What’s new rumour-cat? Villa transfer targets from our UEFA Cup journey and more
Hands up those who think that being in the UEFA Cup this (is it still ‘this’ or is it ‘last’ now?) season was a waste of time? Come on, even you at the back, put your hand up if thats the way you feel. Don’t be shy, lets see your opinion.
OK, so I’m imagining that a percentage of you out there now have your hands up. Well at least metaphorically, you’d look a bit of a dillweed if you just sat there on your computer with your hand up! But I may have some news that will change your mind on the whole affair. Y’see it seems we did have a purpose in the competition after all. We were scouting. Come on, you cynics, we didn’t ‘throw’ the Moscow game, we used it to watch Vagner Love. And for many of us he was begrudgingly the best thing about the game. Who can tell me honestly that they didn’t once consider going down to the barbers and asking for some blue hair extensions.
He wasn’t the only one either, so I think we should have a look at him and Trochowski of Hamburg, as well as any other linakges that have been made with our boys in claret and blue.
- First then, Vagner Love (or Vágner Silva de Souza as he’s known to his mom) is a striker for CSKA Moscow, who you no doubt remember by his long blue hair if you don’t recall his football skills. He made a good impression on me in the UEFA Cup and his stats show that it wasn’t a one-off. His club career has seen him score more than 1 goal every 2 games, getting 60 in 111 for Moscow. He hasn’t done so well for Brazil, but he is still fairly young at 24. If you watch the video below you will some of his goals and see that he seems to be very much what we need; he can play off the last man, he can poach, he can get onto to crosses, get onto through balls, basically all the things we really need. I want him. Randy, get your cheque book out. Or send Luke Skywalker round to use Jedi mind tricks to convince Zico to swap him for Emile Heskey!
- Next up is Piotr Trochowski, who we’ll call Pete. Pete can play on the wing or at the front of a diamond, which could work well with Petrov deeper behind him. He is clearly being touted on the assumption that Barry is going. The word on the street is that he wishes to leave Hamburg for their lack of ambition and wants to play for a club that will win titles. This kind of puts us in the shade a little, especially as Arsenal are rumoured to also be interested. But so too are Spurs and we are as good a punt as them for success. Anyway, I’m in a video mood so here’s some of Pete’s action:
- Also on the rumourmill are some more that I’ll just brush over; Lucas Neill is an Australian defender who I’m sure you all know. He was at Blackburn for an age and joined West Ham 2 years ago. The rumour has sprung up because he has turned down his new contract, but I don’t think there’s anything in this.
- Argentinian Renato Civelli is keen for a move to the Premier League or La Liga, so our name has obviously come up as he is a centre back. The great thing about Civelli is that he would be as free as a bird when his contract expires this summer.
- Joleon Lescott is reported to now be on Arsene Wenger’s radar, which could make it harder for us to lure him. He doesn’t really strike you as someone Wenger would go for though, does he? Y’know, with him being English!
- Finally for today it’s back to the UEFA Cup links with the news that Thomas Vermaelen has expressed his happiness at being linked with us. I covered the defender last week or the week before but it seems now that he would very much like a move to the Premier League and is pleased with the rumours that are floating around.
Cuellar shut up!, Osbourne out, Wenger rallying cry and are Villa off the rails?
OK then, for today’s blog post, I promise I won’t mention Arsenal!
There’s been no shortage of press coverage for our beloved club this last week or two, and a lot of it has been pretty negative. A season that was powering forward at full steam, seems to have come off the rails in recent weeks. So is it time to panic? Nah, I don’t think so. Yeah we haven’t had much in the way of convincing results, but if you look at it closely it’s not panic time yet.
- Everton in the FA Cup was always going to be difficult; they had a point to prove after the previous meeting and let’s be honest, when Everton are on their game (and by Everton I mainly mean Arteta and Cahill), they are very hard to beat. And they wanted it more than us, because try as we might to convince ourselves, our mind was on the league moreso than the FA Cup.
- CSKA at home wasn’t bad and away the kids gave it a damn good go. We lost, but you can’t help but feel that MON engineered it that way.
