Villa Shorts – June 1st – [Updated With Confirmed England Squad]

Aston Villa flavoured news has been a little thin on the ground recently, but here’s a few things that have been going on in the last few days that caught my interest:-

World Cup Squad

This is happening right now and whispers started last night that it’s our Stephen Warnock who will be Ashley Cole’s understudy, not Everton’s Leighton Baines. Neither will play unless Cole is injured and, from what I’ve seen of Baines in an England shirt, I know which

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Milner Starts In Centre As England Stumble Past Mexico

I was pleased to see James Milner’s name in the starting XI an hour or so before kick off last night and, since he made up a midfield quartet with Theo Walcott, Michael Carrick and Steven Gerrard, I assumed he’d be playing on the left. Not so. At kick off we found that Capello was playing Gerrard on the left and Milner in the middle. I’m guessing he just wanted to see Milner in a central role

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Warnock, Milner and Heskey Named In England’s Provisional World Cup Squad

Fabio Capello has just named his 30 man provisional squad ahead of the World Cup next month and it’s good news for Stephen Warnock, James Milner and Emile Heskey. Not such good news for Ashley Young, Stewart Downing and Gabby Agbonlahor then.

As you’ll see in an upcoming post on the Actim Index Top 100, Gabby is the highest ranked English striker, above Wayne Rooney, but apparently isn’t good enough for England. Emile Heskey does make the cut, but

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Villans Do The Business For England

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

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Gabby In, Ash Out

Gabby Agbonlahor’s recent run of form has been recognised by Fabio Capello and is included in the England squad to face Ukraine and Belarus.

James Milner and Emile Heskey are also in the squad, but there’s no place for Ashley Young.

Capello Keen on Young Villans

Fabio Capello has his eye on a few of Villa’s young stars, but you might be surprised at what he has to say about our current record signing.