LockStockVilla Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Clark Top Rated CB in Europe Last Weekend Decent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers13 Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 (edited) Clark Top Rated CB in Europe Last Weekend Decent. Davies second. Guess that describes the match... But still very impressed with Clark. Delph there as well Edited October 8, 2013 by Rovers13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntrimBlack Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I had thought he was going to be a really good player, but when he went through that bad spell, I thought he was going to be one of those players that shows promise but does not fulfill it. Really glad to see that he has come good again, and hopefully he can keep on playing the way he is now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heid3ster Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I had thought he was going to be a really good player, but when he went through that bad spell, I thought he was going to be one of those players that shows promise but does not fulfill it. Really glad to see that he has come good again, and hopefully he can keep on playing the way he is now. And there once again we see the dangers of writing players off too soon. I was guilty of it myself with Clark. Very pleased he is proving me wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 I must admit that I thought Clark had no future as a centre-back also. Still can't quite believe he is the same player that I saw last season... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juteface Posted October 8, 2013 Share Posted October 8, 2013 Always thought highly of Clark, good to see he's doing well. I still think he'll make a great DM. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 a huge test on friday to show how much Clark has improved. I think he will definitely start in Germany probably next to St.Ledger in what is probably a damage limitation exercise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan_007 Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Still think he is our future captain - will continue to improve. I like a player who learns from his mistakes, he seems to of cut out the cruyff turns and the rash diving in tackles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted October 9, 2013 Moderator Share Posted October 9, 2013 Agreed Zatman. Clark has passed every test this season with flying colours. Germany will be as hard a test as he will get this season. It'll be interesting to see how he handles them. Definitely damage limitation. I'm liking the Clark love in this thread though. Good to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 I'll admit I had pretty much written off him ever making an impact at Villa. Lambert has faith in him and he's been solid this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie09 Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 Always had faith in him as long as he had an experienced partner alongside him. With all the disruption to the defence last season he was always going to make mistakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 I think the arrival of okore and the fact he is now crippled has been the kick up the arse clark needed. Always been a tidy player but used to make a lot of schoolboy errors that he seems to have erradicted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SikhInTrinity Posted October 9, 2013 Share Posted October 9, 2013 He has improved however his test will be when he comes up against a physical striker with pace i.e. Lukaku and Anichebe, he struggled big time when he was being backed into, lets see if he's learned from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phumfeinz Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 Really pleased that he's come good. Last year was so disappointing, I honestly thought he'd go the way of Bannan and never play for us again. I feared the worst when Okore had his injury but Clark has more than filled his boots and is even ahead of Baker in the pecking order now. Just no more moments of madness like the Man City incident! Just found this by the way, don't think it's been posted anywhere yet: http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/aston-villa-fc/2013/10/09/aston-villa-have-lost-shock-value-claims-defender-ciaran-clark/ The defender reckons their Premier League rivals are wary of the claret and blues after their impressive form. Victories against Arsenal and Manchester City underlined Villa’s improvement this term and Clark admits their secret is out. “Maybe teams are looking at us now and knowing when they come up against us it’s going to be a tough game,” he said. “We have had a tough start in the league. The games against Chelsea and Liverpool, we could have got points as well. That’s what we want. We want teams to think it’s tough.” Villa have kept two clean sheets in their last two away games against Hull and Norwich – ending their Premier League clean sheet drought which stretched to 27 games. Defenders Clark, Nathan Baker and Ron Vlaar were all criticised for crucial errors last season as Villa struggled against the drop. But they have cut down on the mistakes this term and Clark said they have learnt from their past problems. “The team is a year older. We have some fresh faces in and we are still coming together as a team,” he said. “But we are a year older and hopefully we are still improving. “We are learning from some of the mistakes last season. We are a young side and we’ve had a tough start this season but I think we are progressing and moving forward.” Villa host Tottenham on October 20 after the international break looking to stretch their unbeaten run to four games. Clark will return after Ireland’s final World Cup qualifiers against Germany and Kazakhstan and believes the break will do the squad good. “I think it’s a chance for some of the lads to have a well-deserved rest, the ones who aren’t going away in any case,” said the 24-year-old. “Maybe the rest will do them good. Hopefully we can get back together the week before the Spurs game and we’ll be raring to go.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 Ciaran Clark Won 4 of 5 aerial duels and 4 of 5 tackles….23 clearances was tied for most across Europe this weekend… was accurate with 8 of 11 long ball attempts All right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panto_Villan Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 It's quite the improvement, especially when you consider he was even dire in the pre-season games against fairly poor opposition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 (edited) he does look as though he has improved his composure and mental toughness, doesn't appear as flappable as in the past .....lets hope he turns in to a top CB...also the involvement in the National squad will be a huge advantage in his development. I have never given up on him or Baker.... WIP for me. Edited October 10, 2013 by TRO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaglint Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 One of the main things he has focused on this year is keeping it simple. On quite a few occasions this year you will see him near the touchline with a defender near him and he just calmly passes the ball into the stands. You can almost hear him saying "if in doubt put it out" to himself. Sometimes I'm sat there thinking that's a bit odd we could of kept that, but afterwards I have to applaud him because he's consciously cutting out the mistakes he made through over playing last year. This year he is just thinking about getting himself in the right position and keeping the ball away from our penalty area. It's making a big difference for him, really glad to see it as I have long been of the opinion he didn't have it. Glad to be proved wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LockStockVilla Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 (edited) I agree villaglint, I think he has been able to simplify his game to an extent and is currently playing as an intelligent footballer regarding his decision making. Some of that comes with experience that he gained last season and some probably also comes from playing in a more stable back four that is not changing every week. I also think that so much of football is down to dumb luck. Quite a few times this season, Ciaran and others have made blocks and clearances that were absolutely terrific, but on another day like last season they probably would have wound up in our own net, and at the moment it is all going right. He has really impressed and its great to see, I just hope if he makes one mistake or has a dodgy performance, the doubters don't jump right back in and say "I told you, Clark is shit", because he is now obviously proving that is not the case. Edited October 10, 2013 by LockStockVilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 It will be interesting to see whether he keeps it simple over the internationals? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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