Johnny Phillips: Aston Villa have top coach and a baptism of fire for West Brom's new man
I was impressed with the decisive action from the Villa board which led to the swift appointment of Unai Emery.
Make no mistake, Emery is an elite level head coach with a CV to back up those claims.
Villa wrapped up the deal quickly and will hope that the disruption caused by the departure of Steven Gerrard and has backroom staff can be kept to a minimum.
There is also a sense that Emery has unfinished business to attend to. His time at Arsenal did not go well and he believes that the Premier League has not seen his best work.
How quickly he can turn things around at Villa is another matter, although the team seemed to shake off the shackles of the previous regime without any difficulty last Sunday.
Emery knows that, despite some obvious deficiencies, there is a squad he can work with at Villa and there should be some exciting times ahead.
Coberan’s first
game will be a
baptism of fire
There will be a tough baptism for Carlos Corberan in front of the Sky Sports cameras today.
The live lunchtime kick-off at The Hawthorns against Sheffield United represents a tricky opening game for the new Albion boss.
Corberan will be hoping to put a disappointing few months behind him with this fresh start in the Black Country. He left Huddersfield Town at the end of last season after impressively guiding them to the play-off final. His resignation came about owing to a disagreement over the way in which the head coach perceived the club was heading.
After a month away from the game he was appointed Olympiacos manager but that did not work out, with Corberan being sacked after just 11 games. Albion fans would be best advised to discount his time in Greece. If he can replicate the work he did in West Yorkshire with an unfancied Huddersfield side then Albion should soon turn the corner.
