O'Neill threatens changes
03 Nov 2006 - 15:32:01
Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has warned several of his under-achieving players that he will not hesitate to let them leave the club in January if they do not return to form.
Both Milan Baros and Juan Pablo Angel were taken off at half-time last weekend as Villa crashed to their first Premiership defeat of the campaign - 3-1 at Liverpool.
"I want another two months of football before I start to make a genuine and concerted judgment on the players here and that's on players who have played pretty often," the former Celtic manager told the Birmingham Mail.
"You can imagine how less informed I'd be on those who have played less. Once I make my mind up I may stick with it but at the moment I'm deliberating.
"I'm not going to be making big, rash judgments here for another couple of months when I will definitely know the strengths and weaknesses of everybody in the squad.
"In truth, Milan Baros is short of what I would call serious match-play fitness. But then again, how do you get there? You'd be hoping that there would be much more to his game when he gets that.
"But as a manager I have a duty to win some football games, incorporating all of those aspects at the same time. If you're able to do it all of that then you're very lucky. But I have to try and win the games first."
Meanwhile, key midfielder Gavin McCann could return to the starting line-up for Sunday's Villa Park clash with Blackburn Rovers after recovering from a calf problem.