Nathan Delfouneso

[Maradona10]

Look mate I'm very proud of those boys! But why the **** do we keep mentioning MON? He's gone and he ain't coming back so why the he'll do people mention him to try and boost an argument! MON supporters could easily argue Gabby's progression was down to him, also who signed Downing knowing he'd come good! See what I'm getting at?

[OutByEaster?]

if he plays shit

Your opinion - I don't think he played well, but I think shit is harsh.

and swans around like lady muck doing **** all because he is sulking that the manager wrongly subbed him a few days previous and the result of his bad attitude

You got this from his ten minute performance?

There is absolutely nothing to say that either:

He thought he was subbed wrongly.

He was sulking about it.

He carried that into this game.

His attitude was wrong.

Personally I think it's wrong to say that he swanned around doing **** all either, he chased plenty, did his defensive bit and was available for the ball. He doesn't have Gabby's workrate, but he didn't shy away from his own work in my opinion.

in this game costs the team who have done **** awesome and battered the shit out of utd and had an easy 2 goal lead

We'd played well, but I don't think there's any evidence that United scored twice because we brought Delfouneso on for ten minutes and he didn't have a great game.

and were looking good for another goal and utd had **** all chances

Here's where I really disagree with you - at nil-nil we were in a fight with them and pressing for a lead, you could see that the players had developed a confidence that it was possible.

At one-nil that confidence had grown and we rode the wave that came from taking the lead into a second goal.

At two-nil up with fifteen minutes to go, we found our selves in a potentially winning situation but we went from hunter to hunted; we stopped trying to get things and went to trying to protect things. In doing that we looked very suddenly nervous.

Utd are known for scoring late goals and we've recently been conceding them - we went on the defensive and United went onto the attack - that's the game Delfouneso joined, not the one where both teams had something to go for, the one where we were going to try to defend a two goal lead for ten minutes and they were going to try to break us down.

then he gets rightfully lambasted.

Rightfully?

If he'd come on and scored a great individual goal then he'd have been rightfully lauded - if he'd come on and made a couple of catastrophic errors then he'd have been rightfully lambasted.

He's come on and given a six out of ten performance in a difficult situation for a substitute striker against a good side - he could have done better, a lot better in fact, his awareness of his teammates wasn't great and his ball to Lichaj was poor but he could have done worse - your reaction is quite frankly bizarre to me.

Sorry this was such a long reply, but it's been some time since I saw a short paragraph so packed with concentrated wrong.

[regular_john]

He's much better at this age than Gabby was, seems to have his head screwed on a bit more than the Moore boys too. I think the current coaching staff will be looking to keep the players feet on the ground, GH and Gary Mac don't strike me as the kind of people to tolerate the superstar attitude that some prem players are guilty of, could be a reason why Ireland isn't having much joy so far.

If he keeps his feet on the ground and continues to develop at his current rate, Delf will be a superstar in 2 or 3 seasons.

[TrentVilla]

FFS nobody is writing him off.

Are you speaking for all Villa fans? The supporters behind me were saying he will be a good championship striker at best. Nothing wrong with questioning his effort in the games, but people on this thread and generally have question his desire to suceed.

I don't speak for anyone other than myself. It is though perhaps pointing out that I like everyone else has a bloody clue what the people around you were saying at the game so when you have a go in a thread on here about people writing him off the logical conclusion is you are talking about people who have posted in this thread.

[brummybloke]

if he plays shit

Your opinion - I don't think he played well, but I think shit is harsh.

and swans around like lady muck doing **** all because he is sulking that the manager wrongly subbed him a few days previous and the result of his bad attitude

You got this from his ten minute performance?

There is absolutely nothing to say that either:

He thought he was subbed wrongly.

He was sulking about it.

He carried that into this game.

His attitude was wrong.

Personally I think it's wrong to say that he swanned around doing **** all either, he chased plenty, did his defensive bit and was available for the ball. He doesn't have Gabby's workrate, but he didn't shy away from his own work in my opinion.

in this game costs the team who have done **** awesome and battered the shit out of utd and had an easy 2 goal lead

We'd played well, but I don't think there's any evidence that United scored twice because we brought Delfouneso on for ten minutes and he didn't have a great game.

and were looking good for another goal and utd had **** all chances

Here's where I really disagree with you - at nil-nil we were in a fight with them and pressing for a lead, you could see that the players had developed a confidence that it was possible.

At one-nil that confidence had grown and we rode the wave that came from taking the lead into a second goal.

At two-nil up with fifteen minutes to go, we found our selves in a potentially winning situation but we went from hunter to hunted; we stopped trying to get things and went to trying to protect things. In doing that we looked very suddenly nervous.

Utd are known for scoring late goals and we've recently been conceding them - we went on the defensive and United went onto the attack - that's the game Delfouneso joined, not the one where both