John Carew: Aston Villa have good depth

Sep 23 2008

JOHN Carew believes Aston Villa will reap the benefits of squad rotation when the battle for trophy glory hots up during the finale to the season.

Villa manager Martin O'Neill had to contend with the smallest squad in the Barclays Premier League last season and had little scope for changing his first choice line-up.

But a near £50million spending spree during the summer has given O'Neill the strength in depth for a push for a Champions League spot and a potential lengthy run in the UEFA Cup.

He was able to recall John Carew, Ashley Young and Curtis Davies for Sunday's league win at West Brom after the trio were not risked for Thursday's UEFA Cup match with Litex Lovech in Bulgaria because of minor knocks.

Carew is confident players will be fresh and able to still perform at their maximum in six months' time when the business end of the campaign will be upon Villa.

The Norwegian international explained: "We have had an amazing week. We can't complain.

"We've won three away games in six days. It is looking really great at the moment.

"We now have the strength in depth - definitely. The team is better, the squad is bigger than before and it is really starting to show results-wise now.

"The strength of the team now is that you can change a few players and the team will still have the same quality.

"You will see the benefits of this, not maybe now, but in six months when the season has been going on for a long time. Then you will really see it.

"Everyone will be much fresher because the games have been divided more between the players, the amount of playing everyone has to experience.

"That is even more important as it looks like we are going into the UEFA Cup group stages as well as battling in the Premier League, with big games there as well."

Villa defender Curtis Davies said: "Have we got the squad to cope? So far we have dealt with it well over the three games that have just gone.

"There are another four more to come in quick succession so it is going to be interesting.

"But so far, touch wood, we haven't experienced any injuries and we are looking good but we need to keep ourselves going.

"First and foremost we need to stay in the competitions before we get that privilege of having a big squad and being able to rotate it.

"If we get into the UEFA Cup group stages, we are guaranteed four games. We will have to get used to it but we are all fighting for our places and I think a lot of the lads want to play every game.

"They don't want to be rotated because, once you get into a rhythm of winning games, you want to be part of it, and that's the same for me."

Meanwhile, West Brom boss Tony Mowbray is aware of the need to stop conceding soft goals if his side's good approach work is not to be undermined this season.

Mowbray was unhappy with both goals let in against Villa as the Baggies rued the withdrawal of defender Abdoulaye Meite during the warm-up with the recurrence of a calf injury.

He said: "You can't concede goals like we did against Villa. They were very poor goals. Teams don't seem to have to work too hard to get goals against us.

"It has been an Achilles heel since I've been here. That's why in the summer, you try and improve that department and we will continue to work on that. When you get the right personnel on the pitch, we will be right.

"The Premier League is pretty brutal and people aren't interested in the performances, only the results.

"There will be negativity again after the Villa result but we will deal with it and hopefully get a positive result in the next game.

"It is a learning process for a lot of our players. You've got to keep your composure when you go chasing the game and a result. We've got to stick to our beliefs.

"At times certain individuals were in too much of a rush against Villa to get forward, which at times left us vulnerable."