The Villa Times - 03/01/2007

Unoial Villa News...

Tickets for the trip to Newcastle (January 31) are now on priority sale.

Middlesbrough 34-year-old defender Abel Xavier has been linked by Sky to Villa. The Portugal international with the wacky hair returned this season from a year long drug ban.

Reports suggest O'Neill is in the race to land Shaun Wright-Phillips for around £10million. Manchester City, Portsmouth, West Ham and Everton have also been linked.

Newspapers in Scotland have linked Rangers midfielder Barry Ferguson to Villa and Everton.

Eric Djemba-Djemba, is being chased by French side Lille.

West Ham are copying Randy Lerner and Villa, offering supporters the chance to take advantage of free coach travel to Villa Park on Saturday, February 3. Their Chairman has decided on the gesture following yesterday's 6-0 defeat at Reading to apologise to the fans.

Wales international right-back Mark Delaney is set to visit the same American knee specialist that Martin Laursen used last year to help try to resolve the injury that has ruined yet another season for the luckless defender. Wish I could go with him, does the Doc do 2 for 1 offers?! Full article:
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Match stats from Villa 0-0 Chelsea:
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Vital Villa asked who was Villa's biggest flop? Bosko Balaban got 80%, Nil Lamptey 5%, Stan Collymore 5%, David Unsworth 4%, Sasa Curcic 3% and David Ginola 1%.

Martin O'Neill says the fans were fantastic last night and the team will continue to try to do what they can to keep them happy, He said: 'I thought the crowd were fantastic, the best I've heard. I thought the atmosphere against Manchester United in front of a full house was pretty good. But they were deflated late on because United had scored a couple of goals, but last night they were absolutely terrific. We forced a corner and the roar that went up was superb and to me, that's what Villa Park can be like. I saw that for really the first time last night and I thought it was fantastic. I don't want to sound patronising, but it's up to us - players and myself - to try to keep that going if at all possible. Now I'm not saying we'll get that crowd when we play Watford, but we have to get a bit of momentum going if we can.'

Following last nights game Martin O'Neill explained 'Craig Gardner's got a groin problem and he just couldn't continue. But we'll know more about that one later today. It leaves us down to the bare bones because we had Peter Whittingham and Eric Djemba-Djemba - that was us. Didier Agathe was injured but his contract will be up very shortly so we'll see what happens.'

On Lee Hendrie O'Neill said he: 'is back with us and the way we're going he might as well come and join us. If Stoke want to talk to me they haven't spoke to me yet. It may just be out of courtesy. As for the transfer window, I start work this morning.'

Martin O'Neill says the Chelsea game was a steep learning curve for the youngsters 'I was pleased for the boys in the dressing room because this Premiership is a tough old place and if you look around the place, these players are remarkably young. It's never an excuse, but it's something that you can maybe build on.....Boys are learning their trade, but they have to learn quickly. And it's how quickly can you learn. You can actually play 50 Premiership matches and actually not pick up as much as you might think. It's about learning not to slip at important moments, learning to keep concentration. And if you've got the best centre forward playing against you, if you can't learn at times such as last night, then you'll never learn.'

Thought for the day: Girls. Don't worry about a nice dress for that important first date. All he's interested in is seeing you naked.

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