Obviously I welcome any new signings, but after seeing Downing make his debut, I feel we have a very strong squad. What are your opinions? A world class striker who can finish properly would be top on my list.

R x

I really thought Milner would be starting too, lets hope he at least gets subbed in with enough time to make an impact.

65mins in Gabby is subbed for Carlton Cole, not a bad innings, would of liked to seen more though. Overall Gabby did well, didn’t get the goal, but made a valuable contribution. Lets hope he’s on that plane next summer!

Rx

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In my opinion Heskey is past it, Capello doesn’t have unlimited options up front, but he certainly has better options than Heskey, Abonglahor for one, not to mention the likes of Defoe, Cole, Crouch and even Owen!

For Villa this couldn’t be better news, I remember reading a statistic which stated that during his time on the pitch, Villa have only scored 5 goals, and without him on the pitch scored over 20. Maybe this will put Heskey in MON’s bad books and he wont play him, we have a much much much better striker in John Carew, who actually scores goals and makes a difference on the pitch, so lets sell up and buy someone who can compete with Abonglahor for a starting place.

R x

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Villa Park will need to be our fortress this year, isnt it beautiful…

Match Preview After the Jump!

The pre-season ended well for MON and his men. They went on and won the Peace Cup after a penalty shoot-out against Juventus (with some superb goalkeeping by my boy Guz) and defeated Fiorentina at home 1-0. They also went out and signed Habib Beye and Fabian Delph. Habib is a versatile defender and Villa got him on the cheap. In my last post I also called for him to be signed, so that makes me happy Fabian Delph looks to be quite a prospect and he should blend in well with our talented youngsters. He should get a great chance, especially with the questionable availability of Stiliyan Petrov. In addition, I think the youngsters will definitely get looks tomorrow, with some of them seeing significant time after particularly impressive pre-seasons.

Wigan has had a disappointing offseason so far, with both their manager and some key players departing for greener pastures. Their defense is still relatively intact and they will bunker down and play as physical as ever. Chris Kirkland is a solid keeper and I predict he will have to be at his best as Villa will lay siege to his net. With all of this being said, I can’t look beyond us for this game. Wigan are one of the favorites to go down this season and I think starting against them at Villa Park will be a great way to begin the year. Here is my predicted lineup:

-Friedel (although Guzan has been great and I could see him here too)-

-Lichaj, Davies, Cuellar, N. Shorey-

-Reo-Coker-

-Milner- -*Petrov- -A. Young-

-Gabby- -Heskey-

* If Petrov can’t go, I would like to see Sidwell here but it could be Gardner too.
Also, I think Reo-Coker or Gardner could slide back into the RB spot if MON is not completely ready to throw Lichaj into the fire.

Well there we go folks! I will be watching the game and if I can figure out how to do the live blog thingy, maybe I will get that going for some of the big matches.
!!TOM HANKS SAYS GO VILLA!!

The good news is that Friedel’s red has now been rescinded, so he is able to play against Manchester United, and if the Liverpool match is anything to go by, we are going to need all the help we can get.

Oh and I must say congratulations to Brad Guzan for his debut Premiership match, he did well between the posts during the time he was on the pitch, it’s just a shame his debut was under these circumstances.

Ryan x

This season, I’ve been proud to see the Acorns logo emblazoned on Villa’s shirts, and bought both home and away shirts as a result. The club’s partnership with the local charity is truly heartwarming and runs far deeper than a simple shirt ’sponsorship’ deal.

For the uninitiated, Acorns is a group of local hospices which provide care for terminally ill children and their families. Aston Villa has supported Acorns for a number of years, and has achieved great PR for itself and the charity with its unorthodox sponsorship deal this season. Acorns is reportedly very short of cash, and Aston Villa no doubt aims to help them cover some of that shortfall over the next 18 months.

Even after watching Villa bollocks any chance they had of qualifying for the Champions League (and seen the predictable media smugfest that followed), I’m proud to be a Villa fan today. Sometimes football does that to you.