I’m getting a little irked with a lot of the reporting around Villa in recent times. Let me be clear; I couldn’t be happier that Nigel Reo-Coker is going to be wearing the armband and will also be negotiating a new contract at the club, regular readers will know I’m a fan. However, you’d think from the way it’s being portrayed that NRC had been exiled to Siberia and was literally coming in from the cold.
Obviously Reo-Coker isn’t
Ash was handed press conference duties in the England camp today and spoke about his desire to cement a place in the national side and his enjoyment playing in his new, more central role at Villa.
In other England news, the Under 21 squad have just touched down in Romania minus Marc Albrighton who has returned to Villa for treatment to an unspecified injury.
[If the video doesn’t appear above, it can be seen here]
The FA have just released this fascinating “Tunnel Cam” video giving a glimpse behind the scenes in the build up, during and after England’s 2-1 victory over Romania Under-21s at Carrow Road last night. Nice to see Albrighton and Delfouneso looking relaxed and chatty as they exited the dressing room before kick off.
Both Villans started on the bench, but Albrighton came on in place of Utd’s Tom Cleverley for the last 15 minutes with the game tied at 1-1
Gérard Houllier probably won’t mind the two week break in the domestic fixture schedule as he continues to settle in, but he will be without several key players:-
Ashley Young and Stephen Warnock were called up to the England squad for Tuesday’s European Qualifier against Montenegro at Wembley.
Marc Albrighton and Nathan Delfouneso are with England Under 21s ahead of the play-off against Romania for next year’s European Under 21 Championship in Denmark. The first leg is at Carrow Rd on
Marc Albrighton crashing into the first team with such style this season could be the real catalyst for raising this question, after all, Stephen Ireland was considered a like-for-like swap for James Milner and there’s no reason in the world why I’d be asking where Milner would fit in if he was still with us now.
Albrighton made a name for himself last summer with some fine performances with the first team during the Peace Cup in Spain, an opportunity afforded
I haven’t had chance to pull together a proper preview for Bolton’s visit to Villa Park, but this game is definitely more about various intertwining story arcs off the pitch than tactics and strategy on the pitch.
It is, of course, Kevin MacDonald’s final game in charge and it goes without saying that he and the players will want to both finish on a high note and attempt to atone for the slip-ups in the past few weeks. MacDonald’s grace
Marc Albrighton and Nathan Delfouneso have been named in Stuart Pearce’s England Under-21 squad to play Portugal on September 3rd and Lithuania on September 7th.
You can see the full squad here. Interestingly, Newcastle’s Andy Carroll has also been called up.
In other news, Sky Sports have interviewed Bob Bradley who pretty much confirmed what we already knew on Sunday. However, by bringing us what is essentially the same news two days later, it’s now “breaking news”. Thanks Sky
OK, it’s not a new signing, but with the current sombre atmosphere, I thought it worth bringing some good news. Oh, and this was something I got a little sniff of back in June. I know, hold the front page, a major scoop for AVC and high fives all round!!
The details were correct, it is a new 3 year contract and Lichaj is looking forward to trying to force his way into the first team at Villa Park
You thought our season was over, didn’t you? Not quite. We’ve been sending some of the young lions over to Hong Kong each summer for at least the last 8 years to participate in the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens tournament and it’s something we’ve had a fair amount of success in.
Earlier today a team that included Nathan Delfouneso, Marc Albrighton and Ciaran Clark won the trophy for a 5th time, beating Glasgow Rangers 3-2 in the final.