Monday Night Club: Emery's Villa revolution, Africa's new superpower and United & Liverpool rivals for Semenyo?

11 snips

Dec 22, 2025

Guest

Maher Mezahi

Guillem Balagué, a football journalist and author, dives into Unai Emery's tactical genius that has revitalized Aston Villa. Pat Nevin and Chris Sutton join him to explore potential replacements for Bruno Fernandes at Manchester United and whether Liverpool might compete for Semenyo. African football journalist Maher Mezahi provides on-the-ground insights from AFCON, discussing Morocco's rise as a continental superpower and the evolving perception of Mo Salah in Africa. The panel also debates Guardiola's player discipline methods around festive times.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Emery's 'More Of The Same' Turnaround

Unai Emery kept Villa's core methodology and simply intensified his analysis and video work to fix the early-season slump.
He added more of the same structured preparation rather than wholesale tactical change to revive the team.

INSIGHT

Emotion Drove Villa's Early Dip

Villa's slow start combined emotional fatigue from missing out on Champions League and summer disruptions.
That emotional flatness required mental reset before tactical improvements could stick.

INSIGHT

Working Within Financial Limits

Emery adapts to squad limits by pushing players and expecting the sporting structure to deliver within budget constraints.
He delegates recruitment fights to Monchi and sporting directors while maximizing existing talent.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

How has Unai Emery masterminded Aston Villa's rise? Will United and Liverpool compete for Semenyo? And who are Africa's new superpower, how is Mo Salah viewed in his home continent and why has a major change been made to the African Cup of Nations?

Chris Sutton, Rory Smith and Pat Nevin join Mark Chapman to discuss and debate the big questions of the week on the Monday Night Club.

Guillem Balague, author of 'The Rise of the Villans: Inside Unai Emery's Aston Villa Revolution', joins the panel to provide insight into Emery's excellent work at Villa Park.

The group then consider the other side of Sunday's 2-1 victory over Manchester United, who have lost talismanic captain Bruno Fernandes to injury. How can they replace him, and might it force the Reds into a transfer battle with bitter rivals Liverpool? Arne Slot's title holders are waiting for further news on Alexander Isak, with reports suggesting their record-breaking signing has suffered a leg break.

African football journalist Maher Mezahi joins us from AFCON to explain a major change to the competition, how Morocco and Senegal are competing to be the continental superpower and how Mo Salah is viewed by those in his home nation and continent after controversy at Liverpool.

Plus, what is Pep Guardiola's Christmas diet for his Man City players, and how does it compare to Chris and Pat's from back in the day?

Timecodes: 00:12 Villa's 10-match winning streak, with Guillem Balague (Euro Leagues) explaining how Emery turned this season around 23:10 Do United and Liverpool really need to buy to replace Bruno Fernandes and Alexander Isak? 32:50 Hearts are top of the Scottish Premiership at Christmas, so what will they do in January? 39:20 AFCON — Are Morocco the new African superpower? 45:00 AFCON — How much pressure is on Salah to succeed with Egypt, and how has the controversy with Arne Slot been viewed in Africa? 47:40 AFCON — Have FIFA driven changes to the tournament schedule, from every 2 years to every 4 years? 50:30 Pep Guardiola's 'hidden' Christmas message to Man City's players

Commentaries coming up this week: Tuesday 23rd — Arsenal v Crystal Palace — 20:00 — 5 Live Saturday 27th — Arsenal v Brighton — 15:00 — 5 Live Saturday 27th — Liverpool v Wolves — 15:00 — Sports Extra Saturday 27th — Chelsea v Aston Villa — 17:30 — 5 Live