Aston Villa - Lionheart Men

[CaptainCrazy]

A New Manager at Villa Park
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Aston Villa has quickly found a replacement after it was announced that Alex McLeish would reject their offer after threats to himself and to his family.
According to his agent he says that he would never consider taking a job where he thought there could be any risk to his family. He and his family has since gone on a vacation, destination unknown.

The new man on the job, a newcomer we've never heard of, Sean Lionheart has been the talk around Birmingham ever since, who is he? Is he Qualified? What can he do for Aston Villa?
We will all have to see.


Sean Lionheart - The right man to lead the Lions?


Press Conference

"Everyone, please be seated. You will soon be allowed to ask questions, so just please sit down."

Sean Lionheart and Randy Learner walks in and take their places at the poduim.
Randy Lerner - "Welcome everyone to this event, where we will introduce our newest signing, Mr Lionheart"
Randy gestures to Sean who nods and starts.

Sean Lionheart - "Yes, thank you Randy. First off I'd like to thank Randy here and the club, for offering me this position and having faith in me. I will do my best to make the men perform at the pitch and hopefully we can take home some really nice trophies to keep the man here happy as well. Well... shoot."

The Sun Journalist - "Sean, what make you think that you'll be able to manage a team at this level when you have no experience at all from any professional football?"

Sean Lionheart - "First off, it's Mr Lionheart to you. Second, have you seen any of my work? Sure I have not managed a professional team before but I know people, and football players are people, and I certainly know football, how about you sit down and wait half a season and ask me the same question again, huh? Sit down."

BBC Journalist - "Then this must be the best place for you to prove yourself Mr Lionheart, do you have any comments on being a last second replacement for Alex McLeish?"

Sean Lionheart - "Oh miss, please call me Sean. The fact that I was called in at the last second doesn't bother me at all, I've had talks with Villa for quite a while and was about to get a job here anyways, just not as a manager, but they could see my qualities and decided to give me a shot at it. I feel I have their complete support as well as they know they have everything I've got."

The Sun Journalist - "So, Sean, what future do you have in store for the team, what are your visions for this season and a possible future?"

Sean Lionheart - "It's Mr Lionheart I told you, now sit down and let someone else ask a question, I'm sick of you already. Bah! You've ruined my mood, that's it for today, thank him. I'm off."

"Uhm, well that seems to be it for today, the exits are behind you, and some players will wait outside ready for some interviews, thank you all for coming."

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Cleaning House

So I've talked with the directors and they've allowed me to assemble my own staff team. This lead to me kicking everyone out, except for a few I considered usefull. Those were Gordon Cowans, Kevin MacDonald, Rafa González and Tony McAndrew.
So my first task will be replacing everyone leaving, with the number one priority being my new Assistant Manager. Let's have a look on some possibilities shall we.



These are the ones I have in mind.
Feel free to come with other names if you dislike all of these. Soo far I'm leaning towards Tony McAndrew, he's been here a long time and knows the team better than anyone and deserves a raise and more responsibility. The other fellows are qualified as well, Cooper is young and can improve along with me, same with Brian Rice, Albiston is a bit older but still not dying and also has the most international experience.

When it comes to coaches, scouts and physios, I'll just have a look around and bring the most capable men in.

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Please give me suggestions for Assistant Managers and keep me company here with my game.

I'm no native speaker of english so if there's any typos or any other flaws, feel free to highlight them if you consider it important, or don't if you don't.

Wish me luck!

[h=1]Gunning for Glory: My Arsenal Story - An inspiration for my layout, perhaps even a complete ripoff! [/h]


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[Mckergan]

good story so far mate,

good ASSMEN are elio carravetta, think thats how you spell it, or al stewart, quite good, i mainly just look for motivating

 

[CaptainCrazy]

good story so far mate,

good ASSMEN are elio carravetta, think thats how you spell it, or al stewart, quite good, i mainly just look for motivating

Oh noes! Assmen!
I'll take a look at those and we'll see who my choice fell on in my next update.

 

[CaptainCrazy]

Let the Games Begin


First I was getting an Assistant Manager, I finally decided on Brian Rice, a fellow country man, with plenty of experience for his age, assisting managers. I feel that we will work well together. Seeing as I have no renown around here I need a man who can inspire the team and inspire discipline in them, and this is the guy to do help me.

