Take a lead off Nottingham Forest, Martin O'Neill tells Aston Villa team

May 6 2008 By Bill Howell

MARTIN O'Neill has told his Villa team they must continue to believe they can over-reach themselves as they bid to beat Everton to the final UEFA Cup place.

And he has urged them to take a leaf out of his Nottingham Forest team, who were promoted from the old Second Division in 1977 and then won the First Division title just 12 months later.

"If the prize is big enough I think that you can keep overstretching, you should be able to," O'Neill said.

"It is in this drive to overstretch that you actually might even find yourself able to play at an even higher level. That is something I know from my own experience at Forest.

"When we stepped into the First Division for the first time after promotion you thought 'I wonder how we will cope?'

"The manager only made a few changes initially to the side and you thought it might be a concern.

"But once we settled down and realised it was not so bad, then we signed a couple of real quality players and all the time we were trying to prove ourselves - every single week, even though results were going good.

"So I believe this side should go in exactly the same fashion and overstretch themselves," he said.

O'Neill has reaffirmed his desire to bring real quality to the club in the summer.

He added: "Even if we had won against Wigan we are well aware, I have mentioned it umpteen times, that we will address that in the summer time.

"We want a bit more quality in the team, if we can. Doesn't everybody?

"But that is not to put down the efforts of the team.

"A lot of players have played a lot of games this season and a couple of weeks ago when we had lost some games people thought it was because we had a small squad.

"Then when we were winning the games it was because we had a small squad. So we will address that in the summer."

Meanwhile, O'Neill admitted that Gareth Barry's form may well have been hit by links to Liverpool.

O'Neill said: "You would have to ask him. He wasn't his usual self but I think that would be an excuse for all of us."