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McGrath Given Vote Of Confidence?

There has been rumours circulating that Aston Villa chairman Mario Plattner was becoming very impatient with Paul McGrath this month. With Villa crashing out of the Champions League with two matches still remaining and the poor form in the EE Premier League the Austrian flew over to talk to the Villa manager after the Capital One Cup forth round victory over Birmingham City.

This was actually Villa's best performance of the season as a resilient Birmingham side led by Sylvain Marveaux tried to cause an upset. It was two of the young talents of Aston Villa that caused the 4-1 rout. Jack Grealish and Dorin Rotariu scored one each and then set Kevin Volland up once each to give The Villans a great dominant win.

After the match however, there was a press conference where Mario Plattner was in attendance and he was asked if he had considered changing the manager the response was determined. Absolutely not! Paul is the right man for the job and we will prove this by backing him again in January. We got our first taste of Champions League football this season and we will get back there again. I fully believe that we will win trophies with Paul (McGrath) at the helm.

It is understood that McGrath has made the Capital One Cup and getting the top 4 in the Premier LEague his top two priorities now this season. Although the Capital One Cup is not a big cup competition, there is a chance to get to Wembley for a major Cup final, which is what players want to do, win trophies.

We would not call the press conference that Mario Plattner attended a sa vote of confidence but more like a warning to the Villa manager.

Good Month For Villa

Aston Villa had a very good November, playing six matches and winning four of them with one draw and one defeat.

Aston Villa started with the away cup match against Birmingham City, where they ran out easy 4-1 victors as already reported in the last update.



They then came up against a Newcastle side who were in forth place, one point ahead of the Villans so this was a big match and it was Daniel Sturridge who got the nod to play up front for The Villans. Aston Villa had chance after chance in the first half through Grealish, Rotariu and Sturridge but were unfortunate to go in at half time still goalless.

I have no idea what McGrath must have said to his side because they were out 5 minutes before getting ready for the half and they started at 100mph which most definitely paid off. In the 50th minute Volland and Rakitic played some awesome football and supplied the cross for Sturridge to head home for 1-0. Caulker then got the deciding goal on the 90th minute by heading home a Will Hughes free-kick.

Villa then hosted Atletico Madrid in the Champions League knowing that if they lost, they would be out.


Rakitic has been doing well for Villa this season

It was the most lacklustre performance by them of the season. 55,000 fans flocked in to see utter garbage from this expensively put together squad, which also included the poorest performers being Sterling, Rakitic and Sturridge. The Villa fans booed them off at half time after a 2-0 defeat that put them out of the Champions League with two games still to play!

Villa responded well against West Brom and Kevin Volland scored after just five minutes with a mazy run and finish but West Brom, through Brown Ideye and Jack Colback gave West Brom a half time lead. Villa came out in the second half on fire, Rakitic was bought on for Cleverley, who was just returning from injury and it was the Croatian, signed for £17,000,000 got the equaliser and was unfortunate not to win it, but it was a great match by both sides.

Villa then entertained Stoke, in what can only described as an absolute epic. Jack Butland had not been beaten in six matches but that changed here as Villa smashed 4 past Stoke in a 4-3 victory. Volland struck his second goal in two matches on the 18th minute to give Villa a 1-0 lead at half time. After half time Sturridge and Grealish made it 3-0 but Stoke got two back to give Villa a fright but then they went defensive and hit The Potters on the break and then fed the ball into young striker Alex Rowe to tuck away for his first of the season and the forth for Villa to record a impressive victory.


Volland has been scoring this month

Aston Villa then won there first Champions League match, even though it is too late to qualify but it means there pride can be in tact as they thrashed Olympiakos 2-0 with goals from Rakitic and Grealish. They also hit the woodwork another 4 times so the result could have been so much better than it was.




Chelsea and Manchester United are first and second with Arsenal and Villa just behind them in third and forth respectively. Liverpool find themselves in big trouble down in 19th place, with just Leicester behind them. Man City are eight with Spurs down in eleventh.

Villa Player Of The Month

I am going to give this to Steven Caulker. He has been a rock at the back this month and is surely a future captain at The Villans. It will be interesting to see how he will perform in December.

Grealish Heading For Exit Door?

Twenty-Two year old Irishman Jack Grealish has been a sensation at Aston Villa since Paul McGrath took over the club. He has over one hundred and twenty appearances with thirty two goals to his name and one professional hat-trick. He also has twenty eight assists over that time too.

Jack Grealish is now the interest of Manchester United AND Manchester City. It is understood that the two Manchester clubs are ready to test Aston Villa's resolve with a bid of around £18m but it is understood that Aston Villa will say no.

I love playing for Aston Villa said Grealish and I want to win the Premier League and the Champions League titles. I can not ever think of leaving Aston Villa but eventually if they can not give me anything that I want then I will have to look at leaving after a certain amount of time.

It is understood that Ernesto Valverde has made Greaish his number one target with the board of directors determined to go all out to land the attacking midfielder.

Stay tuned to see what happens.

Valverde: We Will Do ANYTHING To Sign Grealish

Manchester United manager Ernesto Valverde today racked the pressure up on Aston Villa and the in demand winger Jack Grealish by stating he would go all out to land the 22 year old Irish international.

The Manchester United manager was present at Villa Park yesterday to watch the wonderkid in the 2-2 draw against Manchester City, the other club interested in Grealish but in recent times Italian Giants Juventus are said to be monitoring the situation at Villa Park too, which could be a reason why Valverde came out and said what he did after the match to BBC Sport.

