Among much speculation regarding Champions League bound Tottenham trying to get their hands on no-longer-cup-tied Ashley Young, he’s talked up the team’s desire to bounce back against Everton and also his own determination to re-establish himself in the England set up.

Ashley Young
I’m a positive person. You can’t carry defeats around on your shoulders, because you would be going into the next game having too many negative thoughts. You have to look forward.

Of course, the Newcastle result crushed us. We just crumbled. It hasn’t been a good week, with what happened in the Europa League as well. But it’s the way you bounce back which shows the character in the squad.

I’m very determined. You always want to win things and do everything to the best of your ability. I’ve a lot of hopes and dreams. I’m a winner. Any time I lose, I hate it. I want to play at the highest level, win the big tournaments, win the big trophies – and I still believe we can achieve great things at Villa.

Excellent, that’s what we want to hear. And if we don’t get a result against Everton, presumably they’ll all be even more determined to bounce back a third time.

Gabby knows which side of his bread is buttered, he’d love to play his whole career at Villa.

Gabby Agbonlahor
Being from the area, I’ve got no reason to ever leave. I’m just enjoying my football here.

I saw in the programme stats the other day that I’m the longest-serving player, I think I am one of the senior statesmen! I might bring that up with some of the lads.

But I’m a local lad and you look at people like Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard – they don’t want to leave their clubs – and it’s the same with me.

That’s nice to hear, but Lampard is a product of the West Ham academy and is an Essex boy, Gerrard was very close to leaving when the grass looked greener elsewhere. I suppose it’s a double edged sword to profess a desire to succeed, preferably with Villa, because when it looks like that won’t be possible, they’ll be off like Milner. On the other hand, saying you’d like to stay at your local club for the rest of your life just sounds lazy and unambitious to me.

I’m pretty jaded right now, forgive me, normal service will resume shortly. I’m naturally delighted to hear that Gabby wants to stay, but I don’t recall hearing about any clubs trying to snatch him away. Still, put in a shift this season Gabs and I’m sure City will be sniffing around next summer.

Ronald Koeman publicly throws his hat into the Aston Villa management ring, following Bob Bradley and Sven Goran Eriksson.

Ronald Koeman
In Holland we have always viewed Villa as an important club with a tradition of being powerful in Europe when I was younger, so I would be very interested in managing them if the job was offered to me.

One of the things I’d bring to Villa if I was in charge is the idea that winning is important in football, but winning while playing offensive football is the best of all. I love English football because of its brilliant atmosphere, intensity of the competition and the culture of respect that fans and players have for the game.

I have been holding off and turning down offers simply because I want to coach in England and where better than Villa Park?

I was a big admirer of Koeman the player, back in the day, but i have to confess I haven’t followed his management career closely enough to leap to a conclusion about him as a candidate for Villa. I know he had a torrid time at Valencia, but a lot of managers have had the same experience there. I seem to recall Sid Lowe describing the environment as a “viper’s nest”, or something similar.

A quick glance over his career after his first job at Ajax suggests a history of following big name managers, such as Trapattoni, Hiddink and van Gaal, into major clubs and then failing to fill their shoes after bright starts. The exception being his last job at AZ where he was sacked 6 months into the job after a disastrous start to the season for the club van Gaal had lead to the title the previous year.

I’d have to dig a bit deeper if he emerges as anything more serious than the other potential candidates promoting themselves in the media, but right now, he doesn’t exactly yank my chain. The problem is, who really does at the moment?

Blackburn Again

And finally, a team I was sick of the sight of last season, Blackburn, will be our opponents in the third round of the Carling Cup at Villa Park during the week of September 20th.

So, there’s that.