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It might look like the editor has interfered with this My Favourite XI, but no - Freddie Shires really has included all of these Aston Villa players. It’s a good way to guarantee publication around these parts. You can follow Freddie on Twitter and read more of his stuff on his self-deprecating “small blog”, Leg-Breaking Challenge.

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Goalkeeper: Jens Lehmann

I love an eccentric goalkeeper and Mad Jens most certainly seems to epitomize the term ‘eccentric’. Whether it’s getting into fights with his own defenders or stopping to take a pee during the middle of the game, Lehmann’s antics are the stuff of legend, made all the more peculiar by the fact that he comes across as a seemingly calm and collected individual away from the pitch.

Right Back: Michel Salgado

Famously described by Steve McManaman as “the hardest person in the world”, Salgado may not be considered one of the greatest right backs of all time but one has to admire his ‘take no prisoners’ approach to the game, that which made him a fixture in a star-studded Real Madrid side for almost a decade. It remains a guilty pleasure of mine to see Salgado deliver a bone-crunching challenge to any player who dare try to go past him.

Centre Back: Oleguer

Everyone’s favourite left-wing, Catalan nationalist footballer, Oleguer is also an economics graduate, who split time between his studies and training during the early stages of his career. Admittedly out of his depth in Frank Rijkaard’s Barcelona side, Oleguer still managed to play over 150 times for the Catalan club over six seasons, as he proved to be a reliable force whenever thrust into the starting line-up.

His controversial views certainly brought him a fair amount of detractors in Spain (Salva Ballesta was once quoted as saying that he had more respect for dog sh*t than for Olegeur) but the fact that he in no way fits the conventional mould of the modern day footballer is largely what endears me to him. Now only a bit-part player at Ajax, a return to Spain and the spotlight could well be on the cards.

Centre Back: Martin Laursen

Any Aston Villa fan will understand this selection. Laursen was a model professional during his time at Villa, leading by example on and off the pitch and putting in the kind of performances that had all Villa fans reminiscing back to the days of Paul McGrath. For a good few seasons, there was no doubt that the Danish centre back was one of the best in the league at his position, a fact which made his premature retirement all the more heart-breaking.

Left Back: Paolo Maldini

As a child of the 90s, I have gone down the conventional route here. Maldini was quite simply the classiest defender of his generation and the longevity of his career his testament to his undoubted professionalism. The amount of honours he won throughout his 25-year career should really speak for itself.

Midfielder: David Beckham

Beckham is one of those players, arguably the foremost, who simply seems to polarize opinions. While it’s become fashionable to label him as ‘overrated’ and a ‘media whore’, there’s really no questioning his commitment to the game and ability to overcome adversity.

I’ve always admired players who’ve displayed real dedication to their profession and that’s exactly what Beckham has shown all throughout his career. Take his final season at Real Madrid as a key example: Beckham was frozen out of the first team by Fabio Capello and widely thought to have played his last game for the club. Not to be deterred, however, he continued to shine in training and eventually forced his way back into the starting XI, playing a pivotal role in the side’s title run-in. That resilience perhaps best summarizes Beckham for me.

Midfielder: David Batty

I have no idea how or why I became such a fan of David Batty, though I hazard a guess it would have something to do with his hard-working, no-nonsense approach to the game, those characteristics commonly associated with the typical English central midfielder. Batty was by no means the most gifted footballer but fans and, more significantly, managers alike appreciated his plain-speaking playing style.

Every great team needs a player like Batty in their line-up (the contemporary case in point: Barcelona and Sergio Busquets) and that’s undoubtedly the reason why the Leeds-born midfielder would go on to become a regular fixture in Glenn Hoddle’s England side. In the Romania game at World Cup 98, Batty was arguably the team’s standout player, as he ran the show from midfield, harassing the opposition all over the field and showing why we was such a valued member of the side. Unfortunately, most fans’ abiding memory of Batty from that tournament will be the penalty miss.

Midfielder: Stiliyan Petrov

Martin Laursen’s successor as Aston Villa captain. I will admit that, like most fans of the club, it took me quite a while to take a liking to Petrov; such was the dissatisfaction with his initial performances. Eventually, however, the dedication shown by the Bulgarian on the pitch was enough to win over my support and Petrov soon became one of my favourite Villa players of recent years, emerging as a truly inspirational leader at the heart of the club’s midfield. ‘The Bulgarian Pirlo’, as he is somewhat sarcastically dubbed by a small section of fans, Petrov may be a largely unassuming player but he is one who quite simply gets the job done, without little fanfare.

