penguin Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 Saw him today for the first time after hearing he was poor at Stoke. He was poor again. Eh? Didn't he get man of the match? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted August 23, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted August 23, 2014 (edited) Yeah the Guardian gave him MOTM at stoke. And I trust their football coverage most of the time. Edited August 23, 2014 by Stevo985 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomaspg Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 Maybe not MOTM for me, but he certainly performed above alot of our other players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 Thought he was poor but he is being played in a few positions that aren't naturally his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beasley14 Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 Fairly poor today but still better than the options we had available last year. We'd have lost this game last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCRAMTIN Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 He played well today, what I liked about him was his coolness and not the typical Villa way of sorting our problems (which is getting rid of the ball as soon as we get it). He got control on the ball, looked up and often found a pass instead of hoofing it up! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 OK but some loose balls today. ( ) He didn't lose it in real danger areas, but he did waste a couple of openings going forwards with lazy passes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 He shouldn't be played as a No. 10 for home games, that's for sure. He was effective ar Stoke though, played the high-press well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSV Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 I dont think he is good enough at CM. Use him as a wide forward instead of Gabby or a left winger/left back. Not in the centre of the park.. he created nothing.. and is not big enough. He made a few decent tackles but there are others who do it better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poitier Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 I'm surprised he is being played in the middle, expected him to be used as a wide player. He has done quite well so far though, very industrious but not really shown that much quality yet. Better to come, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob182 Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 I'm in the 'he did well' camp. He didn't do anything outstanding, but you can rely on him 70% of the time to make the right pass. He's a standard & fairly reliable Premier League player, which is something we need right now. I was surprised to see him crunching into a few tackles too! We normally only see that by Baker, followed by a yellow card. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCRAMTIN Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 The tackle on Cabella at our corner was priceless! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc1982 Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 Thought he was rubbish yesterday. He ain't a bad player actually but let's not fool ourselves - he's only at the Villa because he's dirt cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanBalaban Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 Was solid yesterday and I'm glad we're got some experience on the field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanBalaban Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 Thought he was rubbish yesterday. He ain't a bad player actually but let's not fool ourselves - he's only at the Villa because he's dirt cheap. He was hardly rubbish. Maybe not an eyecatching performance, but linked up with the midfield just fine and put in some crunching tackles. Needs to improve the link between midfield and attack better, but that's probably as much down to Gabby and Andi as anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc1982 Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 Thought he was rubbish yesterday. He ain't a bad player actually but let's not fool ourselves - he's only at the Villa because he's dirt cheap. He was hardly rubbish. Maybe not an eyecatching performance, but linked up with the midfield just fine and put in some crunching tackles. Needs to improve the link between midfield and attack better, but that's probably as much down to Gabby and Andi as anything else. Pointless playing balls to the front two with their backs to goal. Its the midfield that's the problem. Absolutely zero creativity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanBalaban Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 Thought he was rubbish yesterday. He ain't a bad player actually but let's not fool ourselves - he's only at the Villa because he's dirt cheap. He was hardly rubbish. Maybe not an eyecatching performance, but linked up with the midfield just fine and put in some crunching tackles. Needs to improve the link between midfield and attack better, but that's probably as much down to Gabby and Andi as anything else. Pointless playing balls to the front two with their backs to goal. Its the midfield that's the problem. Absolutely zero creativity. So what do they do? Hold on to the ball until the forward players develop a first touch, or brain? Was it just Richardson that was "rubbish" or the entire midfield? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCRAMTIN Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 Our players upfront are the problem. We do lack creativity but when for example Delph took the initiative and bursted to the offensive half Gabby stood there watching no one really cared and it felt like they were expecting Delph to do the job on his own. No support at all. He had to wait until Cissocko or Hutton showed up. Another problem upfront yesterday was seeing our players acting like muppets when there was a loose ball. They just stood there watching instead of attacking the ball.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc1982 Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 Thought he was rubbish yesterday. He ain't a bad player actually but let's not fool ourselves - he's only at the Villa because he's dirt cheap. He was hardly rubbish. Maybe not an eyecatching performance, but linked up with the midfield just fine and put in some crunching tackles. Needs to improve the link between midfield and attack better, but that's probably as much down to Gabby and Andi as anything else. Pointless playing balls to the front two with their backs to goal. Its the midfield that's the problem. Absolutely zero creativity. So what do they do? Hold on to the ball until the forward players develop a first touch, or brain? Was it just Richardson that was "rubbish" or the entire midfield? I'd say they were all rubbish (though Sanchez looked a cut above when he came on). Unlike some though I'm not getting carried away with not losing yet another home game. Not a single attempt on target yesterday. That just isn't good enough. 4 points on board though - that's the saving grace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanBalaban Posted August 24, 2014 Share Posted August 24, 2014 4 points on board though - that's the saving grace. For me, that's the entire point at this stage of the campaign. Everyone is trying to learn the strengths and weaknesses of their own team and the opposition. As for the midfield all being rubbish, I thought Delph was my MOTM. Westwood showed some fantastic composure and a brilliant first touch. We needed more creativity for sure, but we we carved out some good opportunities yesterday only for Andi to try and take a ridiculous shot instead of passing to a man in a better position. That we can work on with formation and personnel changes, but the solidity, and the 4 points, are far more important IMO. We were leaking goals last season so the confidence of clean sheets against teams like Newcastle and Stoke - both tipped to finish higher than us - is invaluable. I would rather be tight at the back and toothless upfront with an almost full compliment of defenders, knowing that better attackers are yet to feature. We still have Zoggy to get fully match fit, Cole to link midfield and attack, Grealish to feature along with Big Libor and Benteke. Until then, I'll take the points above anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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