The Villains- To Shine or Do the Time?

[Clince121188]

Superb story mate, I don't know why I but I actually love the fact that you have started a couple of seasons in maybe because it's different I think its brilliant. Just to let you know, You still have Lucas as the scorer against man City rather than Hernandez with a brace KIU though I will follow.

Thanks for the complements AND pointing out the Lucas mistake

---------- Post added at 10:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:08 AM ----------

After the Man City game, running through the team schedule, I noticed how much of a challenge playing in Europe was. Including the Man City game we were on a run of 7 games in 22 days, 1 game every 3 days. On the realization of this, I could only hope that my squad would have some good luck when it came to injuries. Looking at the fixtures, i picked out the Burnley and Coventry City games, as games where I could make radical changes and give the more key players a rest. Either way, there was no way I could complain about our fixtures. We were now competing in the biggest club competition in the world, something to be enjoyed and I was intent on doing just that.

So here we were, the stadium packed to the rafters, the fans' chants echoing around it. It was time for this squad to experience Champions League football together for the first time. When I took over the managerial duties at the club in 2010, I had planned for champions league football maybe next season. I certainly didn't see us competing in it this season. I had considered Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City and Tottenham to have
squads far superior to ours. Yet in 2012 we had a squad that I believed deserved to play in the competition. It was time now for us to show europe what we could do.

18th September

Aston Villa 0 - 1 Roma
(Riise "45")​

Unfortunately on our first showing in Europe we were beaten by a John Arne Riise header. Cheik M'Bengue had made a crucila error in the lead up. He had Pepe held up in the corner with no where to go, but in a lapse of concentration allowed him past to swing in the killer ball to Riise. I spoke to him after the game and tried to keep my anger in,
" Cheik, we are playing at the highest standard possible now. You are going to have to keep the mistakes out of your game. It only takes one at this level to lose a game". I then turned to the rest of the lads, " Of course that was only one instance lads. You have all played your part in this loss. We had them on the backfoot through the whole of that game. We had them, yet you reverted back to the usual in front of goal. 5 shots on target out of 16 I've just been told, 11 mistakes at times where we could have sunk them. The positives are again, that we had the majority of the possession and created more chances. We are going to have to get back to our standard of finishing from last year. We scored 93 goals last year, this year we want to win the league and I want at least that amount of goals again."

Realisticly, we just needed to keep down the amount of goals we conceded and score 80 plus goals. Last season it was the conceding of goals that let us down. This season we were well on top of that and I was determined to keep the team scoring. I was in fact very impressed with the performance against a strong Roma team. But the Italian league has been fading for a while and if we wanted to be champions of England then we had to be better than Roma. I made it my purrogative to beat them in Rome from then on.

22nd September

Aston Villa 3-0 Blackburn
(Jones"2", M'Bengue"9", Afellay"32")​

Starting Line-up for the game:

Ochoa

Danilo Jones Dede M'Bengue

Young Defour Afellay Rodriguez

Lucas Hernandez


Going into this one I was a little bit worried about how the players would hold up after the defeat to Roma during the week but we came out with the win and we're back on track. To be fair to Blackburn, todays game was a lot tighter than the scoreline suggested, though we still deserved to win as we created more and better opportunities. It was nice to see no signs of any European hangover. We started the game in the best possible way, with a goal. Jones finished off Youngs cross with a smashing header into the top corner on 2 minutes. M'Bengue, just a few minutes later, made a darting run into the box and Defours precise early cross was met with another clinical headed finish. Defour was again on hand to assist on 32 minutes. As he made his way across the box with the ball, he played a sly flick back to Afellay, who lofted the ball into the goal off the adjacent of the crossbar and post. It was a lovely controlled hit from 25 yards. In the second half the game got a bit more open and we didn't keep the ball as well as I would have hoped. Defour and Danilo also got injured late on, not something that was going to be helpful at all. Still we got our 5th clean sheet in the league in as many games and the result put us top.



