Stiliyan Petrov Is No Villa Flop

Martin O’Neill has been talking to the Daily Mirror about our summer signing Stiliyan Petrov saying:

‘He started brilliantly and then, as I was expecting, he hit a bit of a lull but I think he is coming back. I’ve got no problem with Stiliyan. I would have expected him to have scored a goal or two but that will come. That will give him a natural boost of confidence but he’s not short of that.’

‘He’s doing okay and the sort of form that he showed in the early games, at Watford and West Ham, is the sort of form that he shows generally and that’s what I expect of him. I think people have to adapt to the Premiership, but Stiliyan is of such a character that I do expect him to adapt pretty quickly and he will do.’

Mr Vital Celtic has labelled Petrov a flop and questioned:

Perhaps Petrov is suffering from the pitiful effort he put in for Celtic during the end of his time here. After a period of what seemed to be no focus on his part, perhaps he is having problems knuckling down and putting in the performances he needs to. Given the desire for success at Villa Park since Randy Lerner took over the reins from Doug Ellis, unless Petrov shapes up quickly there is every chance his career could crumble. And then perhaps he will regret the things he has said since leaving Scotland.

Interesting opinion to say the least. I knew nothing of Petrov before he joined us but his debut at West Ham was majestic, just since then he has seemed to shrink into the background and has been muscled out all too often. Hopefully there is a lot more to come from the Bulgarian as he gets up to speed with Premiership football, if not for that 10 out of 10 debut, I’d have my doubts but having seen what he did that day, it leaves some hope for the future.