Aston Villa boss Martin O' Neill believes he's found the ideal position for Nigel Reo-Coker.

He said: "When we played three midfield players I thought Nigel might want to do the holding role. But then when we went into two, I dispute that anyone can be a holding midfield player.

"What you do, as Nigel did alongside Gareth Barry, was Gareth was foraging forward and naturally you stay out of it.

"But if you are going forward, then Gareth can stay back. But no-one was given a holding role when we played with a two with Shaun Maloney and Ashley Young out wide.

"But now with the three, with Stiliyan in a fixed central midfield position, the licence is for Nigel to go.

"And I thought that second half at Derby he was fantastic and driving forward with the ball, which was terrific."