Martin O'Neill appears in thrall to a notion of Brian Clough's that a club can succeed by fielding practically the same XI each week. Much as Clough won the title with Nottingham Forest with a side that changed little - and featured O'Neill - so the Villa manager seems to think he can qualify for the Champions League while barely changing his preferred line-up.
"Repeatedly before games in their recent congested run of fixtures, O'Neill admitted it was time to rotate only to stick with players who were showing clear signs of fatigue and the result has been draws against sides such as Wolves and Sunderland, whom Villa should beat. On Saturday, O'Neill finally tinkered with his side, promoting Steven Sidwell and Luke Young but that came a little too late. They were thrown into a hugely difficult game lacking match fitness, rhythm and presumably with the feeling that their manager does not fully believe in them. And it showed.
"That has been the prinicipal problem, but there are others, too. Again much like Clough, O'Neill believes the first responsibility of a defender is to clear his lines, even if that means picking a player who is less comfortable on the ball than a rival for his position. The case of Carlos Cuellar's inclusion ahead of Young and Habib Beye at right back is a perfect example of that. And, while that has given Villa a mean defensive record, they have a problem retaining possession at the back.
"Villa are also a little short in attack. O'Neill has spent the greater part of his transfer budget on defenders: think Cuellar, Young, James Collins, Richard Dunne, while choosing to stick with three frontline forwards in Emile Heskey, Gabriel Agbonlahor and John Carew. When Agbonlahor is injured, as he has been recently, that leaves them lacking subtlety up front.
"Villa fans should not be too pessimistic, though. Until the past couple of months, their side had been excellent. They were very strong at the back, impressive in central midfield and attacked effectively with pace and width. With no midweek games for the next couple of weeks and an inner steel that reflects the manager's personality, they should recover their form fairly soon."
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