Gary Neville pointed the finger at Leny Yoro after Aston Villa’s opening goal in the side’s 2-1 defeat of Manchester United, claiming the ‘ambling’ defender made a ‘big mistake’ not closing Morgan Rogers down quick enough.
Clear-cut chances were few and far between for the vast majority of the first half at Villa Park, that is until Rogers set the stadium alight with a breathtaking solo goal in the 45th minute.
John McGinn found Rogers with a searching pass to the left touchline and the midfielder took the ball down brilliantly before coming inside and unleashing an unstoppable strike beyond Senne Lammens from the edge of the box.
Just three minutes later, Matheus Cunha cancelled out Rogers’ moment of brilliance with a superb finish of his own to leave the Premier League contest evenly poised ahead of the second period.
Not to be outdone, though, Rogers again got the better of Yoro to restore Villa’s advantage in the 57th minute – the England international’s fourth goal in two games after his stunning brace against West Ham previously.
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While Neville was quick to commend Rogers on his ‘special’ opening goal, the legendary ex-United right-back soon turned his attentions to Yoro’s suspect defending in the immediate build-up.
‘That is so, so special. So, so good from Morgan Rogers,’ Neville said on Sky Sports’ commentary of Rogers’ goal.
‘John McGinn fires it into him after a little wrestle with Luke Shaw and I just thought, as Yoro doesn’t go and close him down on that first touch… he ambles, Manchester United’s right centre-back.
‘I thought, “Uh oh, you could be in trouble here”, because Rogers can do that.
‘There’s no doubt Leny Yoro has to get out quicker, he has to make sure confronts him outside the box.
‘But once doesn’t, Rogers still has a lot to do and my goodness me does he do it!
‘They’ve been really average in this first half, Aston Villa, but Morgan Rogers is having a very special season and that is a really, really wonderful goal.’
Neville added: ‘I’ve played that position and when you play against a special player you have to edge over, if the touch is off you need to get out close and harass him, you can’t drift.
‘He just ambled, Yoro, which was a big mistake.’
Paul Merson echoed Neville’s comments in the Sky Sports studio at the break, hitting out at Yoro for ‘jogging across’ and failing to show Rogers down the line.
‘It’s a brilliant goal but it shouldn’t happen in 100 years,’ Merson said.
‘You have to show him down the line but Yoro goes jogging across and then lets him come inside.
‘All the analysis they have – you have to show him down the line. It’s a brilliant finish but he shouldn’t be allowed to even try that.’
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