retired_amyslack

Thanks lads - keep your fingers crossed for me!

May 2006

Our continuing good form in the league brought me a second consecutive managerial award for April – I hope it doesn’t jinx the team in our last couple of games. Our penultimate match is a televised trip to relegated Derby.

Rams v Villa
The win was as comfortable as the 2-0 scoreline suggests with Andy Johnson scoring after half an hour and Liam Ridgewell getting his first for the club just before half time. The young centre back has been a regular starter since the injury to Mellberg and he has looked very impressive.

Hero : Ridgewell – an excellent defensive display was capped by a goal for the 21-year-old.
League Position : 6th


The final round of matches still sees the title undecided but Chelsea must be favourites as they hold a two-point lead over Arsenal and close with a visit from bottom club Leeds. Everton hold 3rd place on goal difference over Man U and if they can match United’s result then they will stay above them. Our final action featured a visit by Sheffield United and with both Rasmussen and Grisales injured Nobby Solano makes his final appearance for the club in midfield.

Villa v Blades
Sadly we couldn’t sign off with a win but only because former Crystal Place keeper Gabor Kiraly was simply unbeatable on the day. He made a series of stunning saves to keep the game scoreless and an uncharacteristically subdued Andy Johnson missed his chance to reach the 30-goal mark.

Villan : Johnson – one of his poorest performances of the season – maybe he was already planning his summer holiday.
League Position : 6th


As disappointed as I was to end with two goalless draws, even had we won our final games we would still not have been able to overhaul Liverpool. But out 6th place finish is one better than last season and we gained half a dozen more points this year. With £9M in prize money coming in the club’s bank balance was very healthy indeed. As expected, Chelsea got the win they needed to secure the title, Arsenal were runners-up and Everton managed to match United’s draw to finish 3rd. The final European qualifiers were

Champions League – Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton, Man United
UEFA Cup – Liverpool, Aston Villa, Birmingham
Inter-Toto – Newcastle, Southampton


