Aston Villa News 24/7I inadvertently covered much of what would be worth mentioning ahead of the curtain opener the other day, but it’s worth adding that Curtis Davies and Gabby Agbonlahor join Carlos Cuellar and James Collins on the injury list.
Surprisingly though, a name that’s caught most people by surprise in the match day squad is James Milner. With the frequently promised “done deal” still not actually done, James Milner is still a Villa player and his mid-week England run out seemed to have shaken off those back spasms. (I can’t possibly convey how much sarcasm that is laced with).
Before we get too carried away though, there’s a difference between the squad asked to come to Villa Park and make themselves available to play and the 18 who are named to start on the pitch or sit on the bench. We’ll find out tomorrow, about an hour before kick off, whether Milner is included in that 18.
I’m pretty certain Hitzlsperger will travel to Villa Park with his new team mates, but is definitely a doubt for their 18 man squad. I can’t imagine what sort of mood the home crowd will be in, but I’m sure he’ll get a warm reception if anyone spots him.
Someone who is certain to get a warm reception will be caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald, stepping into the breach to take control of his first senior game. Hopefully the players will respond and put in a performance for him.
It’s worth taking a quick look at the Statshack for this fixture last season, which took place back in January. This was the game where it hit me that we were generating so many corners through our wide play, but were completely unable to capitalise despite having three centre halves in the box looking to get on the end of the set plays. It’s encouraging that we largely controlled that game, but frustrating that we couldn’t find that goal and it finished 0-0.
AVC Preferred Team
Not a prediction, I don’t do predictions, but this is what I would go with based on what I know. With only 2 fit centre backs available, it’s got to be Dunne & Clark at the back and while Clark has looked rock solid when we’ve called on him before, I’d still like to to see the extra protection Reo-Coker could provide in front of the back line.
The rest of the team picks itself, but worth noting that Albrighton’s been a star of pre-season once more and has to be given the start as far as I’m concerned. He won’t let us down.
Whatever happens tomorrow, I think this is probably one of the weirdest build-ups I can remember for match in a long time. As I mentioned, I have no clue what the pervasive mood among the Villa Park crowd might be. There’s a lot of mixed feelings out there and this week’s events are bound to still be raw.
A convincing win will go a long way, possibly too far, to calming concerns about the future. A loss, well, let’s not go there, we’re not going to lose!
UTV
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5 Comments to “Preview: Aston Villa vs West Ham”
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Fonz?
How do you think Milner will be treated? I think the crowd behaviour in this game may offer an insight into the mood of our season. I don’t think it will be much fun tomorrow. I hope I am wrong.
i’d *definitely* hope to see him at some point, but start him? i’m not sure who i’d drop from that team.
oh and milner?? i really, really have no clue. there’s a lot of anger out there, it could get ugly.
Good post mate…A win tomorrow will paper over the cracks for a week or 2 but it won’t change the fact that a club like ours has brought in no new players this summer! It’s sad b’cos we have to keep improving the squad if we are to maintain our challenge for 4th/5th/6th place in the Lge…Have we got the players coming through the ranks? I don’t know…? I’ve only seen a few of them during this preseason but i have to say that i’m impressed with what i have seen…
I want what’s best for the club but i also want us to be challenging for honours aswell..It’s a fine line with us i know but we can’t be accepting of mediocrity anymore! We stood by for too long and accepted the status quo season in and out…I want better. If we have players good enough coming through our academy then i wanna see them getting their chance…At least then, if they don’t make it they can move on to greener pastures for them…
Good luck to Kevin McDonald and all the lads tomorrow…Wishing them all the luck in the World…and the luck of the Irish aswell….lol…
Take it easy….
i’ve said many times that i thought we were a quality central midfielder and a striker away from being a very dangerous unit.
ok, we’ll lose milner, but maybe getting NRC back and ireland in will solve the centre.
and you never know, maybe delfouneso is that striker. throw in albrighton and i still think we’re in good shape.
we haven’t turned into a crap team over night.