Martin O'Neill praises Aston Villa battlers

Dec 31 2008 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail

it was beginning to show and then suddenly Ashley Young produces a piece of wizardry and we get the goal and we are genuinely capable of scoring goals on the break.”

Villa were far from their best throughout the match and O’Neill suggested the dramatic draw against Arsenal on Boxing Day may have taken its toll on his players.

“It was interesting to hear Arsene Wenger speaking,” said O’Neill.

“He thought in their game against Portsmouth that they were below par because it had been a big, big effort at Villa Park.

“I wouldn’t agree too often with Arsene but I think that he may well have a point.

“Not that he was looking at our team, but I would tend to agree. I thought it was a big effort from us to come back and maybe I was expecting a bit more jauntiness from us and it wasn’t there.”

O’Neill is delighted with his team’s points haul at the halfway point of the season and insists their impressive away record sums up the spirit in the claret and blue dressing room.

“We’ve won and that’s seven times out of 10 that we’ve won away from home which is really big,” added O’Neill.

“I think that speaks volumes for the character of the team.

“I’m ecstatic. We’ve got 38 points on the board from 20 games which is fantastic going by the team.”