Aston Villa surprised many neutrals last season, and probably even some of their own supporters, with their 6th-place finish. In 2006-2007, the Villans checked in at a respectable 11th, a nice improvement from 16th the season before. Villa's emergence, led by manager Martin O'Neill, came with one of the smallest, if not THE smallest, first team rosters in the Premiership. Click to continue reading...

The draw for the UEFA Cup Second Qualifying Round was conducted this morning, and the two English clubs involved at this stage in the competition couldn't have come away happier. Both should defeat their respective Scandinavian opponents and advance to the First Round without too much difficulty.

After seeing off EB/Streymur in the last round, Manchester City will open this tie at home against FC Midtjylland. Click to continue reading...

Aston Villa today announced Wilfred Bouma could be playing within 4 to 6 months following his succesfull operation on a dislocated ankle suffered during the victory at Odense BK in the intertoto cup.

The Dutch international, 30, underwent an operation on Sunday, in which the ankle was reset succesfully, Leaving the wingback in "Good spirits" according to Martin O'Neil. Click to continue reading...

A summer filled with video highlights here continues with Ashley Young's stunning goal in Aston Villa's 1-0 victory over Odense BK yesterday. The win sealed Villa's place in the UEFA Cup second qualifying round, and Young sent the home crowd into raptures with this right-footed drive from his usual left wing position. Click to continue reading...

Martin O'Neill has warned Liverpool he is ready to set a deadline for them to meet his valuation of want-away Aston Villa skipper Gareth Barry.

O'Neill insists Villa cannot continue to be at the "behest" of the Merseysiders who have failed to offer the £18million he is seeking for the England midfielder. Click to continue reading...

Photo from here.

I have to admit, when I got home yesterday and saw that Scott Carson had been sold to West Bromwich Albion for a grand total of 3.25 million pounds (depending on benchmarks, that fee can rise...to only 3.75 million), the lunch I had just enjoyed with Kartik Krishnaiyer of the American Soccer Show nearly escaped me.

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Martin O'Neill wants Brad Friedel to play in Saturday's Intertoto Cup against Odense BK. To do so, he needs a deal for the Blackburn keeper to happen this morning. Villa are said to be ready to pay £2.5m for the... Click to continue reading...

You can watch a stream of Sunday's Intertoto Cup 2nd round match between Odense BK and TPS here. The same website will give you information on how to download the software needed, so watching the game will not be a problem for a decent Windows user (provided, of course, that the stream works). I am [. Click to continue reading...

Gareth Barry's Aston Villa nightmare deepened last night when the Midlands club claimed they had rejected a new bid from Liverpool.

But Villa insist the offer from Anfield was not the £17million one widely reported earlier yesterday.

Liverpool also denied they had made a £17m bid, and insisted it was "not their final offer". Click to continue reading...

The 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup's first round will come to a close this weekend. The first round is comprised of 28 clubs who played first leg matches on 21 June and 22 June 2008 and will now complete the second leg.
Three matches of note from this weekend's second leg:
Welsh side Rhyl F. Click to continue reading...

Odense 1 (Timm 62') – Hertha 0

I called it, and indeed, not only did Odense hold out against Hertha, they even managed a home win, easing their way into the UEFA Cup group stage.

Odense's tactics were easy to guess: Having managed a draw and two goals in Berlin, the Danes were going to play it coy. Click to continue reading...