Two key Aston Villa men make first pre-season appearances in Stateside win
Emi Martinez made his first appearance of pre-season as Villa claimed a 2-1 win at St Louis City.
The goalkeeper, whose future has been the subject of speculation all summer, played the first half of Wednesday night’s friendly at Energizer Stadium.
Captain John McGinn also got his first minutes of pre-season, with Morgan Rogers and Ollie Watkins again on the scoresheet for Unai Emery’s team.
The pair also netted in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt, the first match of the club’s USA tour.
Wednesday was Villa’s first win of pre-season but speaking afterward, boss Emery said the result meant nothing.
Villa used 22 players through the 90 minutes and Emery said: “We tried to share minutes with our players, playing everybody.
“The result is not important now. I think the environment was good, the fans enjoyed the match. Everything is positive.”
Donyell Malen recorded his third assist in two matches when he set up Rogers for the opening goal.
Watkins, one of 10 half-time substitutes, then doubled the advantage when he converted Matty Cash’s cross early in the second half.
St Louis pulled one back through Cedric Teuchert but Villa held on and might have won by more, with Samuel Iling-Junior hitting the post late on.
“Our idea was to play 45 minutes with each player, get fit, try to continue working with our tactical idea,” said Emery.
“And try to adapt to our opponent as well, and I think they played differently in the first half to the second half.
“In the second half they were pushing more, higher, and we needed our build-up to be better than we did, even, because we lost the ball and it was a goal we conceded.
“But, of course, everything we are practising and playing, and everything that’s happened is positive to analyse and to try to get better.”
