Hamburg vs Villa – Match preview

December 16, 2008 by Martin Banks
Filed under: Aston Villa, Match Previews 

0pic32Villa’s final tie in the UEFA Cup group stage is the toughest game in the competition so far; away to Martin Jol’s Hamburg. They currently top the group on goal difference having won against Prague and Zilina but losing their only home game so far, against Ajax.

The fans

Villa will no doubt find themselves with little travelling support after the Zilina debacle and as our qualification to the knockout stage is already secured.

The team

With the group still winnable we should be going out there with every intention of winning this game, but with 2 Premiership games in following 9 days after this game, you would be forgiven for fearing that the B-team will be given another run-out. Who MON will pick for this game will be a much scrutinised point no matter who he opts for, thanks to the embarrassment against Zilina, but one man whose name should already be on the team sheet is Nathan Delfouneso. The Fonz showed a huge amount of potential in an otherwise dismal display and thoroughly deserves another chance. It would be really exciting to see him partner Agbonlahor upfront, as the pace and skill of the two of them could do great things. Its possible they may end up being too similar to play together, but in a game we can take the odd risk in, this is one worth taking (a better risk than playing an ill player in central midfield anyway).

Poor old Isiah will surely be on his last chance if he gets to play in this game as he doesn’t seem able to play alongside much of the talent we now have (which really is a shame, as a true Villan I’ll always have a lot of respect for real Villa fans in our squad). Salifou will almost definitely be playing in this game and hoping to make amends for his below par performance last time out.

The opposition

Hamburg are currently 4th in the Bundesliga just two points off the pace of Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich and are managed by former Spurs man Martin Jol. They were considered the favourites to win our group and currently sit top, so they will go into this game wanting to win. Whether they will play their B-team, like us, is hotly debatable, so theres no point discussing individual players until we have an inkling who will be playing. If Jol fields his strongest team we can take it as a compliment but if he fields youngsters and reserves we can only blame the Zilina performance.


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