DANNY_DYER

8 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Is that it ? Was expecting a full run down on strengths and weakness of Neil Taylor ? 

2 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

He has played maybe 100 times in the Premier League. Not to mention for Wales. Hardly people talking up some Spanish 2nd division player. 

Another expert

Amazing how many fans we have who are suddenly experts on Neil Taylor and specifically watched him and noted his deficiencies as you do. 

I wouldn't mind seeing Dwight Gayle from Crystal Palace added to the forward line up, instead of GA.

A central defender, Eder Balanta of River Plate, Martin Caceres of Juventus or Jeremiah Akaminko who has been playing for Eskiserihspor in Turkey, would fit nicely.

An attacking midfielder like Dennis Praet from Anderlecht would be good. 

Someone plays Football Manager.......

Sha la la lala lalala

Sha la la lala lalala

Sha la la lala lalala

Jordan Ayew goal machine!

In the tune to Amarillo

Great

Both kits look very good, especially the away one, would've liked black hoops on the socks to be honest. 

Beggars belief this line of thinking that we don't want to be another Man City and lose our soul. No 1 they never had a soul to start with and this club and it's support and history will never lose it's soul.

What would some fans rather do then ? Continually fight relegation with a team full of not good enough 18 year olds or win the league every other year and be playing the likes of Messi, Ronaldo at VP every season ??

The goal came down the left side - where was Bennett then? I've only seen one highlight so don't know whether he was out of position or not.

Bennett's defensive weaknesses in the Premier League are his defensive decision making

* being caught in possession of the ball - which is unforgivable for a defender because if you get robbed there's often nobody behind you except the goalkeeper. In the PL Bennett gets robbed once every 50 minutes. In contrast Stevens and Lowton get caught in possession once every 190 minutes.

* being caught out of position. The last goal against Swansea is an example. It came from an attack down the left side when Dyer strolled passed Holman (who expected his LB to be just behind him in support) and got in a free cross, unopposed, which lead to the goal. Where was our left back to block the cross?

Underlining his weaker defensive skills, up to the Tottenham game on average we were conceding goals once every 47 minutes with Lowton on the pitch at RB, once every 34 minutes with Bennett at LB.

Bennett's positive attributes are his pace, passing (relatively high accuracy) and his dribbling, which are also attributes of a winger. He is also a hard worker who would track back like a good winger. Until his defensive ability improves he should stay on the left wing.

The goal came from Nathan Baker not having a clue where his man was and being weak

one of, there is still a bit there

Agreed mate but he was the ringleader

It was a big mistake to sell Collins and Cuellar whilst Dunne was injured and only replace one of them.

We need to rectify that this window.

Collins was the biggest disruptive influence at the club and had to go

We could get a centre half like Ashley williams for 10 million pounds and he's younger and would demand half the wages

My god.........he's useless

If Bannan is our talisman than we'll definitely be playing Championship football next season.

He wasn't even on loan at Coventry and he played every game possible for Derby and 20 for Bpool.

People dislike this kid so much they just make shit up off the top of their heads. He's probably our only midfielder who is trying to create stuff and im afraid the only person who he can aim at to do set a chance up for is Benteke.

Apologies it was Leeds, not Cov.

He's not a good player so the point still stands.

Before we signed Bent, Houllier and I think Faulkner went on record saying we would spend no money in (that) January.

Lambert is being sly here, stopping other clubs raising orices for us as they will know we are desperate.

I bet we spend 25m+ and there will be 'experienced' additions.

Totally agree mate, no use alerting other clubs.

You cannot deny that the team has performed better in his presence. 17/18 points won with him on the field.

He is a set pieces taker who knits together the play in the middle of the park. He's also got vision for the long ball and through balls.

If we go down he'll be sold to another Premiership club. Swansea, perhaps.

But by then it will be too late to say "put that in your pipe and smoke it" - unless you are Barry Bannan, of course.

Remember a lot of - but not all - Arsenal fans have hated Theo Walcott for just about the whole of his career - until now.

