Brian of Nazareth Posted June 29, 2005 Share Posted June 29, 2005 Arse fecking Spurs. However, should try and look at it from seasons beginning expectations and 5th is a good finish At least it's one form of Europe. A few more players and hopefully a more sustained crack next season round. What the feck happened in that Arsenal match though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justified Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 I would say concentrate on the defense next season because you did let in way too many goals to be challenging for top positions but the goals for column looks good I'll be looking forward to season 2.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Taxman Posted June 30, 2005 Author Share Posted June 30, 2005 Delighted... Delighted... Pleased to be in Europe.... These were the mumblings coming from the fans and the board respectively. And yes it is good to be in Europe, but, after being in a Champions League place for most of the season and giving it away later on to Tottenham was frustrating. Even so, with the club 13.5M in the black after a healthy payout for our final position, I was hopeful of a bigger budget next season. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">CARLTON COLE YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR Carlton Cole has won the English young player of the year beating out Jose Antonio Reyes and Cristiano Ronaldo. Cole has acknowledged the contribution of Villa boss Emerson Smith. Cole also came 2nd in the goalscorers tally being pipped by Thierry Henry by only 1 goal. Cole's future is up in the air, it is obvious that Cole enjoyed his time at Villa and has grown a real affection for the club but his performances have made Chelsea want to keep him. Emerson Smith has been quoted has saying he doubts Villa have the financial strength to make him a permanent addition to the squad. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Note: Looking under his favourite people in his profile, I am there! <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">NEWCASTLE WIN UEFA CUP Newcastle beat German side Dortmund 3-1 to win the UEFA Cup tonight... blah blah blah... </div></BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">BAYERN MUNICH WIN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FC Bayern have won the Champions League after a 1-0 win over Real Madrid in Istanbul... blah blah blah... </div></BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">ARSENAL WIN FA CUP Arsenal have won the FA Cup after a 1-0 win over Man Utd... blah blah blah </div></BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">European qualifiers for 05/06 Champions League: Arsenal Man Utd Chelsea Tottenham UEFA Cup: Aston Villa Southampton Newcastle (as holders) Inter-Toto: Liverpool Fulham </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Before beginning to move around the squad and get in some new names for next season I was asked for a squad evaluation by the chairman. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Goalkeepers Dennis Gentenaar Bought during the year from NEC in Holland, at Christmas, for 3.5M after Sorensen was sold. Has done well but not as well as hoped and to be honest I can't see him being our #1 if we want to be a Champions League side. Robert Olejnik Only 18 years old, he is a good backup at the moment but the coaches don't believe he has what it takes to make it at first team level. Defenders Mark Delaney Was a good performer and a workhorse at right back for the entire season. Doesn't provide brilliant attacking ability but he is an honest hard worker and a good asset to the club. Jlloyd Samuel Played 37 of 38 EPL games at left back. Is a great fullback, gives good run as well as good defensive abilities. He is definitely a player to keep. Martin Laursen Hoping to find a better first choice centre back during the offseason. Seems to be an average player but a better choice may be needed for the club to progress. Olof Mellberg Captain of the club and the rock at centre back playing 37 league matches. The defence is built around him. Liam Ridgewell Was our 3rd choice centre back this season but he isn't up to first team standard yet and though he is only 20 the coaches don't think he will ever be. Luckily he is on low wages and I can afford to keep him around. Midfielders Gareth Barry Has had a brilliant season with an average of 7.81 and a market value of over 10M by the end, attracting interest from Arsenal and Real Madrid at various points. This got to his head and he is asking for 46K p/w, I can barely offer him half of that, lucky he is on until 2008. Gavin McCann Good holding midfielder. Garrardo Torrado Fitted into the team well and was bought for a good price (1.7M) from Sevilla in Spain early in the season. Ended up playing more games than McCann for us through good form but McCann is still the number 1 choice in the position. Lee Hendrie Later on in the season as my squad wore out I discovered the worth of having a workhorse and unselfish team man in the squad. Provides great backup and is a tremendous squad player. Earlier season contractual and squad position disputes are sorted and he is signed until 2009. Peter Whittingham Broke into the English U21 side during the year and the coaches think that he will develop into a quality player. He is a great allround midfield player in the centre and provides more good squad backup at the moment. Hopefully he wull fulfill the coaches predictions and develop into a quality player. Thomas Hitzlsperger Started out the season slowly but finished with a bang, 11 EPL goals and he is a great creative spark in the middle of the park for us. With him and McCann or Torrado in the middle of the park, they contrast eachother quite well. Still on 23, hopefully he will be at Villa for years to come. Nolberto Solano Not a very pacy winger but when he has the ball he is dynamite and he is our best creative spark in the midfield. Along with Barry on the left they form a great wing combination. Patrik Berger Didn't play as many games this season as I thought he would but he provides good backup for our squad which is relatively thin due to the low wage budget been given. Forwards Juan Pablo Angel He is a great holding forward to contrast with Cole/Vassell up front. He scored 19 goals for us although he seems to dislike me for some reason. If we can work through this then he will continue to be an asset for us. Carlton Cole 27 league goals for us this season, he was a revelation. His great performance meant that he priced himself out of our league and we probably cannot buy him permenantly. We will have to look for another forward but I doubt we'll find another one as effective as Cole was for us this season. Darius Vassell A good season for Vassell but he does sit out of my preferred lineup which is Cole and Angel up front. He is more of an assisting forward than a scoring one, well, I say that because his cross is quite good. He is only 24 and will be a good player for us for years ahead. Luke Moore Got limited first team opportunities this year but made the most of all of them and has broken into the first team squad. The coaches say he is one to watch for the future being only 18 and I agree. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> After going through the squad I realised that I am quite short of first team defenders, only having 5 players who were really realistically good enough for the back 4. This put a tremendous strain on them. I was off to hand my report off to the chairman and also a copy to my assistant Roy Aitken, but Roy was waiting in his office for me with some news. This was that he had been offered, and accepted, the job to manage Celtic. I was delighted for him! We exchanged some words, I wished him luck. I still had Sammy Lee who was doing a tremendous job for me as my right hand man. I was confident he could do it on his own... Going back to the goalkeeper issue, I was made aware that Fulham's 34 year old goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was out of contract and was looking for a new challenge. We decided to make an equiry to Edwin's agent and found that he was extremely interested in a possible move to Villa park....I was thinking seriously about signing him on a free, but I was thinking about the possible consequences for Dennis Gentenaar who I had only signed on January 1st this year. He had only been my number 1 for half a season and he was my biggest signing for the year at 3.5M...would this be an admission that he was failure? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Taxman Posted June 30, 2005 Author Share Posted June 30, 2005 On Monday the 20th of June I got to work and found a note on my desk... <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">FINANCIAL INFORMATION FOR NEW SEASON, 05/06 Your Transfer budget for the new season, season 2005/06 will be 4.4M. The wage budget will be increased from 230,000 p/w last season to 250,000 p/w for this season. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> I almost slammed the fax down in disgust! 4.4M!! The club is 27M in the black right now! Another fax came through... <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">EDWIN VAN DER SAR AGREES TO CONTRACT Edwin van der Sar has signed a contract with Aston Villa that has been put to him. He will be on a 1 year deal starting July 1, 2005 and his wages for the year will be approximately 19,000 p/w. blah blah blah technical stuff... </div></BLOCKQUOTE> This was some good news....van der Sar, although 34 years old would be a great goalkeeper for us for the next season with Gentenaar as the backup as we head off on our quest for the Champions League and beyond. Things were moving quickly and I was already close to securing the signing of two more players I had been looking at after their teams were relegated...these players were Alessandro Pistone from Everton, a versatile defender who will give us more depth, and Yakubu, a member of the Portsmouth side who were relegated and a striker as replacement for the soon-to-be-departing Carlton Cole. To buy Yakubu would take up basically the whole of my 4.4M transfer budget, however I was happy with that because Yakubu is a very good player. Surprisingly the bargaining was very short lived. Pistone was signed up on a free transfer because his contract was about to run out, and we also managed to get his wage demands lowered from 16K p/w to under 5K p/w. And on the Yakubu situation, Yakubu was very keen to come to us as he wanted to be playing Premiership football. With Carlton Cole back to Chelsea (although we are making strides to take him back on loan for another season), Yakubu would fit straight into the first team setup perfectly. Our first offer was accept by Portsmouth (4.3M) and we quickly agreed personal terms with him and the deal was done in a very quick fashion and we were able to announce in a press conference. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Villa announce signings of Yakubu, Pistone Aston Villa have announced the signings of two players, Yakubu and Alessandro Pistone from Portsmouth and Everton respectively, who were both relegated last season. "After Carlton Cole left us we needed another striker in the setup, and Yakubu is a perfect fit. We can't wait to start working with him." said an excited Villa boss Emerson Smith. Villa also announced the signing of Alessandro Pistone from Everton. Pistone is a versatile defender who can play anywhere across the back four and it is expected will provide more much needed backup for Villa's then stocks of defenders in the first team. "We needed more defenders and Alessandro is the perfect fit for us. He brings a wealth of Premiership experience to us." said Smith. Both players will join Villa in just under a weeks time on July 1, 2005 when they will join Edwin van der Sar who the club came to terms with last week. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> ...only a few quiet days and Yakubu, Pistone and van der Sar were at Villa Park and officially Villa players. With only those 3 additions to the squad I was still, quite happy with all three of them and (despite Cole leaving) I feel we are better equiped and have a better squad than this time last year. I was already over budget though, and out of transfer money so that would probably be my last signings for the season (already!) unless one of the huge clubs comes in with a massive offer for Gareth Barry who was attracting interest here and there both here and abroad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Taxman Posted June 30, 2005 Author Share Posted June 30, 2005 3rd August, 2005 As I got to work today in the office I found a fax...my lobbying has paid off! <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">INCREASED TRANSFER BUDGET The board are pleased to announce that due to the increased financial position of the club, we are able to provide an extra 11.5M for your transfer budget. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Yes! Another 11.5M for transfers! Although the wage budget is staying the same (and I am already 20K over it)... Word quickly spread (somehow to the press). We were being linked with one and all transfer targets. The press had labelled me an incredibly ambitious manager who was chasing the Champions League this season and glory in the UEFA Cup. They were painting a picture of me defying the board with the wage budget and hedging the financial future of the club on our ability to get into Europe's most elite competition this season... <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">AMBITIOUS SMITH LINKED WITH BRESCIANO Emerson Smith has allegedly been handed more than 10M in extra transfer funds according to our sources, and he intends to sign Mark Bresciano, the Australian midfielder from Parma, in the next couple of days before the new season commences. Bresciano has announced his frustration at Parma's lack of progress in the Serie A and has mentioned his desire to play in the EPL and Aston Villa may be the perfect opportunity for him. More news as we get it... </div></BLOCKQUOTE> I don't know how the press found out but it was true...and since Mark's contract was now unprotected, we could go to the player himself and bypass the club. We offered him a contract and he quickly accepted, and for 6.5M compensation being payed back to Parma, we managed to sign him in a matter of days and well before the new season. Even better, he wasn't cup-tied yet so he can compete with us in Europe. Further to that I had secured the signings of two 16 year-old players who were featuring in the English under19 side, for 700K each from Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough, respectively. These players were Sam Mullarkey, a striker and Graeme Owens, a holding midfielder, and for the price I considered them bargains and investments for the future as I snapped them up and whacked them into the reserve team. Meanwhile odds have come out for the new season and we were well down in the betting at 33-1. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">VILLA ANNOUNCE SIGNING OF BRESCIANO Villa boss Emerson Smith has annonuced the 6.5M signing of Australian Mark Bresciano from Italian side Parma this morning. Smith said that he had been watching Mark for a while now and he is delighted that the 25 year-old player has chosen Aston Villa to ply his trade after becoming disillusioned with life at Parma. Villa boss, Emerson Smith said, "With Mark signing for us I am confident that we can repeat last season's run of great form and with our squad depth, hopefully even extend it and qualify for the Champions League next season. I am also quite confident of the signings we have made, all players who will give us their experience in Europe and I am confident that we can have a good run in the UEFA Cup." Smith also took the opportunity to deny reports that he was ready to cash in on interest coming in for Gareth Barry, with the new signing of Bresciano, and had slapped an 8M price tag on him. Arsenal are reported to be interested in the services of Barry. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lawsy009 Posted June 30, 2005 Share Posted June 30, 2005 Great signings dude, look forward to the up and coming season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Taxman Posted July 2, 2005 Author Share Posted July 2, 2005 After slapping an 8M price tag on Gareth Barry word had spread quickly and I was indated with offers. My fax machine was full. It was a tough decision but I think 8M may be a worthy price for Barry and I was confident I could negotiate it upwards of that, too. Before I knew it I was fielding offers from a number of clubs: Arsenal, Betis, Chelsea, Newcastle all had launched bids for Gareth's services. I decided to accept Arsenal's initial offer and negotiate Chelsea up to 10M to see what they would pay for him. I told Newcastle if they would swap me Steven Taylor and Darren Ambrose for him then they would have a deal with no cash involved.... ....and as I waited to hear back, before I knew it the new season was upon us and we were ready for the first game with our new squad....and as I looked through the squad in my office a fax came through <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">BLUES BID 10M FOR BARRY Chelsea have sent through a formal offer of 10M for Gareth Barry. They have set a deadline of a week from today for a response to this offer and they look forward to hearing from you.