terrytini Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Barry. Merson. Taylor. Hendrie. Boateng. Daily. Townsend. Carbone. All good players. Now we have KEA and Tonev The Country is full of Teams who used to have great players but are now an awful lot worse off than that.............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Cowans was head and shoulders above anyone else I have seen play in midfield for us. In his first two spells the guy was exceptional. Made the game look easy. Could land the ball on a ten pence from any distance. Read the game unbelievably well. That spell he had with Platt for two years between 89 and 91 where Plalty made the runs and Sid fed him the ball was a joy to watch. Sid was also tenacious in the tackle. The fact he got so few England caps is a disgrace. He was way above the likes of Wilkins. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie09 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 (edited) Gordon Cowans! By a country mile. Ditto, ditto - no-one else comes close I doubt there'll ever be a better midfielder at Villa. Cowans was that good. Cropley had the makings of becoming a star before he broke his leg against the Boggies. Edited January 18, 2014 by Robbie09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 From players I have seen in the flesh, then David Platt, no doubt. Absolutely fantastic. Taylor, Barry and Cowans (2nd spell, don't remember 1st) also excellent. Milner as well, in his last year at the club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condimentalist Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I don't know whether it's worse seeing Villa fall from grace like some of you old geezers or just being used to us being average like me. Unfortunately I never got to see the likes of Platt and Cowans. In my time supporting the club I would have to go for Taylor, Merson and Milner. If we could have kept Jimmy in that central role for a few more seasons he could have been a real club legend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Con Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Within the last ... 2 years - Bannan 20 years +4 - Platt 200 years - Cowans 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troon_villan Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Very funny Con. Hard to answer the OP because most of us were born after 1874 but Merson or Taylor in my lifetime, spesh mensh to Milner for that one season. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted January 18, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 18, 2014 OP answered his own question in the first post. Sid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted January 18, 2014 Author Share Posted January 18, 2014 Cowans was head and shoulders above anyone else I have seen play in midfield for us. In his first two spells the guy was exceptional. Made the game look easy. Could land the ball on a ten pence from any distance. Read the game unbelievably well. That spell he had with Platt for two years between 89 and 91 where Plalty made the runs and Sid fed him the ball was a joy to watch. Sid was also tenacious in the tackle. The fact he got so few England caps is a disgrace. He was way above the likes of Wilkins. Yes few players leave a club come back years later and have another great spell. Great range of passing, two footed, great ball skills, tenacious in the tackle. Without a doubt Platty benefited from having Sid playing alongside him. It was all about Hoddle when Cowans was playing and Brian Robson. Other midfield players of note were Bruce Rioch - a bit like Hitzlsburger with the left foot but was better allround player, Mortimer, - another who was unfortunate not to play for England, Alex Cropley - great left foot, tenacious in the tackle., Platt the ultimate goalscoring midfield player. We've had a few others since but not quite in the same league Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutchavfc1982 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Platt has to be number for goals, Sid and Mortimer for tenacity, Des Bremner for work rate. Lee Hendrie had the makings but failed to deliver. For Villa through and through, though it has to be Ian Taylor and Sid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCU Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 In my time watching it would have to be Milner playing in the middle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Sasa curcic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Sasa curcic His was the best debut I've ever seen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Sid, Mortimer, Bremner all did great jobs....Sid would probably be my shout. However one player always sticks in my mind for his classy exhibition of a close to complete midfielder.....Alex Cropley Always remember him raising our game a level, when he arrived. Bit before my time but, Johnny DIxon must have a shout. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mart-L7 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 So many great players. Ian Taylor simply lived every villa fans dream 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulver Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 One of Sid's best ever performances was (sadly) against the Villa Away to Blackburn in the 92/93 season when we were going for the title with Man Utd. They even beamed the game back to VP on giant screens. Sid played us off the park and made our then very good midfield look like planks Lost 3-0, the rest is history 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrytini Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Sasa curcic His was the best debut I've ever seen. I had forgotten about that - you are right it looked like we had found a really great player.........oh dear !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted January 18, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted January 18, 2014 I only caught the last part of Sid really, I remember the first bit but I was too small to really appreciate what little I saw. Brian Little was a nice player too but from what I saw when I was down Villa Park a lot, even though very different type of player to Sid, David Platt. He left his lungs on the pitch EVERY game, scored some great goals (anyone remember Inter Milan, him looking like he'd taken it too wide... then...) and could dominate the middle of the park. Great vision too, both to break up the opposition play and set something up for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nazvfc Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Cowans would have been nothing without Des Bremner, our most under-rated midfield player ever, an absolute trojan, so I thought I'd make sure he got in here ! My favourite - Mortimer with those 'surges'. BUt my hero - Bruce Rioch 'born is the king of Villa Park' -remember that ? Yes mate - I remember him all too well - powerful shot on him - Those were the days ( and the chants) - Willie Willie Willie Willie Anderson... Andy Andy Lochhead Andy Lochead in the Air!. Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat McMahon Pat McMahon! Feel sorry for the younger fans - they missed some great times albeit in the lower leagues ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbr600rr Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 barry sid petrov milner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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