This is a big, big game for Alex Mcleish today. The last of a run of home games and a derby against an opponent that caused his predecessor so many problems. It’s also something of a “top of the table” encounter and the winner, should there be one, will get boasting rights over the rest of the league for at least a while today.
With Luke Young unavailable, McLeish has opted to start Chris Herd ahead of Eric Lichaj and Habib
As someone who loathes the flood of transfer speculation we’re forced to swim through for the best part of 10 months of every year, I was actually pleased that cold water was poured on our prospects of trading in the market some time ago. However, with the transfer window coming to a close next week, there are a few signs of movement. There may be some ins and outs at Villa Park yet.
Luke Young
Luke Young is now confirmed to be
Highlights from the NextGen Series will more than likely be a little thin on the ground and will rely heavily on the participating clubs’ own media departments. Fortunately, Ajax TV have done a good job of putting together this video from our 2-0 loss in Amsterdam in the opening game last week.
Of course, there might be a little bias in the edit, but this seems a fair reflection of the game from as much as I could gather. Mickey van
Just over 21,000 saw Villa earn their place in the 3rd round of the Carling Cup the hard way thanks to a late goal each from Eric Lichaj (80′) and Nathan Delfouneso (88′) from the bench.
It’s a game I’ve yet to see anything from first hand, but it sounds like we dominated the game pretty much in the manner you’d expect over a struggling League Two side, but were frustrated by some fine goalkeeping from 20 year old loanee, David
Alex McLeish has rung the changes for this Carling Cup clash, but retained a strong side blending youth and experience.
Aston Villa
Hereford
22
Brad Guzan
28
David Cornell
31
Chris Herd
2
Ryan Green
5
Richard Dunne
5
Michael Townsend
21
Ciaran Clark
3
Joe Heath
30
Eric Lichaj
16
Daniel Williams
17
Jean II Makoun
17
Joe Colbeck
25
Barry Bannan
8
Nicky Featherstone
7
Stephen Ireland
14
James Mcquiokin
12
Marc Albrighton
4
Harry Pell
10
Charles N’Zogbia
10
Delroy Facey
9
Darren Bent
7
Stuart Fleetwood
Subs
Subs
33
Andy Marshall
38
Russell Hoult
32
Nathan Baker
30
Tommy Johnson
23
Habib Beye
19
Kyle McCarthy
34
Shane Lowry
11
Kenny Lunt
28
Jonathan Hogg
31
Lewis Feeley
26
Andreas Weimann
9
Yoann Arquin
14
Nathan Delfouneso
32
Nathan Perkins
Alex McLeish kicked off his first Villa Park match with a near perfect start thanks to goals from Gabby Agbonlahor, Emile Heskey and Darren Bent. Only Morten Gamst Pedersen’s very well taken header spoiled the perfect result. Most importantly though; three points and a convincing performance were required today… and we got both.
McLeish made no changes from the starting line-up at Craven Cottage last weekend, although the system was slightly more attacking in nature; much more of a 4-2-3-1 instead
Guess who’s coming to Villa Park… again!! I’m sure their fans are as sick of the sight of us as we are of them. Fortunately, if we can avoid being drawn against them in both of the cups, we won’t have to see them again until the reverse of this fixture in March next year.
So, here’s how the two Glaswegian managers are sending their sides out today in what will be Alex McLeish’s first home game since taking over at
It’s being billed as the “Champions League of youth football”, which is probably a massive overstatement, but the NextGen Series is an interesting competition nevertheless. We’re one of 16 teams across Europe taking part in this new Under-19 championship which kicked off with a handful of games this evening, including our own Young Lions going down 2-0 to Ajax at their youth training camp, De Toekomst – Dutch for “The Future”.
As the competition is so new, information is a little
When James Milner re-joined Villa from Newcastle our side was so conditioned to channel the ball down the left in search of Ashley Young that Milner struggled to get involved and spent far too much time as a spectator. That soon began to change, bit by bit, and it wasn’t long before we were finally achieving the balance we’d missed for so long.
I was reminded of this while watching the 0-0 opening day draw at Craven Cottage. This time is