Villa manager O'Neill still confident of UEFA Cup success

Dec 18 2008 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

MARTIN O’Neill still believes a full-strength Villa can be a match for anyone in the UEFA Cup after seeing his B-side slump to third place in their qualifying group.

Successive defeats against MSK Zilina and Hamburg mean Villa have avoided some big names in the hat for tomorrow’s draw in Nyon, Switzerland, with AC Milan, Valencia and Deportivo La Coruna finishing runners-up in their groups.

But Villa could still end up playing the likes of CSKA Moscow, Udinese or Standard Liege with the home leg set for Wednesday, February 18.

“I am looking forward to the draw, obviously,” said the Villa boss. “We are in it – we knew that a couple of weeks ago.

“The advantage of the draw was that if you finished first or second you could get your home leg played second, but it concerns me less than when I first thought about it. Who knows what might happen in February? Who knows what players might be available to me at the time? I just don’t know.

“A full-strength Aston Villa side would be much better than last night.”

An under-strength side were no match for the fourth best team in Germany with O’Neill admitting his men were second best.

He found a glimmer of light in the second-half performance of goalscorer Nathan Delfouneso.

“I was very pleased with some of the younger players,’’ said O’Neill.

But the Irishman knew that defensively, at least, and