The truth is there’s no news, apart from the usual silly speculation rubbish.
Although I had a chat with my Stokie workmate about Glenn Whelan and he actually persuaded me that he might be able to do a job for us, in backing Mile Jedinak up.
Whelan apparently can only do one job, which is stay in a very small area and protect the defence.
Such a small area, that the the Stoke fans call it his “cage”.
Which is all well and good if you’re playing pragmatic footy, as it seems Steve Bruce has done up till now.
But then I saw “Andrew”‘s comment, where he suggested that the reason we’ve struggled over the last few years is because we’ve played so negatively, which made me think again.
Having thought about it, it’s quite appealing at a quick glance that we go balls out to win every game.
But isn’t that exactly what Di Matteo tried to do, with his 3-3-4 type set-ups?
We all know how that went, but the point is still valid, because don’t we have a team/squad that’s a cut above the rest of the league?
Hmm.
The fact is I don’t rate the team or squad as highly as it seems the general media do and how we’re favourites for promotion, is beyond me.
But, we do have top strikers at this level and we need to give them decent service; something that cannot be achieved by being too pragmatic.
My opinion says if we go too attacking, we’ll get our arses kicked, purely because there are too many sides that aren’t as poor as we think.
And then again, if we don’t attack enough, we’re quite simply going nowhere.
I’d hate to be the manager at the moment, but Bruce has to call things one way or the other.
He’s stabilised us, but that was a minimum requirement this season gone.
Now he has to make the call and I somewhat agree that we need to go for it more, this upcoming season.
Obviously, much will revolve around signings, but as I’ve said a few times, Bruce needs to get us off to a good start.
And if he doesn’t he’s a goner, rapido.
Which really doesn’t bear thinking about.
I’m confident, but worried, at the same time.
I just don’t think that the players are as together as we’re led to believe.
And if that’s so, we’ve no chance of getting promoted.
i really hope I’m wrong.
I’m not talking balls to the wall, go all out. I’m talking more of a Koeman style, because we have the players for it. A more attack minded 4-3-3 style. Which is the only formation we were winning games in. You have your dominant midfielders, Gana was again world class in midfield, and again had better stats than Kante. Schneider was a hell of a bargain, and moved the ball around incredibly well, while also dominating the midfield. And then you had the more forward thinking player, be it Barkley or Davies, would control the midfield going forward, making the passes to a winger, who put the ball in to Lukaku. We very much can play that way, we have the team to do so, but we don’t, because Bruce is too defensive minded. Even in a 4-3-3 it looks more like a 4-5-1 with an isolated striker. It’s not like Everton were great, their second highest goal scorer had 5 goals, however we have our own Lukaku in Kodjia. There’s no reason we can’t have Jedinak as our holding midfielder, Hourihane controlling the ball and Lansbury getting forward, and actually passing through the midfield. While I agree this team isn’t great, especially in midfield because I still don’t rate those two yet, we’re no in the Premier League so they don’t have to be great, they’re still well above par in the Championship. The fact we have someone like Hogan is just a bonus as well. Although I can’t see those two playing well together still, we still need a midfielder who can actually pick a pass to him, a through a ball, on the ground or just over the defense he can run onto, because he’s not going to win the aerial ball. We really do need another defensive midfielder, two wingers and an attacking midfielder for this to work, which I don’t think we’ll get in all honesty, or at least get the right players as we’ll look at more Championship rubbish who “had the stats” last season. Really think we need to look into the loan market, or test the waters with Conte in hopes of permanently signing some of the youth they’re always loaning out.
Oh, and I said before we signed Di Matteo he was a disaster of a manager, and I was right. Just because you throw 4 strikers on, doesn’t mean you know what you’re doing or are attack minded. He threw them on, taking off anyone who could create, so our strikers had to try to do it themselves.
Andrew – interesting points but aren’t you arguing against yourself with your Everton observations of 4-3-3 looking like 4-5-1 and relying on one striker (who has said he won’t stay). I found our football very frustrating at times last season but, so it seems, did Bruce – there is a problem but I don’t profess to be knowledgable enough to explain what it is.
One thing I would like to see is Grealish used in a more central role where he excels for the U21’s. If we use him correctly then he will offer a lot more than Gil who fans seem to want back.
