Morgan Rogers has criticised a Sunderland social media post that appeared to glamourise a tackle by Trai Hume, with the Aston Villa star condemning it as “dangerous”.
Rogers was sent flying by Hume’s crunching challenge during Sunderland and Aston Villa’s 1-1 draw on Sunday, landing on his back as the Northern Ireland international lunged for the ball.
While Hume escaped a booking, the Sunderland Instagram account posted a video of his tackle accompanied by the classical music piece ‘Ava Maria’ and the caption, “Still got the ball” with a shrugged shoulders emoji.
The clip accumulated over 1.3 million views within 24 hours, with Rogers sharing the reel on his Instagram story along with the caption, “Great message to send out... dangerous tackles getting highlight reels”.
Villa were unable to beat 10-man Sunderland as Wilson Isidor cancelled out Matty Cash’s opener at the Stadium of Light, leaving Villa in the bottom three of the Premier League table and without a win in five games.
Cash’s strike was their first goal in the Premier League this season but they were unable to capitalise on Reinildo’s red card, continuing a frustrating start to the season for Rogers and England team-mate Ollie Watkins.
Villa were sixth last season and narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification, but Unai Emery described their performance at newly promoted Sunderland as “lazy”.
“I am not frustrated for the result, I am not disappointed with the result. I’m frustrated and disappointed for how we played,” Emery said.
“How we are not playing, feeling comfortable with our style. Of course, we have to try to recover personality as well (as) confidence and personality to play.
“Of course some players they need adaptation. For example, Harvey Elliott, he was getting the ball so quick doing passes behind the defence without options.
“He needs to understand he has the skills to play more passes and then to do the pass in better options to get something more.
“We were lazy sometimes in defence. For example, when we conceded we were lazy. Maybe it’s the consequences we are not feeling (we are) dominating or playing our style.
“These experiences we have had the last three years and how were we feeling – confidence.”
Arne Slot dismisses Everton complaints after controversial end to Merseyside derby
Graham Potter limps on but West Ham struggles have already revealed glaring issue
Chelsea’s Enzo Maresca fears Premier League leaders Liverpool could be ‘impossible’ to stop
Unai Emery critical of ‘lazy’ Aston Villa after draw at 10-man Sunderland
Wilson Isidor earns 10-man Sunderland a point against Aston Villa
Matt Beard tributes: Man Utd boss Marc Skinner remembers ‘beautiful human’
