Playing for keeps… Joe Gauci couldn’t say no to Aston Villa in January (Image: Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
Joe Gauci acknowledges that he had to give up playing time, but he couldn’t resist the chance to work with Emi Martinez at Aston Villa.
Prior to Gauci signing a four-and-a-half-year contract on deadline day, Villa paid Adelaide United £1.3 million plus add-ons for his transfer. The international player from Australia thinks that working with Martinez at Bodymoor Heath will help him advance.
Gauci told The Age, “He’s fully committed to winning and results.” “I suppose some people have perhaps been critical of some of his approaches, but other from that, he’s really laid back, a huge character in the locker room, and he enjoys a good joke. However, after you cross that white line, you need to focus on getting a result,whatever way possible.
“He’s just a regular person at the end of the day, and you can kind of see a goalkeeper that for a long time was starved of an opportunity, spent a lot of time as the No 2 behind some great goalkeepers, and in the last couple of seasons since he’s been getting that consistent game time is now really just thriving, and loving playing football every week.”
Guaci added: “For my development at this stage of my career, I think it was the correct step to go and really challenge myself. It has been a challenge, and it is challenging. But I think the development that’s going to happen to my game, on and off the field, is something that … now I’m there, I’m seeing it first-hand, but at the time, it was something that I couldn’t turn down.
“It’s opened my eyes to world football and the way that it operates. The amount of detail that they go into in terms of analysis and the opposition, as well as our own performances, after the games – it’s extremely detailed.
“Even myself, I have such a clear picture already of our style of play and the options on the field and the way that Unai wants the players to behave and perform. I’ve been able to pick that up so, so quickly, just because of how detailed they are, and how clear the messaging is in the system.”
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