Everton’s looks like a 4-3-3, our’s looks like a 4-5-1. It may seem contradicting that Lukaku is the only one that scores, but that is literally what we have, 1 goal scorer. However their football isn’t frustrating. They have their jobs, Mirallas, Valencia, Lookman, Bolasie if ever fit, Lennon when he was fit and didn’t have the unfortunate problems he’s had, all got the ball into the box, while their attacking mid and Schneider controlled the game and Gana dominated the midfield. That’s a 4-3-3 we can emulate in the Championship.
Grealish does seem more suited to be a central figure, where he can be on the ball at all times. Gil is more of a right winger, who wants to cut in because he doesn’t have great pace, but still can beat players with ease at times. He’s also one I thought was more of a central figure, kinda like Mata or Silva, but either or, I’d love him back. As well as I’d love Veretout back. Sucks we sold Sanchez, as we literally had the perfect midfield for a 4-3-3 and 3 of them were loaned out this last season.
As for Whelan, fact Stoke think he’s worth more than 500k is laughable. There’s a few free agents better than him that we could probably get. Ndoye, Castro and i’d even take Ledley over him.
Andrew, i tend to agree with you , we don’t and have not the players that uses their footballing brain, Wing play as always been my type of game, more entertaining, most teams play that silly back pass build from the back but it don’t always work, but I still think Bruce has to be given that last chance to see if he is capable of being a all rounder manager. Up till yet we are at a standstill in getting players to come to us, movement will only be in the premiership top to bottom changes, us as a big club cannot attract players to move us on. I hope things change and soon.
On Whelan, I’d be pretty happy to get him in. Getting the fact I’m Irish and see him playing regularly for our country out of the way, something he has that we really need is bite and character. I’ve noticed it for Stoke and Ireland, a few times he’s been dropped and replaced by say a younger “replacement” only to come back and become one of the first names on the team sheets. It’s happened with James McCarthy in the Ireland squad and that lad Imbula at Stoke I believe. Not a bad character to have in the dressing room if you ask me.
He’s not bad either on the long ball set pieces, and he can score a cracking goal too. Pretty sure he got one at Villa Park years ago? He’d be more than a bargain and with him or Jedinak covering the defence that’s one part of midfield sorted. I understand why he wouldn’t appeal for some fans, but this is a man who has regularly been playing in the premier league last few years and Stoke haven’t exactly struggled either. For where we are now, great signing.
There have not been many teams who adopted the ‘we will score more goals than you’ tactics and succeeded in gaining promotion in recent years. The two examples being Watford and Bournemouth.
Watford were able to do it because they hade two outstanding and powerful strikers, who weren’t greedy but played for eaxch other, and put in a huge shift. Bournemouth finshed the season with all 10 outfield players on the scoresheet. They were the nearest thing to the Dutch total football.
My deduction is you need to have something special about you as a team if you are going to succeed wth that tactic. Do Villa have that something special? I can’t see it, please tell me if you can.
Our fans seem to have the ability of taking what you say, not understanding it and going to the extreme. We’re going to lose games, we’re going to get outplayed and even dominated at times, but the fact is, while we may not have “something special” overall, we do when it comes to the Championship. Especially with Newcastle and Brighton out of the league, the league has gotten a lot weaker. Makes me laugh the low standards our fans have, even in the Championship.
I still can’t see us going up next year. Top 8 maybe but will miss out in the end. Team nowhere near good enough imo
Andrew, I’m not sure it’s about fans accepting lower standards but more a dawning realisation that proud history does not come with a right to a bright future!
No one’s claiming a right to a bright future just because we used to be something. My lower standards comment was the fact our fans were okay with what happened under Bruce. 35 games, 13th place and one of the worst attacks in the league. And now we want to give him an entire season. That’s where my lower standards drawing comes from. The fact anyone can be okay with how Bruce performed, especially when he lambasted the players on a weekly basis in the media much like our fans absolutely hated McLeish for, but it being Bruce, he’s the Mr. 4 Promotion guy, it’s automatically okay, when his own standards and style are the reason we were crap.
I disagree with your assumption that ‘fans were OK with what happened under Bruce’ just because many are willing to give him more time. I was frustrated by the lack of quality in our football but also relieved that the outcome wasn’t worse than 13th given the massive error in appointing RDM. The last thing I want to see at VP is yet another manager coming in at this point in time so, yes, I’m willing to give SB more time and particularly a full pre season with the squad which most fans accept as being an important part of developing the team as a whole unit. I don’t ‘love’ Bruce but I am trying to be pragmatic. Of course if he fails to deliver then….