Ernesto Valverde speaks out about Villa's Jack Grealish

Jack is someone who we have stated we WILL buy and I fully expect him to be a Manchester United player in January. We like to buy one superstar every window, In the summer it was Mattia Destro from Roma for £26,500,000 along with Ross Barkley for £16,250,000 and we will pay whatever it takes to bring Grealish to the club.

It is thought that although Grealish came out and said on record he did not want to leave Aston Villa that he is open to an offer from Manchester United and has privately asked chairman Mario Plattner to consider a good offer if there was to be one. It is understood however that manager Paul McGrath has asked the chairman to make sure that Grealish stays an Aston Villa player and will give Plattner an interesting choice to make. Will he stick with what his manager wants or cash in of the youngster to give McGrath money to spend, one thing is for sure, it will be an interesting time at Villa Park over the next month an a half.

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Two Nominated In Balon D'Or

The Balon D'Or and Aston Villa is something you never associate with each other but with the remarkable improvement and the fact they are now attracting world class players it is expected that they might have one or two entries on the shortlist, that is the case this season albeit one of the players because of his previous club.

There are no goalkeepers on the shortlist this season but every other position has a representative. Usual players like Sergio Aguero, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have made the shortlist but so has two Aston Villa players.

First is striker Gonzalo Higuain, who when he was playing for Real Madrid, performed amazingly well for club and country and has 10 goals and 6 assists for the year but is deemed no chance of wining the award.

The second player is Englishman Raheem Sterling, who some say could have a outside chance of placing and why couldn't he? He has been amazing for Villa this year and for England and has scored 13 times for club and country with 15 assists. If you was looking for a player who masterminds there teams performance, Sterling would win it hands down and that is why Villa rewarded him with a £190,000 a week contract over 5 years.

I am shocked to be included on a list that includes Ronaldo, Messi, Ibrahimovic and Bale but even more shocked that some people think I have an outside chance to atleast place, which will ofcourse be hard to do and wish all of the shortlist the best of luck for the award said Englishman Sterling speaking at Bodymoor Heath training ground.


Sterling is in the nomination list for the Balon D'Or

The favourites for the title are Messi, Ronaldo, Aguero and Enzo Perez from Benfica. The award will be announced on 1st January 2018.

Aston Villa Still In Europe!

Fans get ready for the big match in the Champions League

Aston Villa today thrashed Porto 5-0 to finish 3rd in there group at Porto's expense and are able to continue in Europe, even though it will now be the Uefa Europa League.

A potentially serious injury suffered by Aston Villa's Daniel Sturridge overshadowed what was a fantastic night at Estadio do Dragao albeit a cold and wet.

Aston Villa started off much the brighter with Sturridge, Grealish and Stones going close in the first 15 minutes. Complete wing back Alex Sandro showed a sign of things to come as he nearly gifted Aston Villa a goal on the 21st minute when his poor backpass gave sturridge a chance but he fluffed his chance but also pulled his hamstring so was replaced by Salomon Rondon.


Sturridge got injured against FC Porto

Four minutes later and Villa were 1-0 up after Grealish hit a scorcher. Rondon, who had been lively since his introduction fed the ball to Sterling who then laid it on for Grealish to smash home with great conviction.

Just 16 minutes later and it was 2-0 as Villa were showing Europe that at some point they are going to be a force to be reckoned with. Rondon was bought down about 30 yards out on the right hand side of the pitch, Santon bent the free kick in for the Venezuelan to glance home to make it 2-0 and Porto were now going to be out of Europe all together and Villa were on course for the Europa League.

After half time Villa just kept cracking it up and the Porto team were now all behind there half way line, attack after attack came with Grealish first going close from long range again, then Cleverly who was quietly having another storming match until on the 63rd minute, Aston Villa put the game beyond doubt as Rondon, who had already scored once got on the end of a delightful chipped through ball by Cleverley to be all alone against the keeper and he rounded the keeper and slotted home for 3-0.


Rondon's double helped Villa on the way to winning against Porto

10 minutes later and Volland, who replaced Sterling got on the end of a long hopeful clearance by John Stones to make it 4-0. It was a great drive into the bottom left hand corner and he then turned provider for a rare goal by right back Gino Peruzzi. When he scores they are never tap ins as this one was a freak cross shot but they all count and Villa won away from home in Portugal 5-0 to finish a most unlikely 3rd in the table.


Volland has rediscovered his form for Villa

The draw for the Europa league is to be made on Friday 22nd December and ofcourse you can find out all about it right here.

McGrath: The Referee Lost Us The Match

Phil Dowd has been red card happy this season

In the wake of Aston Villa's 3-1 defeat to Everton where John Stones was sent off for a questionable tackle on Loic Remy and after the match Aston Villa manager Paul McGrath was raging. It was a disgrace! raged McGrath, not only was he harshly sent off, it meant we had lost our emphasis and went from being on top to trying not to concede. That is what you can not do against Everton because they are a great team and although they won, there fans will know that it was not a fair match but we will bounce back and appeal the red card.

Twenty-four Hours Later

John Stones red card has been rescinded. The commitee that look into red cards also launched a scathing attack on the referee Phil dowd for not picking up the fact that Irishman Aiden McGeady dived to cause the sending off.



The investigation into the official continues.

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