Nathan Delfouneso won his first England Under-21 cap this evening and managed to get a consolation goal back for England in the 2-1 loss to Greece in Doncaster. Nathan looked extremely lively as soon as he came on the pitch and made the most of his first touch with some impressive footwork down the left, leaving 2 Greek defenders chasing shadows, before sending a decent delivery into the box.
No one was on the end of it that time, but
…looking like a fool with you hands in the air. (That’s to the tune of “Pants on the Ground” for anyone not getting the reference)
I always laugh at players who commit a foul and then put their hands in the air as if to say “I didn’t touch him!!”. Nemanja Vidic gives a masterclass as he takes Gabby down to give away a penalty in the first 5 minutes of the Carling Cup Final.
Grab A Handful Of Shirt
Dive In
Quick,
Despite one of the most farcical construction projects ever, the old Wembley stadium was demolished and rebuilt in between this and our last cup final. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since that FA Cup final. Football is different. Aston Villa is very different.
For these reasons, and an almost infinite number of others, and I doubt I was alone here, I found myself almost overcome with emotion and pride as I watched
Well, we lost. Not worth adding much more at the moment, except to say how proud I am of the team and how proud I am to be a Villa fan. Good effort lads, there will be more trips to Wembley I’m sure. It just wasn’t to be this time.
I suppose I’d have to admit that UtD did rattled the wood work on a couple of occasions and we didn’t really threaten the Utd goal beyond James Milner’s penalty, but
Live blog below the fold.
Carling Cup Final – Man Utd vs Aston Villa
Some pictures of last minute preparations at Wembley ahead of our Carling Cup Final against Man Utd tomorrow courtesy of Carling.
First View Of Wembley
Filming Football Focus
Final Touches To The Aston Villa Bench
The Tunnel
Hospitality
Utd Player Mural – Holding Area
Villa Player Mural – Holding Area
National Anthem Rehearsal
Wembley or Wimbledon?
Titans
Big Screen
Press Box
View From The Press Box
Fan Messages
@Umbro Arrives
@Rakey Almost There
I’m going to leave this post open and at the top of the home page all the way up until we get the team news for the Carling Cup Final on Sunday. I’ll drop links to all the latest news and opinion that attracts my attention on the wires and feeds, with the most recent at the top. Feel free to draw my attention to anything I miss.
I’m not completely sure how I’m going to handle the match
I know Twitter isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but you ought to know by now that I’m a big fan. Some people seemingly just want to use it as an additional method of publishing their blogs, and it is good for that, but I prefer to look at it as two-way communication. For me, it’s about having a conversation and that’s the theme of this Follow Friday Team of the Week on the last Friday before our Carling
As you’re hopefully aware (because I told you on Wednesday if you bothered to pay attention), Aston Villa made the trip down to London yesterday. Since they’ve effectively started the preparation for Sunday’s final, I figured I might as well follow suit.
Stiliyan Petrov deserves a special mention. He was sent home suffering a virus prior to Wednesday’s FA Cup match with Crystal Palace and there’s been some speculation since then that he may not make the final.