“I was frustrated by the lack of quality in our football but also relieved that the outcome wasn’t worse than 13th”
Exactly what Andrew said, lower standards.
http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2017/06/10/what-would-alexandru-maxim-signing-mean-for-leeds-uniteds-kemar/
These are the kind of signings we need to be making. This guy is incredibly talented. Sadly, we’d likely that mediocre Burton Albion player because scouting is something we don’t do.
Replying here to both your posts. It is being selective to claim the league is weaker because the two best teams were promoted, when at the other end the cannon-fodder have dropped down to be replaced by more combative opponents. Or don’t you think Millwall away will be tougher than Rotherham? As you point out also – the other sides eg Leeds will all be spending money to strengthen their squads if they think they are a couple of players short of promotion contenders. Villa won’t be doing so much of that. I guess Hull and one of the NE giants will stumble into mid table like Villa in their first season down, but the other NE side will be new rivals for the rise. I suspect it will be Boro under Monk.
I don’t see Villa as something special. They have the individual ingredients, but the teamwork was lacking, and the ‘will to win’ when Jedenak is absent was not there either. I doubt the promotion potential of a team in which Baker and Grealish are certain starters. If those two were kept on the bench by better players every week I would be more optimistic.
My comment on Leeds spending wasn’t so much as we need to follow them in spending a lot. My comment was more about we need to spend how they’re spending, which involves scouting. That guy two seasons ago was worth 10-15m, now they’re getting him for 3m. We don’t need to spend a lot if we actually scout.
I also think you’re wrong on Grealish. Baker, yeah. He does his job, he’s not great and needs replacing, but I think you’re overestimating how good the Championship is. Baker would be a regular in almost every Championship side..
Sheffield United, Bolton and Millwall, do you really think they’re an upgrade to Wigan, Blackburn and Rotheram, cause i certainly don’t. Maybe Sheffiled United are but the other two, absolutely not. This is the league Burton Albion were able to stay up in.
Point is, as Aston Villa, we literally make things wayyyy to hard on ourselves. And that’s getting incredibly annoying as a fan.
just because Newcastle and Brighton aren’t in the league doesn’t mean the league is weaker. 3 premiership budgets will replace them. villa fans don’t have low standards just some have a touch of realism. ppl must understand you because most refute what you post.
if villa do win promotion and play attractive football. fans like you still wouldn’t be happy. because your incapable of being satisfied. we are were we are because that’s the standard we have fallen too. we deserve our lowly position whether we like it or not. also the only way to get back to were we was, is by winnings games. anyway we can.
if villa fail this season, I could see us struggling in championship or lower for many years. it really will get so much harder each year. as our budget falls and competing with 3 Xpremiership budgets, as they receive for the first two years.
so its this year we have a massive advantage. after this we are a famous old big club with a championship budget. living on reputation alone wins nothing
Sadly Nath, there is much truth in what you say. Are we about to become the ‘new Leeds’?
hopefully not Hitchens. this is why we need to back the players and manager. this season its so vital we all stick together and hopefully we get promotion. then we can build more solidly for the future.
The thing is, those three “Premier League budget teams” are worse than the teams that went up, which was point. Sunderland, Hull and Boro will pull a Villa and Norwich, not a Newcastle.
Of course I’d be happy. I’m not hard to please. Play football and actually try. Defensive football is quitting. Especially when you finish 13th and rely on one player to even get us to 13th, who if he gotten injured early on, we’d have been 20th. If we don’t get promoted, but actually tried, I’d be content, annoyed, but content. I don’t find defensive football to be trying, simple as really. There are teams that need to play that way, for whatever reasons, don’t have the money for better players, can’t attract players, etc. There is absolutely NO REASON for Villa to play that way. Which is the Style and has always been the Style of Steve Bruce.
Fans do have low standards, because half the fans that agree with you now, are also the fans that absolutely hated how we played, hated Steve Bruce for being so defensive, and were pissing and moaning about losing every game until Kodjia went on a run of scoring every game. But now the seasons over, they again love Bruce, and want to see him here for years to come. And when he goes on another bad run which he will, fans will want him gone again and then at the end of the season, because he’s Mr. 4 Promotion Bruce, love him again. That’s low standards. Being okay with a 13th place finish with crap football and hating the manager until the season ends and then you remember he’s Mr. Bruce and you love him again. This comment isn’t directed towards you Nath, as you have been consistent in backing Bruce, but a lot have not.
