Normal service resumes for Aston Villa and Unai Emery.
For several weeks now, Aston Villa have been in a rut and they haven’t been able to get themselves out of it.
Goals have been conceded for fun and the team was also starting to lack in the final third, with fans calling for certain players to be dropped.
But Emery only made two changes for Villa’s win over Brentford on Wednesday night, with Tyrone Mings coming in for Pau Torres and Leon Bailey replacing Jaden Philogene after the disappointment of Chelsea.
It worked a treat because, in less than 40 minutes, the home side were 3-0 up, thanks to goals from Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins and Matty Cash.
It could and should have been more, with the opposition goalkeeper Mark Flekken and wasted chances from Aston Villa, all contributing to the scoreline remaining at 3-1.
After the match, Thomas Frank was pretty honest with what he saw and how he felt.
Thomas Frank hails ‘fantastic’ Morgan Rogers after Aston Villa beat Brentford
Rogers was under fire from Villa fans, and rightly so, because his performance levels had dropped and that bite had gone out of his game.
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But, not only did he score a well-taken goal from the edge of the box, but from there on in, he bossed proceedings and looked like he had that energy back in his game.
Frank hailed Rogers as a ‘fantastic’ player and how he is somebody ‘I really like’, as he told Amazon Prime.
“It was probably a good combination of that (Villa playing well and Brentford not playing well), unfortunately,” said Frank. “It didn’t give us the best chances of getting three points.
“Fair play Aston Villa. They were the best team. They played well. We didn’t play well. Very bad combination.
“Of course, it doesn’t help when you play against a very good team that he (Rogers) puts it into the top corner on the edge of the box. He is a fantastic player, Rogers. I really like him. But he doesn’t do that every day, of course.”
Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the Premier League match between Aston Villa FC and Brentford FC at Vi...
Photo by Aston Villa FC/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images
Rogers’ stats for Villa
Rogers recently earned his maiden England call and it was well deserved for the performances he has put in during the last 12 months.
When he joined from Boro last January, he proceeded to play 11 matches in the Premier League – 641 minutes – and scored three goals. All of them came in consecutive matches.
Competition Apps Goals Assists Minutes
Premier League Premier League (23/24) 11 3 1
There has been a lot of talk about Rogers needing to improve that end product, and whilst he is still having off days, he is certainly taking forward steps.
As posted by Tranfermarkt, the ball-carrying expert has six goal involvements to his name in the Premier League and should be hitting double figures this season.
Competition Apps Goals Assists Yellow cards Minutes
Premier League Premier League 14 4 2 3
UEFA Champions League UEFA Champions League 5 – 1 –
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