- Chelsea were on their new-manager buzz, but we still made it very hard for them and if Young’s free kick had been an inch or two lower that may have given us a draw.
- And Stoke was going well for 88 minutes. Enough said on that though.
So yeah, whilst it’s all been a bit of a cacker, it isn’t time to give up yet. We’re still 4th and still 6 points clear of our nearest rival… errr… can’t think of their name at the minute.
Nobody panic, keep the love and keep the faith, we’ll get back to winning ways soon (Wednesday hopefully).
What else has been going on then?
Isaiah Osbourne is going out on loan to Nottingham Forest for 2 months. I think this is a good thing, as the lad is never going to improve or build his confidence by sitting on our bench (at best), and we have plenty of options in the middle of the park. Whether he will ever be good enough for the ‘new improved Villa’ is debatable, but I’m willing to give the guy some patience as he, like me, is a huge life-long Villa fan.
Sky Sports have reported that Carlos Cuellar thinks Ronaldo should stay with Man Utd, as a move to Real Madrid wouldn’t suit his style. My advice: Shut up Carlos, let the nob leave!
And finally, our last minute decaying against Stoke may have given that team in 5th a kick up the arse to drive the remainder of their season. So we need to get back on our game and quick, a 6 point gap can disappear quickly if you relax.
Sweet, I got through with no mention of Arsenal, well I mentioned them once but I think I got away with it 
Martin O’Neill isn’t afraid to man up and face his critics
A slap-up meal is on the menu
I had an email from a reader this morning (nice one Simon Preston) with a link to a story in the Sun. No it wasn’t a picture of a juicy pair of Bristols (why not Simon Preston?!), it was the story of O’Neill’s latest gesture…
According to the Sun, Martin O’Neill is holding a private dinner for the Villa fans who travelled to Moscow to watch his weakened side lose to CSKA and end our European dream for the 08/09 season. The dinner is invite only for the 295 travelling fans and MON will be there, along with some players.
The gesture is typical of the fantastic structure we have at Villa. It’s great to support a club that cares so much about it’s fans and at the same time is successful. Can you imagine any other team in the top 5 ever doing a similar thing?
Enjoy your dinner Villa fans and if anyone invited can’t make it, let me know, I’m sure I can pull off a good impersonation of you
Up the Villa.
CSKA Moscow 2-0 Aston Villa – Out but not down
We lost. That’s the short story.
We went to Moscow with a team that was likely to lose and they did. That’s the medium story.
But look a little deeper and you find a game with a number of youngsters who did themselves proud. I’m talking mainly about the three 19 year olds; Albrighton, Bannan and Delfouneso. These are young lads, still largely untested (the Fonz a little less so) and they suddenly found themselves thrown in at the deep end… and they swam, with competence.
Performances
Albrighton and Bannan played wide midfield roles, areas which are well secured in the first team for the time being, but they both made good impressions last night and will no doubt be pushing their way into contention more and more if they keep getting experience such as this.
Delfouneso found it hard up top on his Todd Terry, but he worked hard and showed once again that he has natural talent and just needs a little more experience to follow in Gabby’s path.
Salifou and Sidwell in the middle of the park were average. Not crap, but certainly not great.
Gardner, as ever, gave his all and had a good chance which he brought down superbly, but hit straight to the keeper.
The defence was as full strength as we had available and they put on a solid display.
Harewood and Isiah Osbourne both came on as subs but neither made a real impact on the game and this proved to be where MON needed to have Barry, Young and Gabby on the bench. At 1-down, those boys could well have swung the game in our favour (not having these available is my gripe with O’Neill controversial plan).
The ‘B-team’ played much better than in some of the previous games and in some ways I admire O’Neill’s balls to put out such a side. The short story has to kick back in there though; ballsy, experimental and superb experience it may have been for some, but we lost and are out of Europe. The dream we chased last season is over. Forfeited to chase a new, bigger dream, so now the pressure is on.
Many Villa fans are miffed about the way in which we ‘conceded’ exit, but what we all need to do is unite and back the team / manager and be delighted that we have raised our standards. We have gone from Intertoto-chasers to Champions-League-chasers. Lets put aside an feelings of anger and get loud and supportive for the run in.