<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Chelsea | 38 | 24 | 12 | 2 | 77 | 29 | +48 | 84 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Arsenal | 38 | 26 | 4 | 8 | 84 | 41 | +43 | 82 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Everton | 38 | 20 | 13 | 5 | 69 | 36 | +33 | 73 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Man Utd | 38 | 21 | 10 | 7 | 69 | 40 | +29 | 73 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Liverpool | 38 | 20 | 12 | 6 | 51 | 30 | +21 | 72 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | ASTON VILLA | 38 | 20 | 7 | 11 | 73 | 50 | +23 | 67 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Birmingham | 38 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 55 | 41 | +14 | 64 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Newcastle | 38 | 17 | 10 | 11 | 55 | 38 | +17 | 61 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Southampton | 38 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 52 | 48 | +4 | 55 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Tottenham | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 48 | 47 | +1 | 54 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Middlesbrough | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 54 | 59 | -5 | 49 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Portsmouth | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 46 | 51 | -5 | 49 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Charlton | 38 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 54 | 61 | -7 | 47 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Fulham | 38 | 14 | 4 | 20 | 51 | 56 | -5 | 46 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Man City | 38 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 44 | 50 | -6 | 43 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Sheff Utd | 38 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 39 | 53 | -14 | 42 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Blackburn | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 38 | 52 | -14 | 41 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | West Brom | 38 | 4 | 6 | 28 | 35 | 82 | -47 | 18 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | R | Derby | 38 | 5 | 3 | 30 | 27 | 88 | -61 | 18 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | R | Leeds | 38 | 3 | 4 | 31 | 22 | 91 | -69 | 13 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
There were some very solid performances from a number of players this season. Júlio César may well turn out to be a quality keeper but I’d like to see Westerveld push him for a starting place next season. Despite losing three of our first choice back four during the season we still did very well defensively. Jlloyd Samuel replaced Barry seamlessly and Gareth will have a fight on his hands to get back into the team when he is fit. Ulises de la Cruz did well when he replaced Mark Delaney and young Shane Morris impressed when he filled in for the injured Ecuador international. I was less pleased with the midfield anchor role as Djemba Djemba failed to live up to the standards he set last season and Mathieu Berson didn’t really impress so I hope that Gavin McCann will step up to this position. We were very strong in midfield and attack with Bierofka, Cruz, Hendrie and Johnson all superb and I’ll be looking for more of the same.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Name | Apps | Gls | Ast | MoM | Pas | Tck | Drb | Sh T | Av Rat| | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Daniel Bierofka | 50 | 12 | 19 | 4 | 77% | 1.80 | 5.29 | 60% | 7.80 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Julio Ricardo Cruz | 50 (2) | 21 | 14 | 9 | 82% | 1.23 | 1.08 | 52% | 7.73 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Lee Hendrie | 52 (1) | 29 | 9 | 5 | 83% | 1.58 | 0.96 | 60% | 7.64 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Andrew Johnson | 32 (12) | 29 | 10 | 5 | 82% | 0.81 | 2.60 | 66% | 7.55 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Jlloyd Samuel | 40 (1) | - | 1 | 1 | 78% | 3.26 | 1.98 | - | 7.54 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Liam Ridgewell | 11 (2) | 1 | - | - | 72% | 3.52 | 0.32 | - | 7.54 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Martin Laursen | 47 (1) | 1 | - | 3 | 74% | 2.44 | 0.23 | 50% | 7.44 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | David Rasmussen | 35 (1) | 2 | 18 | 1 | 73% | 1.60 | 3.94 | 28% | 7.42 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Mark Delaney | 31 | - | 1 | 1 | 76% | 4.36 | 1.19 | - | 7.42 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Eric Djemba Djemba | 39 (3) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 83% | 2.46 | 1.17 | 52% | 7.33 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Gareth Barry | 20 (1) | - | 1 | 1 | 75% | 3.09 | 0.50 | - | 7.33 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Olof Mellberg | 35 (2) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 76% | 1.41 | 0.25 | 38% | 7.30 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Juan Pablo Angel | 27 (18) | 20 | 7 | 3 | 84% | 0.15 | 2.02 | 54% | 7.29 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Ulises de la Cruz | 20 (3) | - | - | - | 75% | 4.00 | 1.04 | - | 7.22 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Peter Whittingham | 24 (4) | 3 | 17 | 2 | 84% | 1.57 | 2.36 | 50% | 7.18 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Mathieu Berson | 19 (4) | - | 2 | - | 80% | 2.01 | 0.62 | - | 7.17 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Shane Morris | 6 | - | - | - | 68% | 4.17 | 0.33 | - | 7.17 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Júlio César | 24 | - | - | - | 50% | - | - | - | 7.17 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Igor Tudor | 27 (4) | - | - | - | 76% | 1.69 | 0.15 | - | 7.16 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | James O'Connor | 7 | - | - | - | 68% | 2.56 | 0.32 | - | 7.14 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Thomas Sørensen | 27 (1) | - | - | 1 | 50% | - | 0.04 | - | 7.11 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Sander Westerveld | 12 | - | - | 1 | 48% | - | - | - | 7.08 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Luke Moore | 2 (4) | - | - | - | 85% | 0.35 | 2.10 | - | 7.00 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Fatmir Vata | 3 (14) | 1 | 5 | - | 84% | 0.63 | 2.54 | 27% | 6.94 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Nolberto Solano | 18 (23) | 4 | 9 | - | 74% | 2.20 | 1.92 | 37% | 6.90 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Gavin McCann | 9 (22) | 2 | - | 1 | 83% | 2.15 | 0.50 | 52% | 6.87 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Freddy Grisales | 6 (4) | 2 | 1 | - | 78% | 1.38 | 2.95 | 63% | 6.80 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Lorenzo Amoruso | 4 (1) | - | - | - | 72% | 2.38 | - | - | 6.80 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Niclas Jensen | 4 | - | - | - | 82% | 1.50 | 2.76 | - | 6.75 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Filip Daems | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
Samuel, Hendrie and Cruz all made the Premiership select team, Hendrie was the fan’s player of the season and Johnson finished 3rd in the scoring chart behind James Beattie and Djibril Cisse. Birmingham boss Steve Bruce has been unveiled as the new man in charge at Old Trafford so I wait to see who will take over at St. Andrews.

