Graham Taylor has defended his decision to rest Aston Villa's World Cup stars in Sunday's shock Intertoto Cup defeat by FC Zurich. Taylor opted to leave out his defensive pairing of Steve Staunton and Olof Mellberg plus summer signing Marcus Allback as Villa slumped to a 2-0 loss in Switzerland. But the Villa chief maintains it was the right decision given the trio had only been back in training for a week after their exertions in Japan and South Korea.
And Taylor insisted he will adopt the same policy with England striker Darius Vassell by leaving him out of the second-leg clash on Saturday after his return to training yesterday. He confirmed: "Darius is being dealt with in exactly the same way as the other three World Cup players left out of the first leg. He won't figure on Saturday. Anyone who thinks that the three (Staunton, Mellberg and Allback) should have played in Zurich is showing a total ignorance of the season that lies ahead."
Villa's fifth World Cup player, defender Alpay, will be back in training next Monday after a month's break following his fine performances in helping Turkey reach the semi-finals. Meanwhile, Taylor is remaining tight-lipped over the possible signing of Ecuador defender Ulises de la Cruz from Hibernian. De la Cruz impressed for his country in the World Cup and confirmed the deal offered to him by Villa was very good in a radio interview.
Taylor added: "He is a player I have known about for some time and I was aware of him long before the World Cup. But that's as far as it goes. Like anyone we have been linked with throughout the summer, if we have their signature then we will announce anything when it is all done."
Filed by Shane Murray