Yesterday’s big debate: My opinion on MON’s squad
Hmmmm, now let me think about this one
The big debate here on Aston Villa Blog yesterday, saw the opinions of Villans well and truly split down the middle. Some of you are happy to forego the UEFA Cup in order to concentrate on chasing the new, higher goal of Champions League football. Some of you think that MON is making a big mistake and wasting a golden opportunity of winning a very prestigious competition, especially as this is the last ever time it will be held (it turns into the Europa League next season).
In my opinion, the biggest mistake O’Neill made was to name the squad he did. He knew full well that it was going to cause controversy amongst Villa fans and in the press. What he should’ve done was name a squad that included a few more first teamers and then put them on the bench. That way they get the rest they supposedly need and you keep the fans happy and united.
Plus, I’d like to have a few options like Barry, Young and Gabby available to bring on if the chips are down.
I suppose it is possible that he’s playing mindgames with the Russians and plans to lull them into a false sense of security, but if this is the case he needs to have been working very hard in training with these boys, because we’ve already seen most of them try and fail.
If we come back with a convincing victory, MON will be hailed as a mastermind but, until we see something that we’re not really expecting tonight, the jury will remain out.
In tonight’s Russian test; Is it all down to Delfouneso now?
The hopes of many Villans rest on this young lad's shoulders
Villa’s squad for this game has been a hotly debated topic this week, with many Villa fans disappointed and disgruntled and even some of my Villan blogging allies voicing their understandable frustrations; AVFC Blog and Aston Villa Mad, to name just 2.
For those who are traveling to Russia to watch the game, the emotions are running even higher, as they have invested a lot of money in it. But even right through to the armchair fans and the fair-weather fans, the opinions on this squad selection are impassioned. Every Villa fan has, and deserves, a voice and on this ‘apparent lack of ambition in the UEFA Cup’ those voices are loud and clear.
On the plus side
The team that starts will have the strongest defence we have fit, so hopefully they can do a solid job and allow us to see some of the fringe players and youngsters stake a claim for more regular action.
“They’ve tried before and failed” I hear you say, so many will be putting all their eggs in one basket and hoping the Fonz man can pull out some of his magic and continue his European scoring campaign.
Delfouneso didn’t even begin his European journey until the Slavia Prague game, when he came on for all of a few seconds, but then in the next game (the embarrassing loss to MSK Zilina) he started and scored a terrific goal. The Hamburg loss saw another start and another goal, this time that superb ’strikers instinct’ goal that I was so enamoured by.
The next game in the UEFA Cup saw the Fonz back on the bench to watch us draw to Moscow, but tonight the majority of Villa fans will be hoping to see him get the nod ahead of Marlon Harewood and start alongside John Carew.
The midfield is where my main concerns lie, after having seen how well Moscow could hold onto the ball, I fear that we will struggle to get the game by the scruff of the neck unless Salifou and Sidwell suddenly pull out the kind of performance we hoped they were capable of when we signed them.
All in all, it’s mainly going to be wishful thinking for us till 5 0′clock and then it will be fingers crossed time.
Good luck to the lads who are out there, do us proud.
Up the Villa.
TODAY’S BIG DEBATE: Is MON wrong to leave half the first team at home for UEFA Cup clash?
What's your opinion?
The squad for tomorrow’s clash with CSKA Moscow has been released and it isn’t likely to go down too well. A large number of first team players have beeen left out, including the entire midfield!
Barry, Milner, Petrov and Young will all stay home and listen on the radio, along with Gabby, Friedel and Heskey.
Cuellar, Reo-Coker, Laursen and Bouma also miss out through injury, leaving very few experienced players to fill out the squad. There is a (weak) team in there and then the rest is youngsters or out of favour players, such as Taylor, Osbourne and the Hare.