I full on agree. I see us struggling if we don’t get promoted as well. As bad as Leeds? No, because we’re nowhere near the financial crisis they had. Xia, Wyness and the lot wouldn’t let that happen. Which is why they’re going to be more conservative in the window, and you can 100% understand why.
I also agree living on reputation means nothing. Which is why we need to up the standard at Villa so we don’t get sucked down.
stability
the state of being stable.
synonyms ~firmness, solidity, steadiness, secureness, strength, fastness, stoutness, sturdiness, security, safety
balance, balance of mind, mental health, soundness, rationality, reason, lucidity, lucidness, sense, sanity, saneness, right-mindedness
steadiness, firmness, sureness, secureness, solidity, strength, durability, lasting nature, enduring nature, constancy, permanence, changelessness, invariability, immutability, indestructibility, reliability, dependability; so not Aston Villa
what would you have the owners do. sack another manager and hire a new one. who then decided to sack the coaches and then they decide the players need replacing. all within the timescale of being ready and gelled before the first game. that would also include selling players, before being able to sign new players.
our bed has been made, its time to support the club and hope they get promoted.
ps love to know which manager would get your approval. i would hire him myself just to stop you winning on about manager changing
i think the being compared to Leeds is spot on from Hitchens. if say we don’t get promoted . the money from premiership will end. that means Dr X will have to pay the wage bill etc from his own and his pay masters and that will mean wage bill being reduced drastically.
huddersfield are shit compared to the clubs being relegated, so championship loses two good teams and three as good will fall into the league from premiership. your wrong the championship will be just as hard as last year. the relegated clubs might struggle with consistency, but on their day will beat any teams in league.
villa are a better team this time around. last year he had to play the style because they were dog shite from relegation the year before and RDM mad time of organization . once the team get the points rolling in the confidence will rise and you will get better style.
I agree Huddersfield are shite, but so are Sunderland, who are set to lose Defoe and likely losing Pickford. They lost a starting defender in Denayer back to City as he was on loan, Borini is wanted by Celtic and a few Italian sides, Ndong will want away, and if we could, I’d sign him in a hart beat. Januzaj is back to United. They have a starting 11 to replace.
Boro only had 4 points more than Sunderland, they’re losing 2 keepers. Their highest goal scorer in Negredo won’t stay, players like Ramirez and De Roon will likely look to leave. So they’re again replacing a few players.
Hull were decent because Marco Silva is an incredible manager. If they kept them, I’d agree they’d probably have been favorites for promotion and replacing Newcastle. Like the others, they’ll lose a few of their best players. Ranocchia definitely won’t stay, neither will McGuire or Robertson, Niasse is back at Everton, Hernandez will probably want gone and Grosicki is already wanted in Germany or Turkey.
The thing about those clubs are, they can be stripped apart. Fortunately for us, we do still have some pull. At least for another season.
My problem with your last part is, confidence doesn’t breed a new style, a manager’s style and tactics do. Of course, more confidence means the style the manager wants us to play looks better, but Mourinho could go undefeated and it would still be the worst football you could watch. Pep could lose every game and his team will still dominate the ball every game. You don’t breed a better style off confidence, solely the style of play the manager chooses gets more successful. We’ll still play boring football, we’ll just likely be better at it now.
And I get your point on Leeds v Us if we don’t get promoted. However I can only hope what Wyness said is true, that if we don’t get promoted, we’re not completely screwed financially.
If Huddersfield are crap what does that make us
My worry Hitch, if I owned a football club I would at least speak to the fans and give them the truth, i wouldn’t let the media speculate and give shite info, after all we are the paying people, what do we know up till now? Info Sod all, if we haven’t made uptill now just one positive buy then in my mind its going to be panic buying at the last minute.it’s time to tell us where we stand next season.Yes will we be another Leeds, or an Accrington Stanley. Makes you think.?
bill don’t panic our squad is mostly in place. barring for a few more quality players.but all signings for actual transfer fees, will be after they sell some of the new deadwood. most the action will be after June or towards the end of the month. also the chief executive has been banned from duties for indiscretions by the fa.
but this is nothing to worry about just another day as a villa supporter. lol he will be back in time to help complete deals
i am sorry for me promotion is all i demand. i really don’t care about the style. now thats the truth. if we win promotion i want us to regain premiership. only then will i demand more. but until that happens i will be happy to just get out of the championship playing winning football, if bruce fails to produce 3 points regular enough to be top 2 then he will be sacked. until then i will be behind him. thats the bottom of it.
