Ben Foster criticises Aston Villa man after ‘outrageous’ comments

Add as preferred source on Google

Ben Foster has hit out at Unai Emery after the Aston Villa boss publicly criticised Emi Martinez for going up for a stoppage-time corner, telling his YouTube channel that the comments were outrageous.

Martinez was at the centre of much of the drama in the final moments of the Villans’ 4-2 loss to Arsenal on Saturday. It was his own goal that put the Gunners ahead.

Martinez could do nothing about Jorginho’s strike going in off him. But it seemed that he was keen to atone for the goal by going up for a Villa corner minutes later.

Foster shocked by Emery criticism of Martinez

Not only did Villa not score, but Arsenal managed to counter and seal the points. Gabriel Martinelli put the ball into an empty net to make it four.

Goalkeepers going up for a stoppage-time corner is not uncommon. But Emery did not hold back in his criticism of the Argentinian. He said he did not like Martinez going forward. And he suggested that he did not want him doing it again in the future.

It was a surprise to hear Emery make those comments. And Foster suggested that he was taken aback by what the Villa manager said, insisting that it was out of order.

“The bit that really annoyed me is Unai Emery after the game, his interview, he says: ‘no I didn’t want him to go up for the corner. That’s never in my game plan and he knows now for the rest of his career that he shouldn’t do that’. That’s outrageous,” he told his YouTube channel.

“I didn’t like it. I think we obviously heard a few murmurings after the World Cup that he wasn’t happy with his antics and the celebrating, all that kind of stuff. It seems like he does just have a little bee in his bonnet about him.”

It was jarring to hear Emery take his frustrations with Martinez so public. Often managers will defend their players to the press, even if it is quite obvious that they are not happy.

Mind you, Martinez would have run past the Villa bench on his way forward. If it was that much of a problem, the coaching staff had a brief opportunity to make it clear that he should go back.

And goalkeepers do score goals in the Premier League. Alisson, of course, bagged a stoppage-time winner for Liverpool a couple of years ago.

If you were going to criticise Martinez for anything, it would surely be for some of his other antics. The time-wasting saw him collect another yellow card. He has picked up four cautions in his last eight Premier League games. And they have all come after the 80th minute.

It probably did Villa no favours. And it meant that Martinelli had a chance to score in the 98th minute.

Going up for a corner however, did not appear to be a crime worthy of public criticism from his own manager.