Aston Villa 2007/08 preview

Boss needs new recruits to make challenge for Europe

By Chris Harvey   Last updated: 8th August 2007   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Aston Villa 2007/08 preview

Reo-Coker: Big season

ASTON VILLA 2007/08
Predicted Position: 12th
Star Man: Ashley Young - Young arrived mid-season last term and Villa fans only caught glimpses of why Martin O'Neill shelled out such a large
transfer fee. However, Young has looked sharp in pre-season and should kick-on during the campaign with a place in England's Euro 2008 squad an undoubted aim.
Manager: Martin O'Neill - With owner Randy Lerner's substantial transfer kitty at his disposal, O'Neill has been very frugal. A couple of injuries to key defenders and his unwillingness to meet inflated valuations could prove costly.
INS: Nigel Reo-Coker (West Ham), Maron Harewood (West Ham)
OUTS: Lee Hendrie (Sheffield United) Chris Sutton (retired) Stephen Henderson (Bristol City), Aaron Hughes (Fulham), Steven Davis (Fulham), Gavin McCann (Bolton) Jlloyd Samuel (Bolton) Robert Olejnik (Falkirk) Eric Djemba-Djemba (Released), Liam Ridgewell
(Birmingham)
Best signing: Nigel Reo-Coker
Sky Bet Odds: 250-1
Likely top scorer: John Carew
Possible best XI (Sorensen, Bouma, Mellberg, Laursen, Barry, Young, Petrov, Reo-Coker, Berger, Agbonlahor, Carew)

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The remainder of August is likely to be crucial to Aston Villa's 2007/08 season with the squad still looking threadbare as the big kick-off approaches.

In spite of the arrival of West Ham duo Nigel Reo-Coker and Marlon Harewood, manager Martin O'Neill has so far failed to strengthen in key areas.

The former Celtic boss has pruned his squad during the summer with a number of fringe players allowed to leave Villa Park.

The likes of Liam Ridgewell, Jlloyd Samuel and Aaron Hughes have moved on leaving defensive resources somewhat thin.

O'Neill has promised fans he will get the men he wants but the faithful must be fearful if key men Gareth Barry, Olef Mellberg and Martin Laursen spend any time on the sidelines during the season.

Priorities

But O'Neill, whose priorities include a right-back and a goalkeeper, has stated he will not pay grossly-inflated fees for players.

That did not stop him shelling out £8.5million for Reo-Coker and a lot hangs on how the England Under 21 skipper settles in at Villa Park.

Villa missed a driving force in midfield last season and should Reo-Coker rediscover his best form, he should provide the physical presence needed.

The Villans will also be looking to shake off their tag of draw specialists. They drew 17 games in the last Premier League campaign and a handful more wins would have propelled them into a European place.

A shortage of goals did not help and O'Neill will be looking to giant target man John Carew to find the net more regularly this time around.

The Norwegian international was an instant success, scoring the winner against West Ham on his debut, but he managed just three goals in all after arriving from Lyon in January and will need to improve drastically on that tally if Villa are to climb above mid-table.

He will need support from new signing Harewood to ensure Villa up their goal tally while youngsters Luke Moore and Gabriel Agbonlahor will be looking to weigh in with their fair share.

It's also going to be a big season for another January signing Ashley Young. The 22-year-old was brought in from Watford for the princely sum of £9.65million but he only found the net twice in his 11 games. He needs to be more consistent this time around if he's to delight the Villa Park faithful as well as impress England boss Steve McClaren.

Along with trying to bring in reinforcements to a squad light on numbers, O'Neill also needs to tie up deals to retain some of his current players.

The ex-Leicester boss is keen to tie up new deals for youngsters Craig Gardner and Moore while he also needs to talk to representatives of Mellberg and Thomas Sorensen, who are in the final year of their current deals.

O'Neill has gone on record to say that "by the end of the transfer window I would not want to be out-numbered in the sense of how many have gone out of the club and who has come in so we have a few to bring in" but Villa supporters may have to be patient in what is likely to be another season in which they fall short of their desire for European football.

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Comments (12)

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Nigel Lynch (Aston Villa fan) says...

Aston Villa will finish no lower than fourth in the Premiership this season. We have a good team, yes we should sign more players but we still have some days to go till the transfer window closes and still have January. I am behind MON in not spending too much on players. We have a good youth team and should promote within. On the whole, we have a strong team. I hope Mellberg commits to at least another 3 years. As well as Gardner and Moore signing new deals. The guys just have to believe in themselves and show their talent and strong will they possess. It will be tough but COME ON VILLA........

Posted 05:23 11th August 2007

John Barrett (Aston Villa fan) says...

Villa to finish 8th. We'll sign Curtis Davis, get 6 points off the Blues and win the Carling Cup! Not a bad season and then aim for the top 4 in 2008/09. COME ON U MIGHTY VILLA!

Posted 10:22 10th August 2007

Dan Armishaw (Aston Villa fan) says...

A good pre-season, pleased with the performances of Moore, Agbonlahor, Reo-Coker and Young, but rather dissapointed at the lack of players entering the club as a pose to the numbers that have left. Really need to sort out a defence that can cope with injuries when they arrive (and they will) but attacking I feel we are very competitive in the leage now and could well surprise the big four where normally we have only managed draws against them at the very best! I predict a top 10 finish with key players being Reo-Coker, Agbonlahor and Young

Posted 09:50 10th August 2007

Volker Linnertz (Aston Villa fan) says...

