O'Leary praises Barry
Aston Villa manager David O’Leary believes midfielder Gareth Barry is currently producing his best form for two years.
Barry was an outstanding performer during the 2002-03 campaign under Graham Taylor and won an England recall from Sven-Goran Eriksson who has been reluctant to pick him.
But his form took a dramatic dive after O’Leary replaced Taylor the following season and switched Barry from his accustomed left-midfield role into a more central position.
Barry’s fortunes did not improve when he moved back onto the flank and O’Leary felt protracted negotiations over a new contract was a key factor.
This season Barry’s hopes of an improvement were hampered by a knee injury but he has being showing signs in recent matches of being back to his best.
O’Leary said: “Gareth is in the best form I’ve seen since I’ve been here. I can’t give you a reason for that but I appreciate what he is doing.
“I am delighted to start seeing the Gareth Barry I’ve been hearing about since I came here and who did so well a couple of years ago.
“My opinion was the contract preyed on his mind but I am delighted he is doing well now because he does work very hard.”
Barry quickly forced his way into the England set-up after making his Villa debut nearly seven years ago and he was part of the Euro 2000 squad.
But O’Leary does not believe having to cope with so much success so early in his career has affected the former Brighton trainee.
He said: “If you get in the England team, you are delighted and I think expectations are high once you do those things.
“Yes, you’ve got to be able to cope with that but I haven’t detected off Gareth that he found that hard to do.”
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