Martin has faith in his reserves

MORE on that squad selection....

If you thought Martin O'Neill would be remotely apologetic about the decision to leave his key players at home.. more fool you.

The Villa boss staunchly defended his policy before boarding his flight this morning.

He did at least admit that it was done after much soul-searching.

And you cannot blame him for making this decision out of the blue. Remember his words immediately after the first leg. He said something along the lines of: "I don't want to put a dampner on the evening but ..." and then mused about the availability of players after the game against Chelsea.

O'Neill is insistent that the squad he has picked - where only Zat Knight, Curtis Davies and Luke Young can be considered current first teamers - is strong enough to get Villa through to the last 16.

He is also adamant that Randy Lerner is in full agreement, which says something about the lack of pedigree, or just plain finance, in the UEFA Cup.

O'Neill says the decision to leave eight first teamers at home was far from simple ahead of two crucial Premier League games.

"It was a difficult decision, we have to trust the players who are going," he said.

"I think it's a great opportunity for some of the younger lads in the side which is terrific.

"We've just had three games in six days and we looked a bit leggy to begin with against Chelsea. We need the players to try and stay as fresh as we possibly can so that was the decision we made.

"We're not going to be defeatist, we are going there to try and get through. We come back to Stoke City on Sunday and we are at it again Wednesday night against Manchester City and that was going to be hard.

"It's a pretty hectic schedule, it was a difficult call but the chairman has entrusted me with the decisions and I believe what we're doing is for the well being of the football club."

To those of you already making your way to Moscow.... perhaps that £1,000 might have been better spent elsewhere... like on a couple of season tickets for next season?

I am aleady receiving text messages from supporters bemused by the decision to apparently throw the competition away.

"Disgraceful", "shambles", "what was the point in entering the thing in the first place?", is the type of thing being said and I guess the message boards are full of such sentiment.

I myself will be reporting once again for the Birmingham Mail in Russia. Travelling tomorrow morning with 20 or so Villa supporters who have all paid the £120 or so for the tourist visa on top of the £600 flight costs.

It will be the first time I will have seen 5am for many, many months. Well, leaving the house at least... not so much arriving back... but that is a very different story.