TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Martin O'Neill faces up to the cost of Aston Villa's league success Martin O'Neill has a dilemma. For the first time since he took over as Aston Villa manager, he has the strength in depth in his squad to maintain a challenge for a top-four place. It is a position that the Northern Irishman has longed to be in, but one that he has yet to take advantage of this season and, while he recognises that will have to change soon, he also knows that players like James Milner do not want to be sitting in the stand.If it ain't broke don't fix it, is the Villa manager's mantra, although the next 14 days might change that approach. Villa play five matches during that period, including two pivotal games in the space of 48 hours, starting with a trip to Arsenal today followed by Liverpool's visit to the Midlands on Tuesday. After that there is an FA Cup tie at home to Blackburn to negotiate, a Carling Cup semi-final first leg against the same opponents and a visit to Wigan in the Premier League.Until now, the team has picked itself. Gabriel Agbonlahor, Ashley Young and Brad Friedel have started every league match, while Milner, Carlos Cuéllar and Stilian Petrov have missed only one. Richard Dunne and Stephen Warnock have been first-choices since joining in late August and Stewart Downing and Luke Young have been permanent fixtures after returning from injury, leaving O'Neill with just one decision: John Carew or Emile Heskey. That, however, will have to change."There is definitely a feeling it's a squad system now," says O'Neill, whose substitute bench against Stoke last weekend included Fabian Delph, James Collins, Nigel Reo-Coker, Steve Sidwell, Habib Beye and Carew. "I remember going to watch Manchester United at Wigan and the quality they had sat two rows down from me watching the game was frightening. They've earned the right to do that. We've not reached that stage but I do accept we're gathering a bit of a momentum and that the rotation policy will have to come into play at some stage. It's when you actually decide to go and do that."After the victory against Stoke, O'Neill said that Milner would be "apoplectic" if he told the midfielder he was leaving him out. Yet the 23-year-old is arguably one of those most 'in need of a breather. He played 46 club matches last season, represented England Under-21s in Sweden in the summer, has been a near-permanent fixture in the Villa side during this campaign and, perhaps tellingly, is the only player to have featured in all six of the senior international team's fixtures this season.Yet this is O'Neill's conundrum: how do you rest a player whose energy and enthusiasm for football is boundless and whose form has been so outstanding that he has gone from being on the periphery of Fabio Capello's squad at the start of the season to now being a nailed-on member of the 23-man party for South Africa? "I've got a group of players who want to go for it and who, probably at this minute, wouldn't want to be rotated," Villa's manager admits.Five straight wins during December have made it even more difficult for O'Neill to tinker. Three of those victories came in an eight-day period, including an eye-catching triumph at Old Trafford, although it was the 1-0 win over Stoke that gave O'Neill greatest satisfaction. It was the first time that he detected signs Villa were capable of showing the trait he has long associated with the top clubs: playing badly and winning."It had been a tough week," the Villa manager says. "We had gone to Old Trafford and won – a great win and now expectations rise. If we had been beaten at Sunderland, people would have said, 'You're unable to maintain it'. But we won again. I went with the same side again against Stoke. I knew our energy would be down a bit and that Stoke, having not played in midweek, would be strong, but we withstood it."There was a bit of last-ditch defending and we didn't create many chances but we took one of them [when Carew came on and scored]. Last year we probably wouldn't have been strong enough to come through. I think that's where we've gained a little bit of mental strength. Whether we can sustain that is in the lap of the gods. But whether we win or lose these games against Arsenal and Liverpool, I think we're at least trying to compete."Aston VillaMartin O'NeillPremier LeagueStuart Jamesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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