The story coming out of the first week of Portugal’s season could have been the continued excellent of FC Porto or Sporting Club of Portugal, but as they did last year with their turnstile coaching position and curious roster management, the storied Benfica club making themselves into a curiosity is the most interesting headline in the Superliga.

Benfica finished a shocking fourth last season despite having a much better goal differential than third place finishing Vitoria de Guimaraes. This relegated them to the UEFA Cup, which undoubtedly gave them a nice taste in their mouth was they saw Guimares bow out of Champions League before the group stage. Benfica may be right to believe they would have beaten FC Basel.

Benfica is a club that’s been European Champions twice. They’ve been to the final of the Champions League seven times and are part of Portugal’s big three clubs along with Porto and Sporting CP, and in bringing in Pablo Aimar and Jose Antonio Reyes from the Spanish league looked ready to challenge Sporting, if not Porto.

That challenge will have to wait until Benfica can prove able to manage Rio Ave. You know Rio Ave? The club that finished second in the Liga de Honra last season? They, apparently, are capable of competing with Benfica, drawing with the Portuguese giants 1-1 on Sunday. For Benfica, tackling Porto and Sporting CP will have to wait.

In the interim, the other top teams handled their business against opening weekend speed bumps. Sporting Lisbon gave Trofense, last season’s second division champions, a rude introduction to the top tier, defeating them 3-1 in Lisbon. Sporting CP scored their three goals within the first 28 minutes and cruised the rest of the way.

Porto looked to be slightly more bothered in the absence of start Ricardo Quaresma, whose continues to try and recovery from an injury which sidelined him throughout the preseason. For Inter Milan fans this means he will be at the San Siro by the end of the week. If that’s the case, Porto may have shown themselves capable of surviving, with a 2-0 final score belying a lop-sided match. Porto was able to consistent pressure Belenenses goaltender Julio Cesar, who got a rude introduction to Portuguese football, playing his first game after coming over from Brazil’s Botafogo. The 21-year-old will see better days, though if Quaresma stays at Porto, last week’s match may prove to be a blessing. Porto again looks the league’s class.

Whether that class will extend beyond Portugal was the question today as both Porto and Sporting were drawn into their Champions League groups. With both teams in Pot B (the second level), they will be expected to make it into the knock-out stage. Porto faces a tough draw, grouped with Arsenal, Fenerbahce, and Dinamo Kiev. Fenerbahce advances to last season’s Champions League quarterfinals, while Dinamo Kiev destroyed Spartak Moscow in qualifying to get to the group stage. You will see Porto picked anywhere from first to fourth.

Sporting CP was drawn into the thinnest group, with Barcelona being the clear class of a quartet that also includes FC Basel and Shakhtar Donetsk. Though both Basel and Shakhtar proved themselves tough in qualifying, Sporting will not have Porto’s excuse of a tough group should they fail to reach the knock-out phase of the tournament.

Today (Friday), five Portuguese teams will be draw into the UEFA Cup first round. Vitoria de Guimaraes, eliminated from the Champions League by Basel, will be joined by Benfica, Vitoria de Setubal, Maritimo, and Sporting Braga. In theory, Benfica is one of the tournament’s five or six top teams, but does that mean, were they in the UEFA Cup, Rio Ave would also be favorites?

WFP Portuguese Superliga Club Rankings

	Rank	Last Week	Club
	1	N/A	Porto This spot will be theirs until shown they don’t deserve it. It’s just the respect they deserve. Hulk got his first goal.
	2	N/A	Sporting CP Like Porto, started this season where they left off the last.
	3	N/A	Nacional Two goal win on the road to kick off the season gets them an early, lofty rankings.
	4	N/A	Naval Strong showing against Maritimo was a mild surpise, but a second minute goal is often all you need in the Portuguese Liga.
	5	N/A	Vitoria de Setubal Guimaraes my not have shown well in Champions League qualifying, but a point on the road against last season’s third place finisher gets a decent rankings.
	6	N/A	Sporting de Braga Authors of one of the four victories by at least two goals. They will have the chance to show themselves on Monday when they host Sporting CP.
	7	N/A	Vitoria de Guimaraes It my not be fair given these rankings are domestic affairs, but I can’t help but remember their Champions League qualifier against FC Basel when making this list.
	8	N/A	Belenenses They were the sacrifical lambs for Porto on the opening weekend, and while they probably were farther from the champions than the 2-0 score indicated, they won’t be judged too harshly. It was not a match any team would in this league would have been expected to win.
	9	N/A	Estrela da Amadora They got three points at home in a match against two of the lower finishers from last season. It’s the type of win that should help distinguish them at the end of the season, should things go poorly.
	10	N/A	Benfica Made me look absolutely foolish. Just days after I said they could threaten Porto at the top of the league, they draw against the team I predicted to finish last. Nuno Gomes got their goal.
	11	N/A	Rio Ave Congratulations to one of the promoted teams on getting a piont from Benfica.
	12	N/A	Academica Held off the scoreboard in their visit to Amadora.
	13	N/A	Maritimo A disappointing first weekend for last year’s fifth place finisher saw them give a lower rankign team three points. They trailed for 88 minutes of their match.
	14	N/A	Trofense Another of the promoted clubs, were sacrificed to Sporting CP. Is this a Portuguese tradition? To sacrifice the promoted clubs to the Champions League qualifiers on week one? How tribal.
	15	N/A	Leixoes Gave up three goals to Nacional and looks to again be battling relegation. Only the referee bribery scandal saved them last season.
	16	N/A	Pacos de Ferreira Failed to score in their home opener and, like Leixoes, looks destined to struggle to keep their place in the Liga.

Now everything makes sense. It took us three weeks, but that Ligue 1 I grew to love last year is back. The top three in the table are Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux. I exhale in relief.

Okay, so maybe I wasn’t too concerned about the state of Ligue 1 without the typically successful clubs at the top. In fact, I wasn’t phased at all, but I am eager for the start of what looks to be a three team championship race. There yet isn’t sufficient distance between Bordeaux (third, as of now) and the rest of the table, but with the three at the top looking at another relatively easy week this weekend, that distance may be coming.

As for the pretenders from last week, Grenoble never threatened Lyon, losing 2-0 after going down six minutes into the match, and Monaco’s lacking attack could not get three points at him from Caen. This week, Grenoble and Monaco face each other, meaning at last one will have trouble keeping up, while two other teams on the heals of the top three (Nice and Valenciennes) are also matched-up. This might be the week that gap starts to form.

But for all this talk about how the top of the table is shaping up, the match of the week involved two teams who currently rank no higher than tenth. Rennes put in two injury time goes to take three points over Lille, the first win for either club, in one of those matches that leaves a neutral slack jawed. Did that just happen?

With Week 2 done and gone, French clubs shifted focus to the continent, where Marseille finished qualifying for Champions League only to see them slotting into the group that got Atletico Madrid from Pot 4. That meant they would be in the deepest group, joined by Liverpool and PSV Eindhoven, in a quartet that gives them a chance to move on. Lyon and Bordeaux each get tougher groups, and some think Lyon’s to be as deep as Marseille’s.

In UEFA Cup qualifying, Rennes was able to overcome a one goal deficit after their first leg against Norway’s Stabaek. The join Paris St. Germain, Nancy, and St. Etienne in awaiting tomorrow’s UEFA Cup draw for the first round. With none of those four playing that well at the season’s start, they will be hoping to avoid some of the draw’s giants: AC Milan, Schalke 04, Benfica, Valencia, Galatasaray, and Manchester City.

Just kidding about City.

Karim Benzema has already risen to the top of the league in goals, the only player to reach three. Without being the best player in any individual week, he has been the league’s overall best player thus far and continue to raise his international profile. With a goal in France’s friendly last week against Sweden, Benzema already has four total goals this season. This week at St. Etienne, he will have his work cut out, though Les Verts have been allowing a goal a match through three.

And in Ligue 1, the sack race is over. Nantes fired Michel der Zakarian earlier this week after the promoted club found themselves at the bottom of the table after three games. Given the timing, Nantes seems to have had to beat Bordeaux, at Bordeaux, last weekend to keep his job. Clearly, getting the club promoted last season was not enough, and I wish whoever replaces him the best of luck. Your goal, apparently, is not staying up. It’s catching Marseille.

