Better Long Term Holding Midfielder Option- Petrov or NRC?

[Big_John_10]

Petrov has played champions league football and international football, two things NRC will never do.

Petrov is captain and regular first team player for a team challenging for 4th place and playing in Europe, something else NRC will never do.

[Pilchard]

i'd be very surprised if he ever plays for a club better than us.

There is no such thing.

I'd have thought Delph is, if he manages to get through his rehabilitation.

I just hope it's not Isiah Osbourne.

[Edinburgh-Villa]

NRC is not good enough.

Petrov looks a bit "trimmer" from the couple photo's I saw of the new kit launch so hopefully that's a sign of improved stamina, which is the only thing I think he can be criticised for.

[OutByEaster?]

Reo Coker is capable of being an excellent holding midfielder. He's got the pace, energy and desire to get around the pitch and break things up, and his simple passing is actually pretty good. He needs to learn the disciplines of the role and live with its limitations, his problems come when he adds extravagancies to his game which a holding midfielder doesn't need.

Whether he can develop that or whether he'd sooner be a different sort of player is up to him, I suspect he'll never be the very good defensive midfielder he could be because it's not what he wants to be.

There's no chance of him being the long term solution for us as he's most likely off on a bosman at the end of the season. The press claim that Bolton and Blackburn have been interested but neither want to pay the £4m we're after - they might not have to and we'll need to weigh up his value to us given that he's unlikely to stay. I wouldn't be surprised to see him leave for £2m this summer rather than nothing next summer.

[TrentVilla]

The problem is and I think this is the heart of the matter with all NRC's issues at Villa what he see's himself as and what the manager see's him as are two very very different things. That has been the heart of the problems since we signed him and will never be resolved.

O'Neill saw NRC as a potentially brilliant holding midfielder talked him up in the role, played him in the role and talked about his potential to play for England in that position. When he first arrived there were loads of articles from O'Neill talking about him in this role and about how it was best matched to his capabilities to his strengths and he tried to convert him, it failed.

NRC see's and has always seen himself as a box to box midfielder able to join in the play up front as much as he stops it at the other end. This is the role he played for Wimbledon for West Ham and for England Under 21's and I think he expected to play that role here its not happened.

We've all seen his limitations with the ball at his feet and seen his strengths in other aspects of his game, no need for me to repeat them.

At Villa we simply have players more capable than NRC in the opposition half of the pitch but he hasn't accepted that and hasn't seen the role in the team the manager wanted him to take or more to the point wasn't willing to play it. Had he done so I think he would have been Villa skipper by now, an outstanding holding midfielder and would have been in South Africa.

The blame lies with NRC for being unwilling to change his game for his own good and that of the team and with the manager for perhaps not being clear with the player what he wanted from him prior to signing him. Had he been I think its unlikely NRC would have signed for us such is the strength of his character and seemingly self belief.

Its a crying shame he could and should have been brilliant for us and a Holte hero instead he will probably go down as O'Neill's worst signing for the club.

[Maradona10]

Absolutely spot on Trent, i remember a game where he was awesome in breaking up play and think MON commented in saying he is our Makelele, only for him to come out and say he is a box to box midfielder.

[barry'sboots]

Petrov has played champions league football and international football, two things NRC will never do.

I think you've misread the title. The question is not who is the best player at their peak. Celtic are my second team, due to having a Glaswegian father, and I know how good Stan was as midfielder (although not a holding midfielder) in his time at Parkhead. We have never, unfortunately, seen that player at VP as he seemed to lose a lot of energy in his last season at Celtic. Believe me I wish we had got the player that he was but we haven't and, I suspect, he will never be that player again.

Petrov is captain and regular first team player for a team challenging for 4th place and playing in Europe, something else NRC will never do.

Again, we know that this is MON's selection but this thread is about the debate as to which one is better suited to that role over the next couple of seasons?

I think the right solution is a mix as AVFC PoB alluded to earlier. If we are playing 4-4-2 against the poorer sides then Nigel's energy and drive is my preferred solution - compare the Bolton game with West Ham, Wigan, Stoke, Wolves, Blackburn etc at home last year. If we are playing better sides with a 4-4-2 Petrov's calmness and ball retention probably wins out, although, especially against sides with three in CM, he needs to either be subbed or supplemented (4-3-3) later on as he tires and we get overrun/pushed back. I am sure that this would work well and would give Stan more time to rest up between appearances and he would be fitter against the better sides.

