New Villa manager looking to reverse poor form

After slumping to a 4-0 defeat against Newcastle United last weekend, newly appointed Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has a lot of work to do. Whether or not he has the squad to compete with the best in the Premier League is still an unknown, but the Spanish manager knows he has to be swift in the transfer market come January to bolster his squad.

It appears that Emery feels the attacking output at the club does not meet his expecations, and called out Philippe Coutinho, Emi Buendia, Ollie Watkins, Danny Ings and Leon Bailey as the players he wants to see better performances from. Former manager Steven Gerrard also commented on the same players, and Gerrard told reporters: “I need effort and application. A lot of our performance is okay up until a certain point. If you look around our dressing room and see Coutinho, Buendia, Watkins and Ings. Bailey will be back soon too.“I need these players to step up and provide big moments and go and be headline-writers for us.”

Gerrard ultimately was axed from his role as Aston Villa manager, before Emery was brought in to replace the former England international. Gerrard, having stripped Tyrone Mings of the captaincy just prior to the beginning of the new season, preferring John McGinn to wear the captain's armband and that appeared to contribute to the team losing faith in the manager.

After disappointing results against Crystal Palace, West Ham, and a couple of draws against Leeds United and Forest, frustration grew at Aston Villa.

During the summer, Villa brought in Diego Carlos for £26,000,000 from Sevilla, for the centre-back only to end up on the doctor's table with a long-term injury. Meanwhile signing Philippe Coutinho on a permanent basis seems like a good idea, but the Brazilian has yet to reproduce the same form of last campaign. Leander Dendoncker's transfer deadline day arrival has yet to produce the form the club expects.

Emery will be hoping that he can keep his stars performing to the best of their ability, and his board happy with results up until the World Cup and beyond the showpiece tournament into January, so that new faces can be signed for the second half of the Premier League season.

But more importantly, keeping the club's support happy with progression, and ensuring that Aston Villa tickets are being purchased for the club's important upcoming games will be Emery's top priority.