Game #4934
Aston Villa
Sunday, 13 May 2007
Drew
11th (-)
Last 5: 🟩 🟨 🟩 🟩 🟨
Premier League
Attendance: 26,255
Bolton Wanderers
Reebok Stadium
Bolton Wanderers
2-2
Aston Villa
Assist(s) | John Carew | 37’ | Ashley Young | 81' |
MATCH SUMMARY
Villa end Martin O'Neill's first season in charge unbeaten in nine Premier League games having started the campaign unbeaten in eleven amidst a fine run through to November. But for the paucity of the squad inherited and a resultant down turn in form, Villa could have finished far higher but 11th regardless was a significant improvement both on and off the pitch.
KEY MAN
Craig Gardner celebrates his spectacular equaliser against Bolton as Villa end the season unbeaten in nine Premier League games under Martin O'Neill, Sunday, 13 May 2007.
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MATCH TIMELINE
Sunday, 13 May 2007
🟨 | 31’ Booking, Craig Gardner
🥅 | 32’ Goal, 0-1, (Bolton Wanderers), Gary Speed
⚽ | 37’ Goal, 1-1, Craig Gardner, Assist by John Carew
🕒 | HT Bolton Wanderers 1-1 Aston Villa
🔁 | 46’ Sub off, Thomas Sörensen, Sub on, Stuart Taylor
🥅 | 58’ Goal, 1-2, (Bolton Wanderers), Kevin Davies
🔁 | 74’ Sub off, Patrik Berger, Sub on, Luke Moore
🔁 | 77’ Sub off, Wilfred Bouma, Sub on, Steven Davis 🔴
⚽ | 81’ Goal, 2-2, Luke Moore, Assist by Ashley Young
🕒 | FT Bolton Wanderers 2-2 Aston Villa
ON THIS DAY
Martin O’Neill’s Villa ended the season on a high - unbeaten in nine games, winning four to finish eleventh in the table.
For the first half of the season O’Neill was largely working with an inherited squad yet he delivered a 15 game unbeaten run at the start of the campaign suggesting his presence alone was having a catalytic effect on the team.
A difficult mid season period, coinciding with a horrible injury list, including both senior goalkeepers, saw an almost mirror image run as Villa failed to win in twenty. However by the end of that torrid run, O’Neill had started to remould his squad and the arrival of John Carew and Ashley Young turbocharged the improvement.
The run to the end of the season was Villa’s strongest, and best football, since John Gregory left.
The listless Ellis, O’Leary and Taylor years were well behind Villa as investment and an on pitch plan were finally evident, as was the steely personality that was happy to call time on Villa careers that wouldn’t fit the vision as well as transforming the contribution of players previously seen as peripheral.
Although it wasn’t a perfect debut season, and the mid season troubles revived memories of David O’Leary’s well documented struggles, the future was undoubtedly as bright as had been promised.
Goalkeeper Thomas Sörensen made his final appearance for Villa aged 30. Sörensen would remain with Villa, albeit out of first team reckoning, before moving on to Stoke City on a free transfer in July 2008. Sörensen had made 158 appearances for Villa between 2003-04 and 2006-07 conceding 189 goals at a rate of 1.20 goals per game.
Left back Aaron Hughes made his final appearance for Villa aged 27 before moving on to Fulham for a fee of £1,350,000 in July 2007 - the same fee Villa had paid Newcastle United to bring Hughes to the club and in 2005. Hughes made a total of 64 appearances.
Midfielder Steven Davis made his final appearance for Villa aged just 22 before moving on to Fulham for a fee of £5,310,000 in July 2007.
Like Peter Crouch and Thomas Hitzlsperger before him, Davis could and probably should have been given more time to develop at Villa having made his debut aged 19, making 102 appearances, scoring 9 goals and creating more.
Although the fee was high it is still difficult to understand why Villa let one of their genuinely talented and successful youth products to leave so early in their career, however it was clear from early in his reign that O’Neill didn’t have the same trust and confidence in the young midfielder as his predecessor.
