Soccer: Go back to basics, Taylor tells Vassell

Aston Villa manager Graham Taylor is urging Darius Vassell to savour the simple things on the football pitch.

Vassell burst onto the England scene with a spectacular strike in the game against Holland.

He was rewarded for that impressive display by being retained in Sven-Goran Eriksson’s squad for the match with Italy last week.

Vassell is now being tipped by many observers to win a place in the World Cup finals.

However, his form dipped at the weekend in the 3-2 defeat at Bolton, where he squandered an easy chance.

Former England boss Taylor admits he has offered the youngster some homespun advice ahead of the meeting with Newcastle tomorrow.

‘‘Because of this goal (against Holland) and being catapulted into it, he mustn’t think every time he gets the ball, he has to do something special with it,’’ said the Villa boss.

‘‘Darius didn’t seem to be on his game at Bolton but I don’t think for a minute he is becoming a ‘Jack the Lad’ because he has been picked for England.

‘‘He is not that type at all. In fact he is probably the opposite. He is probably finding some of the attention hard to handle.’’

Vassell looks certain to form a partnership with new £4.5million striker Peter Crouch against Newcastle.

The England Under-21 international made his debut at Bolton and Taylor said he was encouraged by his performance.

Juan Pablo Angel is likely to remain on the bench as he seems set to leave the club in the summer.

Even though he has scored 15 goals this season and Villa have struggled in that department

Taylor feels it would be foolish to use the services of a player not committed to the cause.

Instead he sees Vassell and Crouch as the front-line future and the men to turn their fortunes around.

Villa go into the match against Newcastle having won only one of their seven games since Taylor replaced John Gregory.

However, they have managed to cling onto seventh place despite a string of poor results and just 37 goals in 32 league matches.

Taylor said: ‘‘With just one win in seven games, the problem has been turning it around.

‘‘The biggest problem has been scoring goals. However, in the first half at Bolton we did look capable of doing that and that is something we have got to get right.’’