Villans Of England

According to reports today, Villa skipper Gareth Barry should keep his place in the England starting 11 tomorrow night against Russia.

Apparently Owen Hargreaves has failed to recover from a thigh injury in time. To be fair, although I rate Hargreaves, I don’t think Barry’s place should have been under threat anyway, I can’t see what more he could have done other than set up two of the three goals. His performance was great and was certainly noticed by more than the Villa fans.

Barry said of his partnership with Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, ‘I’m not sure whether everybody knows what good friends we are off the pitch. The communication was there, we weren’t strangers and that was the key to the partnership working. Balance is about working hard for each other – when one midfielder attacks, one defends.’

Meanwhile Craig Gardner, Luke Moore and Gabriel Agbonlahor could all be in action tonight as the England U21’s take on Bulgaria.

Gabby scored one and set up one v Montenegro. Craig Gardner also played, filling in at right-back. Luke Moore didn’t feature but maybe will get a chance tonight.