Good morning--or afternoon--Villans. We experienced some highs and lows yesterday, with Stewart Downing getting an England call up (yay!) and Eric Lichaj remaining on the bench for the USA (boo!). Here's the stuff that happened in between:
Play Ashley Young Mad Libs!: FA TV talks to Villa star and England International ahead of the match against Montenegro on Tuesday. What do they ask him? Your guess is as good as mine!
Dan Ponders The Meaning Of Double Training: In case you missed the post while off watching college football or hitting the shoe sales, Aston Villa Central has a post up about the new training standards around Bodymoor Heath, including an interesting description from Nigel Reo-Coker about the way things used to be. Which could explain why we often describe the Villans as looking tired.
Ireland v Russia on Zonal Marking: I bring this up for two reasons: 1) it appears a Richard Dunne deflection was the cause of the third goal and 2) I feel as though the "outnumbered in midfield" refrain is getting quite common--so what are coaches supposed to do when their squad just works as a 4-4-2? Shrug and accept defeat?
Everyone's Talking About Edinson Cavani: The talk might be in Italian, or possibly in Spanish, but it's out there. Cavani is the current god of Napoli and if you don't have a Serie A side, I suggest picking up the Parteopei, at least for this year while he's on loan from Palmero. Cavani also scored a hat-trick in Uruguay's 7-1 thromping of Indonesia on Friday. I <3 Uruguay football.