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either side of him, though, are speed merchants in the form of Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young. Both are young English players and the club has a real core of home grown players in its ranks. England international Gareth Barry marshals the midfield, whilst players such as Nigel Reo-Coker, Luke Young, and Nigel Shorey also add to the English contingent. Whilst the first eleven is undoubtedly very strong, there is still a feeling that the squad lacks the depth to challenge for honours, so O'Neill's next task will be to ensure that there is competition for places throughout the team. The 1981 league winning team incredibly triumphed whilst only using fourteen players during the entire league campaign, but this is a record that will never be equalled.

Aston Villa fans have been starved of success and, even now, with a great manager and an emerging exciting team, there are people who doubt that the good times will last. The doubters extend also to fans of other clubs and football pundits but such sentiment should act to further stir Villa's players to prove everyone wrong. Certainly, I'm sure Martin O'Neill, as a master motivator, will be pinning up any negative press on the dressing room wall to get his players fired up to keep proving the cynics wrong.

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