When Aston Villa entered the Inter 'two bob' toto cup at the start of this season many eyebrows were raised. Previous entrants had gone on to crash out of
However, this season Martin O’Neill’s side have shown the benefit an early start to the season can have for his side who now sit 3rd in the Premiership as well as being in the last 32 of the UEFA cup.
The game itself provides an interesting proposition for the Russian side in particular, for whom this game is their first since November after a winter break which has seen them lose their manager.
The Russian side, who were the only team to win all four group games in this seasons group stages, are now under the stewardship of Brazilian legend Zico who took over from the previous manager during the winter break. Recent events at
Despite Zico's greatness as a player, he has been somewhat a journeyman as a manager, taking charge of a range of club and international sides. His job breaking down a talented Villa side will be made easier by the potential return of fellow Brazilian Daniel Carvalho, who has returned from a loan spell in
The task facing CSKA on Wednesday night is made easier by the injuries and suspensions which have hit Villa at once. Their defence is particularly struggling, missing key figures such as club captain Martin Laursen and Wilfred Bouma long term. They are struggling further with injury doubts surrounding Carlos Cuellar, Curtis Davies, Nigel Reo-Coker and Emile Heskey.
The first leg will hold the key to this tie, with Villa needing some kind of lead to hold onto away at the Luzhniki stadium. They will be looking to capitalise on their match freshness and put CSKA to the sword at
This promises to be one of the ties of the round for the neutral and I hope for the resurgent Villa they can continue their good performances of this season.
17 February 2009
Villa vs CSKA
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2 comments:
Good article mate well scouted. Hopefully Villa will prosper because of the above points. Only thing is CSKA might benefit new manager magic; especially with him bein such a name. Also such a young Villa team has gotta call on all the experience they have particularly in the away leg in Moscow. With Laursen out the frame how important could the unsung Petrov be in a tie such as this. However limited the Bulgarian has had plenty of European experience with Celtic including a final in this competition. Lest we forget Friedel who is used to the hostile crowd after his days as a young keeper playing for Galatasaray; and indeed some European experiences from Anfield.
All of the factors have now been blown out of the equation by Martin O'Neills decision to leave 8 first teamers out of the squad, on top of already not having Laursen and Reo-Coker available... I am glad to be not paying the 1000 pound travel expense!
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