Neither side were able to break the deadlock at Craven Cottage in a game that failed to ever spark into life. As the visiting manager, Alex McLeish will rightly be happier with his point, but will have Shay Given to thank for a number of important saves and might be concerned about the lack of any real threat at the opposite end today.
McLeish opted to use essentially the same 4-4-1-1 system as in the final warm-up game against Braga, except
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The new 2011/12 Premier League season is finally here! It’s the battle of the new managers at Craven Cottage today, although Martin Jol does have several competitive games under his belt in the Europa League.
Here are the confirmed line-ups for both sides:
Fulham
Aston Villa
1
Mark Schwarzer
1
Shay Given
18
Aaron Hughes
2
Luke Young
14
Philippe Senderos
6
James Collins
5
Brede Hangeland
5
Richard Dunne
7
John Arne Riise
3
Stephen Warnock
16
Damien Duff
10
Charles N’Zogbia
20
Dickson Etuhu
16
Fabian Delph
13
Danny Murphy
19
Stiliyan Petrov
23
Clint Dempsey
18
Emile Heskey
8
Andrew Johnson
11
Gabriel Agbonlahor
25
Bobby Zamora
9
Darren Bent
Subs
Subs
38
Neil Etheridge
22
Brad Guzan
2
Stephen Kelly
21
Ciaran Clark
6
Chris Baird
7
Stephen Ireland
28
Matthew Briggs
17
Jean II Makoun
4
Steve Sidwell
12
Marc Albrighton
10
Pajtim Kasami
25
Barry Bannan
30
Moussa Dembele
14
Nathan
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If you had asked me a little over a year ago to name the eight teams most likely to fill the top eight places in the Premier League come May I would have said; Liverpool, Everton, Man Utd, Man City, Aston Villa, Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea. Not in that order, obviously.
Then our manager skipped off into the sunset and the season that followed will last in the memory for many years. For all the wrong reasons. Still, thanks to a
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We all know that Alex McLeish has a tough task ahead of him. We all know that he’s arrived with about as little goodwill as a new manager could possibly arrive with. We all know that he must win over large swathes of the Villa fanbase, and that there are significant numbers who will never accept him. We all know that a good start is vitally important. Vultures circle.
We’re probably all aware – or we should be – that the
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Jean II Makoun has been a hit on and off the pitch from the moment he arrived and he may be about to become something of a cult hero. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here, but Makoun is the star of this music video which appears to be entirely dedicated to him. Better still, he and his friends are rocking out in his Villa shirt, amongst others.
My French isn’t up to much, but I can’t imagine there are
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Charles N’Zogbia matched Darren Bent’s achievement of scoring on his debut in tonight’s final pre-season game in Braga; a 1-1 draw that would probably be given to the home side on points by the judges. If we did such a thing.
Vagner Love’s stunt double, Alan, opened the scoring for the home side with a wicked effort from 25 yards that nestled the top corner and left Shay Given no chance. Questions will be asked about the space he was allowed
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Nathan Baker’s Under-20 World Cup adventure will last for at least one more match after England qualified for the knockout stages in Colombia, but Andreas Weimann will be heading back to Europe as Austria finished bottom of their group.
England might consider themselves a little fortunate after squeezing into the knockout phase as one of the best third place finishers thanks to three goalless draws. It’s true, it’s hardly a scintillating record; played three, drew three, scored none, conceded none, but
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I like pre-season. A lot. It frequently gives us a chance to see promising youngsters mixed in with the established senior players and can provide clues to what lies ahead. Notice the emphasis on the words ‘can’ and ‘clues’.
The truism I keep returning to is that more can be learnt from a failure than a success. Doing too well during pre-season can mask real problems that are subsequently exposed by the harsh competition in the Premier League.
Take summer 2009 as
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Two second half goals gave Derby the win in a game missing a lot of our big names, including new boy Charles N’Zogbia, but provided a useful, if uninspiring, run out for a lot of young squad players.
This post is more a stake in the ground to record the result, I managed to pick up very little during what was very much a low key, perhaps even dull, affair. From pictures at the ground, and descriptions floating around the web,
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