Martin O'Neill in excitement call to Aston Villa players

Dec 31 2009 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail

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MARTIN O’Neill has challenged Aston Villa’s entertainers to crank up the excitement levels next year after reflecting positively on 2009.

Despite ending the year on a low with back-to-back Premier League defeats, O’Neill believes Villa can look forward with optimism.

“I think the team is worth watching and there is a good excitement about the club,” said the manager.

“You can still learn an awful lot from teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool over the years and the ability of those teams to punish you.

“On the whole we have done exceptionally well against the top sides so far and that has given us all great encouragement.

“The crowd seem to be enjoying it and most certainly the players seem to be enjoying it and that’s all you can ask for.”

O’Neill refuses to read too much into how Villa fared from January to December and prefers to use August to May to gauge their progress.

“Not since I was 18 have I ever used a calendar year as the barometer of things,” he added.

“No title in England has ever been won in January or whatever the case may be and the same by December time.

“Last season we finished sixth in the league and we certainly put ourselves right in contention in February.

“That became a bit of a disappointment. But if you had said to me at the start of the year that we would gather a few more points than the previous year, still finish sixth and qualify for Europe I would have said that was definitely an improvement.”