retired_amyslack

June 2006

It’s the time of the season when we need to look at renewing contracts if required and both Cruz and McCann signed new two-year deals. Unfortunately we were unable to offer Ulises de la Cruz an extension as he failed to get a work permit so he had to leave the club. A number of other players also departed – Solano and Sorensen on pre-arranged transfers, Amaruso, Mathis and reserve midfielder Stephen Cooke left voluntarily, James O’Connor and reserve centre back Gary Cahill were released and Vata retired. Another batch of youngsters graduated from the Academy so we will see if any of them have what it takes but nine of last year’s graduates were released. Our only addition was goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini who arrived on a free transfer from Chelsea.

When the European rankings were announced I was delighted to see that we had jumped no fewer than 42 places to 59th, a huge improvement. I was surprised to say the least when Doug informed that he had decided to open his wallet! Firstly he announced a planned stadium expansion that would add a further 16,000 seats by December. Then he told me that my transfer budget would be a healthy £15M!

The final piece of summer news was the appointment of Oxford manager Ramon Diaz as the new man in charge at Birmingham and I looked forward to establishing a rivalry with him.

retired_amyslack

Season 03

July 2006

Despite having transfer funds available I was pretty happy with the squad as it stood. We had a number of youngsters in the reserves that I wanted to try to bring through this year and give them a chance. The only areas that I really wanted to strengthen was central defence and the midfield anchor position. I addressed the first of those requirements by signing former Panathinaikos player Sotiris Kyrgiakos as a free agent. With season ticket sales booming and the prospect of even bigger crowds with the stadium expansion, I was pleasantly surprised when Doug extended the transfer budget by a further £10M.

retired_amyslack

August 2006

As luck would have it our opening game of the season involved a trip to bitter rivals Birmingham where the TV cameras would be present. After an unbeaten series of warm-up matches against lower-league opposition morale was pretty good amongst the players. I decided that the starting eleven would as close as possible to the lineup that we ended last season with.

GK – Carlo Cudicini
DR – Mark Delaney
DL – Jlloyd Samuel
DC – Liam Ridgewell
DC – Martin Laursen
DMC – Gavin McCann
MC – Lee Hendrie
MC – Julio Ricardo Cruz
AML – Daniel Bierofka
AMR – David Rasmussen
SC – Andrew Johnson

I preferred Cudicini in goal to Julio Cesar, Jlloyd Samuel kept his place at left back even though Barry was fit again. Delaney was back at right back, Ridgewell still filled in for the injured Mellberg and McCann came in as the midfield anchor.

Birmingham v Villa
There is no better start to the season than a win over bitter rivals and that’s exactly what we achieved, an early goal from Daniel Bierofka proving to be enough for a 1-0 win in a bruising encounter.

Hero : Bierofka – scoring the winner against your arch-rivals is a sure way to increase your popularity with the fans.
League Position : 8th


It was a busy opening month and we were quickly back into action as we entertained early leaders Charlton. With one or two players still not quite match fit I made a few changes for this game with midfielders Whittingham, Grisales and Davis all starting.

Villa v Charlton
We threw three points away this evening. Having established what should have been a winning 2-0 lead at half time through Delaney and Grisales we saw it evaporate as the visitors scored twice in the last 20 minutes.

Villan : Cudicini – not that the new keeper played badly but he did look a bit static, especially for the second goal.
League Position : 7th


I restored Rasmussen, Bierofka and Hendrie back into midfield for the trip to Newcastle. Having started with two draws the Geordies would be keen for a win and I expected a tough game.

Mags v Villa
We were handed a big advantage when centre back Boumsong was sent off after just 15 minutes and Lee Hendrie took advantage with a goal on the half hour. We lost Rasmussen to injury right on half time and made heavy weather of the game after that. The home side got into more trouble when Laurent Robert received his second yellow card with 15 minutes remaining and substitute Djemba Djemba made sure of the win with a late second goal.

