Gary O’Neil says his group need to channel their early season frustrations surrounding results in a positive way when travelling to Villa Park this weekend.
The Old Gold are still winless in the Premier League, and were unlucky against Newcastle United last weekend, as well as at Brighton & Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup in midweek. However, the head coach isn’t looking for excuses and knows his team are capable of getting a result against anyone in this league, and that will be his group’s mentality when travelling across the West Midlands on Saturday.
On injury news in the camp
“We need to check on Toti and Rayan today in training, see how they go. Neither of them have done much this week, so both have still got a bit to do to make sure they're available for tomorrow.
“Bouba’s still out. He’s on crutches at the moment, he had a repair to the joint surface in his knee, so is probably out until around Christmas. Obviously, a few tired bodies off the back of quite a high intensity game on Wednesday, but injury wise, apart from Ryan and Toti, who unfortunately both play in the same position, we're fine.”
On channelling frustrations properly
“They are a confident group, they have huge belief in their own individual ability, lots of them, and belief in what we're trying to do. Of course, the longer a tough spell goes, the more difficult it becomes, but we went through some tough runs last season, and we've always managed to find a way to, firstly keep performing, and secondly put some results together.
“They can be an emotional group, a lot of highs and lows, but they understand that now as well. It's just trying to make sure that they stay really level and use their emotions correctly, because you need them. There are no robots in there, emotion can be helpful, and we need to use it this weekend. We need to use our frustration and the fact that we feel like maybe we've not got what we've deserved so far from what we've put in, and we're really keen to use that to go and put it right.”
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On positives to show in every game
“The fixtures are difficult, but we've shown that we've got good enough players, and a good enough way of doing things to give ourselves opportunities in all of the games to take results and we’re frustrated that there's a couple of small bits that are really costing us.
“We go 2-1 down having led against Newcastle, and the response to going to one down was fantastic – piling on pressure, a penalty shout, Nick Pope making saves. There's no feeling sorry for themselves or any real concern, just the frustration. We need to find a way to do better. We understand, no matter who we're playing, with the quality that we have, we can still be competitive, and we need to find a way to make sure it goes our way.
“We talk about how good we are, and we've played some good stuff, and we've looked like half decent team, but come on, whether it's Villa, whether it's Liverpool, Newcastle, however good these teams are, they're in our league, and we need to find a way to make sure that we get some points.”
On tightening up at the back
“Lots of goals from outside the box and lots of really low shot values at the minute. The stats would tell you that it won't continue in that way if we keep playing the way we are. But there are some bits that we can do – dealing with the initial situation better in the one v ones. If teams are 30 yards from the goal, can we make sure we get up to the ball quickly?
“Apart from the Chelsea game, where we lost our way badly, teams are not ripping us open. So, some work, of course, to tidy that up, and a belief in in what we do and that won't continue.”
On Guedes’ influence
“He's had a great impact in the two cup games, and he's shown some quality off the bench when he's come on. Guedes is a guy who was here before, and it didn't work out at all for him, and we're working really hard with him to try and make sure that he can give the group something, and he looks like he will, and he looks like he can at this moment.
“We just made him believe that he has a chance if he can show something, and he shows willing to work and buy in and bring quality. We need to give everybody a chance. We need to get as much out of everybody as possible. There's still a lot to do, it's a Premier League season, and he's had a good start to the season for us. When you consider where he was within the group a year ago, it's been a real big upturn, and he looks like he can be a goal threat, and he looks like he can give us something which is important to us.
“I was pleased with how those three in particular – Pedro Lima, Rodrigo and Guedes came out of Wednesday night against Premier League opposition. I thought they did very well. Guedes has had some injury issues over the years, and this next game will come too quickly for him to be considered from the start, but we're hoping that his recovery has gone well and that he'll be able to have an impact off the bench again.”
