Jump to content

Emiliano Martínez


hippo

Recommended Posts

I work in a kitchen (in Murrica) with mostly Hispanic immigrants. The soccer fans of the bunch hardly know a thing about Aston Villa, but when I bring up Dibu, they do the dance or the phallic gesture, they absolutely know who this mad bastard is. Emi is an icon in Latin America, so I think he's okay with flying relatively under the radar in the UK and the new contract is proof of that.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Caddy said:

I work in a kitchen (in Murrica) with mostly Hispanic immigrants. The soccer fans of the bunch hardly know a thing about Aston Villa, but when I bring up Dibu, they do the dance or the phallic gesture, they absolutely know who this mad bastard is. Emi is an icon in Latin America, so I think he's okay with flying relatively under the radar in the UK and the new contract is proof of that.

Jacksonville represent 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

https://archive.is/fsLTx

 

Quote

 

“Villa toured Australia just before the 2022 World Cup,” Bosnich recalls. “I was working the games for TV and it was arranged to meet Emi at the team hotel in Perth. We had a great chat. He told me Villa supporters kept comparing him to me. I just said, ‘Listen, you’re going to win the World Cup in three months and because Villa haven’t won a major trophy since 1996, getting into the top four would be winning a trophy. 
“Two years later, here we are. I am so happy for him. Right now there’s no better goalkeeper in the world.”

 

Quote

 

Mark Bosnich: He has a great energy. If you look through his career and where he’s come from, he has a tinge of insecurity, which is understandable. I can understand why people think he’s arrogant but it’s insecurity disguised as arrogance. You don’t achieve what Emi has done without confidence, but I know what it is because I was accused of arrogance and deep down, it wasn’t that: it is confidence with a tinge of insecurity. 
There must have been times when he thought, ‘Maybe it’s time to do something else’ during his loans at Rotherham, Reading, Sheffield Wednesday, Oxford etc. But he didn’t — instead, he reached the pinnacle. People take Emi the wrong way. He’s down to earth.

 

Quote

 

Bosnich: He thrives on the boos. He’s been conditioned to build himself against people who say ‘You can’t do it’. He gets into the mindset where the negativity motivates him.
I’m 6ft 2in and remember looking up to him. He’s one of those guys where you don’t realise how tall he is. When people say ‘They look their age’, for goalkeepers, it is ‘they look their height’ which means they are not athletic. But Emi is very athletic. That night, he was huge.

 

 

Edited by Jas10
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

As Martínez reveals, that is not the end of his superstitions. “I’ve got loads,” he says. “One of them is having the teddy bears my wife gave to me before the World Cup. She said, ‘You are going to bring the golden cup home’. I was 40 days away from the family and I did it.

“I always keep a picture of the teddy bears on my shin pads. I keep them with me everywhere I go.

“I keep my same routine: I make sure I do pilates and yoga two days before, I pray before the games and have meetings with my psychologist.”

The preparations are clearly working, and Martínez – also known as ‘Dibu’ – is having the time of his life.

Whatever the importance of the occasion, or the hostility of the environment, he always seems to take centre stage.

He is a born performer who relishes the pantomime villainy: whether it be a wobbly shimmy to celebrate a penalty save, or placing a finger to his lips to shush the thousands of fans behind him.

Quote

That wind-up merchant reputation is well-earned, though he insists he is misunderstood and knows the boundaries.

“It’s something that can happen, the adrenalin kicks in and sometimes you just can’t control it,” he says.

“I don’t look for it, it just comes. People who think of me being the show-off are probably the ones who don’t know me. I’m just a normal guy, a family man.

“I don’t apologise. I don’t swear, I don’t insult anyone. I just try to help my team – that’s all. I don’t cross a line, I never do. I always try to keep myself steady.

“When it is about winning I try everything I can to win the game. The only thing that I want is the best for my club and country. That is all that I care about.”

Quote

“I have always been a good penalty saver since I was very young,” he explains. “I think I’ve only lost one shoot-out in my whole career, it’s something I’ve always been pretty good at. I always think I am going to save two or three in a shoot-out.

“When you play 90 minutes and it is a penalty shoot-out, the pressure is completely different. Sometimes you need to have a bit of luck but, for me, working on it, reading the strikers, it is something that comes from within.”

