Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa celebrates after scoring a goal to make it 2-0 during the Premier League match between Aston Villa FC and Manchester City
Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa celebrates after scoring a goal to make it 2-0 during the Premier League match between Villa and Manchester City
Unai Emery has challenged Morgan Rogers to produce even more after his starring role in the victory over Man City propelled him back into the headlines.
The 22-year-old was by common consensus the best player on the park in Villa’s 2-1 win, turning in a reminder of his huge potential against his former club.
Not only did he score his fifth goal of the season, he demonstrated many of the qualities that attracted City to him when they signed him from West Brom in 2019. Since then Villa looked to have picked a real bargain with Rogers not only establishing himself in the Villa team but also breaking into the England set-up.
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Not that Emery is either surprised or satisfied and speaking ahead of the Boxing Day clash with Newcastle he urged the Halesowen-born attacker to scale even greater heights.
“We need his number [goals and assists], and more or less he is getting it,” Emery told the club website. “I am very demanding with him, with the team, with myself, but with Morgan, because he is very important for us.
“I need his performance every match we are playing, with different objectives as well – sometimes playing a number 10, sometimes left side, defensively and offensively, assists, score goals, get in the box, try to make the link with our midfielders and defence when we are progressing with the ball.
“He has a lot of responsibility in my idea, style, and of course I am trying to push him a lot. I am very happy with him, but I want more from him.”
What have you made of Morgan Rogers’ displays so far this season? Have your say here
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