Midfielder: Thomas Hitzlsperger

Ahh, the immature pleasure that can be found in yelling “SHOOOOOT!!!!!” every time ‘Der Hammer’ touches the ball, even in his own penalty area. Hitzlsperger probably possesses enough power in his left foot to power the entire city of Birmingham for a month, with every goal he ever scored for Villa flying into the net from 25 yards out, the ball travelling at speeds close to 100mph (maybe a slight exaggeration there). David O’Leary unquestionably made a lot of errors during his time as Aston Villa manager, but perhaps the one that pains me the most was his terrible decision to let Hitzlsperger walk away from the club for nothing.

Striker: Juan Pablo Angel

It’s fair to say that Angel’s spell with Aston Villa was a fairly mixed bag, filled with both success and disappointment during what was a generally miserable period for the club on a whole. The then-record signing, at £9.5m, still managed to endear himself to the fans. Angel may have only managed to score more than 10 goals in two of his six full seasons with Aston Villa but his clear 100% commitment to the club was enough for him to become a fan favourite. In particular, his League Cup goal against Chelsea in 2003 will go down as one of the best seen at Villa Park in recent times.

Striker: Filippo Inzaghi

Choosing a strike partner to pair up front with Angel proved to be a quite a difficult task but I’ve ultimately decided to plump for one of the greatest goalscorers of the past fifteen: Super Pippo Inzaghi. Blessed with an uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time, Inzaghi may have his fair share of critics but he simply always seems to score whenever he’s on the pitch. One need only look at his goal scoring achievemnts to realize how prolific he has been throughout his career.

Substitutes

Peter Enckelman

Poor, poor Peter Enckelman. He’ll undoubtedly be forever remembered for ‘that’ incident during the Birmingham derby at St. Andrew’s in 2002. How he resisted clobbering the fan that ran onto the pitch afterwards to goad him I’ll never know. The ‘Floundering Finn’ never really imposed himself in the Villa goal during his time with the club, despite my hope for him to do so, but he always carried himself extremely well and ultimately deserves to be remembered for more than just that howling error.

Phil Neville

Again, much like David Batty, I have no definitive idea why I like Phil Neville so much. But he really has won me over as a genuine admirer over the past few seasons, with the great leadership and commitment he has shown during his time at Everton despite the clear affection he still holds for his old club. They say that things only get worse once you leave Manchester United but, in the case of Neville, I’m not sure that’s entirely true.

Brian Carroll

Being a pretty big fan of Major League Soccer, Carroll is one of those players from the league that I have grown to really appreciate in recent years. He may not win many awards, or receive much attention from the media, but he is an uncompromising force in the centre of midfield with a work rate that can be matched by very few. At 29 years of age, the opportunity to move abroad to a more high-profile league may now have passed him by, but for me Carroll will remain one of MLS’ most reliable and, unfortunately, overlooked players of recent times.

Javier Saviola

It’s such a shame that Saviola’s career has not gone the way that many thought it would. At the time of his big money move to Barcelona many, including myself, thought he was primed to become one of the greatest players of his generation, a label which he has far from lived up to. There have been flashes of brilliance at times but ultimately Saviola’s career has been a big disappointment. His international career now over, after retiring from the Argentina team in 2009, I still live in hope - perhaps naively - that he can recreate the form he showed during his time at River Plate and first few seasons at Barcelona.

Raul

I don’t understand how anyone can dislike Raul, unless perhaps you’re a Barcelona or Atletico Madrid fan. The man simply oozes class and his playing achievements are unmatched by many in the game today. It’s just a shame he couldn’t repeat his success at Real Madrid with the national team. One has to wonder, if only he were a few years younger, how he could have contributed to those Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010 winning teams.

Tags: Brian Carroll, David Batty, David Beckham, Filippo Inzaghi, Javier Saviola, Jens Lehmann, Juan Pablo Angel, Martin Laursen, Michel Salgado, Olegeur, Paolo Maldini, Peter Enckelman, Phil Neville, Raul, Stiliyan Petrov, Thomas Hitzlsperger