Barry insists Carson not the villain
by Toby Davis, 24 March 2008
Gareth Barry has rallied behind Scott Carson after the keeper’s mistake against Sunderland saw Aston Villa fall to their second consecutive defeat.
Carson appeared to hesitate as Michael Chopra raced in to lift the ball into the back of the net to hand Roy Keane’s struggling side a 1-0 win.
Carson, currently on loan from Liverpool, also came in for criticism following Villa’s 2-0 defeat to Portsmouth the previous week and Barry insists this may have affected the keeper's performance.
“Last week may have been in the back of his mind, but we’ll take the goal conceded as a responsibility of the whole team, not just Scott,” Barry told the Express & Star.
“I haven’t seen the goal again, but maybe it was a case of he thought about coming and stopped again, I’m not sure.”
After failing to record a win in their last three games, Villa captain Barry moved to rubbish suggestions that Martin O’Neill’s side have overachieved so far this season.
Barry added: “I’m not sure we’ve overachieved. We’ll have a look at ourselves at the end of the season and where we finish will be where we deserve to be.”