- Aston Villa beat Man City 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon
- Morgan Rogers scored Villa’s second goal against the club he used to be with
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Are Tottenham managers treated differently to other managers?
The sight of Morgan Rogers powering through Manchester City challenges like an NFL wide receiver would have raised a few smiles among his old Lincoln City team-mates.
When Rogers joined the Imps on loan from City in January 2021, he had never made a senior appearance. Many talented players do not complete the leap from age-group matches to competitive football but it took only one team meeting for Rogers to show his new colleagues he would be up to it.
‘When we were working on opposition set pieces, Morgan would ask to mark the biggest players,’ Michael Appleton, Lincoln boss at the time, told Mail Sport. ‘He didn’t mind contact or physical challenges.
‘He wanted to learn and always asked questions in meetings. He turned up from City saying ‘I just want to play football’ and he had the technical quality, too. He would take ball on his back foot and that allowed him to play forward quickly.
‘He had got lost in the system a little bit at Manchester City. He was quite quiet and shy but had an inner confidence and belief in his own ability.’
After Rogers’ stellar display against City, much of the focus was on how the Premier League champions had allowed another academy jewel to slip through their fingers, after Cole Palmer was sold to Chelsea in summer 2023.
Morgan Rogers scored what proved to be the winning goal against Manchester City
Rogers spent his younger year on the books of City and came back to haunt his old club
That is not the issue here. As Pep Guardiola pointed out, City were winning everything in sight at the time and throughout football history, players have been overlooked only for their clubs to regret it.
The problem for City is that Rogers is the prototype of the modern Premier League attacker, and Guardiola does not have anyone like him.
When top clubs scout forwards now, they are not looking for a No 9, No 10 or a winger.
They want someone who has the technical and physical qualities to do all those jobs in the same game, as well as compete strongly in duels. Rogers is well on the way to achieving it and so is Jhon Duran, Villa’s other goalscorer. Not bad for a combined total of less than £25million.
According to statistics supplied by FBref.com, Rogers attempted four progressive carries – moving the ball 10 yards closer to the opponent’s goal – created four shooting attempts and two goals. City simply could not live with him.
Unai Emery has said many times this season that he is trying to find a way to fit Ollie Watkins and Duran into the same side. The more he says it, the more it feels like a red herring.
Duran is now the starting centre-forward and there is no way Emery would leave Rogers on the bench to accommodate Watkins. He is also unlikely to play the three together and risk upsetting the balance of the side.
Rogers’ time is now. And if that is bad news for Watkins, who will surely start to look at his options if he remains on the bench, it is even more ominous for Guardiola and City.
