ROTTERDAM1982

For me Cleverley is a better player than Holtby. £8m for a 25 year old england International, i don't think is too bad.I think a midfield of Delph , Sanchez , and Cleverley is not too bad tbh. Just need to replace Gabby, and Weimann now.

In answer sonic. Regarding Cleverley, i find him quicker on the ball, good movement, looks forward, tries to be positive.For me hes a bit quicker and sharper on the ball than Holtby, and i think alongside Sanchez and Delph, would give us better balance.I watched Holtby against Fulham last year, and he never struck me as being very positive.Had plenty of the ball, and was busy, but didn't seem too interested in playing, or looking for , a killer pass.We need a midfield player who wants to take chances and hurt the opposition, not safe players like Holtby, and as much as i rate him and like him, Dembele.

I do wish we had bought Sigurdsson, or had Michu on loan though, good point rodders. Not over convinced by Holtby tbh, would prefer Cleverley to him.

I've always felt that our midfield moves the ball too slowly, having watched the video, i can see that Cleverley moves the ball, and runs off the ball, quite quickly.We need that kind of player, whether Cleverley is worth £8m is another question, but even at that price it wouldn't be the worst signing we have ever made. Whether Gabby, N'Zog and Andi in front of him are good enough is another question.

I don't think Cleverley is as bad as some people have commented, a slight improvement on Westwood, but not a £7m improvement.Think there are better value for money players out there.

That goal to minute ratio og Kozak and CB suggests that if we play them both then we will get at least 1 goal every game

I think you will find bozby that you referred to Delph as the attacking midfielder, but i agree , as you say we are just going round in circles, we'll agree not to agree.

Smarter than Delph?.......more nonsense spouted about Westwood.Fails to mark runs, lets players run off him, poor positionally, none of these could be levelled at Delph, so how is Westwood smarter? Delph cost £6m, and if we sold him , would probably get about that for him, how much do you think we would get for Westwood?

Delph has more drive, pace, determination, ability than Westwood.

Few myths flying about on here. Who criticized Westwood because he was cheap? Who claimed Westwood was the DM and Delph the AM? Who said Westwood was not technically acceptable? Noone...those who don't buy into the myth that Westwood is a good passer and say he is slow, weak and positionally poor, are just voicing an opinion.We have struggled with Delph and Westwood as the midfield partnership for the last 2 seasons, and you could argue that long term both need replacing, indeed the pathetic stats of 6 goals and 4 assisits probably indicates so, but whereas i rate Delph i don't go around spouting such nonsense as "excellant passer", makes the "team tick", "underatted"......no hes not, hes average, and that is our problem, too many average players. I believe by Jan the midfield will be Delph, Sanchez, and a n other.....but i would be surprised , if we spend any money, if it is Westwood, and yes disappointed, as it means we haven't moved on......my opinion.

Villa legend then Bunnski?

Have to say you miss my point though.We need a creative midfielder in the team, you think Westwood can be that player, i have my doubts.

Ok Stefan.........time will tell.I hope he is as good as you rate him.

Need a Remy kind of player more than another CF imho.

I accept that you rate him Stefan, and i appreciate that, but apart from the pass to Gabby against Norwich, i am struggling to think of that many passes that he has done like that to set up goals. I object to the talking up of him that makes him sound like the new Merse, hes nowhere near that standard, and thats the kind of player we need in our team now.We have the "water carriers" of Delph and Sanchez, we now need a good footballer, a no 10 if you like to play alongside him, imho that is not Westwood.

Interesting comment by Gary Neville yday watching the Sland vs Ure game, he said that not enough Utd players are making a risky pass, they are looking for the safe pass all the time, it means they keep the ball, have high stats, but don't hurt the opposition. The best pass on sat was by Sanchez, for us to get higher we need a player who can make passes that hurt the opposition.In 2 years of watching Westwood, i'm not sure he has the ability to do that, too many "safe" passes imho.

Theres a very good player in there somewhere.Needs to strengthen up both mentally and physically. A better FB than Bertrand imho.

If people expect Westwoodto be the creative midfielder that we have been craving for the last few years then i'm afraid they are going to be very disappointed.Hes not that kind of player, hes a sitting midfielder who likes to sit in front of the back 4 and just keep things ticking along.Its him or Sanchez for me, alongside Delph, plus a better attacking midfielder.Cole atm is our best bet.

Sign Lestienne and have a Salah kind of player on loan. 1 more good attacking midfielder would make all the difference.

He was ok today, but i hope hes not in the 1st team in about 4 weeks, because we should be better than that.Weimanns not good enough either.CB will be back soon, but we need better players off him. Next 2 signings will be very interesting.

Agree DC, at home that midfield is not creative enough.

Sanchez and Delph will be a very good central midfield.

I'm not sure that the last 2 seasons have made him too cautious. For me we look a lot better than last year already.We could finish anywhere between 8th and 16th, but with the right aqusitions, and a bit more positivity we could be finishing much higher. For me in the 2nd half, when we were too deep, he should have brought on Cole and Sanchez, and taken off Westwood and Weimann, gone Sanchez as the holding midfielder, pushed Delph up, and played NZog and Richardson wider with Cole supporting Gabby. As i say, i don't think we are too far away from a reasonable team, but the manager needs to be more pro-active.

One of my favourite players over the last 10/15 years, hope he can contribute to us, the game was crying out for someone like him today.Good to see a player who hasn't come just for the money.

Quite a few on here eating humble pie. I never understood why he attracted so much hatred, a lot of supporters seemed to object to the fact that he kicked Long.For me there can't be enough bad tackles on Albion players. MOM again today for me, well done.