Carew - Form affecting us

Aston Villa striker John Carew has admitted the club's slump in form has had a psychological effect on the players during the latter stages of games. After a brilliant first half of this season, fifth-placed Villa are currently 12 matches in all competitions without a victory.And Carew has conceded the run has played on the minds of his team-mates, after they relinquished a winning position at Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.He said in the Birmingham Mail: "We are still playing with confidence but when it comes to the 80th minute, maybe something happens in the players' heads."The psychological part is a big part of the game and we have been struggling to hold on to victory a couple of times."Laursen lossMeanwhile, Villa boss Martin O'Neill has lamented the loss of captain Martin Laursen, who has been sidelined for most of the second half of the campaign with a knee injury.O'Neill said: "We have missed Martin greatly. We have won matches without him this season but his overall contribution and absence has been a big loss."We have conceded 26 goals in 12 games but had only conceded three in the previous eight games when Martin hadn't played.Lion"But the overall picture is that we have missed him. We have missed his presence, his ability to score some goals for us, and he was as brave as a lion."His overall presence is what we have missed. He goes for everything. He has got a big heart."The ironic thing is he has had no problems with the other knee which is the one that gave him the problems throughout the last few years."He looks after himself brilliantly and, after the West Ham game in December, if you had said he would only play one more league game (against West Brom) I would have been really surprised."

Source: SKY_Sports