As always, there is a pre-season, a bunch of "friendly" games against teams from here, there and everywhere.
Since these games aren't the most interesting, as one has to take in consideration that most teams play with experimental line-ups, new players are being phased in, players are out of shape, I will just fast forward through these.



First off we headed towards Scotland to go up against Motherwell, a task we handled pretty good, 2-0 in our favour and rather comfortably soo. The goals were scored by Gabby Agbonlahor and Nathan Delfouneso, both after two minutes extra time in each half.

Next up S.L. Benfica at Villa Park, and once again we prevailed. 2 goals to one, although we were on the defensive much more in this game than the former, they kept up the preassure, and after two goals in the first half, by Marc Albrighton and Agbonlahor, they managed to stress Ciaran Clark to score an own goal in the 63rd match minute. He is not to blame though as the ball merely were deflected when shot at him, he had a decent game, different can be said about Shay Given who saved our faces in this one. He played very very well and saved many class finishes.

Then we went to Cambridge to emberass them, 0-5 with total dominance and five different goal scorers. Albrighton, Darren Bent, Gary Gardner, Clark and Stephen Ireland, we did what we were supposed to.

A long trip later, to see off Mexican outfit Jaguares with a 0-1 score. Fabian Delph this time, nice to see the young talent score, hopefully he can continue in that manner. Other than that we were under some heavy preassure in some periods but managed to fend them off, well done by the defence and Given.

When we got home again we got over a weeks rest and then the more well known fellows from Serie A's Roma came to visit, and teached us a lesson. We had possession advantage and got a few chances ourselves, but Roma had the efficiency that we need. They scored 3 goals in 4 shots on goal, **** it. Francesco Totti,Daniel Osvaldo and Stefano Okaka each got a goal. They deserved the win and I want to see the players get a bit more emotional in the real games, play with some spirit.

Another trip down south, a week later, saw us draw against Spanish Recreativo, a game against a second division team, and we didn't win. I was dissapointed to say the least. 1-1 with goals from Kepa and Richard Dunne. After they had been allowed to do whatever they wanted in the first half, I gave the boys a stern talking to and they shaped up in the second, lining up chance after chance, we were ineffective though and only managed to score on a corner.

All in all the pre-season was decent, we won most of the games with only the last two being a real hassle, especially against Roma, that was a tough loss and showed me some weaknesses we need to take care of. Against Recreativo it was mostly a weak first half and an inefficient second half that kept us from winning with a clear margin, Darren Bent in particular, had his aim really crooked this time around.

Best of the Pre-Season

Marc Albrighton - Played five games from start and came in as a substitute in one, scored twice and got three assists, landed two MoM awards and only one red card. He ran a whole lot and showed that he really wanted to keep his first team spot, and that's what he'll get, atleast if he keeps this up

Fabian Delph - Another young player showed when the more experienced failed, playing the same amount of games as Albrighton he managed to score once and got one assist and a MoM award, with a stunning 86% pass compeltion ratio and some good defensive moves he proved to be the master of the midfield in our pre-season games, well done and good signs for the future.

Shay Given - A good keeper we needed, a good keeper we got. Shay Given stood for some really fantastic displays in most of the games but had a tough time against the Italian strikers against Roma. He played five games and conceded four, with 3 clean sheets and one MoM award, I'd say he did really well most of the time.

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[CaptainCrazy]

Transfer Update

I have been quite busy during this transfer window, only buying not really selling. Let's hope I've find some top talent that can help us towards our goals this season, to reach Europe.



The two largest signings for us are the two Czech Strikers Tomas Necid & Vaclav Kadlec. Both expensive, both have really fantastic potential. Now though, some really ****** news, Tomas Necid came here injured... For a year!
Seriously, how much bad luck is that. That is really the reason Kadlec was bought in the first place, hopefully they'll play well together in the future, both here at Villa and in their National Team.

Other signings who are supposed to fight for a place in the first team are Olof Mellberg, the Swedish Viking is back, and Darron Gibson who we got cheap from Manchester United. The squad is strengthened in almost every position and I feel ready for the season to come, let's go!