I would have to agree with Nath. Promotion is the aim, the means are secondary, if we have to 1-0 our way and are sound enough in defence to do that, I will accept it so long as it works.
In the premiership I would change my mind. Accepting that a top four place is beyond the club at the moment I would prefer to be entertained by attractive football so long as the results obtained kept us up.
Do clubs have styles and do managers have styles? Some definitely do, others can change. Villa have had several styles and periods of no style since I started watching them. These are some styles I have yet to see at VP – and I am not saying I want to see them.
1/ A thuggish intimidation of opponents like the Leeds of Don Revie or Chlesea in the Ron Harris and Johnnie Boyle era.
2/ Total football of Ajax and Bournemouth with all players trying to score.
3/ Pass the opponents to sleep style of Swansea.
4/ One nil and park the bus of George Graham’s Arsenal.
Apart from those we have had traditional wingers aiming for target men like Hateley and Withe. Fluid pairs of strikers like Saunders and Atkinson, Little and Gray. My favourite style at VP involved wingers who could score for themselves as well as cross the ball for the striker. Tony Morley, Tony Daley, Ray Graydon – and John Gidman though operating from full back.
We also had a mean defence in many of MON’s teams and an ability to score from corners, which meant we did not attack so much out of necessity.
Ron Saunders was dour himself but his side were exiting, Ron Atkinson was flamboyant all round. Steve Bruce in his management so far has not produced attacking sides even when successful, I doubt he will change.
See, I was one of the few on here currently, that was on here during the O’Neill days. The first couple seasons were great, but then there was no progress, and us fans on here turned on him, because it was the same old crap. The football wasn’t entertaining, we’d die off by February, and we all got bored.
I’ve also always said Bruce has never played attractive football, or even tried playing football period, and that was one of my biggest reasons I never wanted him. Defense can only take you so far.
I agree Andrew but our standards and expectation level is ridiculously low now. It always begs the question if not Bruce then who would we get who’s any better. Bruce is a safe pair of hands we won’t go down under Bruce but won’t achieve anything either. We are pretty mush a mid table championship club now and I think it could be years before we get promoted if ever.
Yep agreed Nath.
Andrew, I don’t believe fans are blindly behind Bruce and I don’t think fans want him here for years either. Unless he quite simply gets us results, that is.
On my part, I think if we’d got Bruce at the start of the season, we’d have at least been challenging for promotion.
Which means he deserves a shot.
But I’ve also repeatedly said that if he doesn’t get off to a decent start, he’ll be gone.
Perhaps then you might get your wish for some younger, more modern thinking type manager.
But wasn’t Garde supposed to be that sort (albeit he was hung out to dry)?
That said, Nath makes a good point in saying we need stability
Honestly I think Garde would’ve done well this season, given a pre-season, his own transfer window and an owner/management team that didn’t have plans to lie and screw him over. Probably would’ve seen a couple of our loan players stay like Veretout or Gil, and wouldn’t have seen a large influx of wasted money on Championship players. Plus even if he had this current side, he wouldn’t play it from Chester to Kodjia, he’d actually have the midfield use the ball.
That’s really all I’m looking for, if we’re being honest. No more McLeish 2.0. Poor tactics, kicking it from Chester to Kodjia, and then blaming the players when they lose in the media. No more booting it up field and letting it come back to us. Not talking Di Matteo crap again, because that wasn’t even good, it was throw on forwards, take off midfielders and hope for the best, even though the strikers had no one to create for them. A balance of the two, which brings me back to wanting something like Koeman, or Jokanovic at Fulham, Carvahal at Wednesday.
As for not blindly following Bruce. I’m not 100% sold some of our fans don’t. I get the stabilizing comment, and I’ll even admit he might’ve done that. He calmed the team down a lot. I’ll give him credit, as a man manager he’s always been very good at that. And if he was an assistant coach, I’d be praising him. But tactically, he’s got a hell of a lot to prove and our fans don’t seem to care about that, because of his name, more so than anything else.
