Aston Villa: Martin O'Neill confident despite Liverpool drubbing
Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill still believes his side can bounce back from their 5-0 mauling at Liverpool to claim a Champions League spot.
But he concedes his young side, now fifth and three points behind Arsenal, must come to terms with the demands of a title race and not allow their season to "disintegrate."
Villa suffered their worst defeat under O'Neill, compounded by the unlucky red card that saw goalkeeper Brad Friedel dismissed in the second half of yesterday's defeat at Anfield.
Friedel maintains he should not have been sent off for bringing down Fernando Torres - while O'Neill claims "there was no intent - he was trying to get out of the way."
Unfortunately for Villa, they could not get out of the way of the Liverpool juggernaut that is gathering so much momentum of late.
O'Neill has seen his team go eight games in all competitions without a victory.
"It has been a tough time for all of us - we accept that," he said.
"The younger players in our squad have to experience these periods when things don't go well.
"This is what it is all about if you are going to play at the very top, and if you want to be at that level.
"You cannot just do it for one week of the year - if you want to be there on a regular basis then this is what it takes."
He is confident his squad will be able to show their true potential in the remainder of the season.
"I believe the players can learn from all this - not just after losing at Liverpool but in other recent games when we haven't played well.," O'Neill added.
"One good week in four or five is not enough. You have to compete all the time - week in week out, match after match. That is what the big teams are doing.
"We have an exceptionally tough game at Manchester United when we return from the international break, then we have Everton and West Ham.
"We still have a target. The Champions League is still reachable, and Arsenal have some extremely difficult games left."
O'Neill hopes recent results may work in his team's favour in the longer term, because the pressure of expectation has waned.
