The Week In Villa (11)

Wednesday, 10th October

Gary Gardner talks about his willingness to play anywhere when he returns. I was a bit disappointed with his performances in pre-season and I wondered if it was Lambert`s system. It would be nice to have a proper midfield, it doesn`t feel like we`ve had one in quite a while.

Speaking of, Paul Lambert praises Brett Holman and backs him to start getting amongst the goals. That is needed, not just from Holman but the whole midfield.

Thursday, 11th October

Ashley Westwood talks about training and it being a lot harder at this level than where he has come from. So it chuffin` should be.

Gabby mentions Westwood in particular when talking about the youngsters that have joined. Obviously it`s all positive stuff, he`s hardly going to slag them off!

On the subject of youngsters, Michael Drennan bagged a hat-trick for Ireland U19`s. Excellent.

Friday, 12th October

Christian Benteke scored with a header for Belgium. Why didn`t he do that against Spurs… sigh. Still, well done him.

Elsewhere, Andi Weimann made his debut for Austria when he came on as sub.

Closer to home, Fabian Delph makes lots of positive noises; very good, now go do it on the pitch young man. Oh and please try not to get booked either! Yes the game is for wusses these days but you must adapt!

In other news, Rangers chief executive calls us completely useless. Now it`s true, the last two seasons we`ve been pretty poor and we`re not doing great at the moment. But that comment is still massively disrespectful, uncalled for and, given the source, pretty darn galling.

To make matters more bizarre, he does it in an interview discussing Rangers joining a European Super League. It is obviously a desperate attempt to get Rangers out of the 3rd Division without doing it the hard way.

You know, I have often defended the Glasgow clubs, as while I sure as hell don`t want them anywhere near the Premier League and I have never heard a decent argument for it, I do think that the magnitude of the clubs and the Old Firm matches have often been massively underestimated by many this side of the border.

However, to suggest Rangers belong in a European Super League is nonsense for a trio of reasons:

Firstly, there is no European Super League on the horizon and I don`t see there being one any time in the near or distant future.

Secondly, the Rangers I refer to above, and indeed the Rangers he clearly has in his head, are about as relevant as the Wimbledon side that beat Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup final. Sure it is not the same scenario. However, the simple fact is that neither club technically exists any more.

Which leads us to the third and final reason; the current version of Rangers are as relevant as Fleetwood are in England. I don`t mean that disrespectfully to Fleetwood, but the fact is, as I write this, both teams sit third in the fourth tier of their respective domestic leagues. Oh and Rangers are coming off the back of a 1-0 defeat against Stirling. Stirring stuff; probably best to worry about the forthcoming matches against Queens Park and Clyde than trying to piggy back off the likes of Ajax and PSV.

Clearly I am a tad irked by the comments, but I also felt the need to put into perspective the relevancy of the ramblings of a clueless individual who is obviously nothing short of an embarrassment to a once great football club.

Saturday, 13th October

For the third consecutive Saturday of this column, your writer would like to note that Saturday`s without the Villa suck.

Still, Michael Drennan got another goal for the Republic of Ireland U19`s. Go on lad!

In former Villan news, NRC joins Ipswich Town (remember when his agent was spouting about Champions League clubs being after him? Idiot) and Emile Heskey wins 'the battle of the marquee men` down under as he scored in a 3-2 win against a team containing Del Piero. G`warn Emile.

Sunday, 14th October

Green apologies for his comments. Sort of. It`s a bit of a stupid statement, but, whatever. He clearly IS stupid, so, let it be.

The papers have nothing to write about so insist Darren Bent is leaving. Might happen, wouldn`t be stunned if it did, but I don`t think it will.

Over to the ladies, and they lose 3-1 at home to Cov in the League Cup. Everyone seems a bit indignant about it as we appeared to dominate the game but alas, we still lost. I would imagine the people of Coventry were delighted, a win over the Villa is always important to them.

Monday, 15th October

Staying with the ladies, we have six of them called up for the England U-19`s. That`s genuinely an impressive achievement, and well done to those involved.

Also continuing from yesterday, the club insist there is no issue with Darren Bent. I have to be honest, I don`t think we`d say that if we were just covering it up. Maybe some will think I am being naïve but that`s just how I see it.

Marc Albrighton says lots of nice things about the manager, as you do. Some of which includes the fact that he still looks a good player in training. Maybe he should dust his boots off…

Tuesday, 16th October

As the England game was washed out (what the roofing heck was that, seriously?), I watched the Belgium and Scotland game. Benteke got another goal which can only be good for him. He did look pretty good when involved and Alan Hutton looked largely useless, but then, you know, that`s pretty much how it is.

Shay Given says he is gutted about losing his place, and Brad Guzan says he is delighted he has taken it. Well duh!

We sell our away allocation for Swindon. Pretty impressive, that. I don`t get to away games as often as I would like but whenever I do, the support is tremendous. Much more fun than Villa Park sadly, ha!

Randy Lerner`s sale of the Cleveland Browns is officially a goer. About £620m. Wonder if he`ll lend me a tenner.

Finally, we make a statement about that dipstick at Rangers, which includes the excellent line:

'We are hoping that going forward Green will retreat to his day job and leave the cutting remarks for those standing on somewhat stronger footing.'

Superb.

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