2:10pm Friday 6th November 2009
By Marc Iles
GARY Megson reckons Villa old boys Gary Cahill and Zat Knight will prove to be a successful double act at the Reebok.
After what has been a shaky start to the season in the Whites’ defensive ranks, the Wanderers boss has scheduled extra training sessions this week for his back four, goalkeepers and holding midfielder, Fabrice Muamba.
Wanderers have yet to keep a clean sheet this season, and heading to Villa Park — a ground on which the Whites have been notoriously generous in recent years — the manager is demanding an improvement.
As Cahill did 18 months earlier, Knight fled the Midlands to search out the regular first team football he could not find under Martin O’Neill. And while the jury is still out on their partnership in the middle of defence, Megson has backed the pair to come good soon.
“I think they have done okay so far but it will get better,” he said. “This is part of the exercise we are doing at the moment. We have got work to do.
“It’s not a departure from what we are doing normally, it’s more about getting a focus and concentration. I believe we have got the right players, they just have to do it on a more regular basis.
“As it stands at the moment, Chelsea aside, we are having to score three goals to win a game — and you don’t want to do that too often in the Premier League.”
Wanderers have conceded four goals on each of their last two visits to Villa Park, and have won only once there in the last nine trips.
Megson recalled the 4-0 drubbing handed out to his side six months into his reign, when it appeared the club was destined for relegation. And while he believes Wanderers have moved on in leaps and bounds since then, he claims the only evidence of improvement will arrive at the end of the season.
“That 4-0 defeat epitomised how the club was, both on and off the pitch, at the time,” he said. “Visiting Aston Villa is a big ask. Chelsea have been there and lost.
“There isn’t a barometer. You can’t look at your results against one team compared with the next season.
“We hadn’t beaten Everton for a while but it doesn’t mean anything. We try and progress each season then hopefully finish higher in the league table — that’s where you can tell.”
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