Unless O'Neill brings in another two or three quality players until the end of the transfer window, it will have been a very disappointing transfer period for Villa. I think with the funds that were available, there has not been enough activity. I can understand that O'Neill doesn't want to pay over the odds but the prices are unlikely to lower toward the end of the transfer window and I think you just have to accept the rules of the market nowadays. It is growing absolutely mad in terms of transfer fees and if you are not willing to spend big you will end up empty-handed. O'Neill has been pointing out all the time that he believes the Villa squad did not have enough depth last season. His reaction was to let half of the defenders (Hughes, Samuel, Ridgewell) leave without bringing in any new faces. This doesn't make much sense, does it? Also, I was very upset that he dealt away Stephen Davis and McCann. He replaced both of them with Reo-Coker which is in my opinion an upgrade in terms of quality. But we have lost depth in this department as well with two players leaving and just one coming in. I think Villa looks fine in attack especially if you assume that young players like Agbonlahor, Moore and Young will be even stronger this year. But we have to expect some improvement from Petrov and Maloney in order to animate our game offensively. We still need two or three quality players in defense, especially a right-back. But with the squad looking as it does at the moment, I don't think it is realistic to expect a top-six-finish.

Posted 08:22 10th August 2007

Michael Teschl (Aston Villa fan) says...

Villa ends top 10 . That'll be an okay season - but they should NEVER have sold Stephen Davis to Fulham. He was more than a promising player - he was already fully-fit Premier League-material. Selling him was a huge mistake, and I think - to the advantage of his new club - he will prove that this season ... I wish him the best.

Posted 14:13 9th August 2007

Kris Williams (Aston Villa fan) says...

Villa are stronger contenders this season, im not saying they'll be top 4 but top 6 as the squad is very strong and all players are very very eager. The performance against Inter Milan was amasing and showed great signs of what these guys can do when they work for each other. They have a attack, attack, attack mentality & with the likes of Young, Gabby, Reo, Moore (on fire) Barry, Petrov, Even Berger is showing signs of his glory days, It should be a fantastic season all round.

Posted 08:23 9th August 2007

Ivan Teo (Liverpool fan) says...

You are spot on. Villa has a good team, but a weak squad which irritates me because Liverpool is facing them in the opening game. It would have been better to face them later the season when injuries and suspensions emerged. O'Neill tried a 4-3-3 formation at the start of the last season with Agbonlahor and Luke Moore at the flanks. The 2 youngsters, grateful of the manager's belief in them, were more than happy to track back to the flanks whenever Villa was under pressure, making the formation more like 4-5-1. The formation worked and Villa got off to a great start. Then Moore suffered a serious shoulder injury and O'Neill had to ditch the formation. Will O'Neill will start with this formation again? Now he has a target man in John Carew or Marlon Harewood rather than Angel or Baros. He certainly has an array of options upfront. O'Neill may be unwilling to pay over the odds for new players, but this Villa squad will not last till December, unless the first team can be injury free. O'Neill kept saying last season that Villa did not possess a big enough squad, but Leicester was no bigger squad during his reign there.

Posted 02:24 9th August 2007

Alan Foley (Aston Villa fan) says...

Starting to think that Martin O'Neill is over cautious and thinks its his own money he's spending. Let Randy Lerner worry about the finances and concentrate getting the players in. Three days until the season and no established right back at the club, not good enough for a premiership club...

Posted 16:33 8th August 2007

Richard Pettit (Aston Villa fan) says...

New owner, New manager, same story more out than in another season of nothing unless we make some good signings it's mid-table to bottom finsh. roll on 08-09 season

Posted 14:33 8th August 2007

Steve Brumpton (Aston Villa fan) says...

As a hardened villa fan, I am becoming more and more fearful as the start of the new campaign approaches. Our squad was already depleted even before the numerous departures this summer, and selling good, reliable players such as Gavin McCann and Steve Davies seems like Premier League suicide, especially as we have only managed to acquire 2 players in the whole of the pre-season. When Randy Lerner and Martin O¿Neill took control last season, it appeared that the club were finally heading in the right direction, and although we started brightly the season soon turned into the same mid-table obscurity we have all come to expect. Now just 12 months on, instead of looking forward to conquering Europe we are looking over our shoulders at possible relegation! We need MORE signings and FAST!!

Posted 13:02 8th August 2007

Sahir Rahman (Aston Villa fan) says...

i agree with barry, it will take a6tleast 3 or 4 more years to get into europe. we havent got the signings that we wanted. reo-cokeer was agreat buy but harewood was a panic buy. 4 million for marlon is a waste of money. ashley young and luke moore are our only players who can deliver this season. barry and reo-coker will assist many goals. we villa fans must be patient. it will be a long wait but we will be in europe sooner or later.

Posted 13:02 8th August 2007

Peter Keogh (Aston Villa fan) says...

Trouble with Villa is that I really believe we will look a lot different by the end of August with several more new signings. Once the new boys have settled in, if the right players have good seasons (Barry, Reo-Coker, Young, Petrov) we could definitely have a solid go at the UEFA Cup spots. Also I don't agree with your best XI, Agbonlahor will play instead of Harewood (who's been signed as a back up big man for Carew) and Barry will play on the left wing instead of Berger with Gardner settling in at right rack until we sign a top full back. Exciting season ahead (finally!) I hope. Up the Villa!

Posted 12:02 8th August 2007
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