Aston villa team news and starting 11

Given
??? - Dunne - Collins - ???

Rotation risks for warnock/cueller/clark?

I thought they had agreed a fee for Cuellar with Rangers.

If Cuellar goes,I'm expecting the FB's to be Hutton(not yet signed) and Warnock(in view of him having been promised a clean slate)

If the season kicked off tomorrow and everyone was fit, I think it would look something like this...

Given
L Young
Collins
Dunne
Warnock
Albrighton
Makoun
Petrov
Delph
Agbonlahor
Bent

4-5-1, Gabby and Albrighton out wide.
Bench : Guzan, Clark, Heskey, Ireland, Delfounso, Bannan, Herd

All a bit of guess work though!!

Very similar teams named in Villa's opening two friendlies. The defence and central midfield are identical!

v. Walsall: Given, Young, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Petrov, Makoun, Albrighton, Ireland, Heskey, Bent
v. Blackburn: Given, Young, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Petrov, Makoun, Agbonlahor, Bannan, Heskey, Bent

So only two changes:
Albrighton Agbonlahor (Albrighton benched)
Ireland Bannan (Ireland has a tight hamstring and was not considered)

Given the formation in the first game (4-2-3-1), I'd expect N'Zogbia to take Heskey's place if/when he signs. That, of course, is pure speculation on my part.

That's interesting,ishnid. I read in this morning's Mail that Mcleish has been hugely impressed with Warnock's enthusiasm in training - putting so much effort in that the trainers have had to insist on him taking a rest.
So it looks like LB is Warnock's place to lose,barring injury.
I'm not sure that Luke Young can feel as safe though,as Hutton is said to be Mcleish's top target now, after N'Zog's capture.

So will there be 4 players (Albrighton, Agbon', N'Zog', Heskey) fighting over the 2 wide places?

Good job Downing and Young aren't there!

Excuse my ignorance but is Petrov the 'hole' player in the middle of the 3?

Heskey out wide beggars belief. I thought Petrov held for MoN.

Team Lineup:

Blackburn Rovers: Robinson, Slagado, Samba, Givet, Olsson, Emerton, N’Zonzi, Dunn, Pedersen, Formica, Roberts.

Aston Villa: Given, Young, Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Petrov, Makoun, Bannan, Agbonlahor, Heskey, Bent.

Todays friendly.

1-0 Bent scored latest score.

Clark on the bench, don't know about Hoilett.

No, not normally. Bannan is the more natural attacking CM. Petrov though is getting further forward because Makoun does such a good holding job. If fit, Ireland plays ahead of Bannan so he'll play in the hole.

As for out wide. N'Zog, Gabby and Albrighton toughing it out for two spots. Heskey 4th in line if needed. Thought Emile did a decent job out wide tonight, although he did have a slight height advantage over Salgado!!

Also worthy of note from tonights game, I thought both L Young and Warnock did well getting forward and Collins showed excellent distribution throughout. Given made a couple of decent saves and generally looked really lively and keen to impress.

it's all about

Agbonglawhore

Is Dunne healthy and do you think he will get forward as much as last year? He had 25 shots last year or will the new manager change his roll?

Think Dunne will find himself surplass v shortly he looks knackered to me.

Think he has perfected that look over the last 10 years sleuth

Yeah, I thought steve bruce had wandered onto the pitch in their last game against chelsea. Either Chelsea were really good or Villa were shite can't make my mind up on that one.

sleuth, put that in American English for me.

How has Steven Ireland looked? He seems to be an intended first choice player, but going by his ridiculous showings since leaving Man City, you have to be very scared to touch him... Then again if he did start, and got back anywhere near that form, he'd be a decent pick at only 6m in FPL...

EMILE Heskey is set to start Saturday’s Premier League kick-off at Fulham after impressing Alex McLeish in an unorthodox left-wing role during pre-season.

http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingha ... -29219214/

That leaves me a little confused as to how we're lining up!!

-----------Given-----------
Young-Collins-Dunne-Warnock
-------Petrov-Makoun------
N'Zogbia--Ireland--Heskey
-----------Bent------------

Looks about right to me. Albrighton, Agbonlahor, Bannan, Clark, Guzan, Delfounso, Cuellar on the bench?

Edit - Missed Delph.

Collins definitely starting tomorrow, there was some doubt about him?

My guess

------------Given-----------

Young-Collins-Dunne-Warnock

---Petrov-N'Zogbia-Makoun----

--Agbonlahor-Bent-Heskey-----

Maybe Ireland for Makoun, and assuming Collins is fit.

So McLeish in his wisdom sells two wingers and still doesn't find a place for Albrighton in the team at the expense of eff Heskey.

JESUS...

Alex McLeish, you are utterly retarded.

Only Delph for Makoun wrong

As a Villa fan I won't be picking any offensive players from us at the moment. I went to the game on Saturday and nobody could really figure out where anyone was playing. It seemed N'Zog was on the right and Gabby was on the left, although Heskey spent as much time on the left as Gabby did, basically we played a very unusual formation that looked a little like this.

------------------------Given------------------------
Young-----Collins-----Dunne-----Warnock
-----------Petrov---------Delph-------------------
N'Zog---------------------------Heskey-----------
---------------------Bent------------------Gabby---


source: my eyes, espn and guardian chalkboards and heatmaps

On a side note, due to this lopsided system Warnock had basically 0 chance to go forward, whereas Young was much more of an outlet on the Right. So if anyone is deciding between Young and Warnock i'd go Young all day.

I heard on the wireless how impressed McLeish was with Agbon's defensive work - racing back 40 yards to help out !

If you reckon Luke Young's a good choice at RB,does that mean McLeish has dropped his pursuit of Hutton ?

Assistant Aston Villa boss Peter Grant has revealed Carlos Cuellar has been 'fantastic' during his recovery from a knee injury.
The Spaniard has not played for the first team since April but made his comeback with 45 minutes for the reserves against Chelsea last week.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 36,00.html



Villa have had a settled back four this season and have brought in some handy FF points. Although ignored by the previous management and linked with a move back to Rangers in the close season, Cuellar is a player known to Big 'Eck.

Question I have is "Will he play" and if yes "Who for"?