WFP Ligue 1 Club Rankings

	Rank	Last Week	Club
	1	1	Marseille A workmanlike win on the road at Le Havre saw them held under four goals for the first time this season. The team has played two Champions Legaue qualifiers during this opening stretch and will be happy to get Sochaux this week and then the international break. Their reward: a tough but winnable Champions League group.
	2	2	Lyon Popped the Grenoble bobble and assumed their place atop the league. They might also want to Marseille return to “form” a bit, as right now it looks like Claude Puel will have a fight in Le Championnat. That fight has been compounded by a tough Champions League group, getting Bayern Munich, Steaua Bucharest, and Fiorentina.
	3	3	Bordeaux Got back to their winning ways this week following a shock loss the week before to PSG. They got, for them, a horrible Champions League draw, a solid third best team behind Chelsea and AS Roma. Good luck with that, Laurent Blanc.
	4	9	Valenciennes This is will be a team that I’m biased towards all year on the back of a preseason prediction, but a strong home result versus Lorient this weekend justifies my faith. For now.
	5	6	Le Mans There were a series of clubs I was down on coming into the season, and Le Mans was one, but their last two weeks - particularly this week’s win over St. Etienne - has opened my eyes. They have no truly bad results on their resume and have won two in a row. They’ve been strong
	6	4	Caen Another club I was unsure about at season’s start. I’m not as high on them as I am Le Mans, and their ranking here reflects a general uncertainty with those below them.
	7	12	Monaco Have drawn two in a row after beating PSG to open the season. They have only three goals in three matches and lack dynamism in their attack.
	8	7	Paris St. Germain A lot of this ranking is based on their win two weeks ago over Bordeaux, the only loss any of the top three have been given. Their result against Sochaux was disappointing, but when penalty kicks are involved, I give extra consideration.
	9	5	Lorient Only Nancy has scored fewer goals than Lorient, but with a win at Le Mans and a draw versus Lyon, they could be ranked higher. Once they find some goals, I’ll move them up.
	10	13	St. Etienne I can’t shake the feeling that this team should be better. They should be scoring more goals, but they were shut out in each of their road appearances: at Valenviennes, at Le Mans. According to these rankings, that’s a bit of a tough schedule, and having taken care of business in their one home fixture, they get ranked in the middle of the table.
	11	8	Grenoble Lyon made it clear they had no business at the top of the table, but it was good while it lasted. They still have a ways to go to be back in a relegation battle, but for a team that was barely promoted, it’s a smashing start.
	12	10	Rennes This team hass been all over the place. They got that miracle draw in Week 1 against Marseille - the only points the leaders have failed to get - and then lost to Grenoble. They beat Lille this weak, but as they have been in the UEFA Cup, their Ligue 1 performances have been all over the place.
	13	11	Toulouse A 0-0 draw at Nancy could prove a strong result come April and May, and for a team that will struggle to stay up, it’s a great point.
	14	14	Le Havre Good on them to hold Marseille to one goal, the first time this year a team has contained them. The team also drew over 16,000 tot he match, a fine turnout.
	15	17	Nice This is the team with the greatest disparity between actual table ranking and WSP rankings. They have two wins, but they are against Nancy and Auxerre. They have allowed Nancy’s only goal. As of now, I don’t see it.
	16	19	Lille A tough loss to Rennes this week as Stade came back with two goals very late, doing their best Liverpool impressive, to take all the points. They are ranked a couple of spots higher here than they sit in the table, but I feel like I might be being generous.
	17	15	Auxerre Auxerre gets ranked behind two teams who have not won a match because their win was two weeks ago and they have looked terrible since. Playing Marseill and Nice might have something to do with that, but with their only win coming against Nantes, there is not telling. They have given up the most goals in the league.
	18	20	Sochaux Got a draw agaist Paris St.-Germain after a very disppointing start to the season, but their only goal came from the penalty spot. Had they not gotten that call, they would be without a point for the season. They did show some life on Saturday, though, and Michel Flaubert was mad to work for PSG’s point. If they can carry that over into next week and find another goal scorer besides Mevlut Erding, they can still turn this around.
	19	18	Nancy One goal in three matches and their best results being draws against Toulouse and Lille gives them nothing attractive for their resume. Until they can show an ability to score goals, it is hard to take them seriously. Replicating last year’s surprise result is a long way away.
	20	16	Nantes Amongst the teams at the bottom the table, they have done the least to recommend themselves. Part of that is uninspired play. Part of that is the schedule. No matter. Three games was too few to just their coach, and it serves them right that Alain Perrin has no interest in this ship.

Manchester City center back Micah Richards had to be stretched off the pitch on Sunday after knocking heads with partner Tal Ben Haim. What looked like a painful but unremarkable clash of heads became serious when Richards fell to the field and lost consciousness within seconds of the collision. The England international spent the night in the hospital.

