Luke Young knows from bitter experience just how impressive Martin O'Neill's Villa can be as an attacking force. Now he aims to help shore things up at the other end.

Villa got it spectacularly right up front last term, scoring 71 goals in 38 Barclays Premier League outings. But O'Neill made clear at the end of the season his determination to improve on a tally of 51 goals against.

Young was on the receiving end of an ruthless attacking display last November as Villa ran out comfortable 3-0 winners up at Middlesbrough, with goals from John Carew, Olof Mellberg and Gabby Agbonlahor.

And he told www.avfc.co.uk: "I know just how exciting this Villa side can be. I found that out to my cost at the Riverside last season. It was 1-0 at half-time but in the second-half Villa completely opened us up with the pace and movement up front.

"Obviously if we can keep things a little bit tighter at the back then there's room for improvement. Villa scored a lot of goals last season but maybe conceded a few too many. Hopefully we can sort that out."

The 29-year-old continued: "I think we can build on finishing sixth last season. You've always got to try and better yourself every season. It was a fantastic season for Villa last year and the side fully deserved to finish sixth, maybe even higher.

"Now we want to try and achieve at least the same and hopefully better. That's not going to be easy but we're building a good squad here, so why not?"