Petrov speaks.

[villasjf]

Not very good to say that, you can think what yo like but as the club captain yo need to lead. I read the linked article too from KM, he lives in a village witout a pub, how strange.

[dave.woodhall]

When the going gets tough...............

[hilts_coolerking]

Whether he should have said it to the press is one thing, but I can't fault him on the substance of what he said. Personally, I would prefer players to speak their minds - as long as they are accurate - than merely come out with platitudes, or say nothing at all. A bit of plain speaking, particularly at a time like this, doesn't hurt, in my view.

[old man villa fan]

When the going gets tough...............

The tough act and the weak just talk.

Don't get me started on my pet gripe about the team - spineless (strength down the middle, not necessarily how the players play).

A captain is there to lead.  It doesn't matter about the actual reality, honesty does not come into it, a true leader will put all of that to one side and be a driving positive force.

I couldn't give a stuff about this honesty, saying it how it is, no blame culture etc., etc.  Why don't you just raise the white flag now, Petrov.  Rant over.

[taylorsworkrate]

Whilst not happy that our captain will speak to a Scum newspaper so candidly, at least it shows that he at least realises the problems at the club.

It is very difficult to disagree with anything he has said. 
He should however have said it to Randy and Randy alone. 

[Irish villain]

Great publicity for the club..... I hope things change pretty soon.

[achilles]

Would this be tolerated at most other clubs... absolutely NOT!

It is the captain's responsibility to 'rally the troops', not be first to the lifeboats!

To be honest he wouldn't even be in my team (if we had decent replacements) let alone be captain!

[Irish villain]

NRC is a better defensive midfielder but Petrov has a better all round game.

That said, it is a bit rich to see him talking about the top four as though he would have a chance in hell of walking into a top four side's first 11! If we finished top four, he'd probably be one of the players we'd replace.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

As much as I don't think he's worthy as a starting place in the team, I can't see an awful lot wrong with what he's said to be honest. It seems to be a farily accurate summary.

[garyfouroaks]

Petrov's level is Bolton/Blackpool, and has been  for some time. Get rid.

[TheSandman]

So on one thread he is accused of failing to show any passion or leadership and here he is being criticised for speaking out. If he was not passionate or didn't care he'd be content to earn his fat pay packet and not come out and say anything. Indeed, he is probably speaking for his team mates who may have voiced serious concerns about things behind closed doors. Other captains speak out like this far more often and perhaps even more strongly. See for example John Terry and Steven Gerrard. No one would deny these two are true leaders albeit total arseholes.

Also, it is from the tabloid press who have probably gone out of their way to sex up his quotes to turn a non-story.

So give the man a kicking for caring.

[Phil from the upper holte]

There was a bloke on radio 5 live last night a so called Villa fan and he was sayin that he & his son have season tickets but didn't go yesterday out of protest? What! What a prick I thought.

Petrov is showing a similar attitude here for me, OK we lost Milner, This  same guy on the radio was also saying that HE would have told Milner no way your staying and let him see out his contract, in reality this is ok but footballers are a completely different entity from you & me. It would have been damaging to let Milner stay at the club. I think Villa got a belting deal, we got our money back and a really good player in Ireland. Someone who I think will be better in the centre than Milner over time. He for me is the kind of player we have been missing since Merse.

We also have Young. In my opinion we can build around these two players and if some of the kids we have can reach their potential they can be used in the team as well. We have money in the bank so what I would do is get a really good central midfielder to play alongside ireland and then I would show Petrov the door!!