Unai Emery attempts to fire up struggling Aston Villa superstar ahead of Spurs clash: ‘Of course it’s helping him’

Unai Emery has thrown his weight behind Morgan Rogers after a troubled start to the season for the Aston Villa forward.

Villa underperformed as a team at the outset of the 2025/26 campaign but have gradually found their way, winning their last four games in all competitions before the October international break.

Rogers has been rediscovering his form rather slower than the rest of the team. A visible lack of confidence appears to have affected his game. Villa’s inability to generate the spaces and openings into which he likes to play when he’s at his most effective stifled him and it showed.

It was the unfortunate coincidence of tactical failings around him and a player second-guessing himself from within. The result was Rogers playing vastly beneath his best and struggling to claw that standard back after a poor start.

It hasn’t quite been the same story in international football, where a couple of impressive performances in the autumn have put him squarely in the World Cup plans of England manager Thomas Tuchel, who is evidently quite taken with the 23-year-old.

That in itself suggests there’s more to come again in a Villa shirt and Emery has backed one of his most important players to recapture what made him such a threat in his first year at Villa Park.

‘He’s feeling better’

“He is getting better. He started a little bit like the team, not performing very well, not confident,” Emery admitted while speaking to the press before Villa’s Premier League fixture at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

“But the last matches he played, maybe he’s not scoring, but he’s playing better. He’s feeling better, confident, of course it’s helping him, with the national team, how they were performing collectively and as well individually, his responsibility and being protagonist like he is in the starting eleven.”

Rogers tallied 18 goals and assists in the Premier League last season. He’s yet to get off the mark this term but a couple of assists have helped get him on his way.

Emery acknowledged the positive impact of England duty. Rogers claimed his first senior assist in an England shirt against Serbia in September, winning plaudits like nobody’s business for a terrific display in Belgrade and following up with a well snaffled maiden international goal to get England rolling against Wales at Wembley.

The Villa forward was praised by Tuchel after his Wales performance. Rogers was compared favourably against the omitted Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham in the media and some observers have even argued that Rogers has edged ahead of a player he knows well in England’s pecking order.

It’s been great to watch all this happening from the perspective of a Villa supporter but the hope has to be that the high points enjoyed while away from the club this month can help to float his league form too.

One way or another, Villa need to get Rogers firing again. Emery has been behind him all the way, backing him when even his biggest fan (me, basically) was advocating a short spell out of the side.

With yet more supportive comments sent his way, we have to hope Rogers can gather some momentum.

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