Poor old Nicky Shorey can only hold himself accountable

December 3, 2008 by Martin Banks
Filed under: Aston Villa, Nicky Shorey 
From battling Ronaldinho to sitting next to Marlon Harewood

From battling Ronaldinho to sitting next to Marlon Harewood

When Villa purchased former England left back, Nicky Shorey, from Reading, it must’ve made Wilfred Bouma sit up in his hospital bed and worry about his ability to get back in the team on his return to action. After spending last season as the one and only full back at the club, coupled with his consistent form, Bouma’s selection seemed to be one of the most secure in the whole team.

Then, as we secured victory over Odense BK, Bouma suffered a horrific injury which ruled him out for half the forthcoming season. With just one left back and not a single right back on our books, it was already on O’Neill’s mind to bring in some full backs, but with Bouma now out for a lengthy spell it became an emergency situation.

Nicky Shorey and Luke Young to the rescue

Neither of them managed to make an immediate impact though, Shorey particularly struggling to find the form that got him into the England squad. As the season progressed, Luke Young began to settle in well, but Shorey’s initial difficulties settling in seems to have damaged his confidence and his game has suffered. To the point that he can’t manage to get in the team even though he is the only fit left back.

Luke Young has recently been filling in despite being a right sided player, which can’t be doing much for Shorey’s confidence, but O’Neill clearly doesn’t have faith in him. And as our makeshift defence has now kept three clean sheets in a row it’s hard to argue with the decision.

New boy Carlos Cuellar has adapted superbly to right back so it’s hard to see how even Young will stay in the team when Bouma is back. Cuellar is usually a centre back but Curtis Davies is also in excellent form, so it’d be hard to drop him and you really can’t see the captain, Laursen, not starting.

Shorey can only question himself for not being picked but hopefully his confidence and form will pick up with his appearance tomorrow night in the UEFA Cup. It’s very refreshing for us Villans though, to have the problems at the back be too many good defenders not too few, so it’ll be a battle for Shorey but we know he has the ability.


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