Source: Telegraph
Martin O'Neill to shop as Aston Villa fall short
So this match did not matter? A pointless game with qualification to the next round already assured? Hamburg obviously didn't get the memo. The cavernous Nordbank arena resounded to the noise of 50,000 fans as Hamburg comprehensively outplayed Aston Villa. [LNB]Martin O'Neill, the Villa manager, said it would be a case of taking whoever comes along in the next round, and made eight changes to his starting side accordingly. Hamburg wanted to win the group. [LNB]The Premier League takes priority, of course. It is something the Hamburg manager, Martin Jol, formerly of Tottenham, knows all too well. Who could blame the principle? But there was a point to this game. It was a chance for the reserve strikers to make a case for themselves ahead of the January transfer window. Simply, they didn't do enough to convince O'Neill not to buy fresh in the new year. [LNB]O'Neill had said he didn't want his side to be sitting ducks. But Hamburg are no joke. [LNB]They showed why after 18 minutes when a long pass, driven upfield by Piotr Trochowski, was controlled perfectly by Mladen Petric just inside the area. The striker's second touch was just as good, a left-footed shot sent beyond Brad Guzan, who barely got a fingertip to the ball.[LNB]Hamburg buried the knife deeper on the half-hour mark. Dennis Aogo, cantering down the left sideline, sent in a cross to the six-yard box. It was right on the money. Olic nodded the ball as it went by into the back of the net.[LNB]It had taken 10 minutes for Villa to conjure a shot. It was another 25 minutes before they had another sniff of goal when Craig Gardner struck just over the bar. Slim pickings. [LNB]Hamburg almost finished the half in some style when Marcell Jansen, setting a course for the penalty area, sensed Guzan to be off guard. He looked up and let loose. The American was beaten, but the ball thudded off the crossbar to safety. [LNB]Jol was never known for his grasp of the finer tactical puzzles. The Dutchman is hardly Hannibal. But he has never lost to O'Neill. [LNB]The Villa manager needed a spark of inspiration. Gardner had a chance when he slid into the box for a loose ball in the 56th minute but Hamburg's Frank Rost got there first. [LNB]Seconds later the ball was down the other end, and the game out of reach, with Olic's footprints again all over it.[LNB]Maybe it was in search of inspiration that O'Neill had visited a Nigel Kennedy gig in the city the night before. The jazz violinist, a Villa fan, had foreseen a master class. His powers of prediction were as wide off the mark as Marlon Harewood's shot in the 67th minute. [LNB]It was what we had expected when O'Neill amputated half the squad. Nathan Delfouneso did find the net with eight minutes to go, but it did nothing to disguise the fact that Villa were suffering from a phantom ache. [LNB]Match details[LNB]Hamburg: Rost; Boateng, Reinhardt, Mathijsen, Aogo; Benjamin; Jarolim, Jansen; Trochowski (Ben-Hatira 89); Petric (Neves 78), Olic (Guerrero 68).Subs: Hesl, Demel, Pitroipa, Torun.Booked: Mathijsen.Aston Villa: Guzan; L Young, Knight, Cuellar, Shorey; Gardner (Bannan 61), Reo-Coker, Sidwell, Salifou, Delfouneso; Harewood.Subs: Friedel, Davies, Petrov, Clark, Herd, Lowry.Booked: Knight, Sidwell.Sent off: Sidwell.[LNB]Referee: A Nikolaev (Russia). [LNB]
