Aston Villa News 24/7Writer: J P Fear 
Date:Friday February 22 2008
Time: 5:34PM
UK time is: 23:30:59
Choose your club
Other Sites
Network Navigation
Vital Partners
'If It's Football, It's Vital'
Will The Real Stan Please Stand Up?
Martin O'Neill refused to be drawn on whether Stiliyan Petrov would return to the team against Reading on Sunday after he was substituted for a dire first half performance against Newcastle.
The Villa boss still insists the Bulgarian international could make an impact at Villa and added that he just needs to re-build his confidence.
Trouble is, we've been hearing the same thing for two years now and as much as I'm sure ALL of us would like to see the real Petrov stand up (sorry, just been listening to Eminem!) I'm not totally convinced he will, which is a massive blow as his debut and a few isolated performances since have shown that the player is quality. Maybe the Prem just isn't for him?
O'Neill said: 'I think players, deep down, have a realisation of how they are playing and, to me, the best way to get confidence back is to get out there and start going back to basics again. They should go and practice and, to be fair with Stiliyan, he does nothing but that. He gets himself into a mindset where he wants to be incredibly fit and at times there is a case of over training at times. There is a case for not getting so uptight about things. Stiliyan wants to do really well and feels that Villa have not seen the best of him.'
Rather baffling after two full seasons he added, 'In his defence, Stiliyan has had to try and adjust to a completely new position.'
Surely if the position doesn't suit him he would be best being moved to where he can play at his best?
'He never played this position at Celtic. We had a lot of the ball and he was able to go forward to get beyond the likes of Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and John Hartson. He could get goals because we had a lot of the ball. Here he is having to play much more of a sitting role even when he plays on the right hand side. I think all of these things are factors but, at the end of it all, he has the capability of playing better.'
Come on Stan, sod waiting for some confidence, just take the game by the scruff of the neck and get yourself in there!
Seconds Out! Vital Boxing is here!
Vital F1 Prediction League - Join now for Monaco
Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.
Join the Vital Fantasy Football League - its Free!
Your Comments
Just shows that the SPL and Prem are a world apart!
Matt_Us
It's confidence cos he knows he aint good enough for the prem, 3 yards off the pace and passing backwards. Unfortuantely MON your gonna have to sell him recoup some loss on him, hopefully routledge may have a run out or Gardener. Thats the trouble with signings they dont always turn out to be how you thought they'd be all managers make mistakes, he misjudged petrov
krisvilla
Bite the bullet MON, not everyone you sign will work out. Send the Bulgarian crab to the Championship.
Villan444
Quoting: "Surely if the position doesn't suit him he would be best being moved to where he can play at his best?"
It is not that simple. MON goes on to say that Celtic "had more of the ball." ie. They dominated teams more up there and played more of a possession style. You cannot do that in the premier league. Hence, you cannot have central midfielders with plenty of time on the ball and license to get beyond the forwards. How many times does Barry make runs beyond Gabby/Carew? Rarely. NRC NEVER does.... In many ways the biggest hurdle in Petrov's career is the fact that he is very similar to Gareth. I thought he looked far more comfortable when playing with NRC at Liverpool. But we are spoiled by the fact that Barry is as good as he is, and Petrov, at his best, is not quite up to that standard. In fact, only Gerard and Scholes are.....
gmvillan
Interestingly, look at the recent quotes from MON about Moore, Harewood and Petrov. Read between the lines a little......... With Harewood and Petrov he talks about "working hard," "extra training," "patience," "professionalism." With Moore he talks about "potential," "wanting to get away," and "taking opportunities."
gmvillan
I enjoyed watching Petrov play at Celtic. Given, SPL is crap compared to the Premiership but still he was very good. I hate watching him play now and he doesn't do a god damn thing productive, but I refuse to give up on him and I will stand behind him because he's in a Villa shirt and I think he's going to shut everyone up very soon.
los_angeles_villan
Like most people I thought he was a very good player on his debut against West Ham. I do believe confidence is an issues for him. One possible reason for this is the position he is being asked to play in. I think he looks like a fish out of water when playing on the right. I understand that some may say (with some justification) that a good player should be able to play anywhere. However, I can't see someone like Ronaldinio playing effectively at centre half for instance. Petrov should be played in his prefered position or be put on the bench. Not being up to the job on the right, yet asked to play there will only serve to compound his lack of confidence.
