English clubs progress in the Uefa cup but neither impress

Both Aston Villa and Manchester City made progress in the Uefa Cup last night but the performances of neither side will have worried the likes of Milan too much!

Villa were held to a 1-1 draw at Villa Park by Icelandic side FH Hafnarfjordur. Their 4-1 victory in the away leg meant this game was fairly meaningless but the performance did not please Martin O’Neill who said, “I believe we could improve immensely on that performance.”

That is an under statement.

Manchester City managed to scrape through on penalties against Danish side FC Midtjylland. An injury time own goal gave Manchester City the lifeline they needed to take the game into extra-time and then two fine saves by Joe Hart in the shoot-out saw them edge their way into the first round.

Manager Mark Hughes was able to take the positives from what was a pretty dire performance. “You’re always relieved. There are no easy games; it’s a cliche but in Europe there aren’t. Look at the events of last night with Liverpool. We showed character. I saw qualities and values that I liked tonight.”