Cambridge-AVFC

Wilshere is quality he's been unlucky with injuries so far at Arsenal.

 

I think him and Cleverly and Sterling could become a very good midfield with England.

 

Back on to Weimann I think he has been our shining light at times this season and I would seriously want to lay in to our club if he were allowed to leave.

 

Lerner may think Weimann and Benteke are the 2 players he can use to sell and balance the books if relegation is confirmed... and then he can sell up. Disgusting.

Cleverley makes me want to cry, he offers nothing accept playing for Man United

The stats are wrong I fear. He was good against Sunderland, maybe, but that's about it. It might be the case of us not having the players to being the best out of him but, I'm not convinced. 

Arsenal home? Newcastle away? Swansea home? Liverpool away? Four games where he played very well and you could make a legitimate case for man of the match. But other than West Brom away and Everton home, Bannan has played fine. Like I said he gets unjustified stick. In the right system or with a ball winning centre midfielder, Bannan could shine in my opinion.

I still fail to see the reason why he was dropped.

 

I'll give you a clue, he's terrible.

well compared to our team this year he hasn't been that bad and has probably been one of our better players.

I still fail to see the reason why he was dropped, played better than all but 1 of our centre midfielders(Westwood) and even then its a toss up between the 2. We look a lot better on the ball with Bannan on the pitch. People on here criticise Bannan for the most insignificant things like the riskyish back pass to Given in the air against Bradford or when he lifted a pass to Baker instead of passing it on the ground. Both times we retained possession and started attacks but yet Bannan gets slated forit. The other times, people see isolated incidents where Bannan over hits a corner or a long pass and they seem to generalise that and come to the conclusion he hits too many long balls or he is a poor set piece taker.

Bannan brings us something that we don't have, a good ball player who can keep the ball under pressure. When we were drawing 1-1 against Arsenal with 20 mins remaining Bannan would've been ideal as instead of hoofing the ball aimlessly up field, he at least has the ability to keep the ball on the deck and pass it around. Something that no one else really has. For the goals and assists argument, Bannan isn't there to score goals, he's a deep-lying playmaker and he does that reasonably well. We haven't given Bannan the opportunity to play in an advanced role, for example where N'Zogbia plays at the moment, which would give him more opportunities to create. Bannan does create chances, its just a shame that most of which the chances he created have been wasted by strikers. Also Bannan gets a lot of 'second assists' i.e. he makes the pass before the pass that leads to the goal. 

Its not rocket science Bannan needs a big dominant midfielder next to him if we want him to be effective. He needs a Diame or a N'Zonzi to marshal the midfield and allow Bannan to play the passes. If not that, you need a system(like Swansea have) to maximise Bannan's ability, you need players who are also willing to pass and play nice attractive football. Bannan is at worst a very good asset to bring on at the 70 minute mark to keep possession(if winning) or to add some creativity(if losing).          

I think we haven't got a good enough squad atm regardless of the manager. I think Lambert is a good manager, and thought his tactics were okay today. Although its all well and good stating that we should've gone more defensive at 1-1 in hindsight, its Lambert's philosophy that we have a go every game. We asked for a manager who promotes positive football, and now we have one we start to complain about results? Our squad is currently just too young and not good enough, that's the problem, not Lambo.

Having said that, the 5 at the back was just stupid on Lambert's part. Honestly, the 5-2-3 was truly an awful formation and I have no idea why we persisted with it for so long. Also freezing out Darren Bent i.e. our main weapon was also baffling. I understand him dropping Darren Bent for Benteke originally, but I didn't expect it to be so sustained, as good as Benteke is, I found it apprehensible that after the WBA game when Bent got the late goal, he didn't start the next game. Finally, I fail to see why Bannan is being left out the side. He hasn't played badly at all and has actually been one of our better players in my opinion.

tbf Joe Bennett is a better defender than him....

said no one ever

Bannan wouldn't of scored an own goal...just saying

What has Bannan done significantly wrong in games? Because again, I don't see how any of the abuse(its gone past criticism) he gets is at all justified. No one has justified there hatred as of yet. Bannan tries harder than most, does his job well(deep lying playmaker) yet people brandish him as shite for the most insignifacant reasons like 'he passed the ball in the air to Baker for 6 yards'....who cares? He got the ball from A to B and we retained possession. Bannan is classy on the ball, something no one else at Villa is. Westwood is economical but safer than Bannan, and it seems that Yacouba Sylla is just a battering ram and an enforcer. Therefore we need a little tenacity and a good range of passing which Bannan has in abundance.

Next game should be 4-3-3

Guzan

Lowton - Clark - Vlaar - Baker

Westwood - Sylla - Bannan

N'Zogbia - Benteke - Gabby

(bring Andi and Dawkins as impact subs)

I can, I'm writing off Joe Bennett and Ciaran Clark's defensive efforts for the remainder of the season.

i meant the new guys...you can write Bennett off...he's truly shite :L

Lads can we not write off players yet....

He's a defensive midfielder who's big and black. What more could we ask for?

Errrr,,,Yes he is.

justify your view.

To be honest I came to the conclusion he was shit a while ago but tonight he was really, really shit.

Therefore you assume its a forgone conclusion that every time he plays he's shite, even when he isn't.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOL! Pathetic the lot of you!!! How have you come to the conclusion that Bannan is a bad player after that game? Done well, kept things ticking over and played as well Westwood did. So why isn't Westwood getting blamed? Westwood corners were similar to Bannan's...they didn't result in any goals, does that mean Westwood is the 'worst corner taker' in a Villa shirt? JUST BECAUSE WE LOST A GAME DOESN'T MEAN ITS BANNAN'S FAULT!!!!!!!!!