[/b] I figured this was a good opportunity to raise some more money and I figured that for 10M I could get an adequate replacement for Barry (particularly with Bresciano signed to the team who I considered a better player than Barry). I would be tough on the fans to sell a fan favourite, the fans favourite player last year and an incredibly performing player last season, but I was quite happy with the 10M price tag that I was getting. I accepted the offer. So it was settled now, Barry would be headed off to either Arsenal or Chelsea and with the first match of the season, away to Bolton, coming up the next day this brought to a close an eventful offseason and now we had to concentrate on the new season ahead... EPL, Game 1 Bolton vs. Villa The offseason had flown by at incredible pace and suddenly it was time for the first match of the season. With Bresciano out on international duty for the first match, the possibly soon to be departing Barry was still in. Delaney, who had picked up a niggling injury in pre-season training, was subbed for the new signing Pistone while van der Sar was put into the goals with Gentenaar relegated to the bench. Up front it was a tough decision, but I went with Vassell and Angel up front, leaving Yakubu on the bench due to the morale problems he was having settling into the new club (despite telling me that he is delighted to join Villa). The game started out and it was a surprisingly open match in the conditions which were quite breezy. Each side was heading forward with confidence, Bolton with their usual 4-5-1 strategy and us with our customary 4-4-2...we had the better of the posession early on though as we pushed forward, with Hitzlsperger proving a good creative spark in the forward half of midfield with McCann behind him to pick up the scraps. The decision to go with Vassell and Angel paid off inside 20 minutes when Vassell hit a cross into the path of Angel who put it into the net to give us the lead. They were having their chances but in the harsh weather they were having a tough time taking advantage....and when Vassell went on a superb individual run and put home our second i was quite confident of our position. By this stage our attack was confident and their defence was on the back foot so we kept pushing...and before half time we got another one when Hitzlsperger crossed to Angel who headed home his 2nd. Into the 2nd half as we started to relax a little and take our feet off the pedal, they came at us and got one back in what was a bit of a soft goal with 20 mins left. However their goal kicked us into gear when just 5 mins later Barry crossed and the newly subbed on Yakubu had scored his first goal just 10 mins into his first appearance with the club.... our high scoring matches were continuing, for some reason. We are attacking with quite a bit of flair. My intention was to build the team up from the back forward as a defensive side but it's worked out quite the opposite. Later on in stoppage time they got another back as we relaxed again, and this ended our hopes of being 1st after the first weekend, but it didn't have an impact on the result. Bolton 2 Villa 4 Always great to start the season off with an away win. CHELSEA ANNOUNCE SIGNING OF BARRYChelsea have announced the signing of Gareth Barry from Aston Villa for a fee reported as 10M. Barry is said to be sad to leave Villa Park but at the same time excited to be going to a club like Chelsea. Aston Villa boss said that it was very difficult to part with the popular player. He said it wouldn't be a popular decision with some of the fans but he believed new signing Mark Bresciano is a great player and will be great in Barry's place (Bresciano will make his debut on Saturday against newly promoted Brighton at Villa Park). Smith has said that the money received from the transfer will be re-invested back into the side and it is believed he is after a new central defender to partner Olof Mellberg. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> It was an extremely tough decision but 10M is a great offer and I decided to cash in...as I arrived to training the next day the supporters clubs had already gathered and they were giving me quite a tough time. Some good news was that I had been given a bigger wage budget, now 450,000 p/w, and with the wages at 280,000 p/w right now I definitely had the room to expand with 13M left in the transfer budget.... ...let's go shopping for defenders.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedmanJB Posted July 3, 2005 Share Posted July 3, 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">(Bresciano will make his debut on Saturday against newly promoted Brighton at Villa Park). </div></BLOCKQUOTE> o_O I think we are all confused... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Taxman Posted July 8, 2005 Author Share Posted July 8, 2005 EPL, Game 2 Aston Villa vs. Brighton Barry was off to Chelsea and Bresciano was making his debut on the left....with a home game against a newly promoted side the beat up was that we would flog them but it never worked out that way. The game isn't played on paper, as they say ... and they came out extremely determined to give us a fight all the way. We dominated the posession and areas of the pitch but their defending in the last 3rd was admirable and they held us off ... and it wasn't until the 67th minute when Yakubu tapped in the rebound after a Hitzlsperger shot cannoned into the bar when we hit the lead. They never really challeneged our defence ... but in the 77th minute we got a 2 goal buffer when Yakubu stole a bad clearance from Craig Gordon on loan from Chelsea who was having a great game apart from that. And then as the icing on the cake, Bresciano tapped in a free kick in the last 10 to give us a healthy 3 goal lead. Villa 3 Brighton 0 Wanting to secure the signing of a defender quickly, we had bids rejected for Wilfred Bouma from PSV and Michael Dawson from Nottm Forest so we went to Josip Simunic from Hertha BSC in Germany, whose contract was unprotected and would cost us 4.1M to buy out. We entered contract negotiations with him in the hopes that we could secure his signing quickly and with my assurances from my assistant Sammy Lee that he will be an excellent signing, I proceded with confidence. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">MAN UTD SIGN OWEN Man Utd have completed the signing of Real Madrid's Michael Owen for 25M... etc etc etc... </div></BLOCKQUOTE> EPL, Game 3 Newcastle vs. Villa A tricky away game but with our early confidence this season we were up for it, I felt ... and it only took 5 minutes for my confidence to be realised when Hitzlsperger crashed home a drive from outside the box to give us the lead. After the goal they kicked into gear and came at us pretty frantically but we held them off well until half-time. Edwin van der Sar started showing why we signed him with a motm performance up to that point, holding off Patrick Kluivert in particularly who had been giving us a whole lot of trouble. In the 2nd half they started to gain the ascendency and though we still played well, two well constructed goals to give the lead. We didn't recover after their goals from Parker and Ernst and we ended up having the match snatched from us even though we didn't play that badly at all. Newcastle 2 Villa 1 With my new transfer and wage budget I was now looking to expand the squad even more. One target I was chasing was young James McFadden from Everton, who were relegated. With the financial problems they were facing after relegation it wasn't too hard to agree to a fee with them and we quickly offered James a contract, hoping to get the deal through before the deadline which was less than a week away. Sending through the fax to James' agent, a newsflash came across the tv screen I was watching... <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">CHELSEA SPENDING SPREE CONTINUES Chelsea continued spending the big cash as they confirmed the signing of Aliaksandr Hleb from Stuttgart, in Germany. The deal for the Belarusian midfieldier is reported as 20M. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Now that is a club with money to spend...... UEFA Cup 1st Round We have been seeded for the draw and we drew Slovenian side, Gorica. We will be away for the first leg and should go through easily/ EPL, Game 4 Villa vs. Man City With the signing of 4.1M defender Josip Simunic completed, he slid straight into hte middle of the back 4 for the home game against City. With Vassell out for 2 weeks with a training injury, Yakubu came into the side for his first start. City were having a decent start to the year and they came to Villa park with no intention of lying down. Although we dominated possesion early on in the match we couldn't convert as their defence were shutting us down pretty much and leaving us to shoot at the goals from long distances, leaving us with a pretty poor conversion rate. This general trend continued into the first half through to half time. We decided to slow the game down in their final third and build the attacks a bit more slowly, as we went out in the 2nd half. With Hitzlsperger, Solano and Bresciano all in the midfield, given a licence to go forward I felt we had the tools to create something ... and we did when Hitzlsperger cannoned in a shot from the edge of the box shortly before the hour mark. City started giving us some trouble as we relented on the pace a little and drifted onto the back foot, but they gave us a break when a clearence was skewed straight to Luke Moore who lived up to his reputation given to him by the staff and myself as a good player in the making when he slotted it in to give us a healthy 2 goal lead. Moore further pressed his claims that he should be in the first squad, permenantly, when he finished off a cross only 2 minutes later again to give himself his 2nd goal after coming off the subs bench just before the hour mark. In the end a good result in what was a deceptively competitive game. Villa 3 City 0 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">VILLA SIGN McFADDEN Aston Villa have confirmed the signing today of James McFadden from relegated Everton, just hours before the transfer window shuts tonight for Premier League clubs. The fee agreed upon was believed to be 4M and Villa boss Emerson Smith is believed to be delighted to be picking up a player widely regarded as a great talent. "James has done tremdendous things with his career so far and he is only 22. He has shown what he can do at international level with 21 caps already to his name ... and we are delighted to be able to offer him the Premiership football he desired." McFadden has also expressed his delight at moving to Villa who he feels are a club heading in the right direction. McFadden will be free to compete in the match against Fulham coming up as Villa's next fixture and also to compete in Villa's European campaign which kicks off in a fortnight in Slovenia. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> So with the transfer period over, it was quite active for us. Here is a summary... <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">TRANSFERS IN: Edwin van der Sar , Fulham , free Yakubu , Portsmouth , 4.3M Alessandro Pistone , Everton , free Graemo Owens , Middlesbrough , 700K (youth contract) Sam Mullarkey , Nottm Forest , 775K (youth contract) Mark Bresciano , Parma , 6.5M Josip Simunic , Hertha BSC , 4.1M James McFadden , Everton , 4M </div></BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">TRANSFERS OUT: 5 youth team players, free Gareth Barry , to Chelsea , 10M </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Taxman Posted July 30, 2005 Author Share Posted July 30, 2005 I didn't forget! I just needed a break Back in action... EPL, Game 5 Fulham vs. Villa This was to be a hard fought match with both sides giving it their all and in the beginning, both defences were made to work for their pay as the game went both and forth between ends with chances being created but none of them being converted. This was largely due to the goalkeepers who on both sides were having brilliant games. Before half time their got hte first goal through Claus Jensen, just about 10 minutes before the break when a long shot from Claus deflected somewhat unluckily off of one of our defenders and the ball went into the net. After this they survived until half time .... .... and into the 2nd half with this lead and it looked like they were going to take it right to the end and keep the 3 points all for themselves, as their defenders were really standing up to be counted and denying us space in our final third. With Bresciano away on international duty with Australia I had a chance to test out Whittingham on the left who I had noticed in training and in matches that he really has a killer cross on him. Just as the match looked over for us, Peter's cross came into Yakubu from a set piece who broke free and put home the goal in stoppage time to let us steal a draw. They would have left very very annoyed , after leading for the last hour and having 2 points snatched off them with the final kick of the game. Fulham 1 Villa 1 UEFA Cup Round 1, Leg 1 Gorica vs. Villa Well our Euro campaign was kicking off on this night , however not really in style as we travelled off to Slovenia for the first leg of the UEFA Cup's first round. We went into the match giving a few players starts such as McFadden who was making his debut , and Gentenaar in the goals who has been overtaken temporarily by van der Sar between the goals. Things didn't start off well for us when after only 30 seconds we conceded a penalty and let them get a quick lead and confidence booster over us. Our class was showing through though as we went forward to get a quick reply and it came just into the 13th minute when McFadden got his first goal for the club when Yakubu's shot was bloked by their goalkeeper and James pounced on the rebound. They got one back at us quickly though when a poor clearance by Gentenaar was taken advantage of and they had a 3 on 1 situation ... we came at them again in search for an equiliser, and we got one just before half time when Solano fired in a free kick from just outside the box. Following this in the 2nd half the game fizzled out just as we planned and it finished 2-2. We should go through. Gorica 2 Villa 2 Overall i was quite happy with James McFadden's debut and told him this as we got back into the rooms. Gentenaar's goalkeeping didn't prove to me that he should be back in the first team though , and i can sense maybe that he is getting a little bit angry at being replaced in the first team, by van der Sar. EPL, Game 6 Villa vs. Tottenham The games were coming thick and fast by now , even this early on in the season and now we had a chance to give some revenge to Tottenham who nicked the last Champions League place off us late last season (grrr). Onto the field comes Yakubu who has earnt a spot in the first XI and beside him is Vassell, because I feel that Yakubu and Juan Angel don't suit eachother the best. In what was an intense game no-one was unable to break through up until half time where there had been a total of 7 yellow cards (3 to us) issued up until that point in time. The 2nd half turned out much like the first and Tottenham, who hadn't conceded a goal yet this season, made it extremely difficult for us to break though. Villa 0 Tottenham 0 EPL, Game 7 Villa vs. Boro Somwhat of a quiet week on Villa as we hosted Boro who were having quite a slow start to the season. It only took us less than a minute to get on the board against the struggling visitors as Vassell got onto the end of a long ball from Pistone and put home the first goal. We stayed on the front foot and it wasn't long before Whittingham, having forced his way into the first XI lately, fed Yakubu who put it passed the keeper and put us 2 goals up to the good. We were starting to play some quality football and managed to hold off their attack until half time without much trouble at all. Into the second half we felt confident and it translated when around the hour mark, Bresciano hit 2 tremendous strikes within minutes of eachother to give us a comfortable buffer, which we ended up holding on to. Villa 4 Boro 0 Confidence was growing around the place as we started to establish ourselves in the top section of the table. We were looking like a better team than last season thanks mainly to the off season signings. van der Sar, Yakubu, Pistone, Bresciano and Simunic all have established themselves in the first team squad, and all have performed very well. We also have some very good depth compared with last season, after adding in some youngsters and also James McFadden who is yet to make his debut for the club in the Premier League. I was confident that with this squad the late season fadeout that occured last season could be avoided. UEFA Cup Round 1, Leg 2 Villa vs. Gorica Already ahead on away goals against this Slovenian side we went in with a pseudo-reserves side because I was quite confident in our ability to see them off and progress. McFadden made a return to the starting lineup having not broken into the first XI yet, but he grabbed his opportunity and really ran with it after 12 