Birkir Bjarnason

[VillaJ100]

Great header tbf. 

[brummybloke]

22 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Thor isn't good enough, he proved that last season.

If you can't play consistently well in Championship you have no chance in Premier League.

Jota is fked then

[AVTuco]

14 hours ago, Kiwivillan said:

Yes absolutely. I don't have a problem with him as a bench utility player. There's all this FB chatter about people loving him and he deserves a crack at the DM role. Madness

I agree. And yet, rather him than Landsbury.

[Jonsi77]

On ‎18‎/‎07‎/‎2019 at 11:41, Kiwivillan said:

I watched the game. Are you Icelandic or his agent? He's so limited and would get badly exposed in the PL rather than that joke kick around against a MLS team that were going through the motions

Bjarnason has been playing for Icelandic team since 2010. In many of this game he has been one of the best player on the pitch. Euro final 2016 he scored in 1-1 versus Portugal and 1 goal versus France in the same tournement. In this tournement he was playing in the midfield position vs highest quality player in this sport and was always very good. Played in final of world cup 2018 where he took Lionel Messi and bossed him in 1-1 draw in Iceland vs Argentina. Iceland came to both of this tournement automaticly and did send Croatia to playoff for world cup 2018 where they came second in World cup final.

He has been regularly playing vs highest quality midfielders in national team football for example France, where he played and scored in november 2018 in 2-2 draw in Paris. Hes last national game was in june 2019 vs Turkey in euro qulifq 2-1 win for Iceland. Voted MOM in that game. Turkey won France 3 days earlier.

All the superstar midfielders he has play against, and he has been able to do well, and in many cases better than these players.

These kind of players are playing in Premier League,Serie a, Laliga, Bundesliga not Championship. Huge different between bulldog league and highest quality leagues. In that kind of league you will need to have player who has prove themeself against the best like Bjarnason as i have been saying here above.

People here have been saying that he always playes well for Iceland, why is that? Thats because he is in many cases playing in highest quality football with national team, not bulldog football in Championship. To judge him only by hes performance in bulldog football is for me lack of judgement considering hes international exp.

If you look at current Villasquad (apart from african players) there are not a single player who has prove themeself, score against or even play against this highest quality midfielders in the world in biggest final tournements.

Talking about selling this guy from newly promoted unexperienced team is one hell of a joke for me.

Huge asset for this squad considering his experience.

 

Ps im not his agent – this is just my opinion

[Vive_La_Villa]

3 minutes ago, Jonsi77 said:

Ps im not his agent – this is just my opinion

[Zhan_Zhuang]

Bulldog football? 

[Jonsi77]

3 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I have been

 

2 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

Bulldog football? 

ya 70% power and 30% teqhniqe = not close to highest international football which is 70%tecnique (postion on pitch , passing and shooting) and 30% power (speaks for itself) similar as premier league

[Zatman]

This thread is weird

[mjmooney]

His problem is that which all 'utility' players are prone to - he never gets a chance to make one role all his own, and never gets an extended run in the team. He's been in and out of the Villa side (more often than not as a sub) as attacking midfielder, defensive midfielder, winger and fullback. A jack of all trades - but (probably through no fault of his own) master of none. With the way the squad build is currently going, I can't see that changing any time soon. I like him, but for the sake of nhis own career I think he'd be better off moving to a another club who'll find a settled role for him. 

[Chindie]

I like Thor and it's obvious that he is a player that will always run and work for every minute he's on the pitch, and he's one of those ultimate utility players that can fit in more or less any position in a pinch.

But it's also clear he's not that good. He has ability, but for whatever reason is never quite enough consistently. He's not good enough to be playing more than a handful of Prem games. He struggled in the Championship, in the Prem he's looking at the standard being turned up a notch and all the features you expect of Championship football. You couldn't expect him to be making a lot of appearances and us to have a good season.

But equally I don't think I'd be seeking to sell him unless he was unsettled or a decent offer was made. There's players ahead of him I'd actively look to move on, like Lansbury. He's a good option to have around in case of injury crisis or need to rotate for cup games etc, just for his ability to slot in everywhere.

We can't be relying on him though and if he's making double figure appearances this year something's gone wrong.

[sharkyvilla]

2 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

His problem is that which all 'utility' players are prone to - he never gets a chance to make one role all his own, and never gets an extended run in the team. He's been in and out of the Villa side (more often than not as a sub) as attacking midfielder, defensive midfielder, winger and fullback. A jack of all trades - but (probably through no fault of his own) master of none. With the way the squad build is currently going, I can't see that changing any time soon. I like him, but for the sake of nhis own career I think he'd be better off moving to a another club who'll find a settled role for him. 

I was going to say the same thing.  It looks like we are getting Trezeguet and Douglas plus possibly Nakamba, at which point our midfield options will be complete and Dean will surely let him go.  I'm sure Birkir will find somewhere quite quickly.

