Marvelous Nakamba

[CVByrne]

Say what you want about Nakamba but he does 3 things for us. He has energy and gets stuck in. He's very good defensively, the stats back that up. While he's very safe with the ball. His passing accuracy % is very high because he keeps it simple. I think he needs to come back into the side. Starting against Spurs if he's fit enough

[Aston_Villan4]

8 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

Say what you want about Nakamba but he does 3 things for us. He has energy and gets stuck in. He's very good defensively, the stats back that up. While he's very safe with the ball. His passing accuracy % is very high because he keeps it simple. I think he needs to come back into the side. Starting against Spurs if he's fit enough

Is he healthy again or still rehabbing?

[Zhan_Zhuang]

I agree, Marvelous needs to be in the team.

Villa are severely lacking balance in midfield and a bit of bite which ultimately goes to helping out the defence.

We just do not have a player who can do the job there without him.

Personally for me the three in the middle should be Ramsey, Sanson and Marvelous.

Lots of energy in that three.

Edited April 3, 2022 by Zhan_Zhuang

[AVTuco]

2 hours ago, nick76 said:

I think he will be, not because he's great or anything but because it's such a big hole in our team that any average DM will make us look better.  I do like Nakamba but I'm not convinced he's the level we need.

I remember many thinking he was great before the injury, but I'm still not convinced at all. He's improved, but he used to be atrocious. 

[david-avfc]

10 minutes ago, AVTuco said:

I remember many thinking he was great before the injury, but I'm still not convinced at all. He's improved, but he used to be atrocious. 

I think many will be in for a disappointment when it turns out a guy who’s mostly sat on the bench and was only ever deemed good enough to be back up for 3 years isn’t the silver bullet we’ve been hoping for

I’ll give him credit for his performances earlier in the season, he was very good in that initial spell when Gerrard came in, but it was only for 4 or 5 games and all of the players looked better in that period. Other players including Luiz were largely unavailable in that spell too so we don’t actually know if Nakamba was actually ever considered genuine first choice by Gerrard anyway.

Edited April 3, 2022 by david-avfc

[Zatman]

8 hours ago, david-avfc said:

I think many will be in for a disappointment when it turns out a guy who’s mostly sat on the bench and was only ever deemed good enough to be back up for 3 years isn’t the silver bullet we’ve been hoping for

I’ll give him credit for his performances earlier in the season, he was very good in that initial spell when Gerrard came in, but it was only for 4 or 5 games and all of the players looked better in that period. Other players including Luiz were largely unavailable in that spell too so we don’t actually know if Nakamba was actually ever considered genuine first choice by Gerrard anyway.

He also hasnt played in this bizarre Gerrard system. Luiz is the only midfielder that can pass forward 

I can imagine Coutinho reaction when Nakamba is trying to play forward passes to him

[duke313]

19 hours ago, david-avfc said:

I think many will be in for a disappointment when it turns out a guy who’s mostly sat on the bench and was only ever deemed good enough to be back up for 3 years isn’t the silver bullet we’ve been hoping for

I’ll give him credit for his performances earlier in the season, he was very good in that initial spell when Gerrard came in, but it was only for 4 or 5 games and all of the players looked better in that period. Other players including Luiz were largely unavailable in that spell too so we don’t actually know if Nakamba was actually ever considered genuine first choice by Gerrard anyway.

I thought he turned into Claude Makelele when he was out injured?

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

[ThunderPower_14]

It's not about Nakamba being a particularly good player, it's about him having a playing style and workrate that allows his teammates to play more freely.

 

We're better off having Nakamba putting in the hard yards in front of the back 4 so the likes of Ramsey and McGinn can focus on carrying the ball forward and so the fullbacks feel more free to bomb forward.

[MaVilla]

19 minutes ago, ThunderPower_14 said:

It's not about Nakamba being a particularly good player, it's about him having a playing style and workrate that allows his teammates to play more freely.

 

We're better off having Nakamba putting in the hard yards in front of the back 4 so the likes of Ramsey and McGinn can focus on carrying the ball forward and so the fullbacks feel more free to bomb forward.

completely agree.

The reason West Ham's forward players can....play.....is they know they have Rice and Soucek behind them.

