Monny On Semi

Martin O'Neill has stated that Villa will be treating tomorrow's 2nd leg Semi Final as a one off match and will not be relying on the 1st leg result to see us through.

Speaking on the Official Site Monny explained that he's talked to the players and told them to ignore the result in the first leg, have a positive approach and go all out tomorrow night and win the match in it's own right.

'We want to go and take the game on its merit. We just want to go and win the match.'

Specifically on the question of whether or not Villa will set out defensively in order to protect the lead he adds:

'Protecting the lead? I hope not. I think we will definitely approach the game as if the first leg didn't exist.'

O'Neill is rightly concerned that Blackburn are capable of scoring a goal to get themselves back into contention and that they are more than capable of taking the match and securing their path to the final aswell.

After a few 'contretemps' with the faithful behind the dug out in the West Ham match again, Monny has also called on the fans to stay with the team given that the night will have its ups and downs. He specifically comments that the game could go to extra time and penalties and there could be other 'twists and turns'.

As for injury news in the match O'Neill says we have 'one or two problems'.

Specifically, Reo-Coker (not that he plays much) is still out with his previous injury. Blackburn has come to fast for him to play any real part in the game, and John Carew has a 'sore knee' following training that may rule him out of the game.

In better news though, Blackburn have had exactly the same preparation for the match as we have, so if anybody else is tired...it applies to everyone this time round.

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