|
|
England boss Fabio Capello saw the action |
Birmingham City slipped into the bottom three of the Premier League after being outclassed 被超过 by local rivals 对手 Aston Villa, who won 5-1 before a sell-out crowd 座无虚席 at Villa Park.
Among those in the stadium was England manager Fabio Capello, who will no doubt have been impressed 留下很深印象 by the performance of Aston Villa's Ashley Young.
Young scored twice and was involved in two other goals. Villa's manager Martin O'Neill said "Ashley couldn’t have done any more 表现极其出色 in front of Capello."
Indeed it was Young who broke the deadlock 打破僵局 with a fantastic strike on 28 minutes. Villa added two more goals through forward John Carew, one either side of half time. Young then grabbed a fourth for Aston Villa before Birmingham's Mikael Forssell got a consolation (进球所带来的)安慰 for his side. But on-form 处于好的竞技状态 Aston Villa still had time to notch up 完成 a fifth goal, Gabriel Agbonlahor capitalising 从中获益 on a defensive blunder 防守失误 by Birmingham.
|
Bruising
We were on the end of a bruising from a really good Villa side. The bottom line is that they are a better team.
Alex McLeish, Birmingham City Manager
|
Birmingham manager Alex McLeish admitted it was a "bruising" 伤痕累累的 defeat. He said "the bottom line is that they are a better team". When he says "the bottom line", he means the most important point.
But despite seeing his side fall into the relegation zone 降级区, he remains confident his side will win the fight for survival 为生存而战。
|
Bounce Back
What has been evident in this team is that we are capable of bouncing back and we can do it again.
Alex McLeish, Birmingham City Manager
|
When he says his team is "capable of bouncing back" he means they are capable of recovering. To bounce back is to recover to full strength after a bad experience.
The result also put Aston Villa sixth in the Premier League. If they were to finish fifth they would qualify for a place in the Uefa Cup. Manager Martin O'Neill said that Europe was now "tantalisingly close" 近得使人跃跃欲试。
|
Full Flow
We're still there fighting for the Uefa Cup. We're in full flow and the Everton game (on 27 April) is a massive one for us.
Martin O'Neill, Aston Villa Manager
|
Aston Villa themselves bounced back from a 4-0 defeat by Manchester United four games ago, and have now scored 15 goals in their last three games. When O'Neill says they are "in full flow", he means they are playing very well at this point in time.
Whether they qualify for the Uefa Cup may depend on their game against fifth-placed Everton. O'Neill describes this game as "massive", meaning hugely or massively important.