Thankfully, it looks like Richards will be able to play Manchester City’s UEFA Cup tie against FC Midtjylland on Thursday. Continue Reading »

This is truly kicking somebody when they’re down, but today’s events need to be looked at from Manchester City’s perspective.

First, Djibril Cisse slips through their fingers after Sunderland swoops in and Marseille decides to deal him as soon as possible.  I get the feeling that Sunderland was willing to just take him, as soon as possible, and was more persistent after this weekend when Cisse’s benching made it clear has was about to go.  I can’t help but feel Manchester City’s organizational turmoil prevented them from making a quick decision on bringing in Cisse and his salary.

Second, Mikael Silvestre.  This one is much more mundane, which is why it may hurt even more.  City was about to get Silvestre from Manchester United, who have been trying to find a home for him all summer.  Right as they are ready to bring him in, Arsenal and Arsene Wenger decide they need more depth.  Silvestre was so close to making this deal that he has to call City and apologize for going to Arsenal.

So you have these two issues, another striker injury this weekend, the UEFA cup and open day loses, Tkashin Shinawatra not returning to Thailand, and that soft hum of Ronaldinho using them still audible in the background.

Mark Hughes is staying, Jô will be back soon, but yeesh:  What a difference a year makes.

When, last week, Rangers lost their second round Champions League qualifying tie with Lithuania’s FBK Kaunas, there was immediate speculation that the Glasgow club would have to sell players.   Without the extra income those European football matches would bring, Rangers needed to offload some of its more costly players.  That speculation turned to fact today.

Carlos Cuellar, who missed the tie against Kaunas with injury, was sold to the Premiership’s Aston Villa.  The reigning Scottish Premier League Player of the Year was sold to the defender-starved club for £7.8 million, a totally which might keep any other players from having to be sold.

The  Spanish center back fills an immediate, desperate need for Martin O’Neill’s team.  Their already thin club was stretched thinner when, in their last Intertoto Cup match against Odense BK, lost Wilfred Bouma with a right ankle dislocation.  So thin was Villa that they brought wantaway midfielder Gareth Barry in as a replacement to play left back.

Cuellar not only adds depth, but he adds the type of quality a team which expects UEFA Cup qualification needs.  It is a great, steadying addition for O’Neill’s side - £7.8 million well spent, considering Villa was less than a week away from starting their league campaign without barely enough backs to play their preferred formation.

For Rangers, it solves any financial concerns they may have had while dealing the club a  huge hit on the field.  Still, Walter Smith has expressed his disappointment, saying that the move comes as a surprise and the fee will be reinvested in the club.  Perhaps that is the case, but this move did not come out of nowhere.  The minute the Rangers’ loss was made final last week, speculation of sales started.  It sounds like Smith may be saying the right things - trying to keep the club focused on the new season - but Cuellar moving on can not be a real surprise.

There was almost no gap between them an Celtic atop the SPL before the sale.   After selling their best player, Rangers have to be considered underdogs to defend the two trophies they earned last season.  Perhaps it needed to be done, and no ardent Rangers follower should be surprised, but that doesn’t make the move any easier to swallow.  Having to sell your best player only underscores the shock of last week’s loss.

For Cuellar, he moves to a quality club that has the talent to play near the top of the Premiership for the duration of his stay at the club.  He is only 26-years-old, making this the perfect time to make the next step in his career.  Champions League football could have been it, but the Premier League will give him the same opportunity to play against the elite.  While he loses the big fish, small pond feel of the Scottish League, he gets to move to a club that will be playing some sort of European football while being guaranteed full time action.

Quotes
“If Rangers had still been in Europe I think Carlos would have stayed for another season.” - John MacDonald, former Ranger
“But with Rangers out so early, and with no Uefa Cup football either, he must have thought it was time to go. It’s a major blow because no team likes to lose their best players and he had a great season for us.” - MacDonald
“This is the best league in the world and last year Villa did very well. They play very good football and had a fantastic season.” - Cuellar
“So I am very happy to come here with the opportunity to play in the Premier League. We are also playing in Europe this season, so that will be good.” - Cuellar
“I watched Villa last season and Martin O’Neill is a very good coach. He plays exciting attacking football and I am excited to be here.” - Cuellar
“My ambition is to play for my country and I think with Aston Villa I will have that possibility. Every player wants to play international football and that is my aim.” - Cuellar
“This has come as a surprise and I am disappointed. Carlos Cuellar has been a great player for the football club and inevitably there has been speculation about him playing in the Premiership.” - Smith
“The club has received a substantial uplift in fee and we will now reinvest in the team.” - Smith
“The Rangers supporters have been fantastic to me, but I am young and I want to play at the highest level and I hope they will always welcome me back. I want to thank them for everything.” - Cuellar