[Jonsi77]

2 minutes ago, Chindie said:

I like Thor and it's obvious that he is a player that will always run and work for every minute he's on the pitch, and he's one of those ultimate utility players that can fit in more or less any position in a pinch.

But it's also clear he's not that good. He has ability, but for whatever reason is never quite enough consistently. He's not good enough to be playing more than a handful of Prem games. He struggled in the Championship, in the Prem he's looking at the standard being turned up a notch and all the features you expect of Championship football. You couldn't expect him to be making a lot of appearances and us to have a good season.

But equally I don't think I'd be seeking to sell him unless he was unsettled or a decent offer was made. There's players ahead of him I'd actively look to move on, like Lansbury. He's a good option to have around in case of injury crisis or need to rotate for cup games etc, just for his ability to slot in everywhere.

We can't be relying on him though and if he's making double figure appearances this year something's gone wrong.

Ok, you are estimating him only by hes performance in Championship, have you see him play for national team? And do you think highest international football are closer in quality to premier league than championship?

[Jas10]

11 hours ago, abdulaziz1 said:

Not really. Jack, McGinn, Hourihane, Lansbury and Tshibola. Those are the only ones we have apart from him. So at the moment he's the first or second sub from the midfield. That all when we aren't saying that Jack and Lansbury are AM, the others apart from Tshibola aren't really a DM. We all know wether we'll start Thor or Tshibola.

That's just to speak about the current CM depth. We had it last season with Whelan and Jedinak actually but not anymore. Anyway, I'd prefer us to get Luiz and let's say Soler rather than getting a backup for Luiz and someone less quality than Soler. I'd be happy to keep Thor as a backup to Luiz (with Hourihane being instead of Thor for the easier games).

Doesn’t look like Tshibola was with the squad in the US so i assume we are looking to offload or keep him the reserves? Was wondering whether Deano would try and reintegrate him but it doesn’t seem to be the case so that’s one less option in MF. The squad does seem light overall...

[Vive_La_Villa]

1 minute ago, Jonsi77 said:

Ok, you are estimating him only by hes performance in Championship, have you see him play for national team? And do you think highest international football are closer in quality to premier league than championship?

Surely if a players strengths are his fitness and graft then it it’s the Championship where he would thrive? 

Ive seen him in International football and I admit he does the donkey work well. He is like the water carrier as someone once described the role. 

But I don’t get how the Championship being ‘’bulldog’ football as you describe affects his ability to control and pass a ball?  Am I missing something?

[Jonsi77]

1 minute ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Surely if a players strengths are his fitness and graft then it it’s the Championship where he would thrive? 

Ive seen him in International football and I admit he does the donkey work well. He is like the water carrier as someone once described the role. 

But I don’t get how the Championship being ‘’bulldog’ football as you describe affects his ability to control and pass a ball?  Am I missing something?

 do you think there is a diffrence between PL and Championship? do you think international football is closer to Premier league than championship?

[Vive_La_Villa]

1 minute ago, Jonsi77 said:

 do you think there is a diffrence between PL and Championship? do you think international football is closer to Premier league than championship?

Yes to first question. 

No to second question.  Most international teams are crap. 

[Jonsi77]

Just now, Jonsi77 said:

 do you think there is a diffrence between PL and Championship? do you think international football is closer to Premier league than championship?

and for me and many others who have see him play through the years he main strength is how he position himself and ofcourse in good fitness

 

[Jonsi77]

1 minute ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Yes to first question. 

No to second question.  Most international teams are crap. 

Alright

[Chindie]

4 minutes ago, Jonsi77 said:

Ok, you are estimating him only by hes performance in Championship, have you see him play for national team? And do you think highest international football are closer in quality to premier league than championship?

I've seen Iceland play yes. They punch heavily above their weight currently, much to their (your?) credit. They have a very well drilled and trained system that allows them maximise the ability they have, and has meant Bjarnasson can shine. It's great and I hope there's continued success for them.

Villa aren't going to do that though, not for the Thor's benefit. There's better players than Birkir in the squad and the team is going to be trained around them and their abilities together with the coaching staffs' desires for playing style etc. 

Not that it really matters but international football and club football are different. Club football, certainly at the top level, is probably a higher overall standard as teams can cherry pick the best talent around and basically create all star international teams, whereas the international teams are hamstrung. Which means that comparisons to the standard of each and fairly moot.

Again I don't dislike Bjarnasson at all, I just don't think he's one of our star players and he's definitely making up the squad numbers. He'd be in the lower levels of a ranking of our squad as it stands and if we bring ina few more new faces in midfield he'd probably be looking at needing to leave to get a game. As it stands I'd keep him and expect him to make some sun appearances, play in cups and make rare Prem starts down to injuries and suspensions. That's his level for us. If he did move I'd expect him to have a lot of suitors, and that's to his credit.

[Vive_La_Villa]

2 minutes ago, Jonsi77 said:

Alright

They are though. After the top 10 teams the standard drops massively. You can never compare international football to Premier League football.