Aston Villa
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96
Bolton Wanderers
European Cup / Champions League: ❌
League Champions: ❌
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: 1957-58
FIXTURE HISTORY
Bolton Wanderers
Previous 5 vs. Bolton: 🟩 🟨 🟨 🟨 🟥
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 2006-07 |
Matchday | #42 |
League Game | #38 |
Manager Game | #42 |
Sunday, 13 May 2007
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: Martin O’Neill | 🇬🇧 | County Londonderry, 2006-2010
Referee: Mark Clattenburg | 🏴 | Durham, 2000-2017
Kick off: 3.00pm
HT Score: 🟨 1-1
FT Score: 🟨 2-2
FT Result: 🟨 Drew
Last 5: 🟩 🟨 🟩 🟩 🟨
MANAGERIAL RECORD
Martin O'Neill | 🇬🇧 |
GAMES | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS PER GAME
🕒 42 | 🟩 | 13 🟨 | 17 🟥 12 | 1.33
Villa Career Form:
Mid Table
Martin O'Neill | 🇬🇧 |
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Mark Clattenburg | 🏴 | Durham, 2000-2017
Previous 5: 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟥 🟥
Last Match: 🟥 10 Feb 07, Villa 0-2 Reading (a)
Cards: 🟨 🟨 🟨
Mark Clattenburg
CARDS
Villa
🟨
Bolton Wanderers
🟨 🟨
TEAM NEWS
Martin O'Neill names an unchanged line up.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 27.06 |
Oldest Player |
W Patrik Berger | 🇨🇿 | 33.53 |
Youngest Player |
M Craig Gardner | 🏴 | 20.48 |
MANAGER
Martin O'Neill | 🇬🇧 |
Aston Villa
GK Thomas Sörensen | 🇩🇰 | 🔁 |
LB Aaron Hughes | 🇬🇧 |
CB Martin Laursen | 🇩🇰 |
CB Olof Mellberg | 🇸🇪 |
RB Wilfred Bouma | 🇳🇱 | 🔁 |
M Gareth Barry | 🏴 |
M Craig Gardner | 🏴 | 🟨 | ⚽ |
W Ashley Young | 🏴 | 🔥 |
W Patrik Berger | 🇨🇿 | 🔁 |
F Gabriel Agbonlahor | 🏴 |
CF John Carew | 🇳🇴 | 🔥 |
MANAGER
Sammy Lee | 🏴 |
Bolton Wanderers
GK Jussi Jääskeläinen | 🇫🇮 |
CB Abdoulaye Méïté | 🇨🇮 |
CB Tal Ben Haim (yth) | 🇮🇱 | 🟨 |
CB Abdoulaye Faye | 🇸🇳 | 🟨 |
CB Lubomir Michalík | 🇸🇰 |
LB Ricardo Gardner | 🇯🇲 |
M Iván Campo | 🇪🇸 |
M Kevin Nolan | 🏴 |
M Gary Speed | 🏴 | ⚽ | 🔁 |
CF Kevin Davies | 🏴 | ⚽ |
CF Nicolas Anelka | 🇫🇷 | 🔁 |
Not necessarily indicative of the actual matchday formation
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 GK Stuart Taylor | 🇬🇧 | for GK Thomas Sörensen | 🇩🇰 | 46’ |
🔁 F Luke Moore | 🏴 | ⚽ | for W Patrik Berger | 🇨🇿 | 74’ |
🔁 M Steven Davis | 🇬🇧 | 🔴 | for RB Wilfred Bouma | 🇳🇱 | 77’ |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | M Gary Speed | 🏴 | (W Ricardo Vaz Tê | 🇵🇹 |)
🔁 | CF Nicolas Anelka | 🇫🇷 | (M Idan Tal | 🇮🇱 |)
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
CB Gary Cahill | 🏴 |
M Gavin McCann | 🏴 |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Ali Al Habsi | 🇴🇲 |
RB James Sinclair | 🏴 |
M Andranik Teymourian | 🇮🇷 |
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 5/11
Homegrown: 3/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 10/16
Homegrown: 6/16
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 3/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 4/16
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Not recorded
UNAVAILABLE
Not Recorded
Player Positions:
GK : Goalkeeper
CB, D, B : Centre Back, Defender, Back
FB, LB, RB, WH : Full Back, Left Back, Right Back, Wing Back, Wing Half
M, CH, LH, RH : Midfielder, Centre Half, Left Half, Right Half
W, OL, OR : Winger, Outside Left, Outside Right
F, IF, IL, IR : Forward, Inside Forward, Inside Left, Inside Right, Second Striker, False 9
CF : Centre Forward
Match Symbols:
⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution
🟨 | Booking
🟥 | Sending off
🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game
DEBUT APPEARANCES
FINAL APPEARANCES
🔴 M Steven Davis | 🇬🇧 |
MATCH STATS
Not recorded
LEAGUE TABLE
MATCHDAY PROGRAMME
MATCHDAY QUOTES
“I am absolutely delighted with the performance. We have been playing like that for some weeks. We scored two fantastic goals.
