smetrov Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 I thought I'd seen a level of performance that bad that I wanted to claw my eyes out with warnock. So far Clark has surpassed that this game. Completely and utterly shit. Lost every header, been megged twice. At fault for both goals so far. Dreadful. Jesus - A damming verdict. Especially as Stefan is one of our more upbeat posters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 I was a big fan of Clark but Baker is the much better cb by far. Clark fourth choice? Indeed, Baker (even Herd) was far better yesterday. Willing to give him another shot as it was only pre-season, but I don't expect anything different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 The contract extension he was given was hopefully to ensure we get a decent fee for him next summer.. so I hope. He should be 4th choice CB well below the pecking order, play him in cup games etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packoman Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Like most I think Baker is better, but people seem to forget his mistakes a lot quicker than Clark's. Both need to improve if they want to be in the first team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 (edited) Clark is not that young anymore. I think he is poor, very slow player who doesnt have Gareth Barrys skill or passing ability to be a midfielder and he is too weak and too clumsy to be a centre half. Would be a decent league 1 player but he is way out of his depth the premier league. He isnt up to it and is an accident waiting to happen. The way he played at goodison last year summed him up perfectly. Edited July 21, 2013 by KHV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Folski Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Like most I think Baker is better, but people seem to forget his mistakes a lot quicker than Clark's. Both need to improve if they want to be in the first team. Probably true, but Baker is not long after turning 22, and has had a lot less exposure to the first team, before last year Baker had 13 first team appearances, compared to 23 year old Clark (24 in September) who had 45. Another thing I believe is that Baker is far better with his head, I believe he'd put his head through anything but Clark is not good against a physical striker in the air at all, people claim Clark is the better of the two with the ball at his feet, it's probably true but I think once you play a sideways pass you'll be fine at centre back. One last point, is that Clark made a similar error a few weeks after the one he made versus Man City for the Republic of Ireland, so it's very hard to forgive a basic error like that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smetrov Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Like most I think Baker is better, but people seem to forget his mistakes a lot quicker than Clark's. Both need to improve if they want to be in the first team. Thing is Baker makes good tackles, win headers - that makes his mistakes excusable. Clark is mediocre, then drops a clanger, which makes it less excusable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunnski Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 I thought I'd seen a level of performance that bad that I wanted to claw my eyes out with warnock. So far Clark has surpassed that this game. Completely and utterly shit. Lost every header, been megged twice. At fault for both goals so far. Dreadful. Its actually the guy that Vlaar was marking that got the goal. He loses Vlaar and gets ahead of Clark so cant really blame him for that cus Clark was concentrating on marking his man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kwan Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Hopefully wont have to see much of Clark. Should be Vlaar and Okore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanxamillion Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Results, goals conceded and defensive errors seemed to improve last season with the Baker Vlaar central defensive partnership after he came back from international duty injured. Maybe Clark could be versatile cover for most of the back four positions but I think we've all seen enough of him in the first team to know he is still 'work in progress'. Okora will be in front of him this season to prove himself, not sure Clark was worth the 3 year new contract to be honest - would have offered him a 1 year extension for his EFFORTS but not necessarily his results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TezzRexx Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Can't win a header, never seems to even leave the ground... Terrible in one on ones.... and like people have said, not that young anymore, 3rd season of prem football coming up.... Also, if last season was anything to go by, Lambert made his mind up with Warnock in the friendless he played, especially against NFFC (if skill is the only reason he was dropped, that is). If Clark doesn't improve fast, I'm assuming the same is going to happen to Clark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanxamillion Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Like most I think Baker is better, but people seem to forget his mistakes a lot quicker than Clark's. Both need to improve if they want to be in the first team. Thing is Baker makes good tackles, win headers - that makes his mistakes excusable. Clark is mediocre, then drops a clanger, which makes it less excusable. To be fair any player can make mistakes it's just that in front of the goal it too often means a goal against I think Vlaar has had his share too. Part of the team building process is not conceding as a unit and would LOVE to see a clean sheet soon........Luton would be a good place to start ffs. Really hope Okora turns out to be a step up on all of them and he can raise the bar. With better combative midfielders and Luna in for Bennett hopefully the'll be less pressure on the two Central defenders anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risso Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Clark just isn't a defender. He's good on the ball, and would probably make an above average midfielder, so why both he and his manager see him as a defender is beyond me. He was absolutely awful in defence last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Well it's just where he's played the most. Being clumsy, slow and weak doesn't make a particularly great central midfielder to be honest. Putting him there would result in just as many mistakes, just in a different position. Get on the weights son. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Clark is just not very good, shouldn't be any where near the first team this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Clark just isn't a defender. He's good on the ball, and would probably make an above average midfielder, so why both he and his manager see him as a defender is beyond me. He was absolutely awful in defence last year. Not at all, most of the time he played in midfield for us he was poor. He is decent on the ball for a centre half but average at best on the ball for a midfielder, and that's been charitable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 I still think there is a decent footballer in Clark. I dont think making him captain last season was the greatest of ideas- he struggled quite a lot last season. Not having Vlaar in a lot of games as a senior pro didnt help matters. He is decent on the ball and is a regular in the Ireland squad at 23 so he isn't that bad. Granted I think this season is probably the make or break for him at Villa. He has to be better than last year or I think he will be off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Con Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 (edited) Can't win a header, never seems to even leave the ground... Terrible in one on ones.... and like people have said, not that young anymore, 3rd season of prem football coming up.... Headed duel Baker: 64% Vlaar: 63% Clark: 61% Tackle Vlaar: 71% Clark: 68% Baker: 60% Pass accuracy Vlaar: 82% Clark: 81% Baker: 78% Errors (lead to goal) Vlaar: 2 (1) Clark: 4 (2) Baker: 5 (1) IMO Clark is getting a lot of stick for one extra error that lead to a goal. Edited July 21, 2013 by Con Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 I'm 75% sure those stats don't tell the whole story. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Can't win a header, never seems to even leave the ground... Terrible in one on ones.... and like people have said, not that young anymore, 3rd season of prem football coming up.... Headed duel Baker: 64% Vlaar: 63% Clark: 61% Tackle Vlaar: 71% Clark: 68% Baker: 60% Pass accuracy Vlaar: 82% Clark: 81% Baker: 78% Errors (lead to goal) Vlaar: 2 (1) Clark: 4 (2) Baker: 5 (1) IMO Clark is getting a lot of stick for one extra error that lead to a goal. Yet you were the person posting that gif of the Baker own goal. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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