"Quicker Than Bellingham!" Harry Symeou HAILS Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers As The 'New Yaya Toure' 🔥

Dan of course you must be buzzing Aston Villa back in the Champions League for the first time the major European tournament for the first time since 1982 which is a long old time I wasn't born that's how long ago he was I wasn't born either there you go so uh none of us have seen this before Aston Villa in Europe's Premier competition when that draw was taking place yesterday how are you feeling because I always think it's quite difficult as a fan because on the one hand you want the favorable draw you want the draw that gives you the greatest chance of progressing but the occasion of somebody like Bayern Munich coming to Villa Park that's what being in this competition is all about right I think you've hit the nail on the head there I was actually before the draw took place sitting there thinking I want as many good teams as possible because this might not ever happen again I think it probably will with emry but it might not ever happen again so I want to see some Elite teams coming to Villa Park I mean I I will see that with Bayern Munich and Juventus coming there I guess I'll have to wait for the Knockouts for the likes of of Real Madrid and and Barcelona but I'm happy happy to do that Harry but it's just exciting isn't you know Villa playing Bayern Munich in the premere Continental competition that's something that five years ago six years ago when Villa was struggling to get out of the championship it just didn't seem like it was anything that was ever going to happen even a couple of years ago before emry came in Villa was stinking out of the place under Steven Gerard a lot of these players were playing under Steven Gerard what unry and the people at this football club have done is just absolutely remarkable everybody looks at Aston Villa from an outside perspective I think and probably fears that they might have a bit of the Newcastle in that all of a sudden you're in Europe's Premier competition you can't really rotate like you did in the conference League last year for example and people may be worry about how you balance domestic football and European football particularly this season of All Seasons where there's even more Champions League games in the early stages do you worry about that or do you think that Villa are better equipped than Newcastle were when they went into the competition I think Villa are better equipped and there's a few reasons why I think that one is the man obviously we know what unry can do in European competition I love Eddie how he's a brilliant manager but he'd never managed in Europe before so it was a new experience for him and a new experience for a lot of the players at Newcastle as well to to be in Europe I think last season in the conference league would have done Villa good because they've experienced having that load of Premier League football and needing to win every game to to get something in the Premier League is it the same load though Dan because you can change five six seven players in the conference and still get away with it you won't be able to do that in the Champions League we didn't really do that and towards the end of the season we couldn't do it because we had so many injuries we we literally couldn't change the team round but I think the players again not a lot of V players applied in Europe until last season I think getting that under their belt last season is a positive thing I think the new format will help I think Viller have got a great chance of progressing to to the last six team with the way this new format is they've got to finish in the top 24 teams which I would back them to do it's a lot of games to eliminate very few teams isn't it in my opinion yeah it is but for us we've never been in Europe before and for the for the sorry we've never been in the Champions League before and these players a lot of them have never played in the Champions League before so they're going to embrace and enjoy every single moment and there's just going to be some brilliant games particularly at Villa Park I don't I'm not scared by anyone in the Champions League Villa showed last season in one-off toys in oneoff games that they can beat the best they beat Manchester City and Arsenal in the same week there's not many teams in Europe that are better than those two teams in in opinion so I see nothing that really worries me with the Champions League I think Villa fans are of the mind that they're just going to enjoy every single second because it may not happen again and it's just going to be something that we we we could have only dreamed of a few years ago yeah they should absolutely embrace it and enjoy every moment of it because it is special I mean even for me as an Arsenal fan we were out of it for a number of years but when we went back to the Emirates last season and that Champions League Anthem was playing you just got right back into the anthem haven't they I can't believe it slightly I didn't hear it yesterday ever so slightly I love no it would be typical if they murdered it just as Villa getting the Champions League yeah what what did you make of the new draw process Cristiano Ronaldo pressing the magic button his very expensive watch on his wrist yeah they they've tried to revamp it haven't they they they've tried to do something a little bit different I'm not I'm not against the format I actually think it's it's a decent format maybe the old format was a was a little bit tired I quite like that you're playing eight different teams that's a that's a good experience I think and like I said I think Viller have got got a good chance of of of progressing but the draws are long aren't they I've watched them previously they make them a lot longer than they need to be normally but In fairness this new format maybe it did need to be a little bit longer this time around yeah and it was computerized as well wasn't it so uh there's not too many people complaining about anything well you just can't can you because we don't know how that all works behind the scenes I just want to ask you about the season I know we we're just a couple of weeks into it but what does a successful campaign look like for Aston Villa do you need to finish in the the top four again to say success do you need to get to The Knockout stages of the Champions League what kind of your what would be your trigger point to to say yes this is a successful or unsuccessful campaign Champions League i' I'd like to get to The Knockouts and as I've said a couple of times already I think Villa will get to to The Knockouts I think emy's taken Villa Royale to The Knockouts of the of the Champions League I would