Aston Villa have had time to reflect on their start to the season during the international break and it’s been one of success.
Aston Villa are currently fifth in the Premier League and their only defeat has come against Arsenal. While in the Champions League, Unai Emery’s men have secured wins over Young Boys and Bayern Munich.
There have been a few negatives to take from their start however, one clear issue Villa have had is in defence.
It took Villa till their seventh league fixture of the season to keep a clean sheet, and that came in a goalless draw against Manchester United last time out.
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The Villans will look to build on that positive when they travel to Fulham on Saturday, as conceding goals has had a negative impact on one player in particular.
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How conceding goals has impacted Emi Martinez
Emi Martinez is one of the best goalkeepers on the planet.
In the draw against Ipswich Town, pundit Alan Smith dubbed Martinez as ‘world-class’ for making a string of quality saves.
The Argentine showcased his cat-like reflexes once more as he made several exceptional stops to keep out Bayern Munich in the Champions League as Gary Lineker dubbed Martinez one of the world’s best.
However, despite making a brilliant start to the campaign, the 32-year-old is less than pleased with his clean sheet record in the Premier League and claims that conceding goals ‘affects’ him ‘a lot’.
Speaking to ESPN, as relayed by TLS Diario, Martinez said: “They are scoring a lot of goals against me in the Premier and it is something that affects me a lot.
“I am a fan of zero goals, so I work a lot for it. With Javier García (goalkeeper coach) we worked a lot, specifically yesterday, 40 or 50 minutes reacting to the ball, concentrating only on the ball and today the truth was that it was very good for me.
“I am a sucker for continuing to grow, for being the best, for winning everything with Aston Villa; I set out to play in the Champions League with Villa and I was able to achieve it. With the same selection. I have no ceiling; I want to continue growing and I try to show it every weekend.”
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Emi Martinez is near faultless for Aston Villa
Martinez is a victim of piling too much pressure on himself as he’s rarely put a foot wrong this season, and in the four years he’s played for Aston Villa.
The World Cup-winning shot-stopper expects high standards from himself. Therefore, he will feel frustrated to have shipped nine goals in his first seven Premier League games this term.
Luckily, Martinez is near faultless for Emery and he’s rarely ever the issue, it’s instead the attacking system that leaves Villa exposed to the counter punch.
Martinez has proven his worth for the Birmingham outfit this term and if they are to qualify for the Champions League once more, his performances can win Aston Villa some extra invaluable points.
