Inform
O'Neill expects life to get tougher
10th May 2010
Martin O'Neill believes Aston Villa will have to improve next season "even just to stand still".
Villa lost their final game of the campaign at home to Blackburn on Sunday but finished sixth in the Barclays Premier League for the third consecutive year as seventh-placed Liverpool could only draw 0-0 at Hull.
That means O'Neill's side - who also reached the Carling Cup final and FA Cup semi-finals this term - will not have to play an extra round in next season's Europa League and the manager insists he is delighted with the campaign overall, although he is aware of the room for improvement.
"We would have to try and improve the team - I think even just to stand still, we would have to improve the team," O'Neill said.
"If you start to think everything is absolutely perfect, it's not. You look at those teams that you want to compete against.
"This season apart, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are contesting quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals of the Champions League, thrown in with the fact that they can hack it domestically. It is tough."
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| 4:00, Sun 9th May | ||||
| Aston Villa | 0 | v | 0 | Blackburn |
| 3:00, Sat 1st May | ||||
| Man City | 0 | v | 0 | Aston Villa |
| 12:00, Sun 25th Apr | ||||
| Aston Villa | 0 | v | 0 | Birmingham |
| 7:45, Wed 21st Apr | ||||
| Hull | 0 | v | 0 | Aston Villa |
| 4:00, Sun 18th Apr | ||||
| Portsmouth | 0 | v | 0 | Aston Villa |
| No. | Player |
|---|---|
| 1 | Brad Friedel |
| 2 | Luke Young |
| 3 | Wilfred Bouma |
| 4 | Steve Sidwell |
| 5 | Richard Dunne |
| 6 | Stewart Downing |
| 7 | Ashley Young |
| 8 | James Milner |
| 9 | Marlon Harewood |
| 10 | John Carew |
| 11 | Gabriel Agbonlahor |
| No. | Player |
|---|---|
| 12 | Marc Albrighton |
| 14 | Nathan Delfouneso |
| 15 | Curtis Davies |
| 16 | Fabian Delph |
| 17 | Moustapha Salifou |
| 18 | Emile Heskey |
| 19 | Stiliyan Petrov |
| 20 | Nigel Reo-Coker |
| 21 | Nicky Shorey |
| 22 | Bradley Guzan |
| 23 | Habib Beye |
| No. | Player |
|---|---|
| 24 | Carlos Cuellar |
| 25 | Stephen Warnock |
| 26 | Craig Gardner |
| 27 | Isaiah Osbourne |
| 29 | James Collins |
| 33 | Andy Marshall |
| 42 | Andreas Weimann |
| 43 | Elliott Parish |
| 45 | Shane Lowry |
| 47 | Ciaran Clark |
| 50 | Jonathan Hogg |