Links
Ex-Ranger Blames Euro Exit For Cuellar Move
Cuellar Swaps Rangers for Aston Villa
Cuellar Completes Villa Move
Villa capture Cuellar
Aston Villa agrees to buy Cuellar from Rangers
Cuellar completes £7.8 million move to Villa
Cuellar completes Villa switch

What once was a summer in which Manchester City would transcend from their city’s second team into a club that would make the top four a top five now rests its salvage from failure on one player:  Roque Santa Cruz.  Whereas City was once thought to be in the lead for former World Player of the Year Ronaldinho (who ended up with AC Milan), City manager Mark Hughes has now gone back to what he knows, a former star, in the hopes that the Blues’ season can be salvaged.

One the edge of qualification last season, City has expected to be a UEFA Cup contender this year.  They have made it into the tournament via Fair Play and now have a taste of continental football, but their personnel still does not match their owner’s lofty expectations.  With the exception of Jô, acquired from CSKA Moscow, Manchester City remains roughly the same bunch of players who disappointed at the close fo last season and contributed to Sven-Goran Eriksson’s firing.  Tottenham and Newcastle have closed the gap between them and Citeh, while only Blackburn finished higher and has fallen.

With the Rovers having lost David Bentley and Brad Friedel, City hopes that Roque Santa  Cruz can also be had.  That, however, is where Blackburn seems to be drawing the line, with Paul Ince ready to hold tight to his best player, the last Rover relic from a team that finished in seventh place a year ago.

As they currently sit, both teams seem lower-mid table squads.  The result seems begrudgingly acceptable to the Rovers, who seem willing to tough out a season adjusting to life under a first year manager without two of last season’s cornerstones.  For City, though, it would be a vast disappointment, a result that seemed unlikely back in those days when Mark Hughes was freshly inked and Ronaldinho had no other options.

Though his signing would likely not matter as it concerns qualifying for European football, gettin Santa Cruz from Blackburn would at least keep Manchester City on the map.  They could say they brought in a star player, that they acquired a top-flight strike tandem.  That’s as close to salvaging the summer as they are going to get.

Links

Blackburn Rovers stand firm over Roque bid
Rovers Reject Hughes’ Roque Bid

If I had to bet, I would put money on Tottenham being without David Villa come September 1.  Still, there is an awful lot of smoke around these rumors for there not to be fire.  But the sticking points in my mind:  the current club says they’re not selling, and the player and his representation are being coy about it all.  This seems more Juande Ramos trying provide a cash catalyst to the situation.

Perhaps Ramos and Ramon Calderon went to some seminar together in the spring?

Today, new rumors come from reliable sources.  Tottenham is set to offer £32 million for David Villa.  The sale of Dimitar Berbatov would fund the transaction, with the Bulgarian to be moved for £30 million.

That reported chain of events should raise doubts as to the veracity of the rumors.  Who is going to pay £30 million for Berbatov?  The reports make it seem like not only will somebody do it (Barça?), but they have confirmed this to Spurs, who are only waiting to find another striker to finalize the Bulgarian’s signing.  And yet Berbatov still plays in the preseason games, as he did this weekend.  So beyond the fact that Valencia seems ill-disposed to selling their striker, there are problems with this story.

If somebody has confirmed they want to buy Berbatov for £30 million, why wait?  Spurs didn’t wait to sell Robbie Keane to Liverpool, were willing to create a hole in their linep (which, thankfully, Darren Bent has filled nicely), and now Zenit St. Petersburg is holding Ramos over the coals on Andrei Arshavin’s price.

The same rumors that have Spurs making a new, record-setting bid for Villa have them staying in the picture with Arshavin.  It is all very fantastical, but I refuse to doubt anything Spurs-related after they improbably sold Robbie Keane and then decided David Bentley was a good fit.   Just as I may be proven wrong on Bentley, I may be proven wrong on Villa, and the Spain international could be in London by the end of the month.

