Dunne: Leave of absence
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Dunne allowed some extra time off
Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill will allow Richard Dunne to take a break this week following the Republic of Ireland's World Cup woe.
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O'Neill revealed prior to Saturday's Premier League clash at Burnley that Dunne was "disappointed and frustrated" by the "devastating experience" he and his Republic team-mates had been forced to endure in Paris last Wednesday.
Ireland were denied a place at next summer's World Cup finals after William Gallas' extra-time equaliser at the Stade de France, the goal awarded despite a blatant handball assist by Thierry Henry.
O'Neill admitted he would even consider leaving Dunne out of the Villa side to play at Turf Moor if that was what the defender wanted, but he ultimately played the full 90 minutes of the 1-1 draw.
However, the Villa boss believes now is a good time to let Dunne make a full recovery from the physical and mental exhaustions of last week.
O'Neill told the Express and Star: "Richard was obviously very down but I had a chat with him early on Saturday and he was keen to play.
"He got through the match but I will give him a rest for a day or two which I think he deserves."
Villa's next Premier League clash is at home to Tottenham on Saturday evening.
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Your Comments
jgn_1982 (Aston Villa fan)
"absolute joke, no time for this at all...if he is mentally unprepared then he is simply not fit to be a professional footballer....over managing from mon, he is a big strong lump, the best way for him to get over it is to get back playing asap. There is not a chance in hell he will be missing against spurs."
kayos (Aston Villa fan)
"actually, your mental state has a huge influence on performance. you know they have club psychologists to make sure players dont have breakdowns? consider this... football is a multi-billion pound industry. a single bad performance from a single player, can, in theory, cost a club millions. also, bear in mind that players are business assets worth millions, the last thing you want is for your five million pound asset to go caput because you overworked it or something. personally, id rather spend the 40k that week where the asset is being idle, and reduce the risk of having to spend 5m a month later because the old one broke. *shrug*"
BirchgroveVilla (Aston Villa fan)
"sukhdevkandhola, mate, MON's the boss, and if Dunne is mentally unprepared he shouldn't play. This is just 'Management 101'. The bloke clearly wants to play, but MON is making a decision to rest him. Excuses don't come into it."
sukhdevkandhola (Aston Villa fan)
"erm... isn't he being paid > 40K p/w to play for villa ?? fair enough he maybe physically tired.. but "woe" , "disappointment" and "frustration" can not be used as excuses.."
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