Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez admits their poor start to the Premier League season has given him sleepless nights and says the players not Steven Gerrard should take responsibility for their current predicament.
Martinez and Villa were beaten 2-1 by league leaders Arsenal on Wednesday night, their fourth loss in five top-flight matches, to leave them second bottom in the early table.
Villa now face the daunting task of Premier League champions Manchester City next up, a team they have not beaten in their last 13 meetings and the Argentine admits morale has been low since that defeat at the Emirates.
Saturday 3rd September 5:00pm
Kick off 5:30pm
“Even when we win and I concede I can’t sleep – but I couldn’t sleep on Wednesday [after Arsenal], I went to bed at 6.30(am) and I woke up at 7.15(am). I struggle with defeats, I struggle when I concede goals but that’s me – I move on and after I’ll be out training,” Martinez told Sky Sports.
“I love this club, I’ve said it from day one I love this club. I love being here, I didn’t want to go anywhere and I owe the fans for always having my back so I want to repay them. When I see kids with my shirt in the ground and they chant my name it makes me want to stay and I fell in love with this club, and that’s why I can’t sleep.
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“Obviously if you don’t care I would just sleep straight after the game but I really care about this club and I want to take this club to Europe – obviously it’s a bad start but I think I can still do it.
“Everyone will be low. It’s normal, it’s part of football, you should be angry, you should be disappointed for not getting anything from the games, but that’s what I like about my team. They all care about this club. It’s not like they don’t care, no one will be laughing, no one will be smiling. They will go out and train, and that’s something I love about these players – it only takes one big win, one big performance to turn things around.”
