MacDonald: Young Lions wouldn't let me downKevin MacDonald has faith in youth to deliver if called upon.12th Aug 2010MacDonald: Young Lions wouldn't let me downBy Paul BrownKevin MacDonald insists he has total faith that his crop of Young Lions could do a job for him as the Barclays Premier League kicks off this weekend.The caretaker manager is adamant the likes of Marc Albrighton, Eric Lichaj and Ciaran Clark are improving all the time and would be ready if called upon.He also thinks a mix of youth and experience could be the way forward as he takes charge of his first top-flight encounter this weekend against West Ham.MacDonald said: "I wouldn't have any qualms about throwing in six or seven of the lads who have done well for me over the past two or three years. Whether they would be regulars, who knows?"If we had a spate of injuries then I would have no problems with them playing in one or two games before we got one or two back, or even see them coming off the bench to impress."Marc has done fantastically well this pre-season as has Ciaran Clark. But people like Barry Bannan, Andy Weimann and Nathan Delfouneso, mainly for England, have all done very well too."It's whether they get in the team for the first game. That will be my decision come Saturday morning."In the Peace Cup last season, not all the players were back straight away so we had some youngsters there and I think they integrated very well with the senior players."Obviously they won the tournament - I know pre-season tournaments don't necessarily count for a lot - but it did give everyone an insight into the potential of the youngsters here."Some of them went out on loan and did fantastically well but so did the first team. If we can mix and match them together, you never know what might happen."Marc has been fantastic this pre-season."The thing that has impressed me about Marc's progress is that his decision-making on when to cross and what kind of crosses to put in has improved."He has also become very, very direct and also grown up physically. He is now a lot stronger and can ride tackles a lot better."The big thing for me is he needs to score more goals. That's looking for perfection."His strength has always been delivering good crosses in the box for strikers but what he is doing now is managing to manoeuvre it past people to get the cross in. Now he is working a lot harder at that."He has had his deserved recognition because he went away with England under-21s and came on."That will give him a big boost ahead of the new season. He is a local lad that just loves to play football. He loves the fact he is involved in the Aston Villa plans."Ciaran has been outstanding over the past few years at this football club - at a younger age - and then he made his debut against Fulham. He did very, very well but was unlucky from the point of view that Richard Dunne and James Collins came in the day after who themselves were probably the best pair in the country for the rest of the season."He was also unlucky that, because he was on the bench quite a lot, we wouldn't let him go on loan where he might have got a little bit more experience. He agreed to sign for us and we utilised him as best as we could."Eric has done fantastically well too. He obviously played well in pre-season last year and then went out on loan to Lincoln City. He was one of their outstanding players and then came back to us and then went out to Orient. He was voted as good as their player of the year because he kept their captain out."He has come back again this pre-season and done very, very well. True to his word, Martin gave him a three-year contract and he has gratefully accepted it."Hopefully he can make the grade here. He has the American attitude in that he wants to keep improving - he wants to get better and better. He is willing to do anything physically to get himself into that first team."
you'd think clark may start if curtis davis is struggling.
In another article on the web site, he mentions that they have done some changes in the coaching staff and Ben Petty has been moved to work with the youth team. I can't find him listed as a coach anywhere on the official web site, but I clearly remember he's a former Villa player, is this right?
It is nice to know kev mac has got no problem with putting the youngster's in if needed.
Quote from: darren woolley on August 12, 2010, 03:25:58 PMIt is nice to know kev mac has got no problem with putting the youngster's in if needed.Well its what General K has indicated RL wants, so seems a good way to impress your boss.I'd be more inmpressed if he'd mentioned more about the seniors and how many were backing his sudden promotion, his tactical plans and whether he'd been given any say in transfers in and out, perhaps that will come next.The guys obviously no fool but I can't see how he could be the long term appointment no matter how much he desires it, as I'm sure he must.