Team of the 00's - Central defence

[colleh]

Only 3 months until the end of the year.

Time to pick a best of the 00's Villa XI...

I've come up with a list of whom I believe to be the main candidates.

(The person you pick should ideally be somebody who excelled post 2000, rather than excelled previously and crossed over into post 2000) Worth noting that Ehiogu was with us for 10 months after 2000 and Southgate was with us for 18 months...

So who was our central defender from 2000 to now??

TWO CENTRAL DEFENDERS WITH THE MOST VOTES MAKE THE TEAM

Seems to be the best way to do it without it getting really complicated. If anybody has better suggestions then I will do it....

Poll open for 7 days...

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

Laursen.....although what i'd do to make a better vote is.

Have this running for 24 hours, then making another poll but just remove the person with the most votes, therefore everyone then picks a 2nd CB!

[colleh]

Laursen.....although what i'd do to make a better vote is.

Have this running for 24 hours, then making another poll but just remove the person with the most votes, therefore everyone then picks a 2nd CB!

If somebody runs away with this poll and it's close for 2nd, then I might have a 24 hour run off between the two that were close for 2nd.

[Tubby]

Martin Laursen though Southgate, Ugo and Olof all had a shout so its a tough one.

[AndyClarke]

Gone with Southgate on the basis that most will vote Laursen. Very close between Southgate and Olly but the idea of Laursen/Southgate CB partnership would be great.

[The_Rev]

Southgate was the best player. Southgate and Laursen would be the best pair. Id give Southgate the captains armband too.

I genuinely feel sad that Olof is in third place here. A legend and a better servant to the club that either Southgate (the way he left) or Laursen (always injured) but if the team is assuming peak form and fitness from everybody in it then he has to miss out.

[Turamber]

Voted for Alpay on the basis that everyone and his dog will vote for Laursen. So stupid cancelling his contract because of that silly spat with Beckham. Doug at his finest.

[theboyangel]

I voted Laursen as he has been the best but Mellberg has been my favourite CB at Villa for a long time.

He was just great, loved the fans and even hated the scum with a passion!

[TrentVilla]

I voted Southgate, he as the best defender I have seen in our colours with the one obvious exception McGrath. I loved Laursen like everyone else but in my personal opinion Southgate was the better player.

[Junxs]

I voted for Luarsen, but would vote for Mellberg to partner him.

The poll should have just asked who would you like to see alongside Laursen as its pretty obvious he's gonna win this by a mile.

[tonyh29]

to me it's all about partnerships and nothing comes close to the Alpay \ Mellberg one that we had

I went for Alpay in the end but really i should have voted for Mellberg

Laursen under DOL was like a giraffe on ice and I wasn't impressed .. his time under MON he got to show his class but despite this I don't think he was as good for Villa at CB as Southgate

[tonyh29]

No Dion Dublin or Colin Calderwood ??

[BigCarew]

Laursen for me, and then i would have big Olly. Both legends and Olly was a great servant, i wished he'd never of left.

[Grant(aka_eddy)]

I went for Olly on the presumption Laursen would win.

Those two were great players for us and a fantastic partnership the few times they played together.

[Junxs]

If we had a right back at the club then Laursen and Mellberg would have played togther in the middle, and could possibly have been the leagues best pairing.

[NowDoINotLikeThat]

Seeing as Southgate left as early as 2001 i'll vote for someone else .

Melberg.

Laursen was great but so short lived if you think about the actual number of games he played.

[colleh]

Personally I voted for Mellberg, because I think we would have got relegated if he wasn't around.

[DamsonwoodVillan]

Not much between Laursen and Southgate but I went with the Great Dane only because I think Southgate played with a lot of decent players around him for much of his time at Villa. I genuinely believe Laursen made the difference in some fairly average defensive line ups MON sent out in his first 2 seasons in charge. Here's hoping Dunne can pick up where ML left off back in winter!

[paulanddonya]

I've gotta say - I am well surprised when the poll came up.

I do not doubt that Martin was the classiest and probably best actually defender we have had since God , but he played less than 100 games for us.

To me, King Olaf gave 100% everything to the club over , what was it - about 7 yrs , could have easily left a sinking ship for a Euro great beforehand (think about it - Juve wanted him at 31 - just imagine who would have had him at 27 if they had the chance) and will forever be a hero to me.

You also have hs hatred to everything Small Heath, the shirt thing,his beard and he was the perfect Villain.

I expected it to be close between King Olaf and Martin the Lionheart - but I didn't expect 15%

Olaf for me

[Salsa Party Animal]

I think Southgate and Laursen is probably best partnership we could have. Even I love Mellberg.