Rashford came off the bench to make his Villa debut on Sunday
Unai Emery praised the performances of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio after the pair made their Aston Villa debuts off the bench against Tottenham.
A week on from joining the club on loan from Manchester United, Rashford was named among the subs on Sunday night alongside Asensio, another loan signing from Paris Saint-Germain.
Moments after Morgan Rogers had doubled Villa’s lead, the two new signings entered the fray as Villa sealed a 2-1 victory in their FA Cup fourth round tie to pile more pressure on Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou.
Rashford looked sharp during his energic cameo with Asensio providing some delightful moments, brilliantly combining with Rogers to terrorise the Tottenham defence.
Andres Garcia and Doyen Malen, two other January recruits, started the game at Villa Park with Emery pleased to see the pair immediately adopting his gameplan.
With Villa fighting on three fronts, the Villa boss was pleased to see his recent additions all provide a telling glimpse of what is to come.
‘Andres Garcia and Malen both played in the idea we had,’ Emery said.
‘They were consistent and focused. As well, Marcus Rashford and Asensio, we watched their skill and how they helped us and will help us again in the next months in the different competitions we will face.
‘We are in a new way after the changes we did. We are demanding because we still need to improve due to some tactical issues and how we want to compete in the Premier League.’
Rashford looked sharp
While they lost Jhon Duran during the January transfer window, Villa now have a wealth of attacking options to support Ollie Watkins up front with local lads Jacob Murphy and Rogers on the score sheet on Sunday.
Asked about the impact of Rashford and Asensio on the squad, Rogers said after the match: ‘It pushes us along, we want to take what we can from the experienced players in the squad.
‘It’s massive to have people like that in the building and hopefully we can just push each other. The second goal was important, we played well but we hadn’t killed the game off.’
Rashford and Asensio will hope to make their full debuts on Saturday when Villa host Ipswich.
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