Megson’s warns players for Villa

WBA V BOLTON 13 EB 21 Bolton boss Gary Megson has warned former claret and blue defensive duo Gary Cahill and Zat Knight – “It’s time to deliver against Villa.”

Knight and Cahill will make up the Trotters’ centre-half pairing in tomorrow’s Premier League clash at Villa Park.

Both players were recruited by former Albion chief Megson from Villa, with Cahill having already returned to his former stomping ground with Wanderers twice over the last two seasons. Both times have proven instantly forgettable, with Villa winning 4-0 and 4-2, and Megson hopes the England hopeful can make it third time lucky.

Knight, who like Cahill was shown the door by Martin O’Neill, makes his first return since being offloaded for £4million in the summer.

But, while Cahill’s form has thrust him into the England set-up, Solihull-born stopper Knight has had a torrid time with the Trotters – already putting into his own net twice, against Manchester United and Chelsea.

Megson is looking for both men to go out and prove a point to O’Neill.

The Bolton boss said: “Being former Villa players they will want to go and put a show on. In the past we’ve had ex-Villa players like Gavin McCann, Jlloyd Samuel and Gary Cahill who, to be perfectly honest, have never done themselves justice when they have gone back to Villa Park.

“It will be nice if we can go there and the two lads perform in a way I know they can.”

Samuel is unavailable following his sending off against Chelsea last weekend, but Villa have a whole host of suspension and injury worries of their own.

Stiliyan Petrov and Habib Beye both serve one-game suspensions while James Milner, Emile Heskey and Craig Gardner are all doubtful.

But Carlos Cuellar is back after being banned for Wednesday’s defeat to West Ham and is likely to be recalled in place of Beye at right-back.

Nigel Reo-Coker is likely to replace Petrov in the centre of midfield, while Fabian Delph and Marc Albrighton are likely to fight it out for a wing berth should Milner and Heskey both be ruled out.

Skipper Petrov, arguably Villa’s best player in recent weeks, misses out after picking up his fifth booking of the season at Upton Park.

The yellow followed hot on the heels of confirmation the caution Stephen Warnock incorrectly received at Everton at the weekend had been switched to the Bulgarian.

But Petrov remains philosophical and insists the claret and blues now have the quality in the squad to cope without him.

He said: “It’s a long season and we have a big squad. All of them will play their part over the season. You have to make tackles and try to win the ball. Sometimes it goes against you. No player wants to miss a game but we have enough quality.

“I don’t think the boys will have a problem getting themselves up for Saturday. They know how important the Bolton game is and I think they’ll be prepared for it.”

The former Celtic star has issued a rallying call to the rest of the dressing room after the disappointment of midweek.

He said: “It was very disappointing. It was a game that we could have taken something from but we took nothing, that’s the worst thing.

“It’s not the first game that we have deserved more but couldn’t take it. I thought we had enough opportunities to score to win the game.

“We didn’t defend well. There was only a minute to go and yet we couldn’t keep our concentration and see it through.

“It is very frustrating but that’s the way games go. We will fight until the end. It’s going to be a long season and it’s up to us to perform and see where we finish at the end of the season.

“If we want to break into the top four it is not enough. We know it isn’t. We need to do much better. But we know about the pressure and expectation because we went through it last season.

“It’s up to us to stand up and cope with that. If we want to do well we need to keep that consistency going for longer. The home form hasn’t been so good in the last couple of seasons but so far this year it has been good and I hope we can keep going the same way.”

But Trotters boss Megson expects Villa to be “smarting” from their midweek setback in the capital.

He said: “Obviously it will be disappointment because for them because I do think they should have got something from the game, especially with missing a penalty away from home.

“They will be smarting a little bit from that, but it won’t have any impact on Saturday’s game. Martin has brought in some really good players, there are some defensive players in there and it looks very solid.

“In the middle of the park it’s hard-working with a bit of flair down both sides and they have got the balance up top with Agbonlahor’s pace and the strength of Heskey and Carew.

“So, it’s a difficult game, and we haven’t done particularly well on recent visits there. We need to see some signs of improvement because we have let ourselves down and there is no reason for it, because when we have played Villa at the Reebok Stadium we have more than matched them in both games.

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This article was posted on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 3:30 pm.
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