That night I went along to a gig by The Answer, a great rock and roll band from Ireland and one I had always been impressed with live. After the gig, myself and my wife went out for a few drinks with the band. They told us of the craic they were having on their current tour and let us in on a few stories that the guys from Ac/Dc had told them, when they toured with them in 2009. I hadn't been back to Ireland in a while so it was nice to talk with a few people from home. Seeing as they were in town and didn't have another gig until next week, I invited them around my house for a sing song of all the rock classics and a few more beers. It was a great night, and a cool way to celebrate a win I thought. The next day the band hit the road again and myself and the wife reflected on how lucky we were to be leading the lives we did. The next day I learned of the extent of Defour and Danilos injuries. Defour would be missing for up to 4 weeks and Danilo for 2.




With Defour(Ribs) and Danilo(Knee) injured going into the Burnley game, I was already going to have to make changes, but I ended up making 9 in total. so that the team I sent out looked like this:


Amelia

Cuellar Davies Dunne Warnock

Lucas Hargreaves Ireland Rodriguez

Lewandowski Delfouneso

26th September


Burnley 0 - 2 Aston Villa
(Ireland "61", Richard Dunne "70")​

This was the response we had needed after the Roma loss. A good win against Blackburn in the league had been followed by a win here in what was actually a very tight League Cup game. Our finishing had certainly improved and that was something essential if we were to have any hope of winning the League title. This competition was not up there on our wish list but we had not won anything since I had taken over and any competition win would be very welcome.

29th September

Sunderland 3 - 1 Aston Villa

( Bent "15" "56", Elm "59") (Jones "23")​

This game was a fluke. Craig Gordon was fantastic on this occassion, pulling out several top-class saves to keep his team in it. I'm sure it was his inspiration that lead to Bent and Elm winning the game for the Black Cats. With only 4 shots on our goal they scored from three. This really was the only game that the team had lost since I had taken over that I couldn't place much blame on them for. I did of course nit pick at little things, in the hope that the players would strive to stop the loss count at 1. Bent was clinical in front of goal today, reminding me of Agbonlahor from the last two seasons. With Agbonlahor now back in full training, I was hoping to see him pick up from where he'd left off in his last 70 odd games. This was the last game of a very productive month for us. We knew what was working for us and what we could improve on and I believe that we can kick on from here.

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[AldoKemp-1]

Great update again mate, As to the lucas mistake Don't worry about that I made that same mistake in my story

 

[Clince121188]

Great update again mate, As to the lucas mistake Don't worry about that I made that same mistake in my story

Thanks man should hopefully have another update tomorrow afternoon.

 

[JakeHartlepool10]

can wait for next update

 

[Clince121188]

After a pleasing September, I arrived in October in good mood. In spite of this, I did feel like we would need to win at least one of our 2 Champions League games this month, to give ourselves any hope of establishing ourselves in that competition. To do so, we would have to score 1 more than either CSKA Moscow, our first opponents of the month, or Portuguese legends Benfica. Our league opponents for the month would be Coventry, Liverpool and Fulham, in that order. Out of these games, I was hoping the boys could steal 7 points, with 6 points the minimum I was prepared to accept. Our last game of the month was to pit us against Chelsea in the League Cup. I would really like to see the lads put it up to Chelsea in this one.

3rd October

CSKA Moskow 0 - 0 Aston Villa

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Despite my hopes of a win from this game, I was pleased with a solid draw in a hostile away environment. Our defending was pleasing in particular. When you can keep a clean sheet against a side boasting attacking talents such as Vagner Love, Doumbia, Honda and Mark Gonzalez, you know you have very capable defenders at your disposal. I gave young Renan a place between the posts for this one and like Akinfeev in the other goal he looked immensely assured in his duties. With youngsters of quality like Renan, Lucas, Rodriguez, Jones, Hernandez and Danilo, the future looks exceedingly bright.

