Barry Bannan

[bannedfromHandV]

I think Samir Carruthers will have a big season which would put Bannan even further down the order

[packoman]

Just hope he is given a chance in the centre, he can't play on the wing.

[Bazdavies79]

I think Samir Carruthers will have a big season which would put Bannan even further down the order

Yep, Samir Carruthers and Daniel Johnson look like better prospects to me. I think this should be the season they break through.

[Daweii]

I think Samir Carruthers will have a big season which would put Bannan even further down the order

Yep, Samir Carruthers and Daniel Johnson look like better prospects to me. I think this should be the season they break through.

I'd have Ireland and Carruthers on a rotation.. I actually think a player with Carruthers dribbling and passing ability would be a massive threat playing where Ireland does in the hole. Carruthers when he came off the bench he caused so many issues for the defenders, stick him in a heavily attacking role with some good DM's behind him and he'll score goals and create goals every game.

[bannedfromHandV]

I think Samir Carruthers will have a big season which would put Bannan even further down the order

Yep, Samir Carruthers and Daniel Johnson look like better prospects to me. I think this should be the season they break through.

I'd have Ireland and Carruthers on a rotation.. I actually think a player with Carruthers dribbling and passing ability would be a massive threat playing where Ireland does in the hole. Carruthers when he came off the bench he caused so many issues for the defenders, stick him in a heavily attacking role with some good DM's behind him and he'll score goals and create goals every game.

Watching his cameo appearances in the prem he looked a bit like Nasri, both literally and in terms of his style of play.

Im pretty sure he'll be given a crack so here's hoping he takes it

[dont_do_it_doug.]

I think Samir Carruthers will have a big season which would put Bannan even further down the order

Yep, Samir Carruthers and Daniel Johnson look like better prospects to me. I think this should be the season they break through.

I'd have Ireland and Carruthers on a rotation.. I actually think a player with Carruthers dribbling and passing ability would be a massive threat playing where Ireland does in the hole. Carruthers when he came off the bench he caused so many issues for the defenders, stick him in a heavily attacking role with some good DM's behind him and he'll score goals and create goals every game.

Watching his cameo appearances in the prem he looked a bit like Nasri, both literally and in terms of his style of play.

Im pretty sure he'll be given a crack so here's hoping he takes it

No pressure then eh!

[Zatman]

Wee Barry loves talking to the press, doesn't he? If I were him I'd get my head down and work hard to prove my case for inclusion in the first team squad, not go blabbing every 5 minutes to journos about how he welcomes Lambert, it's his make or break season, etc.

looked terrified when he did an interview on Sky 2 weeks ago

[Tomaszk]

Carruthers' ability could turn into his weakness if he's not careful. He's used to whipping full backs to death the ressies, it's not like that at the top. He can be someone who hangs onto the ball for too long, especially in useful areas. He can be a success, but he needs to just play the easy pass every so often.

[villanfromluton]

Bannan needs to knuckle down, keep his mouth shut and show he can be a good player. Get fed up of his rent-a-quotes

[gilbertoAVFC]

I fail to see how anybody can really comment on who is the better prospect out of Bannan, Carruthers and Johnson (particularly the latter) when the reality is they are most likely to only have seen Bannan properly in action. We all raved about Bannan when he first started out which shows how things don't always turn out as they are planned.

Daniel Johnson is nearly twenty and has not played properly for Villa yet - Bannan was playing for Scotland at that point in his career. Bear in mind when Bannan was nineteen/twenty we actually had some good central midfielders at the club and he was still making the odd appearance.

Just ridiculous to compare. Carruthers has been good in about half an hour of football for us. He's a prospect yes, but he would have been a regular last season if he was at Bannan's level of ability as we had such an out-of-sorts midfield.

[Bazdavies79]

I think Johnson is the pick of the bunch and will be better that Bannan.

Edit - we didn't all rave about Bannan when he first started.

[AndyM3000]

I think Bannan looked decent under Houllier, in which we played possesion football with good players.

And not so good under McLeish where everyone was pretty shit and we hoofed the ball up when we had it, which wasn't often.

Would expect that, and hopefully under Lambert he will be decent again.

[LondonLax]

I think the next young prospect from our academy will definitely be better than the last one.

[sidcow]

Wee Barry loves talking to the press, doesn't he? If I were him I'd get my head down and work hard to prove my case for inclusion in the first team squad, not go blabbing every 5 minutes to journos about how he welcomes Lambert, it's his make or break season, etc.

I have been thinking this. Everytime I open a newspaper or look at a website there seems to be quotes from Barry Bannan in there. For such a young junior member of the squad (though he has had a lot of playing time due to our sh;tness) he does seem to talk to the press rather a lot.

I hope he is not meeting them in their customary hiding place of the local boozer!

[briny_ear]

I think Bannan looked decent under Houllier, in which we played possesion football with good players.

Funny, I must have missed that era of good football under Houllier. :winkold: That would be the period when our record was W12 D8 L13 - worse if you strip out cup matches against lower league opposition?

And wee Barry played in 17 of those matches before being loaned out to Leeds in March.

[jeaniimacaroon]

I fail to see how anybody can really comment on who is the better prospect out of Bannan, Carruthers and Johnson (particularly the latter) when the reality is they are most likely to only have seen Bannan properly in action. We all raved about Bannan when he first started out which shows how things don't always turn out as they are planned.

Daniel Johnson is nearly twenty and has not played properly for Villa yet - Bannan was playing for Scotland at that point in his career. Bear in mind when Bannan was nineteen/twenty we actually had some good central midfielders at the club and he was still making the odd appearance.

Just ridiculous to compare. Carruthers has been good in about half an hour of football for us. He's a prospect yes, but he would have been a regular last season if he was at Bannan's level of ability as we had such an out-of-sorts midfield.

Totally agree. Think people would be rushing to say that Carruthers and Johnson are going to be better. Really no clue how they will be until they properly step up to the first team and get some more games.

I'd like to see Bannan get a good chance this season. It looks like he has some great vision when he plays, but maybe doesn't quite have the skill to back it up at the moment. I'd hope for an above average season for him this year (anymore and he'll get nabbed by someone else like all the rest of our good players...). If he has a worse season than the last, then I'd start maybe asking whether he is good enough for us.

[Durrr]

I really don't think he is good enough. He needs to put his head down and cut out the Hollywood passes.

[03butpau]

He's simply not good enough for the premier league. His key strengths are supposed to be his passing but that was awful for large parts of last season. And he goes missing so easily in games

[steell]

I like BB and think he could yet be a very significant player for us. Not sure why there's so much negativity about him on here, AM didn't help the guy out because Barry's style of play is so out of sorts with what AM wanted. I also think that he's exactly the sort of player PL likes.

[kurtsimonw]

I think Bannan deserves another year of chances, like Albrighton.

That 2-2 against United he was superb and he has had other games in which he's really shone and shown his ability. He was more impressive under Houllier than AMc which isn't exactly surprising. We didn't play possession football last season which is really what Barry's game is about and I think many creative players would struggle. Put Nasri or Sneijder in our team last season and they would look poor players. Not saying Bannan is at their level, he's not and never will be, but he was never going to succeed last season.