We dont need 11 Coutinho's, we need 1-2 really, really good DMs who are aggressive, powerful but can also play a little (as gerrard seems to like 1 x DM, then its 1 needed), to then allow our more creative players (like Coutinho, Ramsey, bailey, Buendia etc) to go and do their thing, without leaving huge gaping holes behind them that opposition teams can easily exploit, like they have been for......the entire time we have been in the PL (since promotion), we are soft, and have a soft underbelly.

Yes the others players have to work hard for the team, but we need that specialised, dirty, powerful, aggressive linchpin in that DM role (before anyone loses their mind - they also need to be decent on the ball - but they also need to be top notch at the defensive side).

As you say, Nakamba isnt a flash player by any stretch, but he is aggressive, works hard, defends hard, and can make the easy passes to recycle the ball and allow our forward players to play, i think there is a reason we did so well when Gerrard first came in and Nakamba was in the team.

That isnt/wasnt because Nakamba is amazing, but i think he did complement the team and he did an important role (the dirty role), we need at least one, top level player who is our Rice, Soucek, Ndidi etc etc (the next level version of Nakamba).

we also need a few other players too, but the DM role....if we dont sign one in the summer i think i will just give up.

[og1874]

1 hour ago, ThunderPower_14 said:

It's not about Nakamba being a particularly good player, it's about him having a playing style and workrate that allows his teammates to play more freely.

 

We're better off having Nakamba putting in the hard yards in front of the back 4 so the likes of Ramsey and McGinn can focus on carrying the ball forward and so the fullbacks feel more free to bomb forward.

Yup, sometimes you don't need a worldie to balance a midfield. Sometimes it's as simple as a guy who stands in the right place and can pass 10 yard ball to the right guy

[meregreen]

A stop gap at best. Hopefully we’ll see much better in the close season dealing.

[smg]

Feel sorry for him no matter how he plays in his next game he will not be able to win over some on here. He may not take us to where we want to be but while he is busting his balls to try and get us there he should be appreciated and supported. One or two stray passes and he will be pilloried anything good and it will that’s what he should be doing, he really can’t win.

[AvonVillain]

2 hours ago, ThunderPower_14 said:

It's not about Nakamba being a particularly good player,

£40,000.00 a week. Modern football eh?

[VillaParkAvenue]

2 hours ago, MaVilla said:

We dont need 11 Coutinho's, we need 1-2 really, really good DMs who are aggressive, powerful but can also play a little (as gerrard seems to like 1 x DM, then its 1 needed), to then allow our more creative players (like Coutinho, Ramsey, bailey, Buendia etc) to go and do their thing, without leaving huge gaping holes behind

Gerrard using only one dedicated DM means the two numbers 8s must help out quite a lot defensively. In his system, by defending out wide a bit like fullbacks.

Regardless of Nakamba.

[VillaParkAvenue]

51 minutes ago, smg said:

Feel sorry for him no matter how he plays in his next game he will not be able to win over some on here. He may not take us to where we want to be but while he is busting his balls to try and get us there he should be appreciated and supported. One or two stray passes and he will be pilloried anything good and it will that’s what he should be doing, he really can’t win.

I feel almost sorry for him too, mainly because he’s been described as a saviour during his time out so expectations may be ridiculous. He is limited on the ball but very solid defensively.

[Villa87]

Gerrard clearly thinks a lot of Nakamba - as do I. He will be rusty as hell so not sure he gets minutes today, but good to have him back. 

[supermon]

Wonder if he could start v Leicester, could do with him to shield the defence n let attackers do their thing

[Dodgyknees]

On 04/04/2022 at 01:20, Zatman said:

He also hasnt played in this bizarre Gerrard system. Luiz is the only midfielder that can pass forward 

I can imagine Coutinho reaction when Nakamba is trying to play forward passes to him

Were we not playing this formation when we were looking good with Nakamba playing before his injury?

[Zatman]

2 hours ago, Dodgyknees said:

Were we not playing this formation when we were looking good with Nakamba playing before his injury?

Not really, we didnt push the full backs crazy forward in Gerrard early days 

Makelele on his greatest day couldn't clean up the defensive mess from Gerrard system