Shorey tipped to bounce back

Nicky Shorey has been backed by boss Martin O'Neill to become a quality player for Aston Villa, despite losing his place in the side.

The Villa chief snapped up the England capped left-back in a £4million deal from Reading in the summer, but opted to leave him out of the side at Arsenal on Saturday and play right-back Luke Young out of position in his place. However, despite also substituting Shorey seven times out of the 11 games he has started him in this term, O'Neill is in no doubt he will come good as soon as he settles in the Midlands and gets his full match sharpness back.

"When players come in with little pre-season it's just a matter of getting to grips with it and knowing what we want," he told the Birmingham Mail. "Luke Young went to play left-back and in the first minute of the game Theo Walcott raced past him.

"But, I thought he stuck to his task and started to read it better. For basically a right-back playing at left-back he did very well indeed.

"As for Nicky, he will come again. At this minute he's trying to get used to the environment and what I'm asking him to do.

"He's a lovely footballer. It might have been a real test against Walcott after the mistake against Middlesbrough and I thought Luke Young coped brilliantly."