Hero : Henrie – a dynamic display in midfield by the fan’s favourite.
League Position : 4th


Rasmussen was ruled out for a fortnight with a neck injury so Grisales was called up for the visit of newly promoted Reading.

Villa v Royals
No disrespect to our opponents but I doubt that we will have a more comfortable win this season, goals from Bierofka, Johnson (from the penalty spot) and Laursen giving us a comprehensive 3-0 win.

Hero : Hendrie – the wee orange fella ran the midfield again.
League Position : 3rd


Middlesbrough have not had the best of starts with one win and three defeats so they will surely be up for it at the Riverside. I can name an unchanged team, which is always nice, and confidence is high right now.

Boro v Villa
With our former keeper Thomas Sorensen having already conceded 11 goals Andy Johnson made it an even dozen near the end of the first half. But the home side came back at us very strongly, equalising early in the second half and in the end we were holding on for the draw.

Hero : Johnson – with goals in his last two games I hope that our top striker is getting back to his best after a dry spell.
League Position : 2nd

retired_kmkageler

Cracking read mate, thanks for sharing. Up the Villa!

retired_brinker317

Useful start Bob :thup:

retired_amyslack

Thanks chaps, glad you're enjoying it.

September 2006

This month sees us face Liverpool, Man United and Arsenal in the league and in between we have a UEFA Cup tie with Rijeka of Croatia before playing Chelsea at the start of next month. Although very early in the season such a demanding set of fixtures could make or break our season. After midweek internationals I have to make a few changes for the televised visit of Liverpool.

Villa v Liverpool
A great performance gave us a 3-1 win that could have been even more emphatic for as well as a goal from Bierofka and two from Cruz, both Ridgewell and Samuel hit the woodwork.

Hero : Julio Ricardo Cruz – two fine goals from the 31-year-old in his best performance of the season so far.
League Position : 1st


Our UEFA Cup opponents are a bit of an unknown quantity but I have had them watched once and although not blessed with any great pace they were reported to be a capable team.

Villa v Rijeka
After a pretty unsteady start a goal on 20 minutes from Cruz settled us down but when he departed injured just after the restart we hit another sticky patch and could easily have conceded an away goal. A second goal 15 minutes from time by Johnson put us in a much better position for the return leg next week.

Hero : Hendrie – yet another masterful midfield display giving him a record of 6 starts, 1 goal, 3 assists and 3 MoMs.


Man U v Villa
A televised match at Old Trafford presented us with our next challenge and the TV audience enjoyed a cracking game. We took the lead through Andy Johnson on 20 minutes but Ruud van Nistelrooy struck back immediately with an equaliser. We were the better team in the first period and but for some fine saves by Shay Given we would have established a lead by the break. But United came back strongly and got the winning goal through Louis Saha with ten minutes remaining.

Villan : Given – the ex-Newcastle stopper made some brilliant saves to deny us at least a point.
League Position : 6th


Villa v Gunners
It was the league leaders next and we really needed a result if we were not to slip further down the table. A scintillating first-half display saw us go into the break two goals to the good thanks to Johnson and Grisales. But Arsenal came back very strongly and despite some dogged defending we just ran out of steam with substitute Jeremie Aliadiere scoring a hat trick in the last ten minutes to inflict a heart-breaking defeat.

Villan : Aliadiere – his fresh legs cut through our defence like a hot knife through butter.
League Position : 6th


Rijeka v Villa
After two narrow defeats we needed to pick ourselves up for the return leg of our UEFA Cup tie in Croatia and an away goal from Johnson after five minutes was just the tonic we needed. It says something about our attacking play that the home keeper was voted man of the match as we failed to add to our total, the 1-0 win giving us a 3-0 aggregate victory. The draw that evening put us in Group F alongside Lazio, Sparta Prague, Rapid Vienna and Dunfermline.

