steaknchips

Based on past good performances; Herd should have replaced Hutton at RB..Ireland and Bannan should be together in midfield. I would also start Cuellar now he is fit ahead of Collins at CB and also look to try Clark in DM as a replacement for Petrov behind Bannan and Ireland. Also Albrighton deserves a start ahead of N'Zogbia.. Playing Clark as the extra defensive player would allow the FB's to add more width when we attack. ----------------Given---------------- Herd----Cuellar----Dunne----Warnock -----------------Clark------------------- ---------Ireland------Bannan---------- ----Albrighton--Bent---Gabby--------

How many games has he played? he was lucky not to give away 2 pens in 2 games and lucky not to have been sent off in another. Why do we keep wasting money on poor players that dont improve the squad?

He dosnt play the guitar or jump about on the touchline..He dosnt give out fun interviews either. He chews gum with his mouth open in a suit and he looks ugly.. Makes me sick...

Yes but Stan, McLeish had 4m plus whatever wages Hutton is on. Yet McLeish seen more sense for some reason, in buying a RB,yet we already had, Beye, Cuellar, Herd and Lichaj that can all do a good job(we got 6th with Cuellar as RB). Would Pardew have bought a RB or would he have replaced NRC in midfield instead? Especially after letting Hogg go, we dont have any cover in defensive midfield whatsoever. If we are having to be careful with money...Buying Hutton was not careful.

Of course the manager makes the difference..Who would have thought Aberdeen could win the European Cup? If the manager didnt matter and its just about getting a great squad of players...Why bother appointing a manager in the 1st place? Fergie at Villa? We would be in the top 4. What we see from Jones/Smalling we would now be seeing from Clark..What we see from Cleverly we would now be seeing from Bannan..Delph would be turned into a player like Fletcher.. I doubt players like Heskey, Petrov, Hutton and Collins would even be at the club. And like under Houllier, Bent would be scoring for fun under Fergie..You are talking managers that know how to move clubs forward..

He is the worst recognised RB I have ever seen at the club.

Form-wise? Yeah, probably. Squad-wise I'm not so sure. Their midfield is better but that's about it. If your a fan that goes by names, then Newcastle dont have a better squad than us..I mean we have a Internationals and Experience of Premiership ouzing from our squad on name basis.. But if you judge playing style, technique, quality football etc then Newcastle are streets ahead of us. We just dont cut it under McLeish and its very rare as fans we get to our team playing nice football that we can enjoy. Its a shame.

Newcastle are better than us now..To think we were getting it together at the end of last season, playing nice football beating Liverpool and Arsenal. We now look a shadow of that same style and have declined into a side where as a fan you dont even have hope anymore..

The big 4/5 clubs will still be restricted on what they can spend on wages. And the trouble with these clubs is that they will be paying more per head for each of their playing staff "big names" than most the other teams that are lower down in the league.. They wont be able to afford too many flops on long high contracts. As for Villa reducing wages, this will be seen as a total..Not per player. You could spend 100k per week on wages for 3 x players in a number of different ways..For a start you could have; 1 x 80k pw player(big name) and 2 x 10k per week players(up and coming youngsters)..= A chance to make the big time.(where when your revenue would raise,you could also then raise the young player's wages accordingly). Or you could have 3 x players all on just over 33k per week each (but all at the same mediocre level as players like Hutton/Sidwell etc)..= lets just be safe and stay mediocre.(average gates and no real raise in revenue).

he spent 3 months under them and one of them is a fitness coach. They were hardly that great. McLeish has done more for Bannan than Houllier did by actually playing him when everybody available and showing confidence in him Exactly, the great Houllier only played him when we had injuries. Once everyone was back the kid couldn't get a game. He went out on loan because we had Petrov, Makoun, Young and Reo Coker all available for CM with only 5 months of the season to go.. Which no way does it do Houllier any injustice or does it take away any opinions he had on the player..No matter how much you would like to think so.. As I said,Houllier was the manager that properly introduced him, nurtured him, coached him and gave him the confidence to be a great player in the Premiership (as a back up player or not, as it dont matter)...Which was "after" it was almost destroyed by MON.

What you see from Bannan is all the stuff he learnt under Houllier...Why? Because if you looked between the lines ALL our players were looking better regards vision, passing and movement etc.. Will the progression continue under McLeish? Lets hope so..But on his past record its unlikely. I would be far happier if; 1, Cowans was back amongst 1st team coaching staff. 2, A better no'2 was installed in place of Grant.

he spent 3 months under them and one of them is a fitness coach. They were hardly that great. McLeish has done more for Bannan than Houllier did by actually playing him when everybody available and showing confidence in him http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/aston-villa-fc/aston-villa-news/2010/10/07/gerard-houllier-likes-barry-bannan-to-spanish-world-cup-winning-superstars-97319-27419652/

This. I bet he's absolutely ecstatic that he might get to line up against Xavi and co. no matter the result. I think its awesome that we have a player of his ability at Villa. He is still very young yet already making himself very known on the International stage. He is becoming a player that every fan just wants to watch/see play. I actually think the time spent under Houllier, Duverne, Pires etc last season, it has brought him on as a player and played a huge part on how he performs now as a player...Because prior to Houllier, MON was thinking of moving him on and out of the club.

Since when is Petrov a goalkeeper :s I figured since the thread is about Petrov, you were comparing the captaincy of a goalkeeper v the captaincy of Petrov?

And did it look like Petrov could organise a defence last season against Newcastle? Or the whole of last season come to mention it! :?

Of course, but their youth are excellent and ours are mediocre. That is the only difference, as ours aren't really good enough. I hate it when just because a youth player is at Man United everyone suddenly assumes he is the best thing since sliced bread. Why cant the young players at Villa, that have come through our system be as good or even better? We seem to do more than ok as a club at youth level and reserve level on the national stage. I remember watching our youth team take the Man United youth team to pens not long ago after we outplayed them for 90mins. I couldnt see any evidence in that game that Man United youth were excellent whilst ours were just mediocre.

Oliver Kahn is another good example of a keeper captaining the side.

Of course, but their youth are excellent and ours are mediocre. That is the only difference, as ours aren't really good enough. Nonsense. The difference is that they have world class pros around them to help bring the kids on. We dont. Put any one of Bannan, Albrighton or Delph in the united team and they would appear to be twice the players that we see down at Villa Park. Im sure of that. Im in agreement with this..Although, just sticking them together in the Villa team and we would probrably see a connection with them all and them step up in class if they have players like Bent, Gabby and I would have said Makoun playing alongside them..

So why did we spend 4m quid on signing Hutton?

Have you already forgotten that Milner was brilliant with Petrov next to him. He didn't look like a player that didn't think Petrov could handle his job defensively. Also Delph has looked poor because his first touch has let him down, he dwells on the ball and has given the ball away in dangerous positions. Can we stop trying to blame other people for this. I am confident he will get better but his poor start is down to him. We finished 6th in Milner's last season. And scored less goals than any of the "top 8" clubs.. This was because Milner did a hell of alot of running for the team both defensively( to help out an ever tiring Petrov) and in attack..Had we got a player that could manage the defensive duties a bit better than Petrov, I think Milner could have used alot more of his energy in a forward thinking way. Hence being able to create and score ALOT more goals and chances.

Defensive midfield is the priority.. We have loads of CM but they all specialise in attack and creating, rather than defensive ability. Judging Ireland, Delph, Bannan as defensive players is wrong because they ALL like the freedom to go forward..They are creative and attack minded midfield players. What we lack in our squad is the physical strength of a disciplined defensive minded player that can sit in behind these players and "allow" them to express their strengths. Petrov is very poor in this role because he is lacking is so many of the defensive qualities that are needed. For a start he tires too easily and not mobile enough to close down, his timing in the tackle isnt great, his strength and presence also arnt great.

Petrov has no challengers for his position in the squad. The comparison with Gardner is null and void because they are different players. Petrov is weak because he plays as our DM in the team and he isnt good enough..The position Gardner would play is where we are strong in the squad.. Position v position is where I look...Not player v player. AM/CM = we are strong both in experience and young players with huge potential. DM = we are weak in BOTH experience and in young potential.

Delph will never shine in midfield whilst Petrov is in the team. Petrov is not a player you can rely on defensively and that will always play on the mind of whomever he playing alongside. Had Petrov been sold this summer and Reo stayed on, I would think Delph would have been a far better player, he could roam forward more freely knowing a more mobile player is sitting back. For the club to move forward and start dominating games in the middle we need to invest in a replacement for Petrov. The priority would have to be physical pressence, tackling ability, closing down, very mobile and strong. The flair and creativity wouldnt be much an issue as such because players like Bannan, Ireland, Gardner and Delph are plentiful in or squad...Its physical pressence and strength where we lack in the middle..The opposition teams can easily dominate our midfield and its a main reason McLeish likes to pick Heskey and for us to play deep as a team.. Once a replacement is sought we could look a completely different outfit altogether. When you look at our squad as a whole; GK = top drawer (Given) CD = top drawer (Cuellar,Dunne,Clark) RB = weak (Hutton, Herd, Lichaj) LB = weak (Warnock, Baker) DM = "weakest" (Petrov) CM = top drawer (Gardner,Delph) AM = top drawer (Ireland, Bannan) WG = top drawer (N'Zogbia,Albrighton) FW = top drawer (Gabby, Bent)

Looked pretty decent in his last 2 outings for the club, hopefully he will get better as he gets more games. Ive been very impressed with his link up play alongside Bannan..Get a decent DM behind them both and it could be good enough to challenge the top 4.

Im not saying he is shite. I just think he is a weakness in the team that will need attention if we are looking to progress. DM and RB are the 2 main areas where we could vastly improve on for next season. Neither player are good enough or strong enough if we want to mount a challenge for European places. Delph would be a far better player with a stronger defensive midfielder alongside him. But atm he is having to sit too deep because Petrov isnt strong enough, or mobile enough to command that area in our team. He is far too easy for the opposition to play against. His pressence in the team isnt strong enough, he dosnt have enough drive on the ball, he cant cover enough ground and he makes too many clumsy late challenges..We could do better, ie Newcastle got Tiote for less than 4m.