7th October

Aston Villa 6 - 1 Coventry

(Rodriguez "8"+"47", Agbonlahor"15", Jones"22",Dunne"35", Davies"60") (Garry O'Connor "49")

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At last we had completely obliterated a team on the scoreline, in the way that we had beat them on the pitch them. I know it was against Coventry, but that was besides the point. It was our finishing I had been looking to see an improvement in this was certainly it. It was great to see young Rodriguez score his first couple of goals for the club and ease that weight from his shoulders. He also performed his team duties to perfection, an extremely promising performance indeed. Another plus was Agbonlahor getting on the score sheet and getting some much needed match practice.

20th October

Liverpool 2 - 1 Aston Villa

(Aquilani"4", Torres"78") (Lucas"55")

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This game was the clash of the 2 top teams in the england according to the league table. It certainly unveiled itself in that way. Both teams created numerous chances and good chances at that. Unfortunately we ended up on the wrong end of the scoreline this time around. Torres was in exceptional form and his overall interplay with his team mates assured that he deserved his winner in the 78th minute. I couldn't wait for the reds' visit to Villa Park, there would be no Kop to suck the ball towards goal for them there

24th October

Aston Villa 3 - 0 Benfica


(Lucas "2", Hernandez "52"+"62")
(Jones sent off "21")

Lucas with Brazilian international team-mate Neymar


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This was exactly the kind of performance needed after the loss at Anfield. Lucas and Hernandez looked a great partnership for us up front and certainly gave me at least a secondary option to Agbonlahor and Hernandez. What made this performance all the better was that we played for 70 minutes with 10 men after Phil was sent off for a needless professional foul. When he was sent off I brought Dede on for James(Rodriguez) to re-establish a back 4. I had inserted Warnock into the midfield for this one and when Jones was sent off I decided to play him a bit deeper. He proved to be a calming influence and even with less passing options available to him he ran the game from deep, connecting pass after pass. Our fans could certainly be proud of all our players tonight.


After that game I took Phil aside and ran through his sending off with him. We were already 1 goal up at the time and it had made no sense for him to make a challenge that would inevitably leave us with 10 men. He completely agreed with where I was coming from and let me know that it had just been a rush of blood to the head and wouldn't happen again.

I didn't want to be two harsh with Phil as he was only a young defender and these things happen with guys of his age, still learning the game. Also he had been in impeccable form this season and I didn't want to interrupt that by coming down to heavy on him

27th October

Aston Villa 2 - 1 Fulham

(Lewandowski "2", Jones "25") (Ait Fana"5")

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This was a crucial result for us, as without it I felt we could easilly start to loose our foot hold in the top few positions of the league. That was not to be though as Lewandowski scored his first of the season and Jones continued his spotless form with his 4th goal in 9 games this season. If Jones could continue with even half of his scoring form, never mind his precise defending, he would be a truly great asset for the team. I had kept Renan in goal since the CSKA Moskow game and he was proving an absolute bargain at just over 2 million from my first season in charge, with another great showing here. His run in the team was also coinciding with an injury spell for Guillermo and the way Renan was going Guillermo could find it difficult to keep his place.

30th October

Chelsea 2 - 2 Aston Villa (Chelsea win on penalties)

(Lukaku"52", Malouda "115") (Hernandez "19", Defour - pen "119")


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To be honest I was feeling a bit ****** off after this one. We had shown in our efforts, to be as good as Chelsea if not better during the game. We created about 5 clear opportunities for ourselves, but still came out of the game with our run in the competition halted. When Steven had shown the balls to step up and take the penalty, with just a minute left and slotted coolly into the bottom corner, I thought we would win the resulting shoot out. But it really shouldn't have come down to it in the first place.

"Lads we really have to start finishing off these kind of games. I have said this already this season, when you have that many more clear scoring opportunities in front of goal than your opponents, it is not acceptable to come into this dressing room after the game as losers. I hope you're taking this in guys! This is the one thing which needs to be improved on if you want to become champions! Don't come to me at the end of the season, saying you want a move away to win things! The potential is here to do so this season and the way it's going only you, not me will be responsable for a lack of silverware! I'm not even going to tell you you've played well anymore, unless you come in to me at the end of the game having taken your opportunities.Now get on the bus!"

