Uno
ial Villa News…
Villa reserves take on Spurs tonight at Villa Park (7pm). Juan Pablo Angel, Steven Davis, Liam Ridgewell and Aaron Hughes could be given run-outs. VILLA: Henderson, Hughes, Lowry, Ridgewell, O’Halloran, Lund, Herd, Davis, Angel, Clancy, Stieber. Subs: Bannan, Clark, Roome, Ricketts, Griffiths.
Tickets for Villa’s final game of the season – v Bolton away (May 13) are now on General Sale. Fans are already discussing fancy dress ideas!
Villa v Wigan match report: Click Here
Villa v Wigan match stats: Click Here
Villa v Wigan MON match reaction: Click Here
Martin O’Neill has said that just because John Carew is a big man, it doesn’t mean Villa have to play long ball. Try telling the team that!! ‘There’s a tendency, certainly in the early part of games, to get to John Carew quickly because he’s there. In actual fact, Carew prefers to get the ball down and manoeuvre. So I think it’s been a good lesson for us. We’ve played two games without him and we’ve shown we’re capable of playing. The idea is not to hit Carew at all times, but to play around him and to play into his feet.’
Gabby Agbonlahor has today insisted that the goal scored against Wigan was ‘definitely my goal.’ Villa striker claims 9th goal.
Thomas Sorensen is not a happy man. Not only was he taken out, shot and left stranded on the floor, but Wigan were still allowed to go on and via the Mule score. Sorensen bemoaned the decision by match ‘ref’ Halsey after the game: ‘I thought it was a clear free-kick. Obviously it’s difficult for the referee to see it, but he was there to block me. I got in front of him and as I was going for the ball he pushed me in the back and straight into one of our players. You can’t do anything about it. He didn’t see it, obviously he’s not got eyes everywhere, but it’s just sad that it cost us.’ Full article: Click Here
John Carew could be fit for the away trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday having missed the last two games (Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic) with a calf injury. The full extent of the injury to Wilfred Bouma is as yet not clear. Martin O’Neill said: ‘Carew is getting better each day, but we don’t know whether he’ll be right for Middlesbrough. I didn’t change the side yesterday because I thought we’d be better off having won, but Cahill was better off not playing yesterday and he’s definitely getting better. It’s hard to say how Bouma is at this moment. He got hit on the ankle I’ll know more later today.’
The gossip sites are re-hashing a rumour from a while back that Jlloyd Samuel, who can leave on a free in the summer, is a target of Bolton manager Sam Allardyce.
Another rumour doing the rounds is that Luke Moore has fallen out with the Villa boss and wants talks regarding his future. Moore returned to action this weekend, the reason as far as I can see that he didn’t return before was he was still trying to gain match fitness following a shoulder injury that led to surgery. What do people expect, that the player is rushed back and risked?
The club have announced a new Club crest will be unveiled later this month after a survey of 4500 fans were consulted. Within the survey 76% of fans voted for a change and 51% said they’d prefer the crest as opposed to a round badge. Full article: No round badge for Villa?
Blackburn v Villa match stats: Click Here
Blackburn v Villa post match reaction from MON: Click Here
Vital Villa asked Luke Moore or Ashley Young? The results were 45% in favour of Luke Moore. Ashley Young got 23% of the vote, 7% backed both and the remainder (25%) – and very sensible voters if I may say so! – said it was too soon to judge.
Martin O’Neill has scoffed at suggestions that he is behind the times and out of his depth. Martin O’Neill – behind the times?
Thought for the day: You’re getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster
