Villa to continue without ‘right-back’

Villa boss Martin O’Neill is prepared to go through the whole season without a specialised right-back.

O’Neill’s No 1 target, Porto’s Jose Bosingwa, has had an astonishing £22m price tag put on his head to ward off alleged interest from Villa and Manchester United.

The Villa boss has turned closer to home but has no encouragement from Tottenham, who want a replacement first before allowing £4m-rated Pascal Chimbonda to leave.

Villa turned to Chimbonda after being warned off Justin Hoyte by Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

Now O’Neill is prepared to trust centre-half Olof Mellberg, who is expected to leave when his contract expires in the summer, and midfielder Craig Gardner to continue playing out of position.

“At this minute, getting what we’d call a recognised right-back is a thought but it’s not as overwhelming as you think,” said O’Neill.

“I’m sure everybody would feel it’s something we’d definitely look at, but it’s not overwhelming in that sense.

“Getting this squad up to scratch in positions is obviously something I’d like to try to do, if I can.

“I’ve been particularly pleased with Olof Mellberg and obviously Craig Gardner when he’s gone there.

“In fact because Craig played there for us, he actually got picked for the England under-21s at right-back. He got picked on that strength.

“Craig likes to play and while he’s obviously a midfielder going forwards, he can give you the option of getting forward.

“Defensively he’s not as sound as Olof, but we’re trying to improve his game and I’ve been really pleased.

“Olof has played there and in an ideal world he’d want to play centre-half, but he went without questioning it.

“He’s adjusted and scored a couple of goals for us as well. I’ve been very pleased.”

Villa have been extremely lucky with injuries this season, with only John Carew, who suffered a knee injury, having missed any significant chunk of the campaign.

Gareth Barry threatens that statistic after bruising his hip in training to put himself in danger of missing Monday’s trip to Liverpool.

“Injuries are part of the game – they happen, especially in these months when it’s cold and things are stretched,” said O’Neill.

“I think I’ve got a really good medical staff here, but with the best will in the world, there are times when those things can’t be prevented.

“We do as much as we possibly can here to prevent injuries but there is only one way to prevent them and that’s not to let them train and don’t play any matches.”