Struggling Villa midfielder Stiliyan Petrov has been given a ‘time-out’ by manager Martin O’Neill.
Petrov was out of the 16 for the win at Reading for the first time by choice since his £6.5m move from Celtic in August, 2006, replaced by Gabriel Agbonlahor.
The Bulgarian international has failed to score this season and after 18 months in the Premier League, O’Neill admits the 28-year-old has only been a shadow of the player he was at Celtic.
“I’ve decided to take Stiliyan out of the firing line at this minute to get his confidence back,” said O’Neill.
“All too fleetingly he’s shown the really great form and to be fair, we’ve played him out of position because he can go and play off the centre forward.
“He knows himself he’s capable of so much more when his confidence his high. His confidence is a bit low at the moment, but he’ll bounce back, I’ve got no doubts about it.”
O’Neill is still backing his first signing to come good.
“At the moment, he’s not involved, but he’s got a great determination,” he said. “I know him very well and he’s very strong mentally.
“He’s part of the squad and people are fighting for positions, and even though our squad isn’t that big, it’s great news.”
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