Martin, Cuellar is Not a Right Back

[Harry]

I agree wholeheartedly with the OP.

Cuellar is, IMO, our best CB. Showed it at the start of the season before the signings alongside CD and then again when Collins was injured.

He is not, and never will be, anything more than a fill in RB and considering MON has Luke Young, the best English RB, on the bench and Habib Beye (on £40k p.w.) who are both MON signings it is ridiculous that Carlos has played most of the season out there.

This stubbornness from MON is only matched by his continual desire to play Emile Heskey as a third CM'er. Heskey is a big target man who, with his physical presence, can manipulate CB's and create space for other attackers and provide lay offs in and around the box. MON has him playing as a link man often in midfield territory. There are a number of problems with this:

- at his age and weight he is never going to be able to get up and support Gabby

- he is not the most technically gifted footballer and cannot receive, create space and distribute like Delph can!

I am personally really fed up with MON's insistence at playing players out of position and it has been our downfall this season, along with his inability to recognise players tiring and make appropriate substitutions.

I'm not quite sure I agree that he is our best CB but as regards everything else BB has said I totally agree.

[Jez]

How many goals have we ever scored off Luke Young crosses?

How many goals how we scored from Cuallar crosses, baring in mind who has played the most games?

[barry'sboots]

I can't imagine why people get so furious with this, I really can't.

becuase "the majority" of us believe we have a better right back sitting on the bench week in, week out, without the chance of getting a game, for no discernable reason.

Spot on. He should have bought Luke Young when he first moved to Boro and we were playing Olof out there. That cost Randy £3-4m and the chance to see a Melberg Laursen CB pairing!

He should certainly be playing him now.

And Beye must wonder what he has done. As must Randy - we have a third choice RB who hasn't played since I don't know on £40k p.w. whilst MON continues with a CB out there.

It is not Carlos' defending that is the problem, it is not even necessarily the loss of Luke's crosses to set up goals, it is the lack of balance in the team, the lack of threat to the opposition - they will funnel the ball over to Carlos at RB as they know his distribution is poor from there and they do not have to track his runs in the same way that they would with Luke thus it does not create space for the RW.

[evel]

The key player @ CB for me is Dunne, Collins/Cuellar/Davies all have looked good when playing alongside him, and half the player when they have to play together.

@ RB I feel MON decided to put 3 in form players (even if they were all CB’s) in when L young lost his brother, I could see the reasoning which was given when we played Blackburn and they were so physical CC and his extra height were useful at set pieces, he then stayed in and we went on a run with the best defensive form in the league.

I get the impression the Chelsea result almost gave MON the chance to say ‘see what happens when I leave out Cuellar?’ but it ignores the fact we were beaten through the middle of the park by Chelsea using small quick players making Dunne and Collins look silly, I seem to remember Robhinho and Ireland having similar success last season (or the one before?) against us, but I think this is always gonna be the case as MON likes big physical CB’s, and RB’s by the look of it…

[briny_ear]

I can't imagine why people get so furious with this, I really can't.

becuase "the majority" of us believe we have a better right back sitting on the bench week in, week out, without the chance of getting a game, for no discernable reason.

Spot on. He should have bought Luke Young when he first moved to Boro and we were playing Olof out there. That cost Randy £3-4m and the chance to see a Melberg Laursen CB pairing!

He should certainly be playing him now.

And Beye must wonder what he has done. As must Randy - we have a third choice RB who hasn't played since I don't know on £40k p.w. whilst MON continues with a CB out there.

It is not Carlos' defending that is the problem, it is not even necessarily the loss of Luke's crosses to set up goals, it is the lack of balance in the team, the lack of threat to the opposition - they will funnel the ball over to Carlos at RB as they know his distribution is poor from there and they do not have to track his runs in the same way that they would with Luke thus it does not create space for the RW.

C'mon, own up!

It's really because it's seen as another chance by some to beat MON around the head for another perceived "failure"/"stubbornness", etc.

If he was playing Young or Beye instead of Cuellar, we would then have a CB on £40k a week who wasn't playing regularly, so it would make no difference to randy Lerner whatsoever.

The serious point here is that MON clearly believes the first job of a defence is to defend, and selects players who are strong at doing that over and above fancy runs up the wing, etc. (for which he probably thinks he's got A. Young and Downing)

[PB]

I think that the effects on him of Luke Young's brother passing shouldnt be underestimated. Losing a sibling is in many ways the very worst kind of grief. I doubt he is anywhere near over it mentally if they were any way close, and I understand that they were really very close.

Playing sport at the top level requires you to be 100% every week. I dont think Luke has been this season, for understandable reasons. its possible he never will be again.

