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Aston Villa manager Martin ONeill is backing John Carew to prove Lyon official Bernard Lacombe wrong over his criticism of the Norway striker.

Carew has impressed since moving to Villa from the French champions in a swap deal with Milan Baros, scoring the winner on his home debut against West Ham last weekend.

Lacombe recently claimed the 27-year-old struggled to read the game during his spell in France.

But ONeill has challenged Carew to try and maintain the level of performance he showed on his debut against Newcastle and against Alan Curbishleys side.

ONeill said: "We may have this conversation in three months time and will phone Lacombe up and say just how right he was. Who knows? But I can only judge John on what he has done so far. Hes got off to a great start for us and, if he maintains his current level of performance - which will be difficult to achieve - then fine. But if John can sustain a semblance of performance for us then that will be good enough. I cannot criticise Lacombes comments, I am not in a position to do so. All I can judge John Carew on is what he has done for us so far. He is 27 and could be coming into his peak years and he is young enough to still add something to his game. Hes also got the benefit of so much experience from a number of different big leagues."

While Carew has become an instant hit with the Villa fans, ONeill is also delighted at the way right-back Wilfred Boumas vastly improved displays have made him a favourite among supporters.

Bouma struggled in his first season at Villa Park under David OLeary but his recent resurgence has earned him a recall to the Holland side, who he helped to victory over Russia on Wednesday.

ONeill said: "Wilfred is doing well enough in the side to be pleased with himself and he has got to keep it going. I dont really know what has happened before. All I can say is that I have been pretty pleased with him. I thought his game against Chelsea at the start of the new year against Shaun Wright-Phillips gave him real heart and a new impetus and, for the most part, he has followed that up with decent performances. He has made a big effort to try and get properly fit because Freddie can carry a pound or two extra, and he knows himself that he needs to stay fit to sustain that sort of level of performance. But, like the rest of us, there is no point in playing two decent games out of five."