Aston Villa v Odense 17:15 today

MementoMori

Seeing as no-one else seems to have started a tread yet

This is on Setanta Ireland (the one free with NTL) Coverage at 16:45 Kickoff at 5:15

I didn't see any of the first leg and know nothing about Odense but I expect Villa to get through this. Mainly based on the quality of the PL and the fact that Villa have two away goals, combined with the fact that one of Odense's goals was an OG.

One of the major talking points will be whether or not Barry will play. According to the BBC article below Martin is keeping his cards pretty close to his chest but I just feel he will be on at some stage - might not start but very surprised if he didn't at the very least make if off the bench at some stage. Given the Inter-Toto doesn't count as regards eligibility for CL, there seems no real reason not to play Barry at some stage.

However one curious thing at the bottom of the BBC story is that Barry isn't listed in the squad. Don't know if it means anything but just a little strange.

Team most likely to be something like below - not sure who will get the fourth midfield spot. I don't think Barry will start with his fitness situation, but will make an appearance. Once again the subs bench highlights the current squad depth issues.

Taylor,

Gardner, Laursen, Knight, Bouma,

?, Reo-Coker, Sidwell, Young,

Carew, Agbonlahor,

Subs: Parish, Baker, Osbourne, Salifou, Maloney, Routledge, Petrov,

Aston Villa v Odense (2-2)

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill says Gareth Barry could play a part in Saturday's Intertoto Cup tie - if he is in "the right frame of mind".

Midfielder Barry, 27, missed the third round, first leg as he had only just returned from a two-week suspension.

His punishment followed public criticism of O'Neill and stating he wished to leave the club for Liverpool.

He was booed by fans in the midweek friendly against Walsall but O'Neill said: "He has a chance of playing."

A crowd of about 25,000 are expected at Villa Park after the first encounter in Denmark resulted in a 2-2 draw.

O'Neill added: "What happened at Walsall on Tuesday must have been expected and at this minute his mindset is pretty decent.

"It also depends what the view is of the rest of the team and things like that but I will take all of that into consideration. He is with us in the squad.

"All this is what Gareth has said. If he is in the right frame of mind and he is up for it then he wants to play the game.

"The rest is up to me, whether I put him in the team or in the squad or go with the group of players from last week."

Liverpool have pursued Barry throughout the summer and BBC Sport understands Villa have rejected a bid of £13m for the England player.

However, O'Neill revealed that fitness may also be an issue when deciding if Barry is pitched in against Odense.

"He has come back from a sore foot and he has not had a lot of training," stated O'Neill. "For that reason, the fitness, he thought he needed to play on Tuesday and he wanted to play on Tuesday.

"I thought he did very well in the game on Tuesday and I thought in terms of fitness it was exactly what he wanted.

"We were always down to play 60 minutes, or as long as he thought he could play, and 60 minutes is exactly what he wanted."

Striker Marlon Harewood will miss the match against Odense because he is nursing a sore knee following the friendly against Walsall.

---

Villa team (from): Taylor, Laursen, Bouma, Knight, Gardner, Reo-Coker, Sidwell, Petrov, Carew, Agbonlahor, Young, Parish, Baker, Osbourne, Salifou, Maloney, Routledge

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/7526708.stm

sitout

Good luck today to the villa

andrewie

VILLA: Taylor, Gardner, Bouma, Knight, Laursen, Sidwell, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Young, Agbonlahor, Carew.

Subs: Parish, Barry, Harewood, Salifou, Routledge, Osbourne, Maloney.

Odense BK: Onyszko, Haaland, Andreasen, Helveg, Hansen, Fall, Runstrom, Absalonsen, Sorensen, Troest, Djemba-Djemba.

Subs: Lindegaard, Ruud, Bisgaard, Nymann, Bolanos, Nielsen, Jacobsen.

From http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~1351790,00.html

MementoMori

Was just about to post about Villa with ten men - Surely Gardner at RB is the missing man?

andrewie

MementoMori wrote: »

Was just about to post about Villa with ten men - Surely Gardner at RB is the missing man?

He is, just checked Sky Sports score centre.

MementoMori

Excellent work

Looks like Reo-Coker is captain. Was Laursen not captain for the previous game?

Harewood listed in the subs on spite of injury.

Barry to come on around the 60 mins mark?

Setanta have Villa lining up in a 4-3-1-2 with Petrov on the left and Sidwell on the right.

