Emiliano Martinez
Former Premier League goalkeeper Asmir Begovic says Emiliano Martinez has played a key role in Aston Villa’s success this season.
While he described Villa’s number one as “unorthodox”, he told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Football Daily that he has progressed under Unai Emery.
“He can rub people the wrong way but his performances speak for themselves,” Begovic said. “He’s been really solid and taken his game to a new level. He really kept his team in the game and made some big saves [against Tottenham] at crucial times, which is what top goalkeepers do.
“From a purely technical point he is a little bit unorthodox. He’s not a traditional goalkeeper where he is technically and unbelievably sound. One thing he does really well is in a tactical sense. He knows when to attack the ball and when to close down the angle, get on top of the attack and then goes straight back on his line and makes the save from long range.
“He is really smart in his positioning and gets himself in the way of the ball. He has such a big frame that he doesn’t have to do a lot sometimes when he gets in the right position.”
Former Premier League defender Nedum Onuoha said Martinez’s character is what sets him apart from most, particularly his awareness to buy his team some time.
“That’s a really good trait,” he said. “It tends to come with more experienced goalkeepers in terms of understanding how to do that and not really get into trouble. I do like it when you have somebody in the sticks like that.
“They can read the room and read the state of the game. The best thing he has got going for him now is that he is just a good goalkeeper. If you had one of those people who had the ‘character’ but wasn’t as good and made loads of mistakes, it’s like open season every week, but he is back in it now and he’s a world champion so I can’t have a reason to think his confidence will be dropping any time soon.”
ESPN’s Mark Ogden added: “I love his wind-up tactics, I love the fact you know if he makes mistakes it won’t bother him in the slightest. Some keepers go into their shell a little bit. He does care but plays like he doesn’t care.”
Hear more post-match reaction on Football Daily on BBC Sounds
