Unai Emery must drop 'special' Aston Villa star if he wants to keep his job

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery needs to steady the ship after a poor start to the season.

The Villans are yet to win all season, are out of the Carabao Cup, and have only scored two goals in all competitions this term.

Aston Villa are now looking to get off to a winning start in the Europa League, with Bologna coming to Villa Park on Thursday night.

And if Unai Emery wants to get Villa’s campaign back on track, there is one player in particular that he ought to drop from his starting XI.

Unai Emery must drop Morgan Rogers for the time being

The player in question is Morgan Rogers, who has suffered a major downturn in form this season.

Last term, Rogers was one of Villa’s main stars, registering 14 goals and 16 assists in all competitions.

However, the 23-year-old is yet to get off the mark this season, and it’s not as though he is playing well either.

Rogers completed just 9 per cent of his attempted dribbles against Sunderland.

He also lost nine of the 11 duels he attempted, and was dispossessed 16 times in the match.

Though Roberto Olabe’s appointment suggests Villa are keeping the faith with Emery, the coach can’t allow results to spiral out of control.

With that in mind, Emery really ought to drop Rogers for a while and allow some of the other players to step in instead.

Harvey Elliott has looked bright for Villa and deserves to take Rogers’ place for the time being, while Jadon Sancho could also be considered.

Rogers recently admitted that he has been struggling this season as opposition teams have been showing him more respect.

“It’s been difficult, there’s no hiding that,” Rogers told Sky Sports.

“I might have been a surprise package last year, but now people know about me and they know about my game.

“They try to stop me and now it’s about how I can progress to the next level and combat that.

“Good players still get found out when they don’t try to improve and get better.”

Micah Richards previously called Rogers “special”, “amazing” and “unbelievable”, and the quality is obviously still there.

However, there’s no denying he’s not at his best at present, and with opponents having sussed him out, he needs to work hard to get out of this rut.