Well since I've been following the Villa there have been plenty of fans that have said various central midfielders are not very good, currently its Petrov in the past we've had Des Bremner, George Boateng and plenty more besides and not one of them has been "shite" or whatever else has been levelled against them. Yep we've had some shit ones too along the way, Kinsella (king of pointing), Ovynd Leonhardsen (the forgotten man) and they only ever seemed to get the same kind of vitriol some of the much better players we've had get. It's not belittling fans, it's an observation made of over 35 years supporting the Villa, there are quite large numbers of Villa fans that really don't understand the roles central midfielders ply and are asked to play. Sorry for having an opinion.
Having an opinion is fine. Its belittling other people's opinions that 03butpau is referring to in his post. So for all those people, of which I include myself, that disagree with you sorry that we have an opinion that differs from yours and, of course, means that we know nothing about CM'ers!
My point exactly barrysboots by saying it's a long running tradition villa fans don't understand central midfielders is outrageous assumption just my opinion