Aston Villa 2 Fulham 0: match report

30 August 2009 18:02
The Aston Villa supporters might have been showing the first signs of falling out of love with Martin O'Neill but it is doubtful whether there are many more popular Premier League managers just now with Fabio Capello. [LNB]O'Neill's entire 18-man squad for this 2-0 win over Fulham contained no fewer than 12 Englishmen and, with Capello's right-hand man Franco Baldini watching, there were encouraging signs that both Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor are returning to the form of early last season. [LNB]Agbonlahor, in particular, caught the eye as the lone central striker in a 4-5-1 formation similar to that preferred by Capello and, after the 3-1 victory at Anfield, he sealed Villa's second consecutive Premier League win with a powerful left-footed shot from 20 yards. [LNB]The sight of empty spaces in the usually packed Holte End, however, was indicative of a strangely subdued mood just now at Villa Park. [LNB]With the emergence this season of Manchester City and Tottenham, there is a sense that repeating, let alone improving upon, consecutive sixth-place finishes will be extremely difficult. That was reflected by a crowd below 33,000 - almost 7,000 fewer than last season's average. [LNB]Those that had bothered, though, were off their seats within three minutes. [LNB]Unlike Agbolahor's goal, Villa's first owed considerably more to comical defending than clinical attacking. [LNB]Fulham were in possession but Aaron Hughes skewed a routine back-pass wide of Mark Schwarzer who, in turn, reacted slowly and connected only with thin air when attempting to clear. [LNB]From the resulting corner, Young produced the sort of inswinging delivery that invites mistakes from defenders and, under pressure from Agbonlahor, the ball was headed beyond Schwarzer by John Pantsil, the Fulham right-back. [LNB]That Fulham should look somewhat jaded was hardly surprising. While Villa were being eliminated from the Europa Cup on Thursday by Rapid Vienna, Fulham were making the 4,400-mile round-trip to Perm in Russia. [LNB]Fulham did progress but Roy Hodgson is not equipped with the largest of squads and, despite outlining the need to rotate players this season, he felt able to make just four changes. [LNB]Having gifted Villa one goal, Fulham almost repeated the trick a second time in the first-half, with Young's crossing again provoking further defensive panic and Dickson Etuhu heading just wide of his own goal. [LNB]Villa's quiet dominance continued and was underlined with Agbonlahor's 59th-minute strike. Hughes was again partially to blame as he backed away from the Villa forward, but the finish was both emphatic and timely. It was Agonlahor's first goal this season and only his third since last Christmas. [LNB]Fulham's attacking threat was minimal and, with 19-year-old Ciaran Clark making his debut at centre-back, Villa looked secure throughout. [LNB]Defence, though, is the area that O'Neill most wants to strengthen over the next 48 hours and he expects to make further additions before the closure of the transfer window. [LNB]Richard Dunne's move from Manchester City is understood to have been slowed by the need to finalise a considerable severance package from a club he has represented since 2000. [LNB]O'Neill is also interested in James Collins, the West Ham defender, who would be available for around £5 million. [LNB]For Hodgson, the priority remains to keep his squad intact and he has received no offers for centre-back Brede Hangeland, a player Arsenal had been monitoring. [LNB]Aston Villa[LNB]Fulham [LNB] 

Source: Telegraph