They only needed to look at the manager’s face.
Emery has explained how a return to basics helped kickstart Villa’s campaign, after revealing the extent of his concern after they failed to win any of their first six matches.
Villa head to Liverpool on Saturday night chasing a fifth straight Premier League win, with the boss delivering a clear message this is no time to take their foot off the gas after an impressive resurgence.
The Spaniard said Villa’s bad start left him “worried” and asked how he had transmitted his feelings to the players, he replied: “I told them with my face!
“I was so, so worried, and the players as well. The solution, usually in my career as a coach, was to firstly analyse with the coaches, and then with the players.
“Every analysis we do about how we have to improve things is through the analysis in the videos and then on the field.