back him to do semal exactly I would back him to to get Villa to The Knockouts as well Premier League will be a little bit tougher this time around so early on in the season that we don't really know what Villa looked like fully you never get a true get a true sense of all the teams until the Windows shut anyway but Chelsea were brilliant last week but could quite easily be rubbish this week I do think Newcastle will be better this season I'm not really sure what to expect of Spurs and I think the top three is Manchester United is the same as Chelsea really I'm not really sure how it's going to go I think the top three is the top three after that I think Villa can finish anywhere from fourth to seventh I've got them down as being Fifth and hopeful that that's enough to to get champ Champions League qualification again if the if the coefficient is kind we were both at Villa Park last weekend and I I think it's fair to say that one of the standout players if not the standout player of the game was Morgan Rogers oh I mean that was the first time did he play against Arsenal last season I can't actually did he start the game he started he started the game this was the first time that I looked at Morgan Rogers and admittedly I don't watch a villa every week and I went wow this guy's a handful how far can he go in the game do you think I think he'll have played by played for England by the end of the season I think again it just shows what a brilliant coach emry is and what a brilliant team he has around him because when Rogers was signed in January he probably got thrust into action a little bit sooner than Villa plan because because we had injuries yeah and attacking warse you could see he had ability but on the defensive side of things he wasn't quite attuned to what to what emry wanted and it took him a few months to get up to speed when he got up to speed with what emry wants and what emry demands he started to fly and he started to add goals and assists at the back end of of last season then he got injured and missed the last few games they've tweaked his role a little bit now which I think suits him I think one of the reasons they were prepared to let Musa dii go is because they marked that Morgan Rogers would probably be more effective in that number 10 role and they couldn't afford to keep di there not first choice on the wages he was on he was brilliant against Arsenal I I don't think he a stretch to say he was the best player on the pitch in that game I know Villa lost but I do think he was the best player on on the pitch do you know what it was for me I don't know enough about him to be able to make a real assessment of where his strengths and weaknesses are but it was clear to me that on a physical level yeah he was just so far in front of everybody now I know I sound like I'm being a bit of a bitter Arsenal fan here but I do think Declan rice isn't quite at at the moment I do think Thomas parte his Fitness isn't quite there at the moment but that shouldn't take anything away from how physically dominant Morgan Rogers was on that day and if you can do it against those two then you can do it against pretty much anybody he's so unique because essentially he's a wide player vill obviously playing him as a number 10 at the moment but how many wide players is 6' three 6'4 he's not particularly stocky but he's so difficult to get the ball off because because of his size and because of his frame so he's just a really really unique footballer not someone you really see I can't think of another player in the Premier League at the moment to compare him to so I think he's got a a really really unique skill set you know who he reminded me of and I know this is really high praising me lot J up no no yayi probably that's what I saw for 90 minutes or however long he played at Villa the other he's got different facets of of a few different players in that number 10 position he has got elements of bellingham's game as well but he's a bit quicker and better with the ball at his feet than than Bellingham I think he'll add goals to his game as the season goes on he hasn't scored yet this season but I think he'll get into double figures for Villa and he'll get better as as the season goes on he's just a a really really exciting talent and fair play to Villa for identifying him and it was actually he was a pure Rune I am reigning I know Villa have got Munch at the club and various other transfer Specialists but emry pushed to get him he'd seen something of Morgan Rogers at middle bring the championship after six months a lot of people raised eyebrow at Villa playing somewhere around 15 million pounds for him he's worth a hell of a lot more than that already we've only got a few hours of the transfer window remaining I'm not sure that Villa are going to do anything it doesn't look like they are but is there anything that they need in your opinion would you want one more to come in and if so who and maybe where they were looking at xia Felix but I think what emry shown is is if he's not the right player that he wants he won be panicked into buying anyone just to fill Squad space or just for the sake of it so I quite like that from him that he's prepared to coach what's already there and that's what he's done with Villa he's made every player at the football club better than when than when he arrived at Villa Park they one sh of in defense I think I think a center back that could play right back would would have been a real plus if there was any way they could get Trevor Shala in you know it's clear he's not going to be doing anything for Chelsea maybe offer a portion of his wages and pay a a small loan fee if they could do that I think that would really really bolster them because they wanted guda from fard who would have been a really really smart pickup but an expensive pickup and teams are still worried about PSR and Villa Viller are one of those teams and they just haven't managed to to get the finances to get him in he would have been a great signing because he can play right back but as a right back he can Tu in and make a back three he can drop into midfield if he needs to he can push on an overlap and play like a traditional Wing back he would have given Villa a bit more tactical flexibility tactically he's a very very switched on and intelligent play but that's not going to happen looks like he's going to leig but if they could get someone who could play right back/ center back that would have really helped but the word is that Villa aren't going to do anything there's going to be no incomings and that was the word from pretty early on this morning yeah it looks like their business is done on am on da via the talk sport app and on your smart speaker talk sport