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We will be put to the test straight away against Chelsea at Villa Park, a hard task but not impossible, I don't yet know where they stand so it'll be exiting indeed.


Aston Villa 1 - 3 Chelsea

This one went bad from the very start, just 12 minutes in, Olof Mellberg mowed down Didier Drogba in the penalty box after a Chelsea counter attack with Kalou hitting a long ball right infront of the running bulldozer of a player, an unnecessary challenge as he was on the right side of Drogba and probably could've blocked him off, but that didn't happen. Instead a Chelsea penalty and a yellow card for Mellberg.
Lampard knew just what to do and securely placed the shot in the lower right corner where Given were unable to reach it, 0-1.

Eight minutes later there were, once again, chaos in our defensive line. Dunne intercepting a low cross from Malouda right in front of the goal, and decides to one-hit pass it back out on the flank to Clark, he dallied with the ball which Malouda easily won back and once again pushed it in front of the goal, this time Drogba were there and easily placed the ball in the closest corner, 0-2 and Chelsea are still coming strong while we're trying to get some balls in front of our pacey strike force.


Torres & Drogba - Both scoring in League Premiere against Aston Villa

In the 39th minute, that's exactly what happens. A failed Chelsea attack sees the ball land right at the foot of Agbonlahor, half way between the mid-circle and our penalty box, who easily turns around and hits a perfect ball into the deep. Bent against Terry and Alex, they stood no chance as he picked up pace and rounded Cech, who came out to block him off, and placed the ball in an open goal, 1-2 and I'm starting to hope that we can turn this around, what Bent's speed did to their defensive line, it was impressive.

We kept trying to get them on the counter attack in the second half, but man did they defend well. They had a pretty big possession advantage and took the game to a pace they were comfortable with and then, in the 83rd minute Boswinga throws a long throw-in, from next to the corner flag, to Kalou who is wide open and just lays it in towards our first post where, Drogba substitute, Fernando Torres throws himself at the ball to see it bounce in, 1-3 late in the game.

After that, the game just died out. Chelsea played the ball around their midfield while we were to tired to chase them enough, never managed to create anything really threatening after that and the scored last until the whistle, our premiere was at a loss, my first game ever was at a loss. We have to pick ourselves up, this was never going to be an easy game, we all knew that.

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League Cup 2nd Round
Aston Villa 3 - 0 Huddersfield

A good win, we started with two young strikers and another newcomer N'Zogbia, and still did well up front. We created a whole bunch of chances and managed to score three times, I'm happy with the result and the players.

Richard Dunne started it off in the 21st minute with a hard headed corner from N'Zogbia, they never stood a chance.

Ten minutes later it was time again, and once again from a set-piece, and once again it was N'Zogbia who hit the free-kick straight in the head of a forward diving Kadlec who reached the ball before Huddersfield goalie, Thomas.


Charles N'Zogbia - Two assists and a Man of the Match Award in his first start for The Lions

Kadlec wanted to prove himself even more in his first start for us and in the 91st minute he cought a terrific pass from Bannan, just at the edge of the penalty box, took it down beautifully and took a few steps before placing it in the far corner, great strike.




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[CaptainCrazy]

Blackburn 1 - 1 Aston Villa

We fail to win yet again. Blackburn played well and were a lot more active than we were in the final quarter of the pitch. They kept attacking while we fell deep to defend ourselves, too many times.

In the 46th minute, it payed off for Blackburn when Samba launched the attack with a long ball to Gamst Pedersen who were totally free due to Warnock's thought being seemingly elsewhere. He easily entered the penalty box and a low cross later, Jason Roberts launched himself in front of Mellberg and 1-0 was a fact.

Blackburn continued their dominance in the second half as well but in the 81st minute Agbonlahor caught a long ball from Delph, and after some ricocheting he finally managed to get the ball past Nelsen and Givet, only to see it land at the other side of the goal where Albrighton took it down and missed a shot from a steep angle. Luckily enough Bent were at the right place at the right time and managed to get the ball in the net, 1-1.

That result stood until the game was over, we were lucky to get a point from this and we will have to improve to start winning games agasint PL opposition.




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