This game will go ahead despite the tragic news that Wales manager, Gary Speed, has apparently taken his own life. Naturally, with the game being in Wales and a number of internationals involved, the game will inevitably be effected in some way. Such sad news.
Alex McLeish has promised a better performance than we were treated to at White Hart Lane and, in all honesty, it would be difficult to be much worse. It will certainly be a contrast in styles
It’s been the week of loans in B6 with no less than four players heading out to get some competitive football elsewhere.
Firstly, Habib Beye went to Doncaster, initially until January, but hopefully a deal to take him through to the end of the season (and his Villa contract) won’t be out of the question. Assuming he’s not a disaster.
Then Nathan Baker, closely followed by Shane Lowry, made a temporary switch to Milwall; Baker for a month, Lowry just into the
Highlights from the U19s 3-0 romp over Ajax at Villa Park with the inimitable Gary Gardner grabbing all three goals and the match ball.
[Email subscribers can find the video here if it doesn’t appear]
Gary Gardner scored all three goals in a comprehensive victory over Ajax U19s in the Young Lions’ final group stage match of the NextGen Series at Villa Park tonight, guaranteeing a place in the quarter finals next year.
Ajax, who are now bumped down to second place in the group, have one final game; Rosenborg at home on November 29th. If Ajax fail to win in Amsterdam, Villa will win the group, earning home advantage for the next round, and will
This is not an attempt to absolve anyone of any blame for the unacceptable performance at White Hart Lane last night, but it’s become painfully obvious to me in the last 18 months or so that in the fans’ eyes it’s players that win games… and managers that lose them.
Let me give you an example:
Towards the end of last season, in what would be Gerard Houllier’s final game on the sidelines, we took on the hapless West Ham at Upton
Emmanuel Adebayor helped himself to a first half brace, but should have had at least a hat-trick during a game that Tottenham barely had to break a sweat to dominate. In fairness, such was the gulf in quality, we should consider ourselves fortunate to have left with the score only 2-0.
There were rumours before kick off that Alex McLeish intended to field Alan Hutton as a right midfielder and Carlos Cuellar behind him at right back to deal with the
Remember the Premier League? Yeah, we’re finally back in action tonight for our first league game under the floodlights of 2011/12. Returning to White Hart Lane also happens to be significant for Alex McLeish, but that’s not something we wish to dwell on.
Truth is, coming back from North London with a point has generally been a decent result for us in the past, you’ll do well to find many Villa fans optimistic about grabbing something tonight. Football’s not always predictable
The NextGen Series has announced the brackets for the quarter finals on their Twitter feed and it sets up a possible trip to Barcelona for our Young Lions. Due to domestic fixtures, the quarters finals will be played over just one leg with each of the group winners earning the advantage of playing at home:
QF1:
Group 1 Winner
vs
Group 3 Runner-up
QF2:
Group 2 Winner
vs
Group 4 Runner-up
QF3:
Group 3 Winner
vs
Group 1 Runner-up
QF4:
Group 4 Winner
vs
Group 2 Runner-up
Group 2 has already been wrapped up with Sporting winning
Fenerbahce recorded their first win in the NextGen Series with a 1-0 victory over visiting Rosenborg today, leaving our own U19s in a very strong position to qualify for the next round.
With just two Group 3 games remaining, the table now looks like this:
Team
P
W
L
D
F
A
GD
PTS
Ajax
4
3
0
1
9
2
7
10
Aston Villa
5
3
2
0
12
7
5
9
Rosenborg
5
2
3
0
9
11
-2
6
Fenerbahce
6
1
4
1
5
15
-10
4
Ajax come to Villa Park on November 22nd before hosting Rosenborg themselves on November 29th.
Since the fixtures are not as structured as the Champions League, the competition NextGen aims to emulate, the group stage won’t be