minutes when he put in his first goal and gave us an early buffer. Overall we controlled the match and sealed the win with a 2nd half goal from Juan Angel coming off the bench. Quite a comfortable victory. Into the next round. Villa 2 (4) Gorica 0 (2) Straight after our match upon arriving at training the next day I was informed that the groups for the UEFA Cup group stage had been drawn. We got quite a tough draw, our group consisted of <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Barcalona Sparta Prague Sporting Aston Villa Chalkidona[/b] Qualifying from this group wouldn't be a foregone conclusion however we were lucky in that one of our away matches will be against the greek side, Chalkidona, as well as Sporting, while we will face the other two in tough home matches. O'Leary takes charge at MiddlesbroughAfter the sacking last month of Middlesbrough boss Steve McLaren, Boro chairman Steve Gibson has announced David O'Leary as the clubs new manager... yada yada[/b] </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Wow I thought ... it will be interesting certainly when we play Boro again and I come up against the man I replaced.... EPL, Game 8 Norwich vs. Villa Norwich were down the bottom of the table but with only 9 goals conceded so I knew this wouldn't be a pushover. Our confidence was high however and we pushed forward, particularly with their 4-3-3 formation, down the wings pretty hard. Our early attacking moves almost paid off in the 12th minute when Yakubu had the ball in the back of the net but was deemed offside by the linesman and the goal was cancelled. We were pestering their goals though, and with our attacking players linking together extremely well it wasn't too long before Yakubu provided for Vassell who put home the first into the back of the net shortly after the 20 minute mark. My main concern was that with Mellberg still out with a niggling injury, that our defence would be slightly vulnerable especially away from home, but the standin, Laursen, was doing quite well for me tonight. My nerves we also calmed down quite a bit when Yakubu put in the 2nd goal shortly into the 2nd half to give us a good cushion of a buffer. In the end the back 4 held strong and we held onto our lead. Good signs. Norwich 0 Villa 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Taxman Posted July 30, 2005 Author Share Posted July 30, 2005 Once again going in with an unchanged lineup as the one currently serving has done a tremendous job. The only thing is that defensive monster Mellberg is still out with a niggling injury, he is over it now but not yet in the swing of things in training so I decided to give him some more time to rest as I am confident in our squad defenders, particularly at home. Laursen, who partnered Mellberg last season, will replace him today along with Simunic who has started every match since he arrived, and is already establishing himself as a rock in the back 4. Solano and Bresciano had done just brilliantly on the wings with Hitzlsperger and young Whittingham in the central midfield. Whittingham has been rewarded for his breaking into the first XI by been given a new contract, committing himself to us until 2009, for four more years, doubling his wages up to 10,000 p/w. His great performances have been keeping my 2 defensive midfielders, Gerardo Torrado, the Mexican who I signed from Spain last season, and Gavin McCann, out of the side. Up front Vassell and Yakubu are beginning to establish themselves as a real strike force to be reckoned with ... my strike force had made me forget somewhat about being unable to secure Carlton Cole on a permenant deal after he absolutely dominated for us last season scoring 27 league going from 33 starts and gaining a slew of awards, runner up in the Euro golden boot, picked in the team of the year and named the young player of the year. But now he is back rotting in the Chelsea 2nd team, not being given a chance yet this season. EPL, Game 9 Villa vs. Southampton A packed house had filled Villa Park to watch their inform side take up the attack to Southampton. We felt that Villa Park was starting to be a place that teams dread coming to and we were determined to solidify that reputation. Things started off slowly but we were keeping them on their toes. After half an hour Jlloyd Samuel, who had improved tremendously since I began at the club, fired a ball over the midfield into the open space allowing Vassell to run onto it and put home the first. We held them off until half time, and into the 2nd half, they weren't really troubling us much. After an hour I bought McFadden on for Vassell, who was tiring fairly quickly, and after just 2 minutes on the field Solano fed McFadden through and James scored his first League goal for us after only 2 minutes on the pitch! After this we held on with no real troubles to record another good win. Villa 2 Soton 0 We had a week and a bit off for the international break with much of my squad active. A good chance for the squad to relax after a hectic start. EPL, Game 10 West Brom vs. Villa With Hitzlsperger having already picked up 5 yellow cards for the season, he was out for one match and McCann came into the side for the away match to give us a bit more holding strength. Mellberg also came back into the side so we had some extra defensive muscle for the match. In the first half they were having the better of the posession and our attacks were limited to holding back and hitting them on the counter attack. The first half was mainly spent on the back foot though, although their shooting was shocking and they weren't really troubling us in that regard. The problem was that our shooting was also quite off and when we had our attacks on the break we were missing shots that were quite gettable in other situations. Looked like it was a "bringing us down to their level" type of situation. This continued into the 2nd half, they were doing a great job of stifling our attack although not creating much of their own. We were grown frustrated and had all but accepted the point that we thought was inevitable, but 5 minutes from time Patrik Berger, employed in the middle of midfield as a sub, cut a ball through the pack to Yakubu who put it in to give us a late lead and in the end, a well fought and gritty victory that I was very proud of. It's great to have backup players like Berger who can come on and do a job like that for me when I needed it. West Brom 0 Villa 1 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Solano pens new deal Aston Villa have announced that Nolberto Solano has extended his contract an extra season by signing a new contract which nearly doubles his pay to what is believed to be around 35K per week. Solano has been brilliant on the right wing ever since Emerson Smith took over at Villa Park, and according to Smith, "thoroughly deserves" the contract extension and pay rise. By the end of the contract, Nolberto will be 32 years old. In other news, the Villa supporters club boss has announced that Villa supporters are "delighted" with the clubs form this season, which currently sees them sitting clear on 2nd ahead of both Man Utd and Arsenal, having 7 wins from 10 matches, with only 5 goals conceded (which all came from away matches). He has claimed that the signing of defender Josip Simunic from German side Hertha BSC has turned around the club defensively, after conceding 56 goals from 38 matches last season they have only let through 5 from 10 matches in the new campaign. Emerson Smith has played down chances of a title run, pointing out the club has yet to face any of the "big clubs" so far this season. He says that a crucial period in November, where the club will face Man Utd, Chelsea, Barcalona (UEFA Cup), Arsenal, and Sporting Lisbon (UEFA Cup) one after the other, will be a very testing period for the club and will show exactly far much or little the club has really progressed. "The squad is definitely better than last season, we have more depth and are a better defensive side, and we can't wait to test ourselves against the top clubs. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Chelsea | | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 9 | +12 | 25 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Aston Villa | | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 5 | +16 | 23 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Man Utd | | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 28 | 8 | +20 | 21 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Arsenal | | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 26 | 8 | +18 | 21 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Tottenham | | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 4 | +11 | 20 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Liverpool | | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 9 | +6 | 16 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Reading | | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 11 | +1 | 16 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Charlton | | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 13 | +1 | 15 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Newcastle | | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 13 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Southampton | | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 13 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Fulham | | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 12 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Birmingham | | 10 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 12 | -3 | 10 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Man City | | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 10 | -4 | 10 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | West Brom | | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 9 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Blackburn | | 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 15 | -8 | 7 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Bolton | | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 20 | -9 | 7 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Norwich | | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 13 | -10 | 6 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Middlesbrough | | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 22 | -16 | 6 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Leicester | | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 22 | -15 | 4 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Brighton | | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 25 | -18 | 4 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Villa boss calls on old heads to guide side through Euro campaign Aston Villa stand on the cusp of their first European campaign in quite a few seasons and their manager Emerson Smith has called on the "old heads" at the club to guide them through the tough UEFA Cup group they were handed, which includes Barcalona, Sporting Lisbon and Sparta Prague. "Mark (Bresciano), Patrik (Berger), Nobby (Solano) have all had quite a bit of European experience through their previous clubs (Parma, Liverpool, Newcastle) and we'll be looking to experienced European players like these three to guide us through the early stages of the competition." Smith said. Villa will host Czech Republic side Sparta Prague at home at Villa Park on Thursday night. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Gareth who? Villa fans' anger at the sale of star winger Gareth Barry has subsided somewhat after his replacement, Australian midfielder Mark Bresciano, has had a tremendous start to the season. Bresciano and Nolberto Solano have become an essential part of the Villa attacking force on the wings this season and have made a large contribution towards propelling Villa to 2nd on the table. Gareth Barry has made 6 appearances on the Chelsea first XI this season, establishing himself on the left before Damien Duff overtook him recently. Smith also took the chance to say that it will be "extremely tough" for any side to overtake Chelsea this season. "Look at their midfield. They've got Robben, Ballack, Hleb, Lampard, Ronaldinho, Rosicky, and not to forget Joe Cole and Damien Duff as well as Gareth Barry making up their midfield. It could be quite intimidating if you let it get to you. Also look at Carlton Cole, he scored 27 goals for us last term but hasn't even broken into their first team squad yet. That's a pretty good indication of their quality. Luckily though the game isn't played on paper and it's always 11 on 11 on matchday. We are looking forward to testing ourselves agaisnt them when the time comes." </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Have a look at their squad! Wow... <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pkd | Inf | Name | Position | Nat | Age | Value | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Inj | Petr Cech | GK | CZE | 23 | £5M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DR | | Paulo Ferreira | D R | POR | 26 | £6M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Glen Johnson | D RC | ENG | 21 | £4.7M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S5 | | Robert Huth | D C | GER | 21 | £3.9M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Michael Mancienne | D C | ENG | 18 | £2.5M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DC | | Ricardo Carvalho | D C | POR | 27 | £8.25M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DC | Inj | John Terry | D C | ENG | 24 | £14M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Celestine Babayaro | D/DM L | NGA | 27 | £1.9M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | DL | | Wayne Bridge | D/DM L | ENG | 25 | £7.75M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Gareth Barry | D/M L | ENG | 24 | £10.25M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Bosingwa | DM RC | POR | 23 | £3.7M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Unh | Juan Sebastián Verón | M C | ARG | 30 | £3.7M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | AMR | | Geremi | AM RC | CMR | 26 | £6.25M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | AML | | Damien Duff | AM L | IRL | 26 | £17M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S3 | | Joe Cole | AM LC | ENG | 23 | £9.25M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MC | Wnt | Arjen Robben | AM LC | NED | 21 | £16.5M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MC | | Michael Ballack | AM C | GER | 29 | £18.5M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | | Aliaksandr Hleb | AM C | BLR | 24 | £16.75M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S2 | | Frank Lampard | AM C | ENG | 27 | £19.75M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | AMC | | Ronaldinho | AM C | BRA | 25 | £38.5M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S4 | | Tomas Rosicky | AM C | CZE | 25 | £18.5M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S7 | | Adrian Mutu | F C | ROM | 26 | £14.5M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | - | Wnt | Carlton Cole | S C | ENG | 22 | £7.5M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | FC | | Didier Drogba | S C | CIV | 27 | £15.5M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | S6 | | Eidur Gudjohnsen | S C | ISL | 27 | £7.75M | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Taxman Posted July 30, 2005 Author Share Posted July 30, 2005 UEFA Cup, Group D, Match 1 Villa vs. Sparta Pragua In comes Patrik Berger into the central midfield for Whittingham to give us some more experience. The European jitters struck early on when from a corner Simunic accidentally nudged the ball in to give them an own goal and an early lead. These things happen sometimes and I wasn't too angry about it. After this we started gaining the ascendency as we attacked through the flanks and Berger through the middle, but we were unable to break through their strong defense. Into the 2nd half and after an hour I brought on McFadden and Hitzlsperger in the forwards and midfield (for Vassell and Berger) to give us some extra bite going forward. It worked almost right away when five minutes later, Hitzlsperger had the ball on the edge of the box and fired home a brilliant curling shot that the goalkeeper could do absolutely nothing about to get us on level terms. We were feeling confident and decided to push on for another to give us the lead. I was a bit worried about being hit on the counter after sending the fullbacks surging forward, but we did indeed hit the lead after McFadden fed Hitzlsperger, who again fired home a brilliantly hit shot from the edge of the box to give us the lead in a quick turnaround. After this we controlled the tempo of the match, getting another one late when Bresciano fed Yakubu later on. Villa 3 Prague 1 Overall a great start to the European campaign, winning home matches will be important in this group. For Hitzlsperger to be able to turn the match like that after he came on at the hour mark really shows me that he has progressed since my joining the club and at only 23 years old he will be a vital player for years to come. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Villa wins 6 games in a row, new record Aston Villa have now won 6 games in a row in all competitions and this is a new record for the club since Emerson Smith joined. The wins span from 24th September to 20th October and the scalps taken include: Home to Middlesbrough , 4 - 0 Home to Gorica , 2 - 0 , UEFA Cup Away to Norwich , 2 - 0 Home to Southampton , 2 - 0 Away to West Brom , 1 - 0 Home to Sparta Prague , 3 - 1 , UEFA Cup Villa boss Emerson Smith has said that he hopes to extend the record to 7 when Villa host 6th placed Liverpool on Sunday afternoon at Villa Park. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> EPL, Game 11 Villa vs. Liverpool Big match for us, to me. Hitzlsperger against Gerrard was going to be a huge matchup and a huge challenge for Thomas as the players drifted towards eachother through the opening stages. Another packed house had come to watch the match which was a fairly intense contest. Both teams' defenses were on full capacity however theirs mainly, as we had the lions share of the ball and were going forward quite well. However they held us off and we went into half time with the game still not having been broken open. In the 2nd half the game stayed the same, although we had more ball than them their defence was in absolutely top form and we were unable to break through. Although we haven't conceded a goal yet these season that was the 2nd time we had been held to a 0 - 0 draw. Villa 0 Liverpool 0 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Villa line up move for unprotected Pennant With Villa right winger Nolberto Solano hitting the 30 years of age mark recently, Emerson Smith is reportedly planning for the future and considering making a move for Arsenal right winger Jermaine Pennant, whose contract currently remains unprotected and can be snapped up out of for a payment of 3.5M pounds to Arsenal. Pennant is only 22 years old and is touted to have a very bright future ahead of him and Smith reportedly sees this as the right time to pounce and sign Pennant as Villa, it is understood, have the wage budget and financial clout to lure Pennant away from Highbury and offer him more regular first team football than he is currently getting. Should Pennant complete a move to Villa Park he will not be able to compete in European competition as he has already appeared for Arsenal off the bench in the Champions League. He has also broken his foot and will be out for 3 months. However, Smith isn't reported to be deterred by these factors and may be looking to pounce before Pennant signs another deal at Arsenal. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> I had just discovered that Jermaine Pennant's contract is unprotected and I am closely considering a move for him. 3.5M I think is a bargain for him at his age. EPL, League Cup Round 3 West Brom vs. Villa Last year we got to the semi final of the League cup but this year our plate is a bit more full and I don't really care too much whether we progress here. Maybe the team shared my opinions, because we allowed them to get an early goal and we couldn't really get back into the match until half time. In the 2nd half though we started to get some momentum and exert some control as we equalised 2 minutes into the 2nd half when Yakubu scored. Just as we looked like scoring a winner they got a goal from a deflection on a corner, and somewhat luckily went to the lead. We managed to equalise though, through Vassell who had just been brought on with a quarter hour to go. Fresh legs do the job. What this meant though is that we faced the ugly prospect of extra time... Although we looked good in extra time, they hit us on the counter attack and stole the win from us. I'm happy though to use up some bad luck in the League Cup rather than the League. West Brom 3 Villa 2 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Wenger: We may sell Pennant Arsneal boss Arsene Wenger has said that right winger Jermaine Pennant can leave Highbury if he wants to amid interest from Aston Villa for his signature. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> EPL, Game 12 Reading vs. Villa Vassell's confidence had been shaken after a few bad games and I decided to bring McFadden into the first XI (Juan Angel is still out injured). Reading sat 9th on the table after quite a good run after being promoted last season, and they showed us they weren't easybeats by scoring in only the 2nd minute of the match. This gave us quite a shock as we quickly kicked into gear. We came forward through Solano once again, who put in a great cross for McFadden to get onto the end of, and James justified my decision to give him his first league start for the club as he fired home the equaliser after 18 minutes. They didn't lie down though and they got another goal 5 minutes before half time to give them the lead again. This was turning out to be a bit of an off day. In the 2nd half I wanted to come out swinging and take advantage of the 4 yellow cards issued to them. I told the boys to tackle hard. But they were a determined lot and we couldn't break though. Every team has its bad days so I'm prepared to forget this one, but such is the competitive nature of this season that after this loss we dropped from clear 2nd to 5th. We can't afford too many slip ups like this one. Reading 2 Villa 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
displaced_seagull Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 \o/ The Albion in the Premiership \o/ (for now at least ) Excellent stuff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Taxman Posted August 4, 2005 Author Share Posted August 4, 2005 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Villa offer Pennant contract? Inside sources at Villa claimed today that Villa have offered Jermaine Pennant a lucrutive contract to lure him to Aston Villa. Pennant's contract is unprotected which means Villa can approach the player directly instead of having to go through the club first. The contract will almost triple his wages and the contract is rumoured to be equal in wages with Villa's current right winger Nolberto Solano. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> UEFA Cup, Group D, Match2 Chalkidona vs. Villa Off to Greece in what is supposed to be the easiest match of the group for us. This match marked the return of Juan Angel to the side and with Vassell and Yakubu starting to be affected a little by morale it was a welcome return. He partnered McFadden in the front of the pitch as we went chasing the win. Angel looked like he was getting back into the swing of things quite quickly as he surged forward and put the ball in the back of the net after 10 minutes, only to have it ruled offside. Eventually we got our first goal, a rare goal from a corner as Bresciano headed in a corner from Solano on 37 minutes. After an hour we got a 2nd goal as McCann got a rare goal venturing forward after being fed by Whittingham. This gave us a good buffer and we were able to relax a little bit. A few minutes later we sealed the win as Angel marked his return with a goal thanks to a great cross from McFadden. We managed to get 2 more goals through Whittingham and Angel getting a 2nd, to seal a thumping 5 - 0 victory. After this we really should progress to the next round quite easily. Chalkidona 0 Villa 5 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Pennant signs contract with Villa Arsenal right winger Jermaine Pennant has signed the contract presented to him by Aston Villa and will sign with the club on Sunday January 1st when the next transfer window opens. Both parties are said to be "delighted" with the deal which will see Smith further expand his Villa Park squad in order to fulfill his ambitions of qualifying for the Champions League after they were scuppered late last season, after sitting in the top 4 for the majority of the season. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> EPL, Game 13 Villa vs. Man Utd The start of the rough period mentioned earlier is upon us. Our run for the next few matches is... <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Man Utd Chelsea Barcalona (UEFA Cup) Arsenal Sporting Lisbon (UEFA Cup) </div></BLOCKQUOTE> Much like the Liverpool match, it started out slowly but it was very intense. Man Utd had the upper hand and they went ahead through Owen before half time just when I thought we were getting ourselves into the game. Into the 2nd half and Man Utd had a tight grip on the game and it was slipping away from us. However in a sign of how fast things can turn around, Hitzlsperger hit a tremendous goal, from 40 yards out he fired it passed Tim Howard and suddenly we were equal. Morale transformed instantly. We surged forward for a chance to go ahead and we got our 2nd goal within 5 minutes when McFadden lobbed one smartly over the goalkeeper to give us the lead. After this it was up to us to hold them off for the last 20 minutes. We lasted 18. In the last 2 minutes who else but Scholes fired one in too steal a draw for the away side. In the end we should have won and I am disappointed in the defence for letting in the last minute goal. Villa 2 Man Utd 2 <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Chelsea vs. Villa match re-scheduled Due to international callups the match against Chelsea has been postponted to Wednesday 14th of December. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> UEFA Cup, Group D, Match3 Villa vs. Barca Probably the best side we've played since I joined, this will be a huge test for us. Bresciano is out on the left so McFadden is down there replacing him on the wing. With a win we had a chance to secure top spot in the group, and a HUGE morale booster. Things were fairly intense early on but we didn't buckle under early pressure, enduring an early surge before getting to grips with the game and starting to wield our own muscle. Just 10 minutes in we grabbed the crucial first goal when Simunic hit a quick long ball up the field to Vassell, who put it through to Yakubu who put it into the net. We were 1 goal up and confident we could match these giants. They were a class side though and they reacted by upping the tempo and eventually they got one back after some sloppy defending left Requelme open after a free kick. They had grabbed the upper hand by now and were pressing hard for another, and we were just holding out until half time...but everyone knows the tables can turn very quickly in football and this time they did in our favour. McFadden grabbed the ball on the counter attack and booted it long out to Solano who got through and put the ball into the net...and then a couple of minutes later Hitzlsperger chipped the goalkeeper to give us the third. Villa Park was on their feet as the half time whistle went and the players went off to tremendous applause. We were on a high, going into the 2nd half and we weren't about to sit back and let them get back at us. We kept coming at them, and of course it was Solano who was in the action, when Yakubu hit the post and Nobby came in and put the ball into the net. Villa against Barca, the score reads 4-1. In our favour. Barca had seemingly conceded the match and let off. But this was our day and we weren't finished. We kept coming at them and after the hour mark we struck again, this time through Hitzlsperger getting his 2nd after Solano fed him a great header. Near the end they got another back, but they must have fallen asleep in the last 5 minutes because Yakubu managed to score 2 more goals to give us a 5 goal buffer and an incredible 7-2 victory. Villa 7 Barca 2 As the players headed off the pitch, the Villa Park home crowd stood in ovation for the players - and I joined them. What a performance. A hattrick from Yakubu and 2 goals from Solano and Hitzlsperger. McFadden had also done very well on the left wing and was becoming a very good signing. Back in the dressing room I let the players soak in the victory for a few minutes before spoiling the party and telling them that was just the beginning of our season - alot more work to do. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Villa boss says: proudest day at Villa since 1981 Aston Villa boss Emerson Smith has declared yesterday the "greatest day for Aston Villa since 1981 when we last lifted the Premier League trophy." Smith has declared that he hopes that this day will be looked back on at the end of the season as the "dawn of a new era", he also said that his Villa side looked "very capable" based on last nights performance to get to the latter stages of and possibly the final of the UEFA Cup. "I was slightly nervous about our European campaign, it was the club's first in a while, many of the players are untried in Europe. But we've taken the same attitude, of hard work and discipline, and applied it to Europe and it is looking good so far." Smith called on the club to continue on its momentum when, in just 3 days time, Arsenal, current League leaders, travel to Villa. "Based on today's effort I am confident we can really take it to them. We won't be laying down." Smith said. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> EPL, Game 14 Villa vs. Arsenal The three days flew by and before we knew it, it was Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately Olof Mellberg sustained a minor injury and will miss the match. The match started off fairly free flowing with some good football being played in a very end-to-end way. They got the best of the start when they got a scrappy goal from Reyes after only 8 minutes. However we had a newly found sense of confidence and we kept surging. Vassell started to take advantage of his chances back at the front of the park as he grabbed a ball from Yakubu and fired it in to equal the scores. Confident as we were, we kept going forward. Despite the wet day, both teams were playing free football which was attacking and exciting, we were attacking through the wings with McFadden and Solano, and through Solano we hit the lead after 25 minutes when he hit a beautiful long shot from the edge of the box which sailed past Lehmann and hit the far corner. A quick turnaround and suddenly we were ahead. Without Mellberg though we were always vulnerable at the back and the top placed Arsenal took advantage after half an hour when Gilberto headed home their 2nd. They kept at us and we were lucky to hold off until half time. Into the 2nd half and at the break I remembered to tell the players what happened last time we played Arsenal - they won 9-3. Yes, that is NINE goals. I saw the players going out and they looked determined. Into the 2nd half and they came at us, pushing their defenders up. We were starting to sit back and go for the counter attack. With their defenders pushed right up though it gave us a chance, and it was Hitzlsperger who showed his tremendous individual talent when he struck a piledriver from what must have been 40 yards, definitely closer to the half way line than the goals, and the crowd watched the ball sail through the air for what must have been an eternity before hitting the back of the net. It was the type of spectacular goal that sets a crowd on their feet and the Villa Park crowd reacted accordingly ... the atmosphere was electric and there was an electric feeling that the team was stepping up to a higher level to compete. After the goal we started to gain in confidence, feeding from the crowd we were pushing them once again. Hitzlsperger tried to repeat his tremendous goal just 2 minutes later and almost got it, but it took only 15 minutes for Solano to put Yakubu passed Campbell who put the ball into the back of the net to give us a 2 goal lead over the league leaders on 66 minutes. But still, the facts remained. Mellberg was out of the match and our defence was vulnerable, without him. Particularly to Arsenal and only 5 minutes later they pulled one back through Edu to set up a very intense finish. I was desperate to avoid the same finish as the match against Man Utd when they scored a last minute equaliser. Without our star defender the players clung on admirably, and we even got another when we sealed the deal through Yakubu who was fed by McFadden in stoppage time. A tremendous win. Villa 5 Arsenal 3 We had almost come through the horror period I was talking about, against the teams Man Utd, Arsenal and Barca one after the other and we hadn't lost yet, infact beaten two of them. Particularly against Barca and Arsenal in the last two matches, four players really stood up. They were Solano, Yakubu, McFadden and Hitzlsperger, and the great thing that puts a smile on my face is that the latter 3 are all younger than 24 and showed composure in big games far beyond their young age. That last win had propelled us into 4th spot. Our next match was against Sporting, away in the UEFA Cup but with our passage through signed, sealed and delivered I was planning on resting some of the first team players who were really needing of a rest after giving it their all against the big clubs over the past few matches. Wow. I think we've turned the corner. GREAT 2 wins there Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peljam Posted August 4, 2005 Share Posted August 4, 2005 Love the story. Good luck with the cup Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forest_Rule Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 great story, I cant sleep and I have just read through the majority of it KUTGW Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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