To keep it for a long time is the confirmation we can make. There is one example in my career.
“When the owners were signing me and speaking about the project, telling me it was two years, three years. No, the project is the next match, to win.
"We can only consolidate the project if we are winning and really getting the short objective. We can speak about the project for three years ahead. But it is not realistic for me.
"As a coach, the project is the process you have in front and how you are adding or getting objectives in a short time. The project here was three years and a half but we needed to consolidate it each month, being trusting in our process and our way."
A Contrast To Howe’s Plaudits
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery (right) and Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe during the Premier ... [+]
Perhaps Emery’s nationality plays a role in the lack of appreciation for the work he has done at Villa.
When you compare the reaction to Eddie Howe achieving a similar feat at Newcastle United last season the contrast is stark.
The young Englishman was labeled the best coach of 2022, a man Jamie Carragher and others praised as doing such a good job, not even serial league champion Pep Guardiola could better it.
Yet when the spotlight shone on Emery during back-to-back wins over Manchester City and Arsenal in November Carragher called him the “third best coach” in the league-an accolade which was mainly due to his previous trophy wins.
His incredible work in elevating a team that was going nowhere fast under the stewardship of Carragher’s old friend Steven Gerrard certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed in Birmingham where supporters are delighted with the most spectacular end to the season in decades.
And as Emery himself highlighted this has been achieved in the most challenging division on the planet.
"We have in the Premier League the best teams, players and coaches. It is the best league in the world and the most difficult,” he reflected.
“There are other leagues with big clubs of course. Here overall it is not only seven teams who are contenders to be in the Champions League, it is others as well, like West Ham, Fulham, even Wolverhampton and other teams.
“Crystal Palace are playing now fantastic. They have three great forwards. It is difficult to see teams in Spain, Germany and Italy playing in the league in 10th position with those kind of players. That is the difficulty we are facing. Newcastle beat Tottenham 4-0 two weeks ago and last week lost to Crystal Palace.”
Maybe once the season is done and dusted with Emery having brought a European trophy to Villa Park for the first time since 1982 and Champions League soccer secured he’ll get his due.
But we perhaps shouldn’t expect the giddy praise Eddie Howe received and maybe that’s just the way Unai likes it; flying under the radar to seize the crown.