Hero : Johnson – another goal from the striker who has started the season well.

retired_amyslack

October 2006

Chelsea v Villa
Playing the team that was gunning for a 3rd consecutive Premiership title was never going to be easy but the lads made a pretty decent fist of it. We certainly had the better of the first half, Bierofka hitting the post and Johnson giving us the lead in the 39th minute. The home side looked stronger after the break and with an hour gone Kezman scored a fine equaliser. It was honours even after that with both sides having chances for the win but neither taking them and all in all I was pretty happy with a 1-1 draw.

Hero : Ridgewell – the youngster played well enough in defence to merit the Man of the Match award.
League Position : 7th


Villa v Burnley
We were quickly back into action with a midweek visit from struggling Burnley with David Rasmussen regaining his place in midfield because of an injury to Grisales. We got off to a flying start with Cruz putting us ahead inside the first minute and Bierofka adding a second minutes later. We got our 3rd on the half hour when a Cruz shot deflected off Frank Sinclair, the Burnley player credited with an own goal. The rout continued in the second half as Cruz scored his second ten minutes after the restart and substitute Angel added two of his own in the last 20 minutes, the second of which came from the penalty spot. Our 6-0 win set a new club record for our highest league victory.

Hero : Samuel, Cruz, Bierofka – pick any one of the three, they were all superb
League Position : 7th


We had a weekend off because of Euro2008 qualifiers and Andy Johnson made the headlines when in just his second appearance for England he scored a hat trick in the 4-0 defeat of Russia.

Villa v Saints
Sadly, the break seemed to blunt our attacking edge and after such an emphatic win in our previous outing a 0-0 draw was a poor result.

Villan : Cruz – not the only guilty party in front of goal but he missed more than most.
League Position : 6th


Stuck in a relegation battle in the Championship, rivals West Brom have sacked beleaguered boss Bryan Robson and replaced him with Lincoln boss Keith Alexander. Although it is nice to see your rivals in trouble I hope that they can recover and get back to the Premiership as everyone enjoys a local derby. Igor Tudor suffered an injury blow in midweek training when he pulled a hamstring. A scan showed that he needed surgery to properly repair the damage and he will be sidelined for a good 6 months.

Palace v Villa
We made heavy weather of beating one of the early favourites for relegation and despite Johnson scoring an excellent hat trick some dodgy keeping by Cudicini and some careless defending allowed the home side to get back at us. The final scoreline of 4-3 flattered Palace somewhat as their 3rd goal came deep in stoppage time but we will need to be more careful at the back if we are to achieve anything this season.

Hero : Johnson – 10 goals in 12 starts shows that Andy is bang on form early on in the season.
League Position : 5th


Villa v Plymouth
Midweek cup ties are the bane of my life but I wanted to take this one seriously as the League Cup probably represents the best chance that a club like ours has of winning some silverware. Whilst we never looked like we would lose we certainly weren’t hugely impressive, doing just enough for a 2-0 win, Laursen and Grisales the scorers.

Hero : Hendrie – the one player that never stopped all night and his midfield promptings made all the difference.


Villa v Pompey
Cruz has looked a little out of sorts in the last couple of games but he clicked back into form in this match, scoring both goals in our 2-1 win. We were all over the visitors for most of the 90 minutes but struggled to find a way past former Man Utd keeper Tim Howard. We made the breakthrough on the hour but I have to admit that there was a slice of luck involved, the free kick from Cruz deflecting off the wall and leaving Howard flat-footed. With less than two minutes remaining it looked like our luck had deserted us when LuaLua equalised in the only meaningful attack that the visitors put together all day. Thankfully Cruz had other ideas and snatched the winner deep in stoppage time after being set free by substitute Angel.

Hero : Cruz – our match winner with his best display for several matches.
League Position : 5th

retired_amyslack

November 2006

What initially looked like no more than a thigh strain has proved to be more serious and Angel has been sent for intensive physiotherapy and will be absent for several weeks. But as long as Andy Johnson stays fit it won’t cause us any problems in the short term.

