Uno
ial Villa News…
Just a moment’s indulgence from me to thank everyone involved at Villa for making my 40th so special last week. It was truly appreciated. The cake was delicious and my framed shirt is something I shall treasure for a lifetime. Thanks so much.
Happy Birthday to Gareth Barry who is 28 today and has enjoyed (I think?!) 11 good years at Villa.
Vital Villa have been nominated for an award, as have I for ‘best editor’ and several including glensider, murph, Steve Wade and me for best writer. If you like the site etc, it takes two tics to vote for each category, if you prefer another site, vote for them.. go on, break our hearts! Vital Villa Nominated For NFP Awards
Most unlike me but I’m finding the press transfer talk most boring at the moment! The only snippet I’ve seen today is that Newcastle and Villa will do battle to get Manchester City midfielder Michael Johnson in the summer, well actually the rumour was in the Mirror but you get my drift.
Also talk of Daniel Sturridge who is still stalling on a deal with Man City as it looks he might be more interested in first team football rather than a wage packet, that said he can leave on a free this summer and I was told a while back that Villa was where he wanted to come – could be right, could be wrong, don’t shoot the messenger…!
Vital Villa asked, in a poll suggested by ‘sod it’ (aka Vital Villan!) for the man of the match votes v Chelsea. This time round Brad Friedel was the runaway winner with 40% followed by Luke Young on 26%. Full results: Man Of The Match v Chelsea
Vital Villan: Do you remember back at the start of the season, Ashley Young was adamant Villa can make the Top 4 and stay there. He’s now calling on the team to go on a run of another 13 unbeaten games because he thinks we can. If he pulls this one off and gets it right I think I’m going to be asking him to select my lottery numbers. Full article and quotes: Ash Is Doing It Again
The Sheriff is back in town with another that was the week that was for Villa: The Week In Villa #26 (13/02/09 – 19/2/09)
Vital Villan: Brad Friedel has said that although the players are disappointed with the loss to Chelsea, the atmosphere after the match was better than our previous encounter. Friedel says the team quickly forgot the 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season because we were comprehensively beaten, but the this time round, given the chances we had, the team took a lot more heart from it. Full article: Friedel Upbeat
Freddy Bouma will return to action next Monday for the reserves after suffering a minor hiccup as he was due to play in the Arsenal match. After dislocating his ankle in our Intertwobob match against Odense last July, Freddy was due to return in the second strings match against Arsenal but he suffered a slight setback during training and was immediately withdrawn from the game for reasons of safety.
Vital Villan: Martin O’Neill has again used the ‘prioritise’ word ahead of our second leg clash against CSKA Moscow. Hard hat at the ready. Speaking to Sky Sports O’Neill has admitted that he will have to think long and hard about which side to select for the Moscow tie because of us chasing a Top 4 finish this season. O’Neill definitely sees the Champions League as the Holy Grail for Villa this season, and maybe we are closer to reaching that than he ever imagined but for a focus fans seem reasonably split. ‘The irony of it all is that we spent all last year breaking our necks to get into the Uefa Cup. We started in July in the Intertoto just to get into it. Now we are in the final 32 and we are maybe having second or third looks at it.’ Full article: Selection Policy Is A Headache
Tickets for Villa v Stoke are on sale now: Click Here
benham and his wise words that the season isn’t over yet…! ‘A wiseman said after the game ‘theres positives to take from today’s game’ i.e. we weren’t that far off quality wise from one of Europe’s best teams…..the poor sod got some flack for it until rescued by a pensioner later on, but I knew what he meant.’ Full article: A Moments Reflection
Video highlights v Chelsea: Click Here
Match stats: Click Here
MON post match reaction: Click Here
Match report by Glensider: Click Here
Vital Villan: Sky and Setanta have chosen two of our upcoming games to feature on the box. Our clash against Man U at Old Trafford will now take place on April 5th with a 4pm kick off, and will be shown live on Sky Sports. However, should Man U reach the quarter finals of the Champs League and end up playing the following Tuesday, our game with them will revert to April 4th, with a 12.45pm kick off. Our home clash against Everton has been selected by Setanta and will take place now on April 12th with a 1.30pm kick off.
Vital Villa asked for your man of the match votes for the UEFA Cup draw with CSKA Moscow. Again, no real shock I don’t think with Stiliyan Petrov getting 46% of the vote. Must admit I’d have had Gareth Barry on more equal pegging but hey ho! Ashley Young came second with 14% and Barry third with 12%
John Carew told the official site that the team have nothing to fear in Moscow this thursday and says they believe they can go there and win. Sadly it looks like it isn’t on tv in the UK which is a bit baffling as only 200 odd fans are able to travel over there. ‘We have to go and play the football we play every week. We are confident we can do that and emerge victorious. I am looking forward to the game. It is a big match and should be a great experience for everyone. I am confident we can do it. We should go there with big belief that we can get through. We can beat them.’
Thought for the day: Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.
