Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Next season’s aim for Fabian Delph
Wednesday 18th May 2011, 3:30PM BST.
Fabian Delph believes Villa fans will see the best of him next season as he aims to put an injury-plagued couple of years behind him.
The 20-year-old midfielder has only made seven appearances in a Villa shirt this campaign since his comeback from a cruciate knee ligament injury.
Delph made his first start since the 3-2 defeat at Bolton on March 5 in the 2-1 victory over Arsenal on Sunday and impressed with his use of the ball in a five-man midfield.
And the former Leeds United man, who recently signed a new contract which will keep him at Villa until 2015, is confident performances of that level become the norm in the future.
He said: “I need to a good pre-season – injury free – under my belt and then see what I can do.
“I wouldn’t say I found it difficult but I haven’t played a lot of football this season, or for the past two years really.
“I was delighted with my own performance and that of the team too. To contribute to a win at Arsenal meant the world to me. I was absolutely delighted.
“It took me a bit of time to get into it but we had experienced players in there like Nigel Reo-Coker and Stiliyan Petrov, who guided me through it easily.
“We’ve had a bit of a frustrating season, so it would be nice to get the right result against Liverpool to add to the one against Arsenal and send the fans home happy for the summer.”
Delph also paid tribute to the Villa supporters who have endured a tough season on the road, but made their presence felt at the Emirates Stadium.
He said: “The fans were absolutely tremendous. They had their tops off and everything. They were really, really loud.
“The lads spoke before the game and said ‘come on, we’ve got nothing to lose,’ so we gave it a really good go.
“We were all so happy. It’s hard to come away from home and keep the ball and play like we would have liked, but we got the early goals and we thought ‘let’s see if you can break us down now’
“Richard Dunne and James Collins were outstanding as well as Kyle Walker, Luke Young and Brad Friedel.”
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