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foreveryoung

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    Joe Bennett

    in Other Football

    Posted

    At the risk of repeating myself from the page before, I want to just get something off of my chest about Bennett. A lot of people seem to be a bit hard on him and want him out of the club ASAP, there has even been suggestions that Stevens is better! Personally, I quite like him and think he could become a good and useful player for us, and I feel the need to put up some sort of defence for him. People get down on him as he started off poorly, which he did, but continue to hold it against him despite improvements in performances. Note that I'm saying his performances have been improved, not necessarily good.

    This is my problem with this criticism (and what occasionally comes across as despise and hatred), I don't think many people factor into account the circumstances of when he arrived. I'll summarise:

    - He was only 22 - He's a young left back. Most left backs begin to peak around the age of 25-30, so to expect a 22yo to perform consistently in the premier league is extremely unfair IMO. If a LB is doing well in the PL at that age, it is more than likely that he is very good.

    - He was playing in the Championship - He stepped up from the Championship, which is a huge step. Not many players can perform in the Championship, and then make the step up to the PL, see Taarabt. It's going to take some bedding in time for him to get used to the pace, physicality and higher technical ability of the league. In the Championship anywhere between 16-24 teams can win the league in August, in the PL, the title is only realistically leaving Manchester for Chelsea. This gulf in quality between teams within the league is also a huge challenge. In the C'ship, you can realistically beat anyone at any time, in the PL, you can more or less predict the outcome of most games, that's probably some getting used to.

    - He joined on August 29th - He joined late in the transfer window, the season had started and he missed our Pre-Season. He joined with no knowledge of our tactics, probably knew none of our players and would of needed time to settle. With this being during the season, he needed to adjust instantly and had no time to get to know his new team-mates and become familiar with the new tactics he would be playing in. He was thrown into the proverbial deep-end, and I think he kept his head just about afloat.

    - He was injured when he joined - Added into the above, he had an even tougher time trying to adjust, as he couldn't train, had to learn new tactics without practice, had to watch his new team-mates from a far get to know each other and bond on the training pitch, and on top of it all, he wasn't match fit either.

    - His debut was in a 4-1 loss as a sub - I bet that didn't help his confidence. He came on when we were 2-1 down against Southampton, and was probably tasked with trying to help claw back an equaliser. Roughly 5 minutes later, Clark scored an own goal which pretty much finished the match, and probably demoralised the entire team. I mean who wouldn't be demoralised losing 3-1 to a newly promoted side, a team that had yet to win also. Then Soton get a fourth at the end. Again, demoralising and probably crushed what little confidence he had.

    - He was our only Left Back - With Warnock being loaned to Bolton, and despite Stevens' cameos around Sep-Oct (I Highly doubt he'll pull on a Villa shirt again), Bennett was our only natural Left Back. This meant he had the pressure of starting week in, week out just weeks/months after returning from injury and signing for a new (Premier League) club, all at the age of 22. Add in the fact that when he began to start, it was becoming clear we would be embroiled in another relegation battle, so was given the task of helping us get out of that situation. Again, enormous pressure. Slightly contradictory, but still valid, he had no competition and was essentially undropable, so despite the pressure he was under, I would imagine he became somewhat complacent.

    - Other new signings blossoming - With other lower league signings in Lowton (L1), Westwood (L2) and Benteke (Belgium) all performing very well, it set an unrealistically high expectation of other signings, especially Bennett as he had to make arguably the smallest step up. This put the spotlight on him to perform, and when he didn't live up to expectations, I think many fans lashed out as he was an outlet and an easy target. He didn't perform as well as Lowton/Westwood/Benteke who came from "lesser" leagues so therefore Bennett must be terrible.

    He's not a bad player and I think people give him too much of a bad time. I firmly believe he will come good this season, with the signing of Luna forcing him to work his arse off to get/stay in the team. Before you write Bennett off, consider the circumstances of his 2012-13 season. Add in the improved performances from March onward, and you begin to see he isn't quite as bad as some make out. He has a long way to go before he can become a good PL player, but I think he will get there.

    Sorry for the long post, but it annoys me to see fans get on the back of the players, no matter which player, and it annoys me moreso when its a player I think is good. I had a lot to get off my chest.

    /rantover

    Are you his Dad???:)

    Where will we finish ?

    in Villa Talk

    Posted

    Yeah lets see how we play against the Fulhams, newcastles, Stokes, then we can really see if anything truely changed. Im a little worried, yeah we looked great against, Arsenal an Chelsea, but we looked great at times last season, an its early days, teams are still warming up so to speak. Will we be in the relegation zone anytime this season. Dont think at this time I would risk any big money on not being there at all just yet!!!

    Christian Benteke

    in Other Football

    Posted

    This was worth a laugh this morning

    From BBC gossip:

    Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert believes striker Christian Benteke, 22, will remain at Villa Park despite strong interest from Liverpool.

    Full story: Daily Star (external)

    In fairness to the rag, the article doesn't seem to mention anything like the BBC tagline.
    Can't wait until September comes and the 'Benteke to leave in January' stuff starts.

    Just leave us alone!!!!

    Funny, most of you won't shut up about it either!!!

    • Like 1

    Christian Benteke

    in Other Football

    Posted

    All this thread talks about is when Benteke goes, blah blah. Can we stay positive. He is our player, let's start talking about him now and not about what happens if he leaves?? I will start. I fancy another goal or 2 at Liverplop from the beast!!

    • Like 1
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