Game #4863
Aston Villa

Saturday, 26 November 2005
15th (-)
Last 5: 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟩
GK Thomas Sörensen | 🇩🇰 |
LB Aaron Hughes | 🇬🇧 |
CB Olof Mellberg | 🇸🇪 |
CB Liam Ridgewell | 🏴 |
RB Wilfred Bouma | 🇳🇱 |
M Gareth Barry | 🏴 |
M Steven Davis | 🇬🇧 | ⚽ |
M Gavin McCann | 🏴 |
W James Milner | 🏴 | 🟨 |
F Kevin Phillips | 🏴 |
F Milan Baroš | 🇨🇿 | 🔥 | 🟨 | 🔁 |
David O'Leary | 🇮🇪 | 2003-2006

Substitutes:
🔁 F Luke Moore | 🏴 | for F Milan Baroš | 🇨🇿 | 90’+3 |
Unused Substitutes:
GK Stuart Taylor | 🏴 |
RB Jlloyd Samuel | 🏴 |
M Lee Hendrie | 🏴 |
M Eirik Bakke | 🇳🇴 |
🟨 Milan Baroš
🟨 James Milner
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96
Matchday Squad:
Not recorded
David O'Leary names an unchanged line up for the first time in 16 games this season.
Starting XI Average Age
| 25.69 |
Oldest Player |
F Kevin Phillips | 🏴 | 32.44 |
Youngest Player |
W James Milner | 🏴 | 19.91 |
Villa win successive League games for the first time this season but the discontent rises as David O'Leary swerves the post match press conference yet again to leave Roy Aitken to claim Villa were in a 'false position' before this win.
Villa win for a second successive game to make it as many victories in two Premier League matches as David O'Leary had managed in the previous thirteen. Quite how that added up to a "false position" few are sure.
Following victory, Villa are in 15th place, 5 points above the relegation places and 22 points behind the leaders.
Clearly the O’Leary delusion was infectious but the crowd weren't fooled.
Scorer(s) | Steven Davis | 69’ |
Assist(s) | Milan Baroš | 69' |
Match Timeline:
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 0-0 Charlton Athletic
⚽ | 69’ Goal, 1-0, Steven Davis, Assist by Milan Baroš
🟨 | 75’ Booking, Milan Baroš
🟨 | 90’+2 Booking, James Milner
🔁 | 90’+3 Sub off, Milan Baroš, Sub on, Luke Moore
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 1-0 Charlton Athletic
Season | 2005-06 |
Matchday | #16 |
League Game | #14 |
Manager Game | #102 |
Saturday, 26 November 2005

Manager: David O’Leary | 🇮🇪 | Stoke Newington, 2003-2006
Referee: Mark Clattenburg | 🏴 | Durham, 2004-2016
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟨 0-0
FT Score: 🟩 1-0
FT Result: 🟩 Won
Last 5: 🟩 🟥 🟥 🟩 🟩
Referee: Mark Clattenburg | 🏴 | Durham, 2004-2016
Not recorded
Debut Appearances:
None
Final Appearances:
None
David O'Leary | 🇮🇪 | 2003-2006
🕒 102 | 🟩 | 39 🟨 | 25 🟥 38 | 1.39
Villa Career Form:
Mid Table
Referee:
VAR (from 2021)
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Premier League
Charlton Athletic

Villa Park
Attendance: 30,023
GK Stephan Andersen | 🇩🇰 | 🟨 |
LB Chris Powell | 🏴 | 🟨 | 🔁 |
CB Talal El-Karkouri | 🇲🇦 |
CB Hermann Hreiðarsson | 🇮🇸 |
RB Luke Young | 🏴 |
M Radostin Kishishev | 🇧🇬 | 🟨 | 🔁 |
M Matt Holland | 🇮🇪 |
M Darren Ambrose | 🏴 | 🔁 |
M Aleksey Smertin | 🇷🇺 |
W Jerome Thomas | 🏴 |
CF Darren Bent | 🏴 |
Alan Curbishley (ex) | 🏴 |

Substitutes:
🔁 | LB Chris Powell | 🏴 | (CB Chris Perry | 🏴 |)
🔁 | M Radostin Kishishev | 🇧🇬 | (M Danny Murphy | 🏴 |)
🔁 | M Darren Ambrose | 🏴 | (CF Kevin Lisbie | 🏴 |)
Unused Substitutes:
GK Thomas Myhre | 🇳🇴 |
CB Jonathan Spector | 🇺🇸 |
🟨 Stephan Andersen
🟨 Chris Powell
🟨 Radostin Kishishev
European Cup / Champions League: ❌
League Champions: ❌
FA Cup Winners: 🏆
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: 1946-47
Matchday Squad:
Not Recorded

“We were in a false position in terms of points, but back-to-back wins have given us a more realistic total.
“I think a one-goal defeat probably flattered Charlton a bit.
“Our success over the past couple of seasons has been built on winning home games, hopefully this will put us on the right road now.”
Roy Aitken.

*Villa fail to kid fans with successive wins*
It is not yet Christmas - when David O’Leary wants his team to be judged - but Aston Villa are already in wonderland. The faithful enjoyed a rare home victory and must have been pleasantly surprised to hear later that their team had produced “some of our best football of the season”.
That was the judgment delivered by Villa’s assistant manager Roy Aitken, who warmed up for a rare meet-the-media role by taking the lead in the technical area, standing and cajoling Villa throughout. O’Leary, occasionally stepping forward with a few words of advice, took a more magisterial view.
Perhaps it was a good occasion to stay in the background. Villa’s manager went into the game, according to William Hill, as leader in the Premiership sack stakes. And when the chairman’s face briefly lit up the giant screens - a plug for Deadly Doug, his latest book - jeers rang out from the frozen masses in the Holte End. Only Steven Davis’ crushing volley, utterly out of context in this game, banished rising home frustration.
After victory at Sunderland O’Leary can see two successive Premiership wins as a turning point - after all, Villa had not managed that for a year. It is now time to turn sights upwards, away from the danger zone and towards a top-half position - where Villa have not been since winning their last home game, back in August.
Alan Curbishley wants his August form back. Charlton, after their blazing four-win opening, have now suffered the reverse sequence, a bad case of winter burn out. Curbishley dropped Danny Murphy and Dennis Rommedahl here.
“If I can leave Murphy out, I can leave anyone out,” said the manager. “That’s the message - but they didn’t get the message today.” It appears they will this week.
“It was a real poor performance,” said Curbishley. “Murphy, Rommedahl and others have to do what they were doing earlier in the season. I love my players to death but I’m not standing for a couple of performances they’ve put in. I don’t care who they are.”
He did not even protest about Villa’s winner, when Stephan Andersen looked to be obstructed by Kevin Phillips, before Milan Baros struck the bar and, eventually, Davis volleyed home from just inside the area. The goalkeeper received the yellow for dissent but his general error-prone performance must have made Curbishley see red.
The second half was a signal to open the fattest textbook of blunders, not that the first represented a thin volume. The referee deserves a good wigging, too. Mark Clattenburg bungled badly in refusing Baros a penalty when blatantly body checked in the area by Talal El Karkouri. Baros complained at length but not at all when booked, correctly, for a later dive.
Earlier James Milner sent a cross - or was it a shot? - for a throw-in, Gareth Barry sent a studied free-kick well over and Wilfred Bouma boomed one even higher into the Holte End. Cue the loudest jeers of the day. Liam Ridgewell, supporting his strikers, then
took a Phillips shot full in the face before blocking a Barry cross. No one could possibly have seen Davis’s cracker coming.
Ridgewell was back in his own area to take an Alexei Smertin drive in the face, Charlton’s only genuine attempt other than Darren Bent’s shot that ran just past the far post almost half an hour earlier. Aitken remarked that the young centre back and the 20-year-old Davis, now top scorer, “are the ones who have been consistent all season”.
The midfielder has a big future, according to Aitken. “He’s such a talented lad and such a hard worker. That’s what separates players.”
*Man of the match: Gavin McCann*
The Villa midfielder provided a solidity and strength in the centre to complement the work of the young Steven Davis.
*Best moment:* Receiving a difficult, strongly driven ball and stunning his pass at an oblique angle to one of his Villa colleagues - a skill that is rarely seen in English football.