Aston Villa: Gabriel Agbonlahor says Euro exit is a "blessing in disguise"
"You've got to judge us at the end of the season - not after one game.
"We knew we played poorly ourselves in the first game, and we also knew we could put it right, and the team is playing with confidence now."
Agbonlahor looks back to his best and Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov senses a determination in the striker to be part of Fabio Capello's England squad for the 2010 World Cup.
Bulgaria international Petrov said: "Gabby wants to make the World Cup and he is making every game count - and that is what he will do to the end of the season.
"He has been on fire. His goal against Portsmouth was unbelievable. Gabby wants to achieve things and one of them is to go to the World Cup. He wants to be there."
Petrov also insisted Villa were not suffering any hangover from the training ground incident involving O'Neill and midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker who was axed from the squad to face Portsmouth.
He said: "We are professionals. Things like that happen in football.
"Everyone in the team is a fighter.
"We want to fight and achieve things and we know things like that will happen during a season because, when you want to be a winner, things like that will happen.
"We can understand what has happened. That will go away as long as we win as a team and that is what we did as a team."
Portsmouth goalkeeper David James is putting his own thoughts of the World Cup on the back-burner during his club's current plight and insists performances are improving.
He said: "You have to focus on what was good and continually try to replicate that and try to eliminate what was bad. It wasn't a case of Villa ripping us apart.
"We are actually playing some very good football and that is what is hard to take sometimes and, possibly the last couple of games has been some of the best we've done in the last six months.
"This is where it sounds ironic, but there is a good feeling about the team. We are not asking for luck. I think lots of teams have gone down and waited for their luck to change and it just doesn't happen."
James added: "The World Cup is secondary to me. Whoever you are playing for has to be the primary concern and my concern is for Portsmouth at the moment.
"We are six games into the season, have no points, have failed to score on four occasions, and conceded 12 goals. It is not good.
"But on the positive side, we are not playing badly. In the last few games there has been a definite pick-up in performances."
