Stiliyan Petrov has come out in support of Nicky Shorey

May 15 2009 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail

STILIYAN Petrov today called on Villa to show the Nicky Shorey spirit at Middlesbrough tomorrow after leaping to the defence of his rebel team-mate.

‘Stan’ broke the club’s silence on Shorey’s petulant reaction to being substituted at Fulham last weekend by supporting the frustrated left-back.

Shorey appeared to swear in the direction of the Villa dugout as he angrily trudged from the pitch during the depressing 3-1 defeat at Craven Cottage.

But, although Petrov does not condone Shorey’s actions, he was encouraged by his colleague’s passionate response to being replaced.

“I like his frustration,” he said. “If you walk off without saying anything that means you accept it.

“Nicky’s the sort of character who doesn’t accept things like that. I respect him for that.

“I don’t know what he said. Nicky wants to play all the time and he is a good player.

“When you see someone come off and they’re not happy, I have a lot of time for them because you have hunger, you want to play and you want to win.

“There are times the game is so quick that players get frustrated and that happens for a second.

“Maybe you feel sorry afterwards but it happened, that’s football. It is so intense. I don’t think he meant whatever he said. I like the way he reacted.

“You want to stay on, you want to fight and especially with the way things were going against Fulham you want to stay on and win.

“Has it happened to me? No. Everyone is different. I can be angry in myself and control that with the manager afterwards. Everyone reacts differently.”