I had to be harsh with them, this situation was presenting itself far too often for my liking.This month alone we had given two of our fellow title contenders the bragging rights over us because of it.

Having said that, we had accomplished 2 out of 3 of my minimum goals for the month in beating Benfica and gaining 6 points in the league to put us 21 points, 2nd only to Arsenal on goal difference.

Another plus for the month was recognition for the standard of our young players. Renan was announced as young player of the month with James and Phil not far behind in 2nd and 3rd. Hopefully we could rely on the spirit of our young players for another positive month in November.




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---------- Post added at 05:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:33 AM ----------

I know there is an error with the size of the font for the Chelsea game, but I can't edit it right now as I'm stuck at my girlfriends house and there's **** internet here.

---------- Post added at 12:18 AM ---------- Previous post was yesterday at 05:34 PM ----------

I am thinking of starting a new story to replace this one as I'd like to do one from scratch rather than having readers join after 2 seasons.

What do you think I should do?

 

[Footy4Life89]

great update mate I have an Aston Villa one too check out mine

 

[JakeHartlepool10]

yer mate start a completly new one although this is great

 

[Craig Dunning]

this one is brilliant, don't start a new one

 

[Clince121188]

I think I will keep this one up until the end of the season and see if it has any kind of following then.

 

[Clince121188]

We entered november in a very promising position. Bolton would be our first opposition for the month. Although they are a notoriously tough team to play away from home, I wasn't too worried. I left Hernandez on the bench to for this one. It was a long season and his first in the Premier League, therefore I took the opportunity to rest him against a physical team. Of course since Owen Coyle took over, they have become renowned for some lovely spells of play in games. However as their position of 12th in the league last year demonstrated, they had yet to match up that nice play with consistency.

Before the game at the Reebok, I met with Randy Lerner to discuss the boards view on how things were going early in the season.

Lerner: Hello Michael, take a seat. Well I'll be very straight with you. because you deserve it. The board are very satisfied with our season so far. You've spent big yet again during the summer, but clearly you know where to put the clubs money. For the second year running we are in the top 2 at this point in the season. You have managed to place us firmly in the mind-sets of everyone watching the Premier League, as top players in the league.

Me: Well sir, it's always great to here those kind of words coming from those at the top of a football club.

Lerner: As you know Michael, we here at Villa are sports people, so you can be sure as long as things are going well on the pitch, you will never have anything to fear from us. This new boy Hernandez, he has gotten off to a good start without setting the world on fire. Are you still confident he can do a job for us?

Me: Yes sir, absolutely. He has been fantastic in training and I'm sure that as soon as we find him the right role in the team and he blends into our way of playing, he will be a stand out player for us.

Lerner: That's good to here. What do you think of Ibrahim Afellays situation here at the club. With Real looking at him, it could be hard to keep hold of him.

Me: Well, he has given me his word that his loyalty remains with our club and as long as we keep up our form, I don't see why any of our players wouldn't want to be here.

Lerner: That again is fantastic to hear coming from the dressing room. Keep up the great work Michael and I will check in with you again in another couple of months.

I was happy to receive praise from the board, but I really just wanted to get down to work and focus on winning every game that I could. Then at the end of the season, I would have plenty of time to look back on the good and the bad.



Bolton 1 - 5 Aston Villa
(Sidwell 48)(Agbonlahor "4" "17" "35", Rodriguez "29", Lewandowski "41" )

Gabby celebrates his match-ball winning strike




Our first half display in this game was the best we had played so far this season. Agbonlahor was back to his immensely dangerous self in this one, terrorising Cahill and Wheater at every opportunity. Rodriguez and Lewandowski more than deserved their goals aswell. In the second half though, we really took our foot off the accelerator and our possession and invention went out the window. It would have been pointless for the team to go out in the second half and expend as much energy as in the first. To allow Bolton to win the second half was another thing completely though and I warned the players that they must stay focussed at all times from now on.



