Carew copes just fine for Villa

MARTIN O’NEILL may have stumbled across a new motivational technique for John Carew.

The Villa manager revealed he had fined his top striker for being out on the town in the early hours of Thursday morning and was left out of Villa’s UEFA Cup game with Ajax that night because of tiredness.

O’Neill has taken action against the Norwegian, with the fine likely to be in the region of £100,000 — two weeks’ wages — but redemption was immediate as he climbed off the substitutes’ bench here to create one goal and score another in a convincing triumph.