O'Leary hopes for Baros boost
Aston Villa manager David O’Leary is keeping his fingers crossed striker Milan Baros will be close to full fitness when he returns from World Cup duty with the Czech Republic.
Baros made his first appearance in nearly seven weeks for Villa in Saturday’s Barclays Premiership clash with his former club Liverpool after sustaining an Achilles injury in the Carling Cup win at Wycombe.
O’Leary was angered when £6m (€8.9m) summer capture Baros was given an injection without Villa’s knowledge to enable him to play for his country against Holland in last month’s World Cup qualifier with Holland.
It set him back in terms of his recuperation but now O’Leary is hoping Baros will attain greater sharpness in the two-legged play-off with Norway ahead of Villa’s next outing at Sunderland in two weeks.
O’Leary said: “I was pleased that Milan came through the game with Liverpool okay. He needs fitness now. Sadly he now goes away for two weeks.
“But I just hope he gets fitter through playing for his country and comes back safe and sound for when we play Sunderland. Milan is not match fit yet.
“We need to get him up to speed but at least he is back on the pitch and that is great for us. He can make a big impact for us when he is 100%.”
O’Leary insisted Villa are not facing a crisis despite their bottom six placing in the Premiership but knows that results have to improve.
He said: “We want to win at Sunderland but it won’t be an easy game. Every game is a game now we’ve got to try and win. Every game is going to be important.
“You’ve got to be concerned with out current position in the table. It is not a crisis but we want to be doing better than what we are.
“We’ve just got to show the same belief as two years ago when we slipped into the bottom three but ended up finishing sixth and only missed out on Europe through goal difference.”