Odense striker named Fall - how long before he goes down?:p

My coat is on stand-by

andrewie

OMG!!!

Bouma's leg...

Oh man...

kensutz

Ouch

~Marky~

Poor lad that looked bad

Im_No_Superman

Looks a bad one for Bouma. Early introduction for Barry now.

JPA

Jesus, horrific.
Hopefully it looks worse than it is.

MementoMori

Ouch ouch ouch - How long will Bouma be out for? Potentially massive loss

That looked well serious.

Time to buy a left-back as well :eek:

Very warm welcome for Barry - lots of aplause - might be a jeer or too but mainly applause 98% I'd say.

"Don't Go Gareth" poster held up by fan

Villa started decent. Game stopped for about four mins.

Good save by Taylor from the snap-shot

MementoMori

Bouma taken to hospital - doesn't sound good.

Very harsh decision on NRC for that tackle on Dj2.

MementoMori

Villa getting on top

Never a free on the keeper for that Carew chance

~Marky~

Off the post for Odense :eek:

MementoMori

Wow - Knight caught out badly - long ball over the top Odense player one-on-one with the keeper hits the post - lucky escape. Also Gardner at RB no where to be seen - Mainly Knight caught out. Totally against the run of play.

Looks like Villa to score from a corner or free kick. Link up play by the Villa forwards looks a little rusty start of season still.

MementoMori

Ref not doing Villa any favours in general.

Villa look well suspect down the right whenever Odense get down there

Gardner isnt a RB and clearly shouldnt be played there.

NRC did great just there to cover back and make a clearance from the RB position.

Laursen was limping there for a minute :eek:

Seems inevitable that Villa will score - 10 corners so far with about 35 mins of play

estebancambias

Ashley Young has the dribbling ability of Stephen Hunt.....lucky for him though he's much faster. I predict he'll find his level this year.

MementoMori

Big welcome from Brad by the crowd. Nice one to be able to make your welcome to a crowd like this.

Setanta not showing the Bouama leg-break because of how bad it is :eek:

Carew looks a bit summery rusty.

Nice to see the general response to Barry. Fair play to all the Villa fans.

andrewie

Outstanding goal from Ashley Young!

MementoMori

WOW - Blaster from Young into the back of the net from outside the box.

Bang tidy. Goal

Just what Villa needed.

Commentator's mention that its scorching at Villa Park, so would expect the subs bench to be used if Villa get another.

1-0 to Villa

MementoMori

Bouma dislocation as opposed to break. Presuambly not as bad as a break. Still would expect him to be out for a while.

Match gone kinda flat. Can't see Odense scoring.

MementoMori

From a free kick Carew off the bar - Laursen inches from heading the rebound in. Odense keeper did decently to beat him to it.

andrewie

Full Time

1-0 Villa.

MementoMori

Game fizzled out after the second half once the goal was scored.

Odense didnt pose much of a treat and if a second goal came it was going to be from Villa.

Job done but at the cost to Bouma - would expect him to be out for a minimum of a month to six weeks. Still surprised it wasnt a break. Looked horrible.

Is O'Halloran ready for the step-up or would it be Barry doing the job at LB?

Barry seemed his usual composed self there and with Sidwell and NRC could clearly cover the centre of the park.

Very warm reaction from the crowd to Barry - applause for taking corners a couple of times and applause from Barry back on at least one occasion.

MON in the post-match interview "Terrible blow" re the Bouma injury. Played every match for Villa last year.

MON very positive about Barry and wanting him to stay - complimenting his performance, how difficult it would be to replace him, how much the fans obv wanted him to stay, mentioned his testimonial that was cancelled and that Barry deserved it (the testimonial not it being cancelled) . Final comment along the lines of "We'll sit down and talk about it over the next few days"

Helix

just back in from the match today, we were fairly **** again. horrible injury to bouma, poor buggers foot was 180 degrees. they reckon it was a dislocation, so fingers crossed there was no achilles damage, which there might have been coz davies went down the exact same way with his, holding his hamstring despite his foot hanging off, so im not too hopeful

stupidly hot in birmingham too, mustve been 28-30 degrees

barry got a great reception, there were a tiny amount of people booing (30-40) and the rest of the stadium clapped every time barry touched the ball. he was probably our best player too, tho thats not saying much

agbonlahor showed that hes seemingly incapable of passing the ball once he gets it, and unable to do anything other than run in straight lines. hed wanna sort that sh*t out pretty fast. really needs to work on technique first and foremost