Quote

This week Martínez signed a new long-term contract, and is targeting at least one trophy in the coming five years. “I love it here, but I wouldn’t stay at a club where I don’t see progress,” he says. “I want to achieve things, I want to win things. I want to keep trying to be the best goalie in the world if I can.

“They showed me the plan, the plan of Unai, who he wants to sign. We know how Unai works and it is amazing. I want to be in a club where they are moving forward.

“If you want to be the best, to be the best Villa or win a trophy, you need to improve yourself from last season.”

Quote

With Villa on the up, and Arsenal finishing just behind champions Manchester City last season, it is intriguing to wonder whether this Saturday’s match is a clash of title contenders.

“Nah,” says Martínez, in a flash. “You can see that we sold two or three good players that we had, which Unai didn’t want to do.

“I know with PSR [profitability and sustainability rules], they can’t really sign as much as the owner wants. It’s going to be a little bit harder than everyone thinks, so it is a work in progress.

“We want to go on a cup run, maybe even win the Carabao Cup or the FA Cup. But there is no way we can challenge for the title.”

With Martínez around, surely anything is possible.

 

Edited by Jas10
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Posted (edited)

 

https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/emi-martinez-aston-villa-interview-20w3lhv3s (Paywall)

Article in The Times this evening which is an interview with Martinez. I assume I can quote limited extracts?

He talks about our conceding too many goals last season stating:

“If you want to be the best, to be the best Villa or win a trophy, you need to improve yourself from last season. There is a lot of improvement [to be had]. We conceded a lot of goals, it’s something we need to reduce, it’s something I’m trying to work on with Javi and Unai. If we can reduce the amount of goals we are conceding, I think we have got more of a chance of being in the top four and winning a title,” he says. “I am talking to Javi, I’m speaking loudly in training saying: ‘We need to win a trophy, we need to at least play a final.’ This club and these fans deserve a cup run.” 

But then in the final paragraph he says:

“We are not title contenders,” Martínez says. “You can see that we sold two or three good players that we had. We want to go on a cup run, maybe even win the Carabao Cup or the FA Cup. But there is no way we can challenge for the title.” 🤨 

Unai obviously wants us to stay as underdogs.

 

 

Edited by MikeMcKenna
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Jas10 said:

 

From this same interview…

Quote

I love it here, obviously, but I wouldn’t stay at a club where I don’t see progress. Because I want to achieve things, I want to win things

We need to keep progressing!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Luckily the mistake has come at a time in a game we probably would have lost anyway. We could have been 1-0 down if not for that superb save in the first half.

Nothing like that when it matters please Emi.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, villan95 said:

Dare I say his 1 weakness is when he dives back to the side he's just moved from

Yeah he's let in a few like that for us. I think an issue is he always likes to catch the ball when diving but if it's a low strike it can easily just bobble up over him.

A shot like that he just needs to push round the post and then we defend the corner and still have a good chance of getting a point.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Should have saved it but it was a phenomenal save in the first half from Saka. I was sat right behind it so had a great view. I'm more annoyed it gave Arsenal fans something to gloat about then the actual goal going in. We all know he'll save us more points then lose them

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After Ollie Watkins was the first ever Villa player to be most selected player in FPL for a while, another fun cultural tidbit, could be wrong but I'm pretty sure this is first time ever in FIFA series that Villa will officially have a top 50 player in the game thanks to Emi getting upgrade to 87 this season 🤗

Screenshot 2024-08-26 132302.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 24/08/2024 at 20:33, grobs said:

It’s annoying but the arsenal fans fully live in his head rent free. 

What? Do they? I'd say he's firmly in theirs.

Since leaving he's won the copa America twice and the world cup.

They've won nothing and would have at least two league titles if they kept him.

They hate it, I love it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, Alakagom said:

After Ollie Watkins was the first ever Villa player to be most selected player in FPL for a while, another fun cultural tidbit, could be wrong but I'm pretty sure this is first time ever in FIFA series that Villa will officially have a top 50 player in the game thanks to Emi getting upgrade to 87 this season 🤗

 

 

Screenshot 2024-08-26 132302.jpg

Do you have the top 25? Just interested to see it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...

exclamation-mark-man-user-icon-with-png-and-vector-format-227727.png

Ad Blocker Detected

This site is paid for by ad revenue, please disable your ad blocking software for the site.

Â