FOOTBALL : Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill is demanding a greater level of consistency from striker John Carew after he tormented Bolton in his side’s 5-1 win at Villa Park.
Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill is demanding a greater level of consistency from striker John Carew after he tormented Bolton in his side’s 5-1 win at Villa Park.
The Norwegian international set up three goals and scored one himself and was too much of a handful for Bolton’s former Villa pair of Zat Knight and Garry Cahill.
O’Neill said: “John played very well. You do get performances like that from him when he is absolutely brilliant.”
He added: “But then in other matches he is not as strong. We are looking for that consistency from him. Maybe not topping that performance but maybe getting close to it.
“John accepts that himself but he was a real handful and Bolton found it hard to contain him.”
O’Neill admitted he had been concerned about his side’s recent heavy schedule ahead of the game, particularly after losing in the dying seconds to West Ham in midweek.
But Villa never looked back once Ashley Young had given them an early lead and Gabriel Agbonlahor, James Milner and Carlos Cuellar were also on target in addition to Carew.
O’Neill said: “I was concerned beforehand because we were really down after the West Ham match on Wednesday.
“We had played four away games in quick succession and I was worried about the energy levels, particularly for the second half.
“But the players started brightly, maintained that, the crowd were enthused by the performance and stayed with us throughout. To be fair we have been threatening a goal performance like that for some time.”
