O'Neill – Aston Villa may as well not turn up for Cup Semi-Final!

The Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill watched his team get torn apart by Chelsea this weekend, the 7-1 defeat being Villa’s worst ever result in the Premier League. After the game he said that if his team play like that again when they face Chelsea again in the FA Cup Semi-Final at Wembley then they may as well just stay at home!

“We have the same opposition in two weeks and, if we play like that, there’s no point in us turning up.

“I haven’t seen this sort of performance from them before. From all of them, including myself, it was ­unacceptable. I wouldn’t accept it of myself and they shouldn’t either.

“I’ll have a little look at the game again, if I dare to do that.

“But we succumbed, it’s as simple as that, and it’s not like us. We stopped competing and stopped doing everything you’re supposed to do in the professional game – all in half an hour.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Chelsea but we would have been beaten by a fourth ­division side on that last half-hour’s performance.”

“The buck stops with me. It’s my responsibility – as simple as that.

“We have shown a lot more desire and a lot more character than we did at Chelsea and that is totally my responsibility to put right.

“I will have to address it, obviously. I will draw on a couple of experiences. I’ve been beaten before, I’ve been mauled before, although perhaps not in the same fashion as that. This will be a tough test.”

O’Neill and his players may not be looking forward to the Wembley semi-final, but I bet the Chelsea players are!