Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers celebrates his winner against Man City
Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers celebrates his winner against Man City
Once Aston Villa’s matchwinner Morgan Rogers had finished bullying Manchester City, he admitted sheer bravery was key.
It was rife throughout Unai Emery ’s side as they became the latest team to rattle opponents who now more resemble Premier League chumps than champs. Rogers is still only 22 and learning his craft but every time he picked up the ball on Saturday, City seemed to cower in fear.
The powerful forward just ran and ran, often shrugging off defenders at will. After setting up Jhon Duran’s 16th minute opener, the recently-capped England ace fired in a second half effort of his own to remind Pep Guardiola just what he’s missing.
When the City boss did sanction Rogers’ move to Middlesbrough 18 months ago, with the academy product having not made a single first-team appearance, he could never have imagined the mess his side would be in now.
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Or how he’d be desperately seeking someone of such attacking prowess to fire up his flattened mob. But these are strange times for clueless City who spluttered throughout until Phil Foden ’s 93rd minute strike.
And there’s no time for Rogers to feel sorry for his former employers as they suffered a NINTH defeat in 12 games. It wasn’t long ago, Villa had failed to win in eight outings and were down in 12th.
Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers fires in his side's second goal against Man City
Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers fires in his side's second goal against Man City
But they leapfrogged City to shift up to fifth here and Rogers admitted: “I loved it. The biggest thing for me is just to play with a smile on my face. I was getting too frustrated, especially in the games we were losing. Losing the ball happens but getting too down about it…?
“When I’m playing happy and free, I think that’s when I’m at my best. Today I had that energy and that smile on my face and real enthusiasm to do well. That’s probably why I’ve played better than I have in recent weeks. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am happy to play my part.
“But I thought every person did their job to the maximum. And that’s why you beat teams like this: everyone has to be at it and on it.”
Having come through the City system with the likes of Cole Palmer, Liam Delap, James McAtee and Oscar Bobb, Rogers knows what makes them tick.
And here he helped bring them down. Rogers, who also struck a post in a dominating display, said: “Bravery was the big one today. Just be brave with the ball mainly and just what we’re about.
Morgan Rogers, left, celebrates with Aston Villa team-mate Ezri Konza after blasting in second goal in 2-1 win over Man City
“They’re a good pressing team. They’re good on the ball. But we’re good on the ball, brave in possession and we want to play football the same way that they do. So why can’t we?
“Especially in the second half, there were times when we dominated. We felt imposing. We felt on top. We felt like they couldn’t get out.
“We showed why we can compete with anyone on our day. And it shows we probably need to be more consistent - because we can produce performances like that.”
Guardiola dropped captain Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne but his side were on the ropes after just 18 seconds when Duran almost scored.
Walker came on at half-time after centre-half John Stones suffered a recurrence of a foot injury. But, bizarrely, even when lacking any real creativity, De Bruyne was left stewing on the bench. City’s calamitous collapse shows no sign of abating soon.
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