Anyone fancy John Terry?
I’m not sure what to think;
http://www.westlondonsport.com/chelsea/transfer-gossip-terry-reportedly-attracted-aston-villa-move
Thank fuck Bruce never met the Queen 👑
No thanks
I know what I think Badger a load of B***shite.as giddy saying good job he didn’t meet the queen, they would say he’s being knighted.
Yes please. No good for Bournemouth, he isn’t going to improve their top half finishing place. But I couldn’t think of a better bloke on the field to deal with Villa’s funky retreats every time the oppos score to level or bring the margin back to 1. However, I just have a feeling his legs have gone, beyond even the Championship.
Hmm, I don’t know.
I can’t stand the bloke, but think he’d probably be a decent signing.
He’d certainly bring some grit and I reckon he’s the sort Bruce would go for.
And personally, I don’t think it’s such an outlandish bit of speculation. Bournemouth in the Prem or the Villa? Tough call, I’d say.
The article mentions a fat promotion bonus, which makes sense imo.
But yes, it’s most likely BS.
As an aside, I went on a VP tour yesterday.
Afterwards, we were talking about the ground and how it’s probably better than 99% of grounds. Quite eye-opening really, even though I knew most of the stuff we were told.
Nice to see a couple from Florida there, which shows we do still have some pull.
Oh, the guide said he’s campaigning to get tours of BMH too.
That would be interesting, as he reckons it’s the facilities there that clinch signings.
Isn’t it the financial benefits to the agents & players that clinch deals??? A bit much saying the training facilities do it.
Ps if the club paid me 100k a week I’d train in the managers backyard no problem
Well yes, the money is the obvious one, but he presumably meant all other things being equal.
Apparently the players love being pampered and we’re amongst the best at it.
Pampered yes that’s really got us places
Sadly the decline of Aston Villa and th rise of BMH were simultaneous. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Why, do they had a bar,😂 no I’d like to see that training ground, they say its very good.
Have, you silly old sod.
LOL – Bill if they organise a tour of BMH how about you, me and Giddy meeting in the bar?
I’m up for a bit of pampering!
Giddy, apparently all top players are a load of fannies and expect to be pampered.
Surely we already knew that?
Terry? Utter waste of space if we sign him. We don’t need grit, we have a bunch of no nonsense defenders. We could use a ball playing center back if anything. Which Terry is not. If we need grit anywhere it’s midfield. Or at right back.
I don’t know Andrew, not that I want him but he’s won it all, that would go a long way in a team of potential football’s, I think they call it experience, players in themselves would feel better knowing centre back covered wouldn’t you think?we still have to concentrate on midfielders and wing play in my mind.still if it happens so be it.
That’s the problem is he’s not good enough or fit enough anymore. I wouldn’t feel better knowing he’s behind me. And you call it experience, kinda like Lescott, Richards, Hutton, Bunn, Elphick, etc, etc and that’s just in defense…. Experience gets you nowhere when they’re aging and nowhere near what they used to be. We need to stop with this experienced garbage. It’s failed for 5 years, why do we think it’s going to work this time around?
Plus he will be injured for most of the season and on about a £100k a week. Bournemouth must be bonkers
thats what they said when Paul GOD McGrath signed. past his best, injury prone. but he proved them doubters wrong. football is not easy to predict. players you think will be good for your club turn out to be a Balaban or Saša Ćurčic both came to villa with good CV’S but they were soon found wanting. its a lottery. clubs minimize transfers the best they can. experience is vital in players reaching the end of their career. they should be wiser also learned the best positions to take up so where they lack in pace they more than make up with positioning
June 21: EFL fixtures announced
July 12: Telford vs Villa, 7:45pm
July 12: Kidderminster vs Aston Villa, 7:45pm
July 18: Shrewsbury vs Aston Villa, 3pm
July 18: Walsall vs Aston Villa, 7:45pm
July 23: TBC vs Aston Villa (45 minute match), Schauinsland Reisen Arena, Duisburg, Germany, KO TBC
July 23: TBC vs Aston Villa (45 minute match), Schauinsland Reisen Arena, Duisburg, Germany, KO TBC
July 25: Vitesse Arnhem vs Aston Villa
July 28: Tamworth vs Aston Villa XI, 7:30pm