A few quick links to start your morning off right. Slaky will be by in a couple of hours with this week's Friday Feedback, so be sure to check for that.

• Barry Bannan did a pretty wonderful team and apologized to the fans (on behalf of the team) for the terrible performance in Tuesday's Carling Cup loss against Bolton. I hate that anyone had to do this, but I love one of our young players showing the leadership and maturity to do it. Everything I see about Bazza impresses me, and I think he may be one of the best things to happen to this club.
  
• Alex McLeish held a long meeting with some of Villa's veteran players after Tuesday's match. Again, I don't like that this had to happen, but I am glad it did. Who knows if Big Eck can actually ever get a win, but it would sure be great if he said something to inspire the players. (As an aside: I saw someone on twitter [I don't remember who, so let me know if it was you] who mentioned that Alex McLeish could come in third in a two-horse race. I wanted to be irritated at overreaction, but then I thought about it and decided this person was probably right. I really hope he can give me some reason to be the optimist around here again.)
• Carlos Cuellar looks ready to return to the pitch for Aston Villa soon, which is welcome news. There doesn't seem to be a timeline, but from what I read, I would guess two or three weeks. Imagine a Villa without the mothballed hull of Alan Hutton in the right back position. Neat, right?
  
• Finally, Darren Bent points out that the team are still struggling to get an offense going. He mentions that he isn't getting the service he'd like, and I guess he's right. Then again, we've seen what he's done with good service the past couple of weeks, and I wonder if the service he'd like is having the ball placed in the goal while he watches. Darren, please make me confident in you again. Please.