Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez reiterated his commitment to delivering success for the club after our draw at Chelsea in the FA Cup.
The 31-year-old was in superb form at Stamford Bridge on Friday night, producing a number of vital saves to keep us in the game and ultimately secure a replay at Villa Park next month.
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It’s nothing new for the Argentine international, as he delivers big moments in almost every game, while he continues to be an important presence both with his distribution in our build-up play, as well as being able to rush out from his goal to sweep up given our high defensive line strategy.
While there was disappointment to an extent that we weren’t able to book our spot in the next round of the FA Cup at the first time of asking, given the chances that Chelsea had in the first half, it was perhaps a fair result with neither side able to find a breakthrough.
Surprisingly, Martinez revealed that he doesn’t particularly enjoy the sweeper role despite being so effective at it, while he paid tribute to the travelling supporters, with 6,000 making the trip to west London, while re-emphasising his ambition and desire to deliver success for them this season.
“We had a week off, and then you draw Chelsea away. We knew it was going to be tough but we had 6,000 supporters and we want to go on a cup run,” he said, as per BBC Sport. “We weren’t a strong enough side to get the win today. They had chances and started the game really bright. They didn’t score and then I think we had really, really good chances to win the game.
“But with the high line and balls in behind they are dangerous with quick players. I had to sweep a lot today, but we got the draw and play at home now.
“We made mistakes but our manager always gives us the confidence to keep trying and build out from the back. We are doing something right and doing well. Now we need to focus on Newcastle on Tuesday.
“I don’t really enjoy [the sweeper role] but I am working on it. I’m really strong when we low block and the ball comes into the box. I feel really strong.
“But we play that way and I adapt. I have had training sessions on this with balls in behind and deciding when to go. With my national team and all my career I play low block, this is something new to me as well. I am adapting and doing something quite right.
“We want to give the fans a cup run, we want to give them the trophy, we want to give them Champions League. We had the best year in Villa history in terms of points last year. We want to give them something at the end of the season.
“That’s why they come in numbers, they feel connected with the team. I feel the same way with the national team, with Argentina. We felt the same way with our fans and we repaid them with titles. I feel something similar here.”
With Villa currently in the top four in the Premier League table and still in the hunt for the FA Cup and Europa Conference League, it’s certainly hoped that we can have a memorable few months coming up and secure both silverware and Champions League football for next season.
Not only would that be a momentous achievement in itself, but it will likely have a major knock-on effect in keeping our top players, being able to invest in the squad to strengthen and becoming a more prominent presence off the pitch as we continue to strive to increase our commercial revenue.
For Martinez though, his focus will just be on delivering world-class performances week in and week out, and having now kept three consecutive clean sheets, it’s hoped we can rediscover the balance between solid defensive displays and being clinical at the other end of the pitch to get back to winning ways consistently.
