Richard Dunne leaps to defence of Aston Villa centre-backs Curtis Davies and Carlos Cuellar

Oct 17 2009 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail

RICHARD Dunne has leapt to the defence of his centre-back predecessors by paying tribute to Curtis Davies and Carlos Cuellar.

Dunne and fellow newcomer James Collins have been hailed as the no-nonsense partnership Villa were lacking at the start of the season.

But the Irish international is full of praise for the duo he and Collins replaced with Davies out injured and Cuellar moved to right-back.

And Dunne believes all of the centre-halves can help each other by constantly raising the standards in the claret and blue backline.

The former Manchester City skipper rates Davies as one of the top flight’s best defenders and expects Cuellar to go from strength to strength.

“There was a lot of defensive quality already in the squad,” said Dunne.

“Maybe a bit of experience is what was needed and the manager felt that myself and James could maybe add that.

“As far as talent goes, Curtis is probably as good as anyone in the league, he just needs to play games.

“And obviously Carlos has just come down from Scotland so he just needs the experience of playing games in England.

“They’ll improve and as they get on they’ll just get better and better.

“Hopefully I can be a steadying influence but for me and for James it’s new for us coming into a different club.

“Everyone can help each other and that’s the way this squad will work.

“Nobody’s come in to step on someone else’s toes. We all want to work and hopefully progress as a club together.”