Pre-Liverpool Talk From Manager & Players

it of a round up of some of the talk from Villa surrounding the Liverpool game today.

www.avfc.co.uk have McLeish telling Gabby he needs to get a few goals and be selfish in front of goal to help keep us up.

McLeish said: 'Gabby has taken over the armband in Stan and Richard's absence. Richard was vice captain and he would have taken it. But Gabby has come into it now as the longest-serving player and he's taken on the responsibility very well. I really feel he has responded.He has really risen to it."

Adding, 'We have asked him to be more ruthless and greedy in front of goal."

Asking a striker to score, whatever next? Oh yes, I know, play him as a striker not a winger!

Also on the Official Site, McLeish has said that our young players aren`t intimidated going to Anfield.

'We do have a lot of injuries at the moment to senior players and there are a lot of young players having to learn their trade very quickly. But I believe in the kids from the academy at this club and I am sure we will get good performances from them in the coming weeks. They are determined to make their mark and they've definitely got the confidence to believe they should be in the team anyway. But we are confident that we can go in with these guys."

Meanwhile Stephen Warnock told www.avfc.co.uk that Villa can`t be the ones to end Liverpool`s bad run.

My worry is that Villa are all Buddhist to be honest, Torres hadn`t scored in the PL for six months, you just knew he would v us didn`t you? We always seem to end bad runs for players and teams?!

Anyway, I digress, Warnock said: 'It will be a tough challenge because it's been Liverpool's worst run in a long time. They are going to want to put that right straight away and put that set of results to the back of their minds. They have a big calendar coming up too. They have the semi-final of the FA Cup against Everton so they will want to go into that in good form, starting this weekend. It's a huge game and we have to be mindful that we can get a result. We need to be positive."

And finally, yup, been plenty of pre-Liverpool talk !!

Nathan Baker has told The Official Site that he has been helped in training this week to be up for the Luis Saurez threat.

'Luis Suarez is a bit slippery* and his movement is brilliant so you have got to keep a very close eye on him. We'll certainly work on it. But I back myself to cope with most strikers and I'm certainly not afraid of anyone. Apart from Gabby of course! I always have a few little battles against him in training!"

He also says he is looking to cement a place in the Villa side for regular Premier League football.

*in more ways than one???!!!

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