Team of the 00's - Central defence

[LJRM050389]

I remember the uproar when DOL in his first ever game dropped Olof Mellberg at Pompey away! I was on holiday at Butlins at the time and there was loads of Villa fans there, the anger was so strong it was untrue. Was Mellberg ever left out other than that game in his career? I think that in itself says alot.

[Zatman]

With all his supporters on here i expect Cahill to be close even if he played less than 30 games for us.

For me Laursen and Mellberg should be the 2.

Where is Vaclav Drobny in the vote

[Beeefy14]

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

Alpay was a great player for us shame what happened in the end

[NowDoINotLikeThat]

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

This is pretty much why i voted for him.

He has been rtightly or wrongly our centreback of THIS decade - easily just for sheer number of games played and ammount of years he was here for . And he played in some frankly fairly dark times.

Southgate left as long back as 2001 so his time here for this decade is but a blink of an eye . Laursen tho great and can argue was better than Melberg still didnt play that many actual games .

[kurtsimonw]

Laursen just edges out Olly and Southgate for me. Southgate played a season or 2 this decade I think? Mellberg was good, but not of the Laursen standard for me. Laursen it is.

[legov]

Surely Curtis is better than Ridgewell?!

[PB]

Needs two polls I think becasue people are already voting, not for their favourite, but for their second choice, which spoils the result

personally I'd scrap it and start again, but I'm a bit of a pedant like that ;-)

[fran_villa]

i voted Laurson,but i think Alpay was one mad bastard pure hard as nails defender,they dont make them like him anymore it was a pitty the way things ended up for him at Villa..

[fran_villa]

oh,and i think Olof was a great servent to Villa,but i dont think he was a great defender..

[Mozzavfc]

Long live King Melberg

[Nigel]

Since you can only vote once then Laursen has to get the vote.

2) Southgate

3rd) Melberg

4th) Ugo

[Hanky]

I went for Mellberg because Laursen will run away with it. Mellberg in his prime was an excellent centre half.

[briny_ear]

I guess Laursen will win because he lives in recent memory but it has to be Southgate in terms of all round ability. We haven't ever really recovered from his departure if you ask me.

[Razor]

Laursen

[NulliSecundus]

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.

This. Was a quality defender.

[Jon]

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

agreed Voted for Southers.

Laursen would be my 2nd pick

[TrentVilla]

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

agreed Voted for Southers.

Laursen would be my 2nd pick

Totally agree and said much the same earlier in the thread.

Southgate comes second only to McGrath in the list of defenders I've seen in our colours, superb player.

[Jon]

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

agreed Voted for Southers.

Laursen would be my 2nd pick

Totally agree and said much the same earlier in the thread.

Southgate comes second only to McGrath in the list of defenders I've seen in our colours, superb player.

yep.

I think the fact that it looks like he isn't going to make it into the first 11 in our team is a sad indictment on us fans.

[PB]

Southgate is certainly the best player on that list

however, this is team of the 00s not team of the 90s and the period 2000-2001 is one that I'm perfectly sure even Gareth himself would accept was a bit crap. his transfer request in the summer of 2000 in the face of evident tapping up from Chelsea followed by a season in which, it is true, he played professionally, but was ultimately a season that ended with him joining Boro for "ambition"

So while I would gladly vote for Gareth as a partner for McGrath in team of the 90s, I cant vote for him in team of 00s

Mellberg. Hmm. I think he had two great seasons - the first one partnering Alpay and oddly (and perhaps controversially) the last one where he played right back. In between I think he was a bright spot in a dreadfully poor team but I'm not sure his overall contribution is worthy of such a selection

Alpay. Superb defender for me, perfectly suited to this League, if he could have managed his temperament better he'd have been huge, and yet his last season or two here he wasnt good enough

So I think Laursen wins by default. he would have got nowhere near the team of the 90s or the team of the 80s, which shows what a difficult decade this has been for us. I would partner him with Alpay

[PompeyVillan]

Laursen/Mellberg.