8 Aug 2011

Premiership preview, table prediction: 18. Aston Villa


Aston Villa
Nickname: The Villans
Ground: Villa Park
Capacity: 42640
Manager: Alex McLeish
















Squad:

·         Goalkeepers


·         Defenders


·         Midfielders


·         Forwards






A lot of things have gone wrong for Aston Villa after Martin O’Neil left them about a year ago. After appointing Gérard Houllier, it went terribly wrong. Before he left the club he managed to argue with most of the players and even got the fans screaming for the sack after some weeks. So I’m sure most of the fans were happy to see him sign off due to his health, or at least so he claimed. But from a fans point of view it got worse when the club decided to appoint rival club Birmingham manager Alex McLeish. So I bet the fans will be critical at everything he does, and if the results is not good from the start he won’t be sitting in the manager chair for long. And to add things to all the negative stuff that have been going on in the club for a year or so, they lose Downing to Liverpool and Young to Manchester United. And let both John Carew and Nigel Reo-Coker go on free transfer.  So I think Alex McLeish and Aston Villa are in for one tough and disappointing season which I believe could end in relegation.



Pre-Season Fixtures/Results
July 21 vs Walsall 3-1 – Bent (2), Heskey
July 27 vs Blackburn Rovers 1-0 – Bent
July 31 vs Chelsea 0-2 August 3rd vs Derby County 0-2
August 6th vs Sporting Braga 1-1 N’Zogbia



The pre-season results have been ok, but not impressive and Villa won’t be boosting with confidence after all the negative talk the last year.



Players in
07/11 IrelandShay Given GK Manchester City 
07/11 USABrad Guzan GK Hull City 
07/11 AustraliaShane Lowry DF Sheffield United 
07/11 EnglandIsaiah Osbourne MF Sheffield Wednesday 
07/11 AustriaAndreas Weimann FW Watford FC 



Players out
07/11 EnglandStewart Downing MF Liverpool FC 
06/11 USAMichael Bradley MF Bor. Mönchengladbach 
06/11 USABrad Friedel GK Tottenham Hotspur 
06/11 EnglandNigel Reo-Coker MF Bolton Wanderers 
06/11 EnglandKyle Walker DF Tottenham Hotspur 
06/11 EnglandAshley Young MF Manchester United 



Alex McLeish have not done much on the transfer side yet, and I think he wants and need to strengthen and put his touch on the Villa side if he is to get the team into a good league position this year. On the positive side I would say Villa have a better goalkeeper this season after signing Shay Given from Manchester City to replace Brad Friedel.



Most likely starting lineup for Aston Villa next weekend:

                                                 Shay Given


Luke Young          James Collins       Richard Dunne    Stephen Warnock



    Stiliyan Petrov           Stephen Ireland


 Marc Albrighton                                                            Charles N'Zogbia


                            Gabriel Agbonlahor       Darren Bent



Aston Villa is looking poor defensively and looking at the most likely starting back-line I think Shay Given will get his hands full. Looking forward they are in need of Bent and new signing N’Zogbia to deliver the goods if they are to get result. I think Alex McLeish is a good manager and I could be wrong with my prediction, but I’m 100% sure that he won’t get much backing from the fans if the results are not good from the start, which could make it one hell of a struggle to get results. I predict Aston Villa going down, and I also bet Alex McLeish might be the first manager to be sacked this season.

No comments:

Post a Comment

You are welcome to comment using your name and URL, but please use your name or a nickname and not your Blog name.