Benfica 0 - 1 Aston Villa
(Agbonlahor "51")

Gabby strikes again



This was a very open game, definitely one for the neutrals. Thankfully at the end of it we were able to celebrate the game as well as the neutrals, with Gabby scoring his 4th in 4 days. This win also left us top of our group and I couldn't see why it shouldn't stay that way.




Aston Villa 3 - 1 West Brom
(Lewandoski "38", Ireland "57", Agbonlahor "70") (Tchoyi "42")

Ireland on his way to scoring his 1st of the season


Our fans couldn't have enjoyed this one more than they did. Although they were our rivals in locality, West Brom were no match for us on the pitch in any way. We now had to be looking at all the big guns as our rivals. It was very encouraging to see agbonlahor on the scoresheet for the 3rd game in a row with his 5th goal in that time.


Arsenal 3 - 1 Aston VIlla
(Fabregas "20", Chamakh "30" "71") (Phil Jones "66")

Genius at work



Although we were allowed a few chances in this game, overall we had been taught a lesson by the Gunners. Fabregas was in impeccable form and was involved in all 3 goals for his team. It might take a bit of geeing up to get the team motivated after this one. We had been hammered by the team we saw ourselves competing with for the title. It was on the other hand nice to see Jones nabbing his 5th of the season, a great return already in his first season.



Aston Villa 2 - 1 Man United
(Rodriguez "79", Defour pen "86") (Nani "77" - Vertonghen Sent off "85)

Our Leader

This was just the ticket to get us back in the race for the league title. With Nani scoring the first goal after a spell of dominance for us, I honestly thought the game was over. I thought it would deflate us. The team, to their credit then rallied round to give a rousing comeback performance. Rodriguez goal was something special. He unleashed a fierce strike from the left corner of the oppositions box, which burst into opposite top corner past Benaglio. Our fans were louder than ever before after that strike and gave the team an extra push on every attack. Then in the 85th minute, as Gabby sent a drilled cross into the the box, Verthongen blocked Steven off. The ref interpreted it as a professional foul and sent Verthongen off. The United players swarmed around the referee and delayed the spot kick for about a minute. As Steven stepped up to take the spot kick I didn't envy his position. He had the weight of the ground on his shoulders. The leader in him showed up yet again though and he drilled the ball low to Benaglio's left. We held out and celebrated a deserved win at the end with our adoring fans.



Birmingham 1 - 2 Aston Villa
(Zigic"36") (Lucas 39, pen"90+5")


Another win against one of our local rivals. Lucas was the hero today as yet again we needed a penalty to seal the win. We made several chances during the game but Gabby in particular didn't seem to have his shooting boots on. We really could have done with Hernandez being available here but he missed out through injury. Thankfully Lucas more than filled in for his role up front.



Roma 1 - 2 Aston Villa
(Vucinic "79") (Rodriguez "11", Young "34")

A force to be reckoned with


This was a great finish to the month. We cemented our place in the 1st knockout round of the Champions League, which had looked a difficult prospect with the teams in our group. It was fitting that Rodriguez and Young sealed the win as they had been stand out performers for us in Europe. With this win we showed ourselves to be up and coming heavyweights in world club football.


Going into December, I will be looking very closely at each players performance, so as to see where we need improvement in January if anywhere. Also I want to see if anyone has not been putting in the shift that they are capable of. If anyone isn't I will be looking to find them another club to get rid of their effect on the rest of the players. On my own performance at the club, I was fully sure of myself. Lending to this was that Atletico Madrid had approached me in relation to managing their team toward the end of the month. It is very satisfying to know that the project you are in charge of, is of such a great importance that you can find it extremely easy to turn down such clubs as Liverpool, Juventus and Atletico.

Putting the effort in



Each month our players do a poll for the clubs Player of the Month. James Rodriguez was the recipient for November. He certainly impressed myself and it was great to see that the players could appreciate his contribution as well. James has managed to adapt to the English game at an extraordinary pace.

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