Aston Villa playmaker Morgan Rogers is revelling in his role under Unai Emery, but he insists he’s still striving to improve and make a bigger impact.
The 22-year-old has proven to be an astute addition to the Villa squad after his arrival from Middlesbrough in January, as aside from the quality that he has brought to the team with his attacking threat and work ethic, he has quickly established himself as an excellent fit for Emery’s structure and style of play.
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That in turn saw him establish himself as a key cog in the Villa starting line-up within months, and he has been a prominent figure to start the new campaign having started all five of our games across all competitions thus far.
It’s become clear why Emery was so adamant on signing the talented youngster as he has impressed both individually and as part of the collective, but as he continues to search for his first goal involvement this season, Rogers is loving his football at Villa, but knows that he must still produce more.
“I’m struggling to hit a barn door at this rate,” he is quoted as saying by BirminghamLive. “I’m just missing a goal or an assist. My confidence is high. I’m going onto the pitch with a real swagger.
“I’m loving my football. I’m playing the best I’ve ever played. As long as we’re winning, I’m happy. A goal would be nice, I can feel one coming. You always strive for perfection. I’ve always been like that. I want to improve how I have been.”
While injuries in the second half of last season ensured that Rogers perhaps played a bigger role than initially expected, his form over pre-season continued to cement his place in Emery’s plans for his starting XI this year.
Naturally, there will be times over the course of the season where the Villa boss must rotate and keep his players as fresh as possible as we try to compete across multiple competitions, and Rogers has praised not only the depth within the current squad, but the mentality and bond that has been built within the current group to create a positive atmosphere, but to also push each other to constantly improve.
“I love playing football,” he added. “What are we, four or five games in? It won’t take its toll now. Later down the line it may do. But that’s why we have a squad to manage it. That’s why we have a quality bench. We’re all going to be needed. It’s no different when subs come on and they have an impact.
“They get their opportunity and others have to wait. It’s a squad game. We’re going to need that, given the number of competitions we’re in.
“We knew coming in, especially over the summer, that we have made some serious additions. They are fighting for places. They’re knocking on the door.
“We know that if you do get a shirt, you have to make it yours because someone is standing looking over your shoulder. We know we have to have high standards in training.
“That’s what we are doing, pushing each other. It’s a good group to be around. We all want the same goal.”
It’s been an excellent start to the season with three wins in our opening four Premier League games, while we made a perfect start to our Champions League campaign earlier this week too.
The challenge will be to maintain the high standard that we’re setting throughout the year, and having now firmly established himself as a highly influential and integral part of our team, Rogers will have a huge role to play in our progress and pursuit of success this season with his quality in the final third.
We’ve heard his teammates praise him in recent weeks too, but the message from them has been that he has so much more potential to fulfil, and so it will be fascinating to see him grow and develop further in the coming weeks and months.
From Emery’s perspective, the Villa boss has spoken consistently in the past about wanting two top options in every position to have a squad capable of competing and be demanding of each other to improve. Based on the comments above from Rogers, we’ve certainly moved closer to achieving that.
