Thomas Sorensen’s consistent moaning about not being picked in goal for Aston Villa was due to his own inability to crack on and stake a claim for the No.1 jersey through hard work and determination. Instead the Dane floundered and only hastened Martin O’Neill’s goalkeeper search.

Like Sorensen, it was no surprise that Patrick Berger has been shown the Villa exit after his comments to the media encouraging Gareth Barry to make the switch to Liverpool, which outraged O’Neill due to the club sticking with him through his injury-blighted three-year stay at the club.

'If Villa can get rid of the lower calibre players then their improvement will only continue'


There are others within the squad who need to pick themselves up, or get themselves out after a disappointing season throughout 2007-08:

Shaun Maloney – Not so much a disappointing season as such, but by now I’d expected the young Scot to have had more of an impact on the Villa first team. I know there have been many stories linking the young attacker with a move back to Celtic due to his home sickness but his talent is undeniable, so let's hope that O’Neill can get the best out of him, otherwise it may be time to offload him.

Moustapha Salifou – although not a regular in the Villa team, making only four first team appearances, Salifou has now been with the club long enough for O’Neill to get a sense of what the Togolese midfielder is all about. He has been offered a one-year contract extension taking him up to the end of the 2008-09 season.

Maybe there is something in him that the crowd have yet to see, but it still brings back memories of the squad-fillers like Ulises De La Cruz who may need to be off-loaded to make way for players of a higher calibre.

Wayne Routledge – in a similar situation to Salifou, Routledge has made only one first team appearance in the 4-0 win over Bolton, coming on as a late sub. I’m sure he was only a back-up signing by O’Neill to the already problematic right side of midfield. Routledge, however, is not the sort of player Villa should be looking to sign and should be replaced immediately.

Stiliyan Petrov – now finished his second season at Villa Park, the Bulgarian international has still largely not impressed. He did start to play well at the tail-end of last season contributing with the stunning 60-yard goal against Derby but for £6.5m, possibly rising to £8m, O’Neill needs to cut his losses. Write off Petrov of as a bad signing and get rid of the midfielder.

I’ve been largely impressed with the Aston Villa team this season, but there is still a bit of dead wood that Martin O’Neill needs to cut through and replace with better skilled players.

If Villa can get rid of the lower calibre players then their improvement will only continue.