Unai Emery Discusses Midfield Options, Upcoming Newcastle Match, and Morgan Rogers’ Role

Unai Emery, manager of Aston Villa, addressed reporters ahead of his team’s Premier League fixture against Newcastle on Thursday, scheduled for 15:00 GMT. The following are the main points from his press conference: When questioned about whether Newcastle, often referred to as the Magpies, represent their primary competition for a spot in the Champions League, Emery stated: “We are in a good balance in the table but we are a long way from what we want to do. Newcastle are behind us by two points but we are not now in the top four. We are only facing them thinking they are our opponent now.” Regarding Newcastle, he commented: “They are now in top form. They played Champions League two years ago. The objective is clear for them to be in Europe. It will be a difficult game.” Addressing Eddie Howe’s management at St James’ Park, Emery remarked: “He was doing a fantastic job at Bournemouth. His Newcastle team is very dynamic, they like to play aggressively in attack. They like to do a lot of duels on the field with the players man to man. They beat us last year two times and I respect him a lot.” Emery expressed satisfaction with Morgan Rogers’ current performance, stating: “He has a lot of responsibility in my eyes. I am trying to push him a lot. We will need his numbers. More or less he is getting it. I am very demanding with him because he is very important for us. I am happy with him but I want more from him.” The manager conveyed his contentment with the available midfield players: “We are building a team. Amadou Onana is getting better. Boubacar Kamara is coming back really, really strong and feeling comfortable after injury. We have to try to use our players with the combinations we can have. Yuri Tielemans can play as a six, eight and sometimes 10. With Ross Barkley we are thinking the same.”