Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill believes Stiliyan Petrov is finally showing the form which persuaded him to sign the midfielder from his former club Celtic two years ago - albeit in a different role.
Petrov was an attack-minded player at Parkhead and he played a major role under O'Neill, including helping the Bhoys reach the UEFA Cup final five years ago.
He became O'Neill's first major signing at Villa with an £8million switch in August 2006 but only now is he living up to that price tag.
The Bulgaria international has been converted into a defensive player giving protection to the back four and produced a man-of-the-match performance in helping Villa defeat Sunderland 2-1 to climb into third place in the Barclays Premier League.
O'Neill said: "Petrov was definitely inconsistent before. He had never really captured the sort of form that I had seen him display at Celtic - and I mean Celtic on European nights where he was fantastic.
"He has had to adapt. The role has changed for him here. At Celtic he was basically a midfield player getting beyond the centre-forwards - and I think I could score goals if I had Chris Sutton and Henrik Larsson playing up front when coming through from midfield!
"But here he is playing the holding role in the side. He is getting plenty of touches early on in games, his confidence is high, his strength is terrific.
"It is the sort of strength in holding people off that I've known Stiliyan for for five years at Celtic. This is what I've been pleased with and, when he gets up to head the ball, he is brave.
"Confidence is an amazing thing in football. His confidence was low last season and then it looked as if he was deliberating as to whether to go and challenge someone.
"Now confidence is so high, he is going in, winning the balls, he is setting things in motion and he can play himself. I really could not be more pleased with him. I thought he was outstanding against Sunderland."
Defender Curtis Davies echoed O'Neill's sentiments about Petrov who has won the fans over with his displays during the current campaign.
He said: "The man of the match at Villa normally goes to about one of four players. You all know who those players are. For Stan (Petrov) to get it was brilliant and I think he was top class again against Sunderland.
"He is showing why he is staying in that central midfield and it is going to be hard to displace him.
"I wasn't here when he first came here but, since I've been here, Stan has been spot-on and you can't really fault him.
"Last year he had a stage where he wasn't involved for six or seven games but he is a strong character, a strong player and he can always come back and put in performances like that."
Sunderland boss Roy Keane has warned his side must stop conceding the sort of unnecessary free-kicks that cost them dearly after Djibril Cisse had put them ahead.
Ashley Young converted one from 20 yards for the equaliser after Liam Miller had brought him down and then the former Watford player saw a second effort deflect to Petrov who crossed for John Carew to net the winner.
Keane said: "How do you cut out free-kicks? It is very hard when you are up against good players who are moving the ball quickly and running at you at pace. Just one mistimed tackle and you suffer.
"But against Villa that wasn't the case. If you look through a lot of Premier League teams, a lot of midfield players are constantly giving away free-kicks and you end up getting punished for that.
"We have just have to make sure the players learn from it or you get the right players in who are disciplined in terms of not giving free-kicks away - particularly against teams who are very strong at set-pieces.
"There was no danger with the first free-kick. Young was going away from the goal and I am not 100% sure if it was a free-kick but the referee has given it and we've not reacted as well as we should have.
"We should have had our warning and then we did it again. The second one was even harder to take. First a poor clearance, then handball, and then we don't react to the first shot."
