Press article:

Solano's soothing Angel's goal fear - 22/12/2004

Links:  Players:    Juan Pablo Angel  Clubs:    Aston Villa    Chelsea    Middlesbrough

Nolberto Solano has admitted he is trying to coax Juan Pablo Angel out of his scoring drought by telling him not to be anxious in front of goal.

Angel has failed to hit the target in his last six starts since the November win over Portsmouth.

His three League goals so far against Newcastle, Blackburn and Pompey, and two Cup strikes against QPR and Burnley, are a poor return when compared to the seven Premiership and five League Cup goals he had hit by this time last season when he went on to score 23 goals.

Angel heads to Stamford Bridge on Sunday and then faces Manchester United next week hoping to break his scoring duck against two teams he has never scored a league goal against in four years.

Of his 48 goals for Villa, only one --in last season's Carling Cup against Chelsea - have come against the big three.

Solano knows the Colombian striker's confidence is not high after he missed a second-half sitter at Middlesbrough when Villa were only 1-0 down.

Also on Angel's mind will be the three second-half chances he fluffed in the 1-0 defeat at Chelsea last season, when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was on target, just as he was in the defeat at Boro at the weekend.

Solano was seen gesturing to Angel to "calm down" in last weekend's 3-0 loss but he believes that Angel is too good a player to struggle for long.

He said: "At the moment you can tell he is impatient. It is difficult for a striker when you haven't scored for a few games and you are desperate to score.

"That's the reason for me telling him to calm down because it is very hard to take.

"At Middlesbrough in the first half he had a header which hit the top of the crossbar, and I told him to calm down and be patient. I told him not to get down and he will start to score again. "It's like that all the time with strikers.

"It's good to see him get chances and not good to see him miss them. "But any striker of his calibre can score three or four goals in one game."

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