Nigel-not-Reo
Petrov will come good. We've all seen those masterful touches that seem to appear from nowhere and when he send out the most pinpoint and astonishing pass.
when he does this is a different question.
villabikes29
I didn't see his debut and don't travel away very often so maybe I've missed his best performances. As a season ticket holder who has only missed on average one home game every couple of seasons for the last 20 years I can't see anything in this guy. Recently when he got back into the team he seemed to be giving it a go, but after a couple of good performances he goes back to being crap. Confidence can be a problem when playing badly but I think this guy suffers more from complacency. He does OK then basically goes to sleep. Its true that we are not in a position to dominate the possession in matches especially against the better teams but that suits the players and team set up, we are a counterattacking team. If its the settling in thing again then how long must we wait? If he hasn't settled after two years perhaps we should send him back to scotland, though we will have to take quite a hit, say £3 million!
Waldorf
Have Your Say
Recent Articles
Something For The Weekend (425) (Friday May 24 2013)
And Still More On Benteke, This Time Agent Denials (Friday May 24 2013)
Villa Hospitality Scoop The Main Awards - Again (Friday May 24 2013)
Last Season Was A Necessary Evil (Friday May 24 2013)
Eric Lichaj To Be Released? (Friday May 24 2013)
Lambert Answers Benteke. Another Undeserved Saga? (Friday May 24 2013)
The Villa Times - 23/05/2013 (Thursday May 23 2013)
The Vital Villa Player Of The Season Is... (Thursday May 23 2013)
Bumper Transfer News - SOME Inward! (Thursday May 23 2013)
New Contracts? Better Deals? It's Only Money!! (Thursday May 23 2013)
Archived Articles
Vital Members League (view all)
| 1. | Pride of Lions | 1084 |
| 2. | The Fear | 815 |
| 3. | BodyButter | 533 |
| 4. | kefkat | 441 |
| 5. | ClivetheVillan | 375 |
| 6. | CDX_EIRE | 368 |
| 7. | holtelower | 260 |
| 8. | DeanoVilla | 252 |
| 9. | Villan57 | 249 |
| 10. | thefacehead | 242 |
League Results (view all)
| Latest Results | ||||
| Wigan | 2 | - | 2 | Aston Villa |
| Aston Villa | 1 | - | 2 | Chelsea |
| Norwich | 1 | - | 2 | Aston Villa |
| Aston Villa | 6 | - | 1 | Sunderland |
| Man Utd | 3 | - | 0 | Aston Villa |
| Aston Villa | 1 | - | 1 | Fulham |
League Table (view table)
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 12. Fulham | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | -10 | 43 |
| 13. Stoke | 38 | 9 | 15 | 14 | -11 | 42 |
| 14. Southampton | 38 | 9 | 14 | 15 | -11 | 41 |
| 15. Aston Villa | 38 | 10 | 11 | 17 | -22 | 41 |
| 16. Newcastle | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | -23 | 41 |
| 17. Sunderland | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | -13 | 39 |
| 18. Wigan | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | -26 | 36 |
Breaking League News
| Bent Rumours Resurface (Again)
» Fulham : 25/05/2013 18:35:00
|
| A New Regime?
» Man Utd : 25/05/2013 17:27:00
|
| Maiga to Leave
» West Ham : 25/05/2013 17:21:00
|
| Champions League Final - Match Day Moments
» Chelsea : 25/05/2013 17:13:00
|
| Biggest Mourinho Comeback Hint Yet!
» Chelsea : 25/05/2013 17:08:00
|
| Two Future First Team Coaches?
» Chelsea : 25/05/2013 16:56:00
|
| It Might Well Be Isco
» Chelsea : 25/05/2013 16:55:00
|
Current Site Poll (view all polls)
|
|
1 © - All content copyright Vital Network Ltd, not to be reproduced without explicit permission Copyright Issues
Cookie Policy
At Vital Football, we along with most other modern websites use small files called 'cookies' to create the most secure, effective and functional website possible for our users. Without these files our business model, based on advertising, breaks down and we would be unable to continue to provide the services that you are here to utilise. By continuing to use this website after seeing this message, you consent to our use of cookies on this device unless you have disabled them. For full details please read our Cookie Policy which can be found here. However, if you would like to disable cookies on this device, please view our Cookie Policy which contains an opt-out tool for disabling advertising cookies. Please also visit our information pages on 'How to manage cookies' if you would also like to block all other types of cookies. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies.