Villa boss O´Neill hits back at Terry jibes

Martin O’Neill has hit back at Chelsea captain John Terry’s claim that Aston Villa are not fit enough to last the pace in Premier League matches.

Terry was part of the Chelsea team that thrashed Villa 7-1 last weekend and the England defender wasn’t impressed with the way O’Neill’s side faded in the closing stages.

Villa conceded four goals in the final 30 minutes at Stamford Bridge and Terry said his team-mates had already noticed in previous matches that O’Neill’s men seemed to get tired after 50 or 60 minutes.

But Villa boss O’Neill, who will face Chelsea again in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on April 10, is adamant statistics do not back up Terry’s comments.

“I thought it was an idle comment from John Terry because statistically it is not proved,” O’Neill said.

“In fact, if you want to go into statistics, and we use them like every football club, we are one of the fittest teams in the country.

“Those sort of comments, you would hope, wouldn’t come back to haunt the player or his team in the near future.

“If they (Chelsea) had watched us this last couple of weeks, I don’t believe they could have seen that point.”

O’Neill believes Villa have scored enough late goals in matches this season to demonstrate their fitness.

“If you go back to the League Cup final, on a quagmire of a pitch at Wembley, we were attacking Manchester United vigorously towards the end of the game to try and retrieve the match,” he said.

“Even (United manager) Sir Alex Ferguson said he was glad to hear the final whistle.

“We scored an 83rd minute goal against Wolves, when we pressed continuously in the second half, and that was only two weeks ago.

“Then, in the game after that, we were pressing continuously towards the end against Sunderland, trying to force a win. It’s an idle comment and I wouldn’t give it too much credence.”