On No, O’Neill, You Didn’t Say That?

Martin O’Neill has again whetted the appetite of the fans hinting that if we get the players he wants, he thinks Villa will be ‘very competitive’. I hope he gets them, if not these comments have a habit of coming back to haunt managers!

He said: ‘I think we’ll be competitive. If we’ve got the players in I want by the end of August, I think we’ll be very competitive. Numerically we’re down on last season but in terms of the group of players contesting first team places, I think it’s very good.’

Unless you look at competition for places in defence or goal I assume?

Adding on the official site: ‘The players have got plenty of confidence and I’m hoping confidence remains a long-standing quality through the season, regardless of what happens in the next couple of games.’

Regardless of what happens in the next few games?

‘We could get turned over by Liverpool very easily, but the overall depth of the squad will be the most important issue and that’s what we’re addressing at the minute. The better quality of player that comes to the club, the better it is for everyone.’

I’m really sorry but that is outrageous, how does that instil self belief and confidence in our players? Martin Laursen made a rallying cry the other day saying we need to start beating the top four teams, that sentence above looks more like a white flag. Sometimes it is better to say nothing surely? I hope he hasn’t been taking lessons from David O’Leary’s book of motivation and pr.

He continues: ‘I’m very hopeful we can sign some of the players who are still my first choice and I’m still very hopeful we can have a competitive squad. We’ve got a couple of weeks to sign those players.’

Explaining: ‘In an ideal world, it would have been great to have all the new signings in the week before we went to America. But I’m afraid even the very best sides are still chasing players at this minute. The problem is a lot of teams are after what we consider the best available and everyone seems to be chasing the same players.’

Oh well, we’ll see what the season brings, still looking forward to it as I always do, but not with the excitement I expected to feel with a squad full of new blood ready to do battle.