“For me it was an opportunity to come back to the Premier League and show everyone that we could do well and I had confidence in the potential of the club and the players”.
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“There has been no shortage of parties who would like to own Aston Villa but our negotiations are now with those parties that we believe will have the passion and ambition to return the club to winning the highest honours in European football”.
“We looked at the video and the biggest threat was down the right-hand side which was a big ask for Kevin Toner but, my goodness, did he stand up to it”.
They’re offering half-price pizza for fans of any team who score at least twice and Villa have conceded two goals or more a whopping 21 times already this season – the most of any Premier League side.
“We have to focus game by game and at the end we will see where we finish”.
The result means a win for Sunderland at home to Everton on Wednesday would confirm Newcastle’s relegation to the Championship.
Villa fans threw beach balls and balloons on to the playing surface throughout the game, with stewards slowly clearing the pitch before placing them back within grabbing distance of fans.
The only other pre game wibble from his press conference so far were the inevitable “I’m in the dark” comments when it comes to a new manager being appointed and a sale of the club itself – given Steve Hollis’ earlier statement. For this game, we need to be sure that we are focused and we can’t lose our concentration. “Everybody is disappointed. It’s normal now so the only thing you can say is to try to be ready for training and recovering, and ready for the week, because we still have to play a game and we want to get three points”.
By defending resolutely and preventing a Newcastle goal despite several good chances, Villa avoided setting a new club record of 12 straight league defeats.
“It’s a small step, very small, I’m not saying it is any more than that”.
“He has quality, but it is not just that quality from free-kicks and the way that he plays, it is that he works so hard also helping the team in defence”.
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The former Anderlecht youngster took three shots, had a pass accuracy of 62%, created one chance, won 60% of his headers, and made one clearance. While a number of teams have bounced back into the Premier League in recent years few have been relegated in a more disappointing fashion than Newcastle could be this year.
