Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Fabian Delph eyes more starts at Villa
Wednesday 17th August 2011, 3:01PM BST.
Fabian Delph today vowed to fight for a regular starting spot in Villa’s starting line-up after completing a full Premier League match for the first time.
The 21-year-old midfielder, who has endured a stop-start career at Villa because of injury, has made 16 top-flight appearances for the club since his move from Leeds in August 2009.
But, until last weekend’s goalless draw at Fulham, the youngster had always been substituted or come off the bench himself, so Delph was happy to finally put the unwanted statistic to bed.
He said: “It was my first 90 minutes for a long time and hopefully with the new manager and the people around him I can improve and with the players around me as well.
“To be in any starting line-up is very good for me personally, because I haven’t been in favour that much in my Villa career so far, so I’m chuffed with starting in the 11 and hopefully I can do well for this gaffer.
“I enjoyed it against Fulham. I pinged a few good passes but I also shanked a few as well, so there’s a lot to work on for myself personally.”
Villa manager Alex McLeish tempered Delph’s enthusiasm slightly by revealing his will continue to handle Delph with care, in light of his injury record over the past couple of years.
McLeish said: “We’re going to manage Fabian. The fact that he’s had injuries over the last couple of years we’re just going easy with him just now in the training.
“He’s not going to do the huge big sessions at the beginning of the week when we’re trying to get his fitness and conditioning to a certain level.
“We’re working on him in the gym with a very tough programme whereas the others were out on the field. I think we’re managing it well and I really believe it’s the way forward.
“It will help him, absolutely no danger of that.”
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