Source: Telegraph
Aston Villa thriving without Gareth Barry says Stiliyan Petrov
Villa have had a mixed start to the season, losing their opening fixture against Wigan and getting knocked out of the Europa League, but last week they fought back to take three points from Liverpool. And Petrov, who replaced Barry as the club captain, believes the new formation introduced by Martin O'Neill in midfield is key to them being considered as genuine title contenders.
"It is good, we look more compact and we work very hard for each other,' Petrov told the Mirror. 'We lost an incredible player and person in Gareth but life is going on - we just need to battle without him.
Premier League table'We talk more now on the field, we are more organised and we look after each other, which is a very important thing in our game.
'Nigel and Steve Sidwell have come back raring to go and have been great through pre-season, and they were great against Fulham.
'We are happy to have these two players in the team and so far it has been working. Different players have different strengths and we try to put it all together as a team.
'We are improving and we hope we can get a few more goals between me, Nigel and Sidy. It would be nice as we are working on it and I think it will happen soon.'
Meanwhile, Brad Friedel has hailed Ciaran Clark for his smooth transition from the reserve team to the first team.
The 19-year-old defender was a key figure in ensuring Villa kept a clean sheet against Fulham last weekend - their first of the season - and Friedel could not have spoken more highly about Clark's "composed and assured" debut.
"That was a fantastic debut from Ciaran," he said. "He got quite a bit of time in games pre-season and played half a games against Fiorentina and well as in the final against Juventus.
"He was outstanding and I thought the fans were brilliant to him. The first time he got the ball he got a little applause, then when he made his first tackle he got bigger applause and that he going to help the lad a lot."
