O’Neill hits out at Capello for starting Heskey against Spain
Heskey suffered an achilles injury during the win at Blackburn last weekend but was declared fit enough by the England medical staff to play after reporting for Wednesday’s game in Seville.
The former Wigan player suffered a reaction and has been unable to train since returning to Villa and is regarded as a major doubt for tomorrow’s FA Cup clash with Everton at Goodison Park.
O’Neill cannot understand why the 31-year-old was risked in a non-competitive game.
O’Neill said: “Emile aggravated his achilles. I was surprised he started the England game. He had come off against Blackburn last weekend.
“The ruling now is that you go down and be assessed at international level by the international medical team.
“Knowing Emile, he would have wanted to have gone down there and played in a bit of discomfort but I was surprised he played considering he wouldn’t have been fully fit.
“I didn’t speak to Fabio Capello beforehand. I would have thought those things would have been pretty straightforward.
“Emile has come back, he didn’t train today, the achilles is particularly sore at this minute. If the game was this minute, he couldn’t play.
“It was a friendly international. I can understand it if it was a qualifying game because they are very important to the wellbeing of the country.
“But you would have thought rest this particular week would have been the order of the day,” he said.
Meanwhile, David Moyes aims for FA Cup glory insisting management in the top flight has become more cut-throat than ever after a week that has seen Tony Adams sacked at Portsmouth, Luiz Felipe Scolari axed at Chelsea and Newcastle’s Joe Kinnear in hospital for heart surgery.
Moyes says he is fortunate to have patient employers at Everton, and said: “If someone (Scolari) comes to this country having won the World Cup, and manages one of the top two or three clubs and you still get sacked, it can happen to anybody.
“The Premier League is cut-throat. You have seen that very clearly this week with what has happened to managers at Portsmouth and Chelsea.
“It comes every year. People get sacked because of how competitive the Premier League is and how difficult it is to win games.
“There is no hiding place, that is why I am fortunate with a good chairman and good board who back me. It has been good times at Everton and everybody here has been very fortunate.
“What has happened to Joe Kinnear this week shows what pressure we managers are under. I have sent him a message hoping he gets well quickly.
“We compete against each other week in week out. But there is an understanding between us of the job we have to do, whether we have money or we don’t have money.
“Top or bottom there is still a similarity in the job. And we always look after our own, I just hope Joe gets fit again very quickly.”
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