Jlloyd Samuel
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jlloyd Samuel | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||
| Position(s) | defender | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Aston Villa | ||
| Number | 3 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 August 2006 | |||
Jlloyd Samuel (born March 29, 1981 in Trinidad and Tobago) is an English football defender of Trinidadian descent, who currently plays for Aston Villa F.C..
Jlloyd attended St Joseph's Academy, Blackheath, London through the 90's. He was avaluable member of the school football teams as well as the London Schoolboys teams.
As a youth, he played for sunday league team Senrab[1] and West Ham United, and was released from the East London club on the same day as Paul Konchesky, Bobby Zamora (who have both now returned to the Hammers) and Fitz Hall, now of Crystal Palace.[2]
Samuel's Aston Villa debut came after 51 minutes of a second-leg League Cup match against Chester City F.C., on September 21, 1999 which finished 5-0 in Aston Villa's favour.
Since the beginning of his Aston Villa career, he has also been on loan to Gillingham F.C., for whom he made seven full appearances and one substitute appearance, between October 25 and December 3, 2001.
Though looking set for the 2002 European Under-21 Championships, Samuel picked up a groin injury which ensured his being out of action for a sustained period of time.
When Graham Taylor took over the reins at Aston Villa, Samuel became more assured of a place on the team, despite his nervousness on the pitch. His best season, however, was 2003-04, as, under newly appointed Villa boss David O'Leary, he rose to become one of the best left-backs in the Premiership and was selected in the England squad for the game against Sweden, although his involvement only went as far as being an unused substitute.
However in 2004-05, Samuel's place in the team was due to a severe lack of options in the squad rather than his own form as he soon began to look like the player he had been earlier on in his career, nervous and indecisive on the ball. Samuel lost his place in the team to Netherlands international defender Wilfred Bouma, who signed from Dutch side PSV Eindhoven at the start of the 2005-06 season, though throughout the few appearances Samuel did make during this season due to Bouma's severe lack of basic match fitness, he showed promise that he was gaining in confidence and game awareness once again.
During his appearance on MTV's Footballers Cribs, Samuel revealed he calls himself 'Sweetboy' and calls his girlfriend 'Sweetgirl'.
External links
- Jlloyd Samuel at Soccerbase
References
- ^ Sarah Holt (30 March, 2004). "Lessons from Senrab's soccer school". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 18 March.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|year=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Sam Pilger (2003). "The Boy's A Bit Special". FourFourTwo (110): 31.
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