Published: 02:00, 31 October 2025 | Updated: 02:00, 31 October 2025

Faced with a bad run of results, many managers will blink.

They may move from a back three to a back four, shift the time of training sessions or reduce the length of meetings. A big-name player may be dropped unexpectedly to set an example, or the manager will start to name the team two hours before kick-off, rather than on the previous day.

Apart from leaving out Emi Martinez for one game when the Argentine was in the eye of a transfer storm, Unai Emery did none of these things. There was no ‘Plan B’, just a desire to do ‘Plan A’ even more thoroughly, despite a six-game winless run at the start of the season and growing concern among players and supporters.

Training has been as intense and detailed as ever. Emery’s analysis of previous performances and future opponents has been typically exhaustive with the manager – as is his habit – in his office at the club’s Bodymoor Heath training ground deep into the evening, poring over his laptop. Unlike...