Given Full Of Praise For Villa

Shay Given is full of praise for all things Villa it seems. He has come out and praised the fans reaction to him since he has signed and also is excited by the potential that Villa possess with the state of the art training facilities. It's good to know that we are still an impressive club to those who join us!

Given said:

"I remember going to the kit launch at Star City and I was blown away by the reception I received," Given told the club's official website.

"The amount of fans who turned up for that and the noise they made when we made our way down the escalators was unbelievable. That's when it hit home to me how big a club I had just joined.

"You come into Bodymoor Heath every morning and you marvel at the quality of the place - it really is world-class.

"I've played at Manchester City and Newcastle and you're sometimes cocooned in that city's bubble and you don't really have a feel for how big other clubs are in other cities.

Gabby Steals The Show

Such a nice feeling to be relaxing on a Saturday evening on the back of 3 points for the Villa!  And I think it's fair to say that we owe pretty much all of it to Gabby Agbonlahor.  I actually thought he started the game poorly, giving the ball away a bit too easily and not making the most of promising positions.  However as soon as he scored his goal he seemed to turn into a man possessed.

First things first I think that goal deserves a mention.  Bannan, who had a very impressive game before fading late on, sending an inch perfect ball down the left for Gabby to run on to.  He then ran at his marker, cut inside and rifled an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.  It was a taster of what Gabby has to offer this season if he can keep up his level of performances.  He has the speed to terrorise any defence in the league and now he is starting to develop some skill to go with it which can make him unplayable at times.  He is also starting to improve his level of finishing which makes him even more dangerous as now he doesn't need 3 or 4 chances before he will take one.

For the second goal he went on a magnificent run down the left, leaving Emmerson Boyce for dead before delivering a perfectly placed cross for Bent to volley home his first goal in front of the Holte End so a special congratulations to him.  As for Gabby's role in the goal, there is nobody else in our squad who has the ability to do that, his pace being the key factor but now he is finally starting to use his pace more effectively.

Other than Gabby, I felt there were plenty of other positives to take from the game.  As mentioned earlier, I felt that Barry Bannan looked very creative and created pretty much all of our chances in the first half before almost scoring a cracking 25 yarder in the second half.  Stephen Ireland is far from the finished article but I saw moments of promise and I feel that given a lengthy run of games in the first team he could become a key figure this season for us.  As ever the defence looked solid, and I was especially pleased with Warnock's display.  I thought he was terrific today.  Last but not least another mention to Shay Given, who after being so quiet for most of the game came up with a couple of quality stops to preserve a clean sheet which will go down well in the camp.

Player Profile - 1. Shay Given

So, Shay Given arrived at Villa Park this summer for £3.5 million, and with the performances he has been putting in, he looks like a real bargain.  Obviously there is still a question mark over his fitness as he was known for being more injury prone than your average goalkeeper, and he has already picked up a couple of niggles, but so far he has started every Premier League game.

When Brad Friedel departed at the end of last season we were all thinking the same thing, what an act to follow! We had been used to Mr Reliable for the last 3 seasons and the kind of names being mentioned to replace him, Foster and Al Habsi most notably, were prone to making the occasional error.  Don't get me wrong, I rate them both quite highly, but for £10 million and £4 million respectively, they aren't a patch on Given.  He is cheaper, more consistent and a better shot stopper.  I know he is older than them, but he could potentially have another good 3-5 years left in him.

Onto his performances this season.  His standout performances came against Fulham on the opening day where he saved us a point with a couple of great stops, and most recently against Newcastle where he made some great saves from Cabaye and even for the goal he made a great save initially and almost kept out the next one which just stayed under the bar.  He has single handedly earnt us at least 2 or 3 points aready this season, so from my point of view it is very much money well spent.

Rating - 9/10