Source: Team_Talk
O'Neill calls for home improvement
Villa have failed to win in front of their own fans in the Premier League since a 2-1 success over West Brom in early January, and have triumphed in only five out of 15 league games at Villa Park.[LNB]It is a sharp contrast to their away record which has seen them win 10 of their 15 matches even though they have lost the last two at Manchester City and Liverpool.[LNB]Villa have to take on Manchester United at Old Trafford in nine days time but O'Neill insisted: "We need to start winning some home games. It won't be the away form that decides things.[LNB]"A couple of weeks ago I said I didn't think winning at home was as big a problem.[LNB]"We should have beaten Wigan and Stoke at Villa Park, that would have been an extra four points, another two wins, and you would then think, 'What are we talking about?'.[LNB]"If the home form had been anything like the away form, we would be in a great position. It isn't. The irony is that the players still like playing at Villa Park.[LNB]"Of course, as a game goes on at home, you start to chase a game you shouldn't be chasing, the crowd get a bit restless, then that might be a different issue.[LNB]"But the players do enjoy playing at Villa Park. The pitch is good and the players want to get on with it. It is just recently, it hasn't happened there for us."[LNB]Meanwhile O'Neill admits he becomes fraught with worry every time his players go away on international duty.[LNB]His plans have already been affected this season - with Emile Heskey suffering a reaction to an Achilles injury during the February friendly in Spain, which forced him to miss the FA Cup tie at Everton.[LNB]Several Villa players - including Heskey and Gareth Barry, both in the England squad, and James Milner and Gabriel Agbonlahor, who received England Under-21s call-ups - are set for action in the coming week.[LNB]O'Neill will watch and keep his fingers crossed that all his players return safe and sound, and he identifies international weeks as a troubling time.[LNB]"As a club manager, I've only ever looked at it with in trepidation - concern that players will come back injured," O'Neill told talkSPORT.[LNB]"We had the situation a few weeks ago where Emile Heskey played [for England] and came back injured, so we had to go to Everton without him.[LNB]"It's still possible to win games. But we lost that FA Cup match, which meant we missed out on the quarter-finals.[LNB]"We could have gone there with Heskey and still been beaten. But things can happen, and they do happen. It's a long time away for them, and we do worry. But we're not the only club with these problems."[LNB][LNB] Prem To Finish In Top 4 2008/09 Win Outright: Aston Villa 7/2
