Morgan Rogers revels in Paul Gascoigne comparison after starring in central England role

Morgan Rogers says he will keep trying to “get fans off their seats”, as he admitted he was flattered by comparisons to Paul Gascoigne and that his best position is that central playmaking role.

The Aston Villa forward starred in England’s emphatic 5-0 win away to Serbia, with Rogers hailing how everything just clicked because everyone knew their roles. He was key to that, especially with touches and interventions that accelerated and elevated the team’s fine forward play. His flick for England’s second goal, Noni Madueke’s soaring lift, was indicative.

“That’s the way I like to play,” Rogers said. “I always want to create and kind of get fans off their seats. It’s not always going to work. I play with a risk and a freedom, and I know it’s not going to work always, but if I work hard every day and try and improve where I can, and it will come off more days than it won’t, so I’m happy it does.

“For that assist, you can hear Noni shouting really loudly, that he’s on the run, so when the ball comes, I know that he’s in on goal, and just to try and get anything on it into his path. And thankfully, it went perfect for him. But he still had a lot to do to finish it, so it’s a really nice goal.”

Such a touch led Roy Keane to compare Rogers to Gascoigne on ITV punditry.

“That’s some compliment, especially coming from him and who he’s comparing me to. To hear that from legends of the game and people who watch it is a nice feeling and a nice moment. I’ve got to keep my feet on the ground, keep level-headed, up and go again, because I want to get better and improve.

“I’ve seen clips of him [Gascoigne], iconic player and one that you watch clips in the archive. So, I’ve not seen him live, I was probably too young, but yeah, I’ve seen clips.”

Rogers now says that central role is where he is most effective.

“I think if you asked me that a year, two years ago, I would probably say no, but I think the way I’ve developed at Villa as well as here, I think I’ve become more comfortable in that position, and I’ve probably played that the most in the last year, where I’ve done really well and improved. So yeah, that’s my most comfortable position, but I’m pretty comfortable in all positions. I don’t mind where I play as long as I’m on that pitch trying to improve. I think I can play in probably three or four different positions and give my best and give my all and create something different.”

Rogers also more than staked his claim for that position, given the injuries to Jude Bellingham and Cole Palmer.

“Any chance I get is a massive chance for me to show what I’m about. I haven’t quite done it on an international level with the games. I think it was my time, and I was looking forward to it before the game. I’m happy [with] how I did. I’m happy [with] how well the team did, it made it so much easier for me to just be me, and the manager allowed me to show my strengths. It makes it really easy to play with players like this. So, I’m really happy with how I played, and hopefully I can kick on now and get more opportunities like this, because it's a really special night.”

“It’s quite scary when you think about the players that aren’t here, and the amount of quality they’ve got and what they’ve done on the biggest stage. There were a few chances for other players here as well, and to take opportunities when they’re not here and then when they come back, it’s just all fighting for competitions, and it’s all healthy competition. We all have different strengths, different weaknesses, and we try our best to go out and win each game. I think it’s just exciting as a nation, how good the players are we’ve got in all these different positions.

“I think, from us within, I think we’re really happy. We know what we’re working on. We know what we’re doing. We see it in training every day, and it’s difficult against certain teams, and the way that they play, the way they set up, it makes it difficult, probably, to show fully what we’re doing and how we’re trying to develop and improve. But you can see nights like this, what we’re doing, and we know it’s working.

“We know what we’re doing is right, and the manager is full of faith in us, and we have full belief in him and what he’s trying to do. Bit by bit, we’re getting better. We’re trying to peak at the right time. We know we’ve got massive games coming up, massive times ahead. So it’s about not to get too high, [not] to get too low. It’s just about maintaining the importance of what’s at stake.

“I thought we stepped up to the plate massively well. And I think every man, we knew our role. We knew our jobs. Defensively, we knew we had to be good, and then going forward, obviously on the ball, we knew we had to be positive, and taking our chances.”