Reo-Coker is 'priceless' to Villa

Aug 6 2007 By Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

MARTIN O'Neill has labelled Nigel Reo-Coker "priceless" following his eye-catching home debut against Inter Milan.

Villa's £7.5million summer signing dominated the Italians with an energy-packed performance that also saw him get involved in some heated exchanges.

"Reo-Coker was fantastic on Saturday - everything about him," said O'Neill. "He can play, he can close people down and he is a quality player.

"The 40-yard pass may not be apparent in his repertoire. He can pass it easy but, having said that, he can do so many other things.

"He gets a challenge in on the edge of the box and then runs 60 yards with the ball to dig us out of trouble, checked back and given it to someone. That is absolutely priceless."

O'Neill praised his side for their performance but says he is not "fooled" that they could sustain a challenge with their numbers so limited.

"There is a danger of getting overly excited, but we played very well. We played some lovely stuff and that is the way we want to try to play if we can. It was almost a follow-up from the back end of last season, but that is too easy a comparison to draw.

"The players are in really good form. They are enjoying it. How long that lasts, you never know. But we are ready to go now.

"I don't think that for one minute I could be possibly fooled into thinking that we could cope - even if we played like that for two months of the season. We would hit November and December and you just can't do it.

"We didn't have the squad last year. "Now we have allowed the people to go who wanted to go, that's fine, now it is a chance to get some players in and that is my intention and that will happen."