John McGinn’s early goal was enough for Aston Villa to pick up their first win of the season as they beat Bologna 1-0 at Villa Park.
It has been an awkward start to the season for Unai Emery’s side and although they kicked off their Europa League campaign with three points, it was not without its difficulties. Ollie Watkins came off the bench and had a second-half penalty saved.
Santiago Castro struck the crossbar for the Italian visitors soon after and Marco Bizot had to keep out a header from Martin Vitik late on but Villa held on for a badly needed win – albeit one that will not do much to dispel the growing number of doubters.
Watkins and Rogers still struggling
Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins saw a second-half penalty saved against Bologna
Watkins is now without a goal in eight appearances for club and country this season and his penalty attempt was not that of a confident player. Emery would have hoped this was a game to build up his attackers. Even in victory, their form remains a concern.
But even his struggles were less pronounced than those of Morgan Rogers. He looks so out of sorts, unable to reproduce the form that saw him star for England against Serbia earlier this month, and was ironically cheered late on for simply retaining possession.
Rogers has started every Premier League game this season with Emery clearly keen to back his man in the hope that he can play his way out of this rut. However, it only appears to be making things more difficult for a player performing well below his best.
Morgan Rogers had a difficult night for Aston Villa against Bologna
Emery: Rogers must accept criticism
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery speaking in the press conference:
“The fans have to show emotions, we have to accept it, sometimes they are helping us and sometimes not. We have to be there, always ready to accept it.
“Morgan is young and he needs to accept it. Today, I kept him on the field for 90 minutes because I wanted his reaction to it, how he was accepting everything and he did it.
“He did not play well, he was not clinical in the attacking third to do the last assists but I wanted to keep him [on] because, firstly, he is always doing his tasks, always working for the team.
“But today he was not being clinical offensively. He needs to take experience of not playing well, the crowd sometimes not being happy with him. He has to accept these experiences and grow up through it.”
McGinn: Watkins has nothing to prove
Aston Villa captain John McGinn speaking to TNT Sports:
“He is a top-class striker. He is not in the England squad for nothing.
“He has shown over the years how good he is. If he is not scoring, that is fine. You have seen the effort he puts in for the team.
“We don’t need to put any pressure on him and add to any external noise.
“He has been brilliant for us and has got nothing to prove to us.”
Konsa: The crowd can be tricky here
Aston Villa defender Ezri Konsa speaking to TNT Sports:
“My first season here we went through a similar thing, fighting against relegation. The crowd can be tricky here. When things aren’t going well it is important the fans stay with us but you can see at times they got a bit frustrated, especially with some of our players but we have to be able to deal with that.
“I just have to try and block it out. I try and stay positive as much as possible.
“I think today is a good starting point, a win we really needed to give us confidence going into Sunday’s game. We have important players to come back. Now we are not scoring as much it just feels a bit low.”