[barry'sboots]

The problem is and I think this is the heart of the matter with all NRC's issues at Villa what he see's himself as and what the manager see's him as are two very very different things. That has been the heart of the problems since we signed him and will never be resolved.

O'Neill saw NRC as a potentially brilliant holding midfielder talked him up in the role, played him in the role and talked about his potential to play for England in that position. When he first arrived there were loads of articles from O'Neill talking about him in this role and about how it was best matched to his capabilities to his strengths and he tried to convert him, it failed.

NRC see's and has always seen himself as a box to box midfielder able to join in the play up front as much as he stops it at the other end. This is the role he played for Wimbledon for West Ham and for England Under 21's and I think he expected to play that role here its not happened.

We've all seen his limitations with the ball at his feet and seen his strengths in other aspects of his game, no need for me to repeat them.

At Villa we simply have players more capable than NRC in the opposition half of the pitch but he hasn't accepted that and hasn't seen the role in the team the manager wanted him to take or more to the point wasn't willing to play it. Had he done so I think he would have been Villa skipper by now, an outstanding holding midfielder and would have been in South Africa.

The blame lies with NRC for being unwilling to change his game for his own good and that of the team and with the manager for perhaps not being clear with the player what he wanted from him prior to signing him. Had he been I think its unlikely NRC would have signed for us such is the strength of his character and seemingly self belief.

Its a crying shame he could and should have been brilliant for us and a Holte hero instead he will probably go down as O'Neill's worst signing for the club.

Trent, I can see where you are coming from but I think you have failed to deal with the fact that every time Nigel played last season we looked a better team? Two Liverpool performances where he was arguably MOTM, turned us around in the Peace Cup following Stan's injury, was very good (and very disciplined in his only holding role in a 4-4-2) against Bolton plus a few other games i.e. Spurs (draw), Fulham (home win) and Blues (away win). He didn't look as good in the Spurs game but I do think Nigel and Stan are not a good pairing.

I think MON actually called him his "Makalele with legs" which suggests he wanted him to use his energy/pace. I am not sure you can have a holding midfielder in the Makalele sense when you are playing 4-4-2 as he will have to join in a bit unless you are playing very attacking full backs?

[TRO]

The problem is and I think this is the heart of the matter with all NRC's issues at Villa what he see's himself as and what the manager see's him as are two very very different things. That has been the heart of the problems since we signed him and will never be resolved.

O'Neill saw NRC as a potentially brilliant holding midfielder talked him up in the role, played him in the role and talked about his potential to play for England in that position. When he first arrived there were loads of articles from O'Neill talking about him in this role and about how it was best matched to his capabilities to his strengths and he tried to convert him, it failed.

NRC see's and has always seen himself as a box to box midfielder able to join in the play up front as much as he stops it at the other end. This is the role he played for Wimbledon for West Ham and for England Under 21's and I think he expected to play that role here its not happened.

We've all seen his limitations with the ball at his feet and seen his strengths in other aspects of his game, no need for me to repeat them.

At Villa we simply have players more capable than NRC in the opposition half of the pitch but he hasn't accepted that and hasn't seen the role in the team the manager wanted him to take or more to the point wasn't willing to play it. Had he done so I think he would have been Villa skipper by now, an outstanding holding midfielder and would have been in South Africa.

The blame lies with NRC for being unwilling to change his game for his own good and that of the team and with the manager for perhaps not being clear with the player what he wanted from him prior to signing him. Had he been I think its unlikely NRC would have signed for us such is the strength of his character and seemingly self belief.

Its a crying shame he could and should have been brilliant for us and a Holte hero instead he will probably go down as O'Neill's worst signing for the club.

That is a very feasible theory.....I don't know if you are right or wrong, but it is a buyable thought.

If it is true maybe somewhere along the line Martin O'Neill could come clean on it after all isn't it a bit of truth we are all a bit suseptible and warm to.

[TRO]

well as NRC is absolutley Dogshit, id say petrov

stop dithering, make your mind up.