The Frenchman appeared to be utterly bemused by his manager (Pictures: Optus Sport)
Unai Emery has played down his heated exchange with Lucas Digne during Aston Villa’s 4-2 win over Nottingham Forest and says he was simply passing on some tactical advice.
The high-flying Villans went ahead after just four minutes in Saturday’s game thanks to Ollie Watkins and doubled their lead just before the half-hour mark through Douglas Luiz.
He was on the scoresheet again 10 minutes later to make it 3-0, though Forest briefly threatened to make a game of it after Moussa Niakhate and Morgan Gibbs-White netted either side of half-time.
Anthony Elanga spurned a great chance to level the scores, before Leon Baily put the game to bed in the 61st minute as Villa moved five points clear of Tottenham – though the north Londoners have a game in hand.
Although Villa were in cruise control for much of the match, particularly the first half, there was a curious moment shortly after Luiz grabbed his first goal.
In the 33rd minute, as play was unfolding, Emery suddenly spun around and strode towards the bench with his finger pointing at Digne.
The Villa boss seemed to be yelling about the match, pointing back towards the field as he barked at Digne, with the left-back appearing stunned by the sudden outburst – as did a number of nearby players and coaches as they watched the exchange.
Emery was typically animated on the sidelines (Picture: Getty)
Digne looked utterly confused as to why he was being berated when he was not even on the pitch and seemed to argue back to his coach.
Emery has now revealed that he was giving Digne some impromptu tactical advice, having been keen to highlight some actions that fellow left-back Alex Moreno was doing that he wanted the Frenchman to replicate.
Asked about the strange – and rather heated – exchange with Digne, Emery explained: ‘It’s something I am discussing with the players on the bench, some tactical ideas their team-mates are taking, and trying to advise them.
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‘”You are looking at him and when you are there you have to do this”. Only it.’
On the mentality he is trying to create within his squad, Emery continued: ‘We have players in the squad who try to support them, try to work with them, being demanding in case they will play to be ready.
‘When we have injuries, other players must take responsibility.
‘They always have to be in good preparation. Today it was with [Calum] Chambers and this week we worked well even with injured players. We are trying to work hard and understand our idea and tactical style.’
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