Little's dream run continues

ANYONE who says managers are attributed with too much praise when things go, well, and by extension too much criticism when they're not, might dwell on events at Wembley yesterday.

Aston Villa toyed with Leeds, winning 3-0 in a final which was almost embarrassingly one sided. Thus, they won a record equalling fifth League Cup, now known as the Coca Cola Cup in its latest and goriest incarnation, but much more than that progress onward to next Sunday's FA Cup semi final with Liverpool. Onward and onward.

Brian Little inherited an ageing, relegation threatened team last season, and in his first full campaign has revitalised the club with a young, invigorating, tactically alive side who are now on the brink of emulating Arsenal's cup double of three years ago. Little's Villa will surely go a long way.

Wembley rocked as their adoring faithful, echoing the hilarious scene in Monty Python's the Life of Brian, chanted "We want Brian. As they did, a Leeds team riddled with fear and patently lacking belief in themselves, physically and metaphorically vanished down a tunnel, to be followed by their manager Howard Wilkinson. Sadly, he was roundly booed by the few thousand Leeds fans still in the stadium.

Little attempted to put the win in context when commenting: "Perhaps a lot of people were looking for some signs of improvement (this season) but for us to achieve Europe so early is fantastic. It was a great day, but it's not as if we can relax and be content with this."

Little, sanguine, serene and seemingly as emotionless as ever after adding to his League Cup winner's medal as a player in 1975, added: "This is terrific, and it's a fantastic achievement. It's great for them (the players) and I'm every bit as happy as they are. I just don't show it quite the same way.

No two players beamed more brightly than the winning captain. Republic of Ireland skipper Andy Townsend, and Paul McGrath, whose status as arguably the greatest player ever to represent the Republic of Ireland strengthens with each remarkable entry into the twilight of his career.

Little admitted that he had "agonised" over his decision to play McGrath but that it was "totally vindicated", and in return the classy 36 year old defender said: "A year ago I didn't know if I had a future at Villa. I owe everything to Brian Little. He changed our system to accommodate me and here I am with my third Wembley winners' medal."

It was a second for the equally modest Townsend. "I think the Man of the Match award flattered me a bit but I was thrilled to climb the steps and lift the cup I thought we played exceptionally well. It was a great team performance. I thought the system we've played this season would work and that's the way it turned out," said Townsend, who conceded that the victory was "comfortable."

Not dissimilarly, Townsend was widely deemed to be surplus to requirements when Mark Draper followed Little from Leicester to Villa Park, but more than ever this season is testimony to the midfielder's resilience.

Little described Townsend as the fulcrum of his three man central midfield. "The other two feed off him. The three compliment each other very well but Andy is the key to our midfield system."

Not that Villa's numerous Irish contingent was entirely content with the day's developments. Steve Staunton was clearly despondent at being omitted, but against that the widely regarded 20 year old midfielder Gareth Farrelly was delighted to be merely included in Villa's 16 man squad. "It was good to be involved," said Farrelly, who added: "I'm not sure if I'll get a medal."

Alas, a loser's medal was the lot of a jaded Gary Kelly, experiencing his first visit to the Twin Towers. "Villa were class on the day. Sometimes you've got to take it that way. We had a few chances but everything went for them on the day. I thought we might nick one before half time but we didn't create enough chances.

"They were three steps ahead of us. You cannot afford that, especially in a Cup final. When they scored the second goal they started knocking it around a bit."

As for a despondent Wilkinson, the Leeds manager said: "Villa deserved it. They played very well, and we just did not cause them any problems. In fact, most of the time, we were causing ourselves problems.

"We just didn't perform. They say that it's a memorable day and that you should enjoy it and that it goes very quickly. None of these things happened today. It went very slowly - but it was memorable."

Both Little and McGrath expressed their surprise that Brian "Deane had been left on the bench, while Wilkinson revealed that his gambit was to have Kelly and Gary Speed push up on Gary Charles and Alan Wright to play in their half. He maintained that "it was even steven on the flanks but Villa played better through the middle."

As to the increasing need for change of some kind at Elland Road, Wilkinson said: "The presence of the cup final meant we had to defer making decisions. After losing the cup final I suppose some people will want that decision to be made now," a vague reference to his own increasingly insecure position.

"That's not the case really. Yes something needs to be done about it. The cup runs have not papered over the cracks. It put pressure on us which we couldn't cope with it in terms of the size of the squad.

"Since Christmas the pressure has been put on us in terms of the quantity of the squad. When you're also changing the team, it also shows where the quality is lacking"

It would appear to be lacking in a mite too many areas, and Wilkinson will have a tough job convincing everyone that he is the man to restore it.