UEFA Cup draw – The going gets tough(er)

The UEFA Cup draw has now taken place and our dear beloved Aston Villa are now getting their first real taste of what to expect from European competitions. We have been drawn in Group F, to face Hamburg of Germany, Ajax Amsterdam of Holland, Slavia Praha of the Czech Republic and MÅ K Žilina of Slovakia. Alongside Groups A and B it’s one of the hardest groups.

And if you ask me that’s a great thing!

The harder the better I say. If we faced sides like Odense, FH and Litex (and I mean no disrespect to them by this) all the way through, it would be kind of pointless striving so hard to get into Europe. We can play sides of pretty much their quality in the League Cup (don’t mention QPR). Now that we are facing sides like Hamburg, Ajax and Slavia Prague we will see some good European games and begin to command more respect. Then, if we do well in those games we can step it up to the next level.

The next level, being realistic, being AC Milan and Sevilla in the later rounds. Performing well in those games is our aim for this season. You can throw the phrase Champions League around all you like but down here in the real world we know that that is out of our reach for a few years at the very least. What we need to do is get through the group and then play well against teams like this. Just look at Spurs. Absolute shite so far this season, but people still hold them in high regard. As soon as they pull through this bad patch everyone will be talking them up again and saying that next season they’ll be putting pressure on the top four.

Villa need to steal this crown from Spurs. We need to become the team that players are keen to join. The team that everyone is talking about in pre-season as the team who might break into the top four (which no-one will, probly not even Manchester Megabucks City). We need to command more respect from everyone involved in the game. Ashley Young not being in the England squad is a perfect example of what I’m getting at. If he played for many other teams he’d be in without question, but Villa are still viewed as ‘punching above our weight’.

We need this UEFA Cup run to start changing people’s opinions. We used to be one of the biggest clubs in the country and in Europe. Now we are seen by most outsiders as ‘over the hill’. Well guess what all you doubters… we’re back! So be afraid, be very afraid!

Villa’s schedule:
23 Oct – Ajax (Home)
6 Nov – Slavia Prague (Away)
4 Dec – Zilina (Home)
17 Dec – Hamburg (Away)

The draw in full:

Group A:
Schalke
Paris St Germain
Manchester City
Racing Santander
Twente

Group B:
Benfica
Olympiakos
Galatasaray
Hertha Berlin
Metalist Kharkiv

Group C:
Seville
Stuttgart
Sampdoria
Partizan Belgrade
Standard Liege

Group D:
Tottenham
Spartak Moscow
Udinese
Dinamo Zagreb
NEC Nijmegen

Group E:
AC Milan
Heerenveen
SC Braga
Portsmouth
Wolfsburg

Group F:
Hamburg
Ajax
Slavia Prague
Aston Villa
Zilina

Group G:
Valencia
Bruges
Rosenborg
Copenhagen
Saint-Etienne

Group H:
CSKA Moscow
Deportiva La Coruna
Feyenoord
Nancy
Lech Poznan

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Category: Misc

Tags: AC Milan, Ajax Amsterdam, Ashley Young, Aston Villa, Benfica, Bruges, Champions League, Copenhagen, CSKA Moscow, Czech Republic, Deportiva La Coruna, Dinamo Zagreb, England, Feyenoord, Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar, Galatasaray, Germany, Hamburg, Heerenveen, Hertha Berlin, Holland, I should be England Manager!, League Cup, Lech Poznan, Manchester City, Manchester Megabucks City, Metalist Kharkiv, Misc, MŠK Žilina, Nancy, NEC Nijmegen, Odense BK, Olympiakos, Paris St Germain, Partizan Belgrade, PFC Litex Lovech, Queens Park Rangers, Racing Santander, Rosenborg, Saint-Etienne, Sampdoria, SC Braga, Schalke, Sevilla, Seville, Slavia Praha, Slovakia, Spartak Moscow, Standard Liege, Stuttgart, Tottenham Hotspur, Twente, Udinese, UEFA Cup, Valencia, Wolfsburg

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