Berger Back And Happy

Patrik Berger says he has made up with Martin O'Neill and now wants to take his chance to force his way back into first team contention following a great cameo appearance against Watford on Saturday.

He told the official site: 'A couple of weeks ago I wouldn't have even dreamed of playing again in front of a crowd like this. I am very happy I had a chance to play. I am not a trouble-maker but sometimes people have different opinions. What happened is history now and I would rather look forward. I had a chat with the manager and we made peace. He told me if I deserved to play, he would treat me the same as the other players so basically it is like a new start for me.'

And the Villa boss added: 'Patrik came in and realised he was wrong and he apologised. I just said to him 'Patrik, you do the playing and I'll do the managing' and he realised he had dropped a ricket. But he was man enough to come and apologise. He said he had read somewhere that I said he had no future left at Villa. I know I never said that. I have no problem with him. He gave us that bit of quality and composure just when things were getting frenetic.'

He certainly did that and reminded us just what a bit of skill can do for a team. Now to find a young Patrik Berger instead of the old ways of buying players coming to the end of their career. In the meantime he isn't a bad squad member to have, as long as he can stay fit, so fingers crossed, he looked a class above most of our other players on Saturday!

Talking about midfielders, there are once again reports suggesting that Stiliyan Petrov wants out of Villa and is looking to return to Celtic. It would be nice for the player or a club spokesman to come out and make it clear whether these are unfounded rumours or if there is a problem, would certainly save us reading all the information second hand surely?

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