Villa v Rapid Vienna
This was a very satisfactory start in our UEFA Cup group as we dominated play and recorded a fine 4-1 win. Cruz started the ball rolling late in the first half and he was unfortunate not to have added to his tally given the chances he had. Despite making all of the running we struggled to turn chances into goals until substitute Luke Moore doubled our advantage with 15 minutes remaining. The visitors pulled a goal back shortly afterwards but we scored twice in stoppage time through Moore and Bierofka to end with a scoreline that was a fairer reflection of the match.

Hero : Hendrie – another two assists for our key midfielder who was unfortunate to have his own effort ruled out for an infringement.
Group Position : 2nd


Blades v Villa
After an indifferent first half we were a goal down at the break but thankfully managed to equalise through Andy Johnson to grab a point. It wasn’t the best of displays by a long way and one or two players looked a bit listless out there.

Hero : Johnson – his equaliser saved our blushes, preventing a defeat against a side struggling in the league.
League Position : 5th


Mags v Villa
I decided to rest Cruz for this 4th Round League Cup tie and brought Whittingham into midfield. We took an early lead through Johnson but the home side struck back with two goals before half time. There was no further scoring after the break and it was very disappointing to crash out of one of the competition that offered us a genuine chance of a trophy.

Villan : The Manager – in retrospect I perhaps should have rested a few more players as once we went behind we really struggled to find a creative spark.


Villa v Toffees
I made a few changes for this match, some enforced and some voluntary. Gavin McCann suffered a calf strain in training and would be out for a few weeks so Eric Double-D was recalled into midfield. I felt that it was time for captain Mellberg to reclaim his place and I also decided to recall Rasmussen on the right wing and brought Cruz back into the centre. An unimpressive first 45 minutes saw the visitors take the lead but thankfully Cruz found an equaliser just before the break after good work by Johnson. We went ahead on the hour, Everton keeper Wright credited with an own goal after fumbling a shot from Hendrie into his own net, and a second goal from Cruz in stoppage time sealed the win.

Hero : Cruz – he looked sharp after his short break and put in a game-winning performance.
League Position : 4th


Lazio v Villa
A poor opening 45 minutes saw us go into half time 2-0 down and I came very close to telling Cruz to stay in the changing room for the second half. Instead I gave the Argentinean a pep talk and he responded well, reducing the deficit within minutes of the restart. But it was not to be our night as the home side scored again late in the game to seal a deserved 3-1 win.

Villan : I really can’t point the finger at any one player – we simply lost to the better team on the night.
Group Position : 2nd


Man City v Villa
I had to make two enforced changes for this match – Berson in for an injured DD and Gareth Barry coming in to midfield as Rasmussen needed to be rested. I wanted to try Gareth on the left of midfield so I moved Bierofka over to the right. It didn’t turn out to be the best of afternoons for us one way and another. Having taken an early lead through Cruz, Carlo Cudicini decided to go AWOL for the remainder of the first half and we entered the break 3-1 down. I took the unusual step of replacing the keeper at half time and when Hendrie reduced the deficit with 30 minutes remaining I thought that we had a chance of a comeback. When Mark Delaney retired injured with ten minutes remaining I had already used all of my substitutes so we had to play on a man short and City took advantage to add a 4th before the end.

Villan : Cudicini – will I ever solve my goalkeeping problem?
League Position : 6th


Villa v Sparta Prague
Our 3rd UEFA Cup group match was the first to be played in the expanded Villa Park and with youngster Shane Morris replacing the injured Delaney we looked great value for our excellent 4-0 win. Andy Johnson got the ball rolling with an early strike, Barry scored twice, once from the penalty spot, and Bierofka showed that he is equally adept on either wing by netting the 4th. The win ensured that we would qualify for the knockout stage of the competition and we also set a new attendance record on the night.

Hero : Cruz – there were a lot of good performances but I fully agree with Julio being awarded Man of the Match.
Group Position : 2nd

retired_kmkageler

"Hero : Hendrie – the one player that never stopped all night and his midfield promptings made all the difference."

Shame we didn't play the orange one at Belle Vue eh Bob?

Still enjoying the read, wish my game was going so well!