The move makes sense if Valencia is you think the reports of their debt problems are accurate.  I never know what to trust with those stories because there are so many different ways clubs can elect to report their debt that I always feel like I’m on the end of a marketing campaign.  If Valencia were inclined to see Villa, though, wouldn’t they have done it a month ago, when Villa’s value was sky-high after Euro 2008 and they could spend the next month using the proceeds to procure a replacement?  With their UEFA Cup campaign about to start and a reasonable expectation they will compete for a UEFA Cup (or even Champions League) spot for next season (as well as wanting to defend the Copa del Rey), how does now doing an about face on Villa make sense?

As you can tell by my inane use of questions as writing devices, I don’t think it does.  All this smoke we’re seeing it just that: smoke.  That said, he would fit rather nicely in North London.

Quotes
“David likes London and likes how Spurs play under Ramos. If they present an offer, Valencia will seriously study the subject.” - Jose Luis Tamargo, agent, Villa
“Valencia CF has made no agreement nor are they involved in any negotiations to transfer David Villa and David Jimenez Silva to any club in Spain or abroad.” - Valencia
“It is completely untrue. I have informed both the players and their agents in an official and clear manner that the firm intention of the club is for both of the players to stay with us and see out their contracts.” - Valencia

Links
Tottenham eyeing £60million triple swoop?
Spurs reportedly prep $80M mega-bid for Villa
Spurs set for record breaking swoop
Valencia furious over Villa-Silva sale claims
Valencia determined to keep stars
Valencia want to keep Spanish stars Villa and Silva
Soriano vows to keep stars at Valencia

Yesterday, Aston Villa’s 1-0 victory over Danish side Odense gave them entrance into Europe, winning one of the eleven Intertoto Cup births while becoming the ninth Premiership side to qualify for European football for the upcoming season.  Ashley Young’s 50th minute goal held up, giving Villa a 3-2 win on aggregate following last week’s 2-2 draw in Denmark.   The Intertoto birth gives them entrance into second round UEFA Cup qualifying, where they and fellow Premiership side Manchester City, who qualified for Europe via the fair-play league, hope to make it through to the main UEFA Cup draw.

The match, which came on the same day as Villa announced the acquisition of new starting goaltender Brad Friedel, saw the return to action for wantaway midfielder Gareth Barry, who came on as a fourteenth minute substitute.  Perhaps because of the circumstance - coming on to provide a lift for a squad dealin with an injured player - Barry came on to applause from a fan base that has been somewhat antagonistic to his desire to leave the club.  Martin O’Neill had said prior to the match that Barry could play if the player felt like it and the manager was inclined to put him in.  When left back Wilfred Bouma went down with a serious ankle injury, O’Neill decided to put in his star midfielder with the hopes of capturing the qualifying goal.

Bouma is expected to miss four months after suffering a dislocated right ankle in an injury that led some to compare it to last year’s season-ending injury to Arsenal’s Eduardo de Silva.  De Silva missed Euro 2008 in recovering and is still not back to full health.  Though the incident itself looked like it could have been as bad, Bouma’s initial prognosis is much better, though missing the rest of 2008 with an injury is no light timetable.

Although their transfer activity could still address the issue, Aston Villa is particularly thin at defence right now.  The injury could force captain Nigel Reo-Coker to see more time in the back, something he was only called on to do sparingly last season. Reo-Coker was already likely to see time at right back with  Villa having failed to replace new Juventus back Olaf Mellberg.  Now Martin O’Neill will need to act quickly to strengthen the back line.

On August 1st, Aston Villa will find out who they are matched-up against in UEFA Cup second round qualifying.  Their entrance into European football will see them join (Champions League clubs) Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, (UEFA Cup clubs) Everton, Portsmouth, Tottenham and Manchester City.

Quotes

“It’s obviously a serious injury to a player who has been playing exceptionally well.” - O’Neill
“He’s certainly a strong character and if anyone can come through it I’m sure he will. However, we now have serious work to do with getting players in.” - O’Neill
“It was nice to get the goal but it was just a question of getting the win and that’s what we’ve done.” - Young

Links

Aston Villa advance in Europe but loss of Bouma adds to defensive woes
Barry set on move despite hero’s welcome
Buoma dislocated ankle as Friedel joins Villa
Aston Villa 1 - 0 Odense: Young quality seals place