Aston Villa: Heart-to-heart with players will solve problems

Mar 2 2009 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

VILLA boss Martin O’Neill says a heart-to-heart with his players on errors made against Stoke should stand them in better stead against Manchester City.

Villa have as many points today as they have ever had in the Premier League, equal to Graham Taylor’s runners-up of 1990.

And yet a five-game winless run and the nature of the late collapse against Stoke has opened questions about whether they can hold off Arsenal for fourth place.

“If we are good enough, fine, and over the whole season if we are not good enough then we will just have to concede that,” said O’Neill.

“We will talk it through. We’ve already had a little look at one or two things that we certainly did wrong. We weren’t in any danger.”

O’Neill had no problems with Stoke’s negative approach of putting players behind the ball.

He added: “It can be difficult at home and sides like Stoke will play like that. I haven’t a problem.