I'd suggest playing Habib Beye, but he's really a centre back too, as his shocking positioning in the early games of this season showed. bit of a strange buy that one.

So while Carlos Cuellar isnt exactly the best right back in the world, he would appear to be the best we have just now

[PB]

The serious point here is that MON clearly believes the first job of a defence is to defend, and selects players who are strong at doing that over and above fancy runs up the wing, etc. (for which he probably thinks he's got A. Young and Downing)

I think that the top teams pick full backs who can attack rather than defend (Rafael, Cole, Bosingwa, Clichy etc). Warnock would be great at it if he was given proper licence.

But he isnt

[JMilnereatsnails]

You do realise that the purchase of Milner is being financed with the payment of wages to Baye, don'y you?

[barry'sboots]

I can't imagine why people get so furious with this, I really can't.

becuase "the majority" of us believe we have a better right back sitting on the bench week in, week out, without the chance of getting a game, for no discernable reason.

Spot on. He should have bought Luke Young when he first moved to Boro and we were playing Olof out there. That cost Randy £3-4m and the chance to see a Melberg Laursen CB pairing!

He should certainly be playing him now.

And Beye must wonder what he has done. As must Randy - we have a third choice RB who hasn't played since I don't know on £40k p.w. whilst MON continues with a CB out there.

It is not Carlos' defending that is the problem, it is not even necessarily the loss of Luke's crosses to set up goals, it is the lack of balance in the team, the lack of threat to the opposition - they will funnel the ball over to Carlos at RB as they know his distribution is poor from there and they do not have to track his runs in the same way that they would with Luke thus it does not create space for the RW.

C'mon, own up!

It's really because it's seen as another chance by some to beat MON around the head for another perceived "failure"/"stubbornness", etc.

If he was playing Young or Beye instead of Cuellar, we would then have a CB on £40k a week who wasn't playing regularly, so it would make no difference to randy Lerner whatsoever.

The serious point here is that MON clearly believes the first job of a defence is to defend, and selects players who are strong at doing that over and above fancy runs up the wing, etc. (for which he probably thinks he's got A. Young and Downing)

I can assure you that I am not the sort of individual that takes pleasure in "beating someone around the head". I was really excited by MON's arrival and think he has done some very good things BUT I think he has made some fundamental errors - playing people out of position, not utilising his squad (for games and subs) and sticking rigidly to a 4-4-2. I haven't been as frustrated at Villa games for any season during my last 15 or so as a ST holder than I have been this year, and that is not down to potentially missing out on 4th spot but due to the turgid performances driven by MON's inflexibility.

I think it is a real mistake to be playing Cuellar out at right back when we have someone as good, IMO, sa Luke Young, available to play right back. To me the team would have much better balance with a RB at RB and without Heskey playing in CM. I can accept that there may be times when injuries, or even the occasional tactical decision although I think these are few and far between, dictate that players get played out of position but not for the length of time that CC has played out there.

Sorry to disagree with your views but this is how I feel.

[Chindie]

As most know I think Cuellar has been fine at RB. He's not as good going forward in the traditional sense, but he has other atributes that we've benefitted from imo, particularly with attacking and defending set pieces. He also comes across into CB very well, which has lead to a few vital interceptions and tackles from him this year.

As for TSV's question above, IIRC we've had, in his entire Villa career, 2 assists from Luke Young. Cuellar's provided 3 this season IIRC. We've had this debate before however and AVFC-POB would be foaming at the mouth at this argument for effectiveness.

As for Cuellars ability going forward, he's gotten markedly better recently imo. He's seemed a helluva lot more confident on the ball and while a lot of his crossing is crap, he often will play the ball to feet from those kind of positions and we've had some joy from those with Gabby and Carew latching onto them, no-one else in the side does it from a crossing position, they either pump it in to someone's imaginary head (theres never anyone on them seemingly) or run to the by-line and spank it across the box.

[AstonMartin82]

Cuellar was an awful centre back last season and has hardly played there this season .

So just when has he been this excellent CB for us ?

I think the longer he plays right back and is poor it's clouding some peoples memories of his performances as a CB where he really is just as clumsy only in an even more dangerous area ?

Or does he turn from clumsy oaf right back into Franz Beckenbauer when switched to Centre Back ?

I don't thinks so some how , think about it lads !

You havent watched much of Villa this season then. Cuellar was possibly our best player at the beginning of the season when he was playing center back. So good there were a number of rumours going round that Real Madrid were interested in signing him. Playing him at RB has made him look stupid and the team less effective. I agree fully with the opening poster.