Here’s the squad:
Goalkeepers
Brad Guzan
Stuart Taylor
Elliott Parish
Defenders
Luke Young
Curtis Davies
Zat Knight
Nicky Shorey
Eric Lichaj
Ciaran Clark
Shane Lowry
Midfielders
Steve Sidwell
Moustapha Salifou
Craig Gardner
Isaiah Osbourne
Barry Bannan
Marc Albrighton
Forwards
Marlon Harewood
John Carew
Nathan Delfouneso
How do we feel about it?
Are Villa fans pleased to see the league and Champions League push being made a priority? Or do you feel robbed of an opportunity for European glory?
The squad almost looks like accepting defeat, with the plastic pitch already being a cause for concern, we now add to that the problems of a team not experienced or acccustomed to playing together. We have worked so hard to get this far in Europe and we have heard umpteen tales of woe from the gaffer about how we have been playing since July, but this almost makes all that look like a waste of time.
What about the fans who have spent small fortunes traveling to support the team in all the games that have got us to this point? To go out the competition to a team like AC Milan is one thing, but how will it feel to go out in a game we didn’t even seem to want to win?
Or is this a bold move and one that will be applauded if we come home with a victory?
Let’s debate how you feel about the squad. Fire away.
Boing boing bouncy bouncy!
Will bounce fox Friedel?
For those who aren’t already aware, Villa’s second leg UEFA Cup game in Moscow is to be played on a plastic pitch. The temperature in Moscow is often very bloody cold (to put it technically) and, as there was nothing they could do about that, CSKA installed an artificial playing surface.
The pitch is FIFA approved, so it’s all above board, but it definitely sets Villa at a disadvantage as the Moscownians are more accustomed to the way the pitch plays. The bounce of the ball is going to be different and the roll may differ too.
Gareth Barry has been quoted in many newspapers today, some putting a positive spin on it, some a negative one. I’ll let you decide, here’s what he said:
“It is quite a difficult surface because you’re just not used to playing on it.
“You’re playing in moulded boots rather than your studs which the majority of players wear.
“It is different but we’ll have a day’s training beforehand and we’ll get used to it. It can’t be used as an excuse.
“The ball does bounce slightly differently but not enough to be used as an excuse.
“It rolls pretty straight. It doesn’t move and you get used to it pretty quickly to be honest.
“You’ve got to try and be experienced and not worry about it at all. You’ve just got to play your normal game.”
Second leg not to be televised as Five and Russian network fail to reach agreement
English broadcasters, Channel Five, and Russian broadcasters, TV1, have failed to reach an agreement and the upshot of this is that Villa’s return leg against CSKA Moscow won’t be televised in England.
Villa fans in America, Canada and Ireland will be able to watch the game on Setanta Sports, but viewers here in England will not be able to watch it on the box.
Tickets are sold out for the game, so unless you have a golden ticket and a plane booked, it’s time to start searching for a stream.
I will post a link for a good stream closer to kick off time, for the Aston Villa Blog readers.
Are Villa on a slide or is it just a temporary glitch in the programming?
?
From 18th December to 14th February Villa played 11 games and didn’t lose a single one. In the week that followed they lost 2 and drew 1. A definite dip in form is evident in the results, but is it time for us Villans to panic? Or is everything still gonna be hunky dory?
Everton in the FA Cup
The Everton game was always going to be tough, with no Gareth Barry and with them determined to make amends for our last-gasp, dramatic victory earlier in the season. Many were happy to be out of an extra bunch of games and able to concentrate more on the league and Europe, so the Everton loss didn’t ruffle too many feathers.
CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Cup
The midweek game against Moscow saw us apply plenty of pressure but only manage a draw. Moscow rode a storm from us and also managed a very good goal too, meaning we now have to go to their place and win on the plastic pitch. This will be a very tough task.
Chelsea in the league
Then Saturday morning saw us face a rejuvinated Chelsea side, who played very well, though we gave as good as we got. Sadly, it wasn’t to be and we lost the game, reliquishing our 3rd spot to the opposition and giving Arsenal a chance to close the gap considerably (which they blew!).
So with 3 poor results, is it time to panic? Are our top four ambitions evaporating before our very eyes? Or are people getting carried away and blowing it out of proportion?
-
Categories
-
Archives
-
Links
-
Meta
-
Sponsors
