My time with Aston Villa

My debut in the English Premier League was against Manchester United. I came off the bench and it was crazy and a bit surreal playing against Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney and those sorts of players on the pitch.

Gerard Houlier was the manager at the time was and I will be forever grateful to him for handing me my debut in the Premier League. I can’t describe the feeling of it. I had these butterflies running from my feet to my head and then my belly. It’s just nuts. Your adrenaline is just pumping that much and the pace of the game is 100 miles an hour. That was awesome and I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.

When I was out on the pitch in those games I just tried to be calm. For me I just focused on playing to my attributes and playing to the best of my ability. You’ve got to try and trust your ability on the pitch. You’ve got to be confident, that’s all you can do and hope that’s enough

Obviously, I look back at the period with Aston Villa playing in the English Premier League in high regard. The 2011/12 season where I played against Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool who I scored against is something I’ll never forget. That season was a great season for me and I’ll always remember it.

Unfortunately, at the end of that season the manager that showed the faith in me was sacked which was very upsetting but that’s football and you are going to get those disappointments.

Being injured for a long period and not getting consistent game time after I left Villa. Obviously It was disappointing to not be playing at that time but I still worked hard and nothing changes on that front. Some managers will play you and some managers won’t play you so it’s how you react.

But it’s the character you show and how you bounce back that matters. Whatever club you are at you never know what’s going to happen from one day to another so you’ve just got to be as professional as you can and do the best that you can.

As told to Con Stamocostas