Aston Villa boss O’Neill hails McCarthy for ‘resurrecting’ Wolves

Oct 23 2009 by Lisa Smith, Birmingham Post

Martin O’Neill has hailed the manager he faces in the opposite dug-out at Molineux tomorrow for the way he has “resurrected” Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The Aston Villa manager says his side will have to be really on their mettle for the derby-day challenge.

O’Neill’s high-fliers face Wolves with Villa on the crest a wave after recent results. Wolves have turned in their performances but have few points to show for their efforts in the top flight this season.

The Northern Irishman saw them in action against Portsmouth at Molineux, however, and saw a “lively and positive” side. He claims he saw enough to be thoroughly impressed with not only with the Barclays Premier League new-boys but also their historic stadium.

“I went to see them against Portsmouth at Molineux and although they lost that particular game they played some really nice football,” he said. “They are lively, they want to have a go and they are positive. It will be a tough game, of course.”

O’Neill knows the Wolves faithful will be doing their utmost to make it difficult for his side tomorrow.

“Molineux was pretty full that day and felt very special. It’s been a long time since I’d been to the ground so I thought it was pretty good.”

Of his opposite number, O’Neill said: “Mick has done splendidly. He has resurrected the football club. They are in the Premier League now – a place where not only do Wolves feel they should be but also people up and down the country.

“They have a great history and great tradition and he has bought them back to life.”

The pair are good friends off the field and O’Neill knows all about their home-grown talent and the likes of Kevin Doyle, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Michael Kightly.

“They want to play, which is very encouraging,” he said. “But it wouldn’t be a Mick McCarthy team if they didn’t want to play. They will be full of confidence too. They got a great result at Goodison Park – that was a great performance to go there and get a draw and they, themselves, will feel hard done by to miss out on the victory.”

The Villa manager has seen his side take valuable points off the top teams like Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City but struggle against Wigan and Blackburn Rovers.

He insists his side will not take a game against Wolves lightly – and particularly not a derby match on the road.

“Those two factors alone should mean we are wary of the match,” he said. “We’re not that good that we are capable of dismissing any opposition.

“We wouldn’t consider ourselves to be one of the heavyweights – to be able to treat any game lightly in the Premier League.

“We have never done it before and we won’t be doing it now. We know we aren’t good enough to treat people lightly.”

The major bonus for the Villa boss is that he has no injuries for the game.

“We’re in fine fettle and we have a number of players coming back from injury. It looks good,” he said.