Morgan Rogers shines for Aston Villa with brace in versatile showing v Walsall
Morgan Rogers has begun his first Aston Villa pre-season on top form after scoring a brace against Walsall.
The Villans’ pre-season started with a 3-0 win at the Bescot Stadium thanks to goals from the Englishman and Louie Barry.
Villa opened the scoring mid-way through the first half through the 21-year-old who doubled his tally for the evening just 14 minutes later.
The second half was a lot slower and evenly matched but a third goal did come as Samuel Iling-Junior laid the ball on a plate for Barry to tap home.
There were some star performances from the 22 players who featured but Rogers was a standout.
Morgan Rogers shines for Aston Villa v Walsall
After signing from Middlesbrough in January last season, not many Villa fans would imagine the player that the Manchester City academy product would be.
Unai Emery has gotten the best out of Rogers since his move from the Riverside and this was on show against Walsall on Wednesday (18 July).
His opening strike came from a quickly taken Ross Barkley free kick where the England youth international was alive and running to receive the pass.
Once he was played through, he cut inside onto his right foot to convert past keeper Tommy Simkin with an easy but clever finish.
This has become typical of the versatile forward who scored three goals in his final five Premier League games of the campaign [FotMob].
His last goal of the season came in a draw against Chelsea where he scored with his only shot on goal, keeping a 100 per cent conversion rate [SofaScore].
It was clear that his confidence was on the rise when just minutes later, he took aim from range and so nearly picked out the top corner.
The 21-year-old’s dipping effort narrowly avoided the crossbar and landed on the top of the net, in a very near miss.
The former Bournemouth loanee did have his second of the night not long after. He latched onto a lose ball in the Walsall box to poke the ball into the net.
Although this wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing goal, it showed a different facet to Rogers’ game compared to his opener and previous strike.
In the 45 minutes that he featured in, the Villa star definitely impressed the supporters and Emery in a versatile performance as a striker-come-winger.
For the opening pre-season clash, the Villans performed well with Rogers being the standout star.
In other Aston Villa news, a buy-back clause has been mooted as an official player exit is announced.
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