Walcott has continued to improve well into his 20s and proven his critics wrong. He's become a key player for Arsenal.

Bannan has more to do for Villa fans but those who still think he's a useful player can have the self-belief they are not completely mad.

His set pieces are a joke, his defensive side of his game is non existent he couldn't hold down a place at Cov, Derby or Blackpool so why is he good enough for us ??

Poor player get rid.

What amazes me about people who claim Bannan is small and use this as the starting point of their argument...

Bannan is the same height as Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, and Scholes and towers over Carzola and Allen by an inch.

Bannan is not small for a footballer. In fact, some might say he is the perfect size to be a great player.

You can turn quicker in a smaller space. You can get the ball out of your feet quicker. You have a lower centre-of-gravity and are more easily fouled.

However, I recognise that some supporters won't ever be satisfied until we have a First XI that could tag-team with Wolfman in WWF.

I don't deny large midfielders can be great players. Football is a great sport because there is literally a role for all shapes and sizes.

I admire your stance and respect your right to an opinion but with all due respect you either don't go to the games or you've had a cheeky couple of beers.

Clark is awful, the quicker we replace him the better, at fault for near enough a dozen opposition goals this season, that Kone won't have an easier game this season, got nowhere near him.

Not just this season. He's young but worryingly the same mistakes continue to crop up and there seems to be no improvement.

True, spends most of the game ball watching, massive weak link for us.

Another miss-judgement at QPR for their goal, he let Mackie get away from him.

He's done it all season mate

A point away from home when youre at this end of the table is almost always a good result. Under the circumstances, first home game for their new manager and the crowd really being up for it, the second half battering we took, I think a draw is a really good result under those circumstances. Many people on here were predicting we'd get mullahed so presumably those people are very happy with the draw? I also dont think the performance was *that* bad, first half it was pretty decent - its the first half of football we've had more than 50^ possession away form home all season I'd imagine.Second half, yeah we were outplayed, but, and its a MASSIVE but, we didnt concede, and even as recently as a couple of weeks ago we'd have crumbled under that kind of pressure. We have needed all season to start getting better at holding onto things, and the last 3 games we have shown real progress in that department. So there are positives to be found. We are getting there. The kids are adjusting to the League, we are getting harder to beat, our second halfs are improving. Yes, we need to get better, of course we do, but we are showing signs that we are doing exactly that

Some sense at last

Clark not good enough for CB lost his man yesterday AGAIN for the goal, bad trait for a CB, he looked directly at Mackie before he span in behind him and too late for Herd to close him.

Myself and all the people sat around me couldn't understand why he wasn't taken off after an hour, I thought he was pretty average to poor myself-I don't see a Premier League player there. Only my opinion of course!

Totally agree

I thought he was excellent in the past 2 games personally.

I agree mate he's in the main played well but he switches off and ball watches, Ridgewell was the same

Ball watching AGAIN for their 1st goal, I don't doubt his commitment but he makes the same mistakes time and again.

Ciaran has always come across to me as a hungry, technically competent player who doesn't ever doubt himself when it comes to getting in a handy position and getting on the scoresheet. What he has never come across to me as, is a player with any kind of innate sense of positional awareness or a centre half's knack for killing attacks. I'd rate him as a DM more than I do as a CB, but that's only because I think he's a total liability as CB.

Long story short, he would have to score a hell of a lot of game-saving goals to compensate for his defensive wobbliness IMO. Not a first team player. Weirdly, I think he could have carved out a niche for himself as a Zigic-style, championship-level centre forward if anyone would have seen fit to coach him in that direction. As it is, I don't think he's any kind of centre back.

Couldn't agree more.

Not strong enough in the air for a CB and is most definate the weak link.

Many times on Sunday he was caught ball watching and leaving Vlaar to look for Demba Ba and Cisse.

He's a funny player Ciaran as he has undoubted skill and is comfortable on the ball and has that goal scoring knack but I'd rather see Baker play CB.