Kevin Macdonald’s first game in charge of Aston Villa launched a new era with a thrilling 3-0 victory over an almost bewildered West Ham side with goals from Stewart Downing, Stiliyan Petrov and, of course, James Milner. New Hammers manager, Avram Grant, will head back down the M40 grateful it was only three, it really could have been six.
Villa were firing on all cylinders from the opening whistle, attacking down both flanks, winning 3 corners in the opening 2
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I 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
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Note: I was literally about to send this post live when Monday’s bombshell dropped and it ended up being cast to the side while more pressing matters took over. I’m releasing it now should a certain midfielder arrive which would mean redoing all the graphics – no, I didn’t use Milner by the way and no, I don’t have any information about that certain midfielder either.
I’ve been developing some graphics in spare moments over the summer which you’ll probably
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Not the greatest of shocks, it was looking dicey 10 days ago, but it’s been confirmed that James Collins and Carlos Cueller will not be available for the season opener against West Ham on Saturday. As far as I know, Richard Dunne came through Ireland’s 1-0 loss to Argentina unscathed and there should be no issue with Ciaran Clark.
Curtis Davies and Gabby Agbonlahor are both back in training and there’s some optimism that they will be available. Ashley
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Squad Numbers for 2010/11 have been announced and the only significant change is Stephen Warnock taking the number 3 shirt after Freddie Bouma left the club at the end of the season. If you’re wondering what Freddie’s up to, I’ve heard nothing since he went back to PSV on trial in June and I’m assuming that’s still the case. Perhaps no news is good news, but surely we would have heard by now if they were going to
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We were required to submit our Europa League squad for the play off round by midnight Monday and while I’ve waited for that information to filter through, part of me has wondered whether discussions about that squad could have been a catalyst for Martin O’Neill walking out.
I don’t know whether that was the case, I don’t know whether it was rushed through after MON walked, but at the moment it appears that Nathan Delfouneso and Marc Albrighton have not been
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OK, it’s not a new signing, but with the current sombre atmosphere, I thought it worth bringing some good news. Oh, and this was something I got a little sniff of back in June. I know, hold the front page, a major scoop for AVC and high fives all round!!
The details were correct, it is a new 3 year contract and Lichaj is looking forward to trying to force his way into the first team at Villa Park
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It’s brief, it doesn’t reveal much, but the General’s words, which I’ll add below shortly, don’t paint a rosy picture of the scenes behind closed doors at Villa Park.
On the basis of what’s been emerging in the last few days, why Martin O’Neill signed another 12 month contract not two months ago is a mystery to me. I’m sure he’ll give his own version in due course.
Randy Lerner
Having had some time to reflect on Martin leaving, I can say
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I’m tempted to apologise for the cynicism as it’s generally not my style… but no, forget it, the timing is little better than MON’s resignation.
I appreciate that information will be coming from the club in due course, but pumping out silly bits of PR guff as if nothing has happened is a little insulting. I’m sure it’s not as bad as I’m portraying in this cartoon, but it certainly feels a little like that.
However, my jadedness to one side,
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