“Overall I am very pleased with the team considering I had just two weeks to work with them before the season kicked off.
“Recently we have been playing with a lot of panache. We’re improving and if we continue to do so it augurs well.”
Martin O’Neill.
*The Guardian*
Monday 14 May 2007
*Bolton return to Europe as Allardyce says farewell*
It is a measure of the impact Sam Allardyce has had at this club that the arrival of European football is greeted with celebration but not a hint of surprise. Allardyce took his seat in the directors’ box for the final time yesterday, accepting a special invitation to run an eye over the empire he has created during eight years at the Reebok. Unsurprisingly he left with the broadest of smiles.
Any Newcastle United supporters unsure whether Allardyce possesses the credentials to succeed at St James’ should rest assured.
The 52-year-old has transformed Bolton from a side struggling in the nether regions of the second tier in 1999 to one that has now gained three top-eight Premiership finishes in as many years and qualified for the Uefa Cup for the second time in three seasons. Allardyce departs for Tyneside a hero.
Sammy Lee, his former understudy and Bolton’s new manager, will be grateful for what has been left behind - Allardyce had a 21-strong backroom team and there are also the likes of Nicolas Anelka, Kevin Nolan and El Hadji Diouf - but is aware of the potential implications should his predecessor become Newcastle manager.
“You would think Sam would [come back for players and staff] because it’s vindication of the good people we’ve got working at this football club. Whether they will be allowed to go there is a matter for other people to decide,” Lee said.
Allardyce would most probably have still been Bolton’s manager next season had, as appeared likely for long periods of the season, they qualified for the Champions League - “There was a little period just after Christmas when you thought, ‘Wait a minute, if Arsenal or Liverpool drop a few more points they might make it’,” said the Villa manager Martin O’Neill - and Lee will be concerned at the way the season has tailed off.
Bolton ended up winning only two league matches in 2007 and, had Reading won at Blackburn yesterday, they would have missed out on Europe altogether. Lee will almost certainly use the summer to shore up a defence that leaked 12 goals in its last five games and which was, at times, carved apart by Aston Villa.
Despite falling behind twice here the visitors always looked capable of extending their unbeaten sequence to nine games. O’Neill’s men have hit a rich vein of form in recent weeks and, with the manager to be handed significant transfer funds this summer, to a man they played as if desperate to be part of his future plans. “We would like to add to the squad if we can but the players who came in around January I’ve been really pleased with,” said O’Neill.
Their response to Bolton’s opener, Gary Speed collecting Anelka’s knockdown to slot home, was most impressive. When Thomas Sorensen launched a goal-kick downfield there appeared little danger but John Carew flicked astutely on for Craig Gardner, Villa’s 20-year-old right-back, who spectacularly volleyed past Jussi Jaaskelainen from 25 yards.
News of Reading’s fightback against Blackburn will have filtered through to the Bolton players at the interval and their early second-half pressure soon told. Feeding off Martin Laursen’s inability to clear an Iván Campo free-kick after 57 minutes, Kevin Davies finished calmly. Villa’s refusal to accept defeat saw Carew come close to equalising before, with 10 minutes remaining, the substitute Luke Moore acrobatically guided Young’s cross into the net.