Aston Villa

I couldn't think of something topical to write. I could have written about the different between sex and love but it would take too long and I'm not in the mood. I could have gone into a long rant about how poorly women dress in Hong Kong but I've done that before and it will be some time before I go into that subject again. For now I will continue my Barclay's Premier League review/preview with Aston Villa.

Great things were expected from Villa last year. The went under new ownership, finally getting rid of Deadly Doug Ellis. Martin O'Neill, who worked his magic with Leicester City and Celtic, was brought into usher a new era. The new season started out well for Aston Villa - they were the last team to be beaten in the Premiership. Yet the facade soon gave way to the reality. They started to draw too many games and the squad was stretched thing. Only after the January transfer windown, when they finally brought in some players of decent calibre, were they able to climb up the table.

This season Martin O'Neill will be expected to do better. He will finally have the players he wants and a full pre-season training to mould his side into the way he wants to play. He still needs to get rid of some deadwood. The likes of Hendrie and Samuel have already left, with others to follow. Djemba-Djemba, Sutton and Delaney should be going with Sorensen, Hughes and Davis also likely to go. What they need still is a right back, possibly Phil Bardsley or Luke Young, a right winger with Shaun Wright-Phillips' name being tossed around and a forward - infinite possibilities here.

Martin O'Neill should be expected to get into Europe this season. In the long run he should be challenging the Big Four but he will require heavy investment into his squad.