Stephen Warnock exclusive: Thrilled for Villa; impressed by Emery; questioning Liverpool

The scenes at Villa Park on Tuesday night were unmistakenly joyous as they celebrated their annual Club Awards. Defeat for Spurs simultaneously confirmed Villa taking part in the Champions League next season thanks to a fourth-place finish.

"I think it's an incredible job by Unai Emery. To lose Tyrone Mings, Emile Buendia early on and then Kamara throughout the season, to have a smaller squad to go through European football and get to a semi-final in the Conference League. It shows just how good of a manager Unai Emery is tactically," former Villa player Stephen Warnock praised the Spanish maestro in this exclusive with Tribalfootball.

Unai Emery took over at Villa Park with the club three points from relegation and you can't overestimate his influence on Villa's success since then, according to Warnock.

"What we probably don't give him enough credit for is to keep that squad happy and motivated at very tough times as well. That man management, keeping players on their toes. Honestly, it's been remarkable what he's done," says Warnock, who got a close-up of the relationship between the players and Emery during a trip to America last summer.

"We were fortunate enough to see Unai Emery work at first hand and speak to some of the players. What was fascinating was that he has them at a distance, where they've got huge respect for him, but they don't quite know what they're going to get from him.

"Even little things like a day off; you've got to work for this day off, and when you get it, you know he's really thought about why he's given it to them. There's a thought process behind everything. He doesn't just crumble to the players every need. He wants to make sure that they are hungry for what they get.

"I think there's huge respect from the players not least because they know they're getting better, as well. When you get someone that comes in who can tactically make you better, individually make you better and set targets for you to achieve, that is the balance that he's struck with the players. You can see the players have got massive respect for this manager," says Warnock, who points to Ollie Watkins as his stand-out player for Villa this season.

"He's been outstanding because of the goals return. If you think about how many times, he's had to change his strike partner up front. Diaby, John McGinn, Leon Bailey, etc. When you get the feeling, he's able to play with any player and adapt his game to that style, it shows you how much quality he has and how much he's progressed as a player," Warnock lauds while also talking up Douglas Luiz.

"To be able to control the midfield in the way that he does, and the way that Emery wants to play in his system, shows you the quality he's got. One thing that we've seen with him though, is that he's a better player with Kamara alongside him. I think Emery will probably look to strengthen that midfield area".

Luiz once again marshalled the midfield in a strange game against Liverpool on Monday night. While partly entertaining, it was also a game packed with mistakes from both sets of players. The players are simply tired, Stephen Warnock believes.

"Mistakes come from fatigue. Games are losing quality towards the end of the season. Liverpool have been fighting for the league, Villa have been fighting for a position that they perhaps didn't think they would achieve at the end of the season.

"There's been a lot of setbacks along the way for both teams with injuries and what not. From a Liverpool point of view, the game management was just so poor. But we've seen that throughout the season from Liverpool. They're falling behind in far too many games," says Warnock who spent five years with The Reds before making the switch to Blackburn and later on to Aston Villa.

"When you think about going ahead at Old Trafford and you can't see the game out. Then it turns almost into a basketball game, and that's not the Liverpool that won the Champions League. That's not the team who knew how to see a game out.

"That team had Henderson and Milner in midfield, organizing and making sure things like that didn't happen. There was a little bit of a lack of leadership in those midfield areas to be able to stop the attacks and stop those mistakes happening."

That'll soon be up to Arne Slot to stop those mistakes from happening, while Unai Emery can start preparing Aston Villa for the Champions League. Perhaps as Manager of the Season? He's certainly made a strong case for himself.

- Stephen Warnock was talking to Tribalfootball on behalf of NewBettingOffers.co.uk