How is Bannan dubbed as shite after that. He misplaced a few passes, but so did everyone else, yet they don't get stick. I remember Westwood giving the ball away many a time, why doesn't he get stick? The answer: BECAUSE BANNAN IS A SCAPEGOAT! Stop jumping on the hate Bannan bandwagon and have something constructive to say. He played well today and certainly put his shift in. He pressed very well in that second half and I loved the moment when he had a go at Cabaye for diving.

Leave this unjustified criticism out and start supporting our players!

Wooow. Massively unjustified hate here. Laughable really. I'd like to thank everyone for once again reinforcing my point that he is a scapegoat.

My god when he was on we had 70% possession, I'm going to repeat that 70% POSSESSION!!!!!! We ended the game with 56% possession. Bannan was the link, everything we did involved him, he was the supply line for Delph, Ireland, Lowton, Bennett N'Zogbia and on occasion Benteke and Gabby. To blame him for this and say he was 'the worst player they've seen in a Villa shirt'...are you kidding me?

If anyone could do what Bannan did, why did our possession stats drop so dramatically? why didn't Delph do what Bannan did? I mean my god, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what wee Barry's job was. He was there to maintain possession and to set up attacks which he did well. He gave the ball away 3 times i think ver economical and very productive. Barry Bannan did alright yesterday he is certainly not to blame for the defeat, but seeing as he's an easy target I'm not surprised he is getting blamed.

As for his corners, he had a bad day, it happens his corners aren't defined by 1 game, he has still put some cracking balls in this season, its just whenever he over hits do one it gets emphasised because most people here want him to fail.

Haha...are you serious? We fell apart as lambert aint got a clue, who went to left back when bennett went off, thats when we fell apart...

Indeed Lambert hasn't got a clue, so he took off Bannan, and from their on the structure fell apart. We resulted to what i can only describe as hail mary football. Bannan was playing well, he was keeping things ticking over got the assist of the assist for the 1st goal. He did his job and did it well. When Bannan left the pitch our 70% possession deteriorated...

The moment Bannan came off is the moment we fell apart, shows how important he was to the team...

I don't know if this is already answered but who are AVFC's equivalent in the NFL? I'm going with Redskins without RG3....reasonably good history but struggled in recent times.

Cambridge-AVFC - PATS

My heart says Ravens and #52, but my head says Niners.

Maybe if he actually played well he wouldn't get as much stick

I suppose he can't help being crap not his fault our squad is so shit

Lets face it he wouldn't be anywhere near the first team if we had better players

When he does play well, people brand him as average or emphasise the one little irrelevant mistake he did.

Bannan can't win.

That's probably because he is has the best delivery in the Premier League.

Leighton Baines is 32%. Bannan was 46%. Three crosses today, one accurate: 33%. 90% pass accuracy.

The reason we perceive him to have had a bad game is because he's not a defensive midfielder, which we needed! 1-2 up you don't bring on another offensive player with little defensive play - you tighten up.

http://www.whoscored...ion-Aston-Villa

Why is nobody questioning Lambert and instead piling the blame on Bannan?

Because Bannan is a scapegoat and people cling on to every little reason to blame him (Y). I mean what other team's fans want to see there own players fail? Completely unjustified blame.

How does his performance warrant this hate? Bannan was distinctly meh today and was not at his best, however he wasn't at fault for any of the goals and was not woeful. Played in the wrong half, would've thrived in the first half with the space and time we got on the ball. He came on at a time where we got none of the ball and everything was being hoofed away. Game didn't suite Bannan at all, but he was still adequate.

Brad Guzan - 6 Made a few decent saves none of the goals were his fault.

Matt Lowton - 7 Had a decent game filled in well at centre back, looked weak at times in the second half(but he wasn't to blame as he defo isn't a centre back).

Nathan Baker - Unlucky.

Vlaar - 6.5 Wasn't his usual dominating self but put in a good shift. His leadership has looked to sure up our defence. Good return from the injury.

Clark - 6.5 Had a solid game, didn't really notice him which is what you want from your defender, quietly went about his business.

Joe Bennett - 7 Best i've seen him play in play in a Villa shirt, looked surprisingly solid. Put himself about and made that important tackle right at the end. More of the same please.

Westwood - 6.5 Cool calm and composed on the ball. Kept the game ticking, played well.

Delph - 7 Bags of energy, really did put himself about, imposed himself in the midfield, shame he got injured.

N'Zogbia - 8 Fantastic performance, constant threat. Every time he got the ball you felt something would happen he was a thorn in West Brom's sight, shouldn't of been taken off as early as he did.

Gabby - 7 Very well taken goal, his pace was a problem for the Baggies, maybe could've got some more decisions.

Benteke - 8 What a banger of a goal, won everything in the air, hold up play was superb once more. Very dominant. Unlucky about there second goal, can't account for a slip.

Subs

Lichaj - 7 Very solid game, played quite well. Should've made it 3-0 but ah well.

Bannan - 5 Big fan of Bannan, but played in the wrong half, would've thrived in that first half with no pressure on the ball. Unfortunatly came on at a time when Villa had none of the ball so he couldn't impact himself on the game.

Holman - 5 Very wasteful, poor decision making shooting was awful, put himself about though.

Lambert - 6 Bit puzzled as if to why he didn't start Bannan, but we looked good in the first half. However made one wrong substitution with N'Zogbia coming off in the 63rd minute, that was baffling. I can understand why he brought on Holman...more energy in the midfield. However should've done it about the 10-15 mins later. Unlucky with Delph as he appeared to be injured.

All in all good performance and out the relegation zone, massive 6 pointer against the Geordies next! UTV

Delph starts over Bannan today...my god, Lambo just cannot take the hint that we are much better with Bannan on the pitch. Despite the best midfield partnership we have is Westwood and Bannan, we start bloody Delph.