Uno
ial Villa News…
The unbeaten Villa reserves play Arsenal at Barnet FC tonight. The official site says that Moustapha Salifou is likely to make his 3rd appearance and forgotten man Marlon Harewood could also feature.
Tickets for the New Year clash with Spurs are now on sale. Click Here for ticket info on avfc.co.uk
Martin O’Neill has said he’ll talk with Villa defender Gary Cahill who is currently on loan at Sheffield United. ‘I will be speaking to Gary at some stage between now and the end of his loan. In fact he is at a stage now where we can recall him any given day. I have only had a very, very short conversation with Bryan Robson who is delighted with the way he is playing – and that is only good news. Nothing else has been talked about.’ Adding his future will be looked at again when he returns from his loan. ‘At this moment, Curtis Davies still has not even made his first Premiership start for us, so everything at this minute in terms of centre-half positions looks okay. But those situations can change overnight with players getting injured and loss of form and stuff like that. At this minute it is working out well and Gary is getting all that first team action.’ Not quite sure what that means for the young defender, hopefully his future lies at Villa, he’s only 21 and could be a future gem.
Martin O’Neill has further explained that he wants to stay at Villa and see the job through, although he does also concede that he thinks he’d be brilliant for England!! Villa Job Far From Complete
Scott Carson has thanks the Villa fans for the ‘massive lift’ they gave him at the Riverside Stadium on Saturday. Meanwhile Portsmouth and England keeper David James has defended Carson and says he can be ‘England’s number one for many years’ Full article: Scott Carson Backed As England No1
Gabby Agbonlahor who scored his 6th goal on Saturday v Boro and so nearly followed up with a 7th which beat their keeper but hit the post and bounced back out has said he doesn’t set targets but will try to get to 10 and then see what happens! Adding about the goal ‘I saw Scott kick it and the defender miss the first header, so I was in to score the goal. I had to hold off the defender and that’s something I’ve really worked on in my game. If you look at all the defenders in the Premier League, they’re all strong and you have to work on your strength if you’re playing up there every week. That’s what I’ve been trying to do.’
Gabby also said of fellow striker John Carew: ‘I think he’s the best in the world at doing that sort of thing. On his day, when he’s got confidence, he’s the best at holding the ball up and turning like that. He did that a lot on Saturday and had one of his better games. He’s just come back from injury and that goal will really lift his confidence. I think you can see we’re playing with loads of confidence and we looked like a really good team on Saturday. That’s credit to the manager, the players and the rest of the staff and hopefully we can continue that.’
Olof Mellberg has spoken of his great goal against Boro. ‘I felt I had a little bit of time, so I just decided to bring it down and put it in the back of the net. That worked. It was really nice to get the goal – especially in front of the Villa supporters. It’s been a while now since I scored for Villa and my last goal before Saturday was at Arsenal on the first day of last season.’
John Carew has promised there are more goals to come from him after making a scoring return from injury. Full article: Big John Carew Promises More
Boro v Villa match report by Glensider: Click Here
Boro v Villa match stats: Click Here
MON and Gareth Southgate post match reactions: Click Here
19-year-old Villa midfielder Zoltan Stieber has gone out on loan to Yeovil Town.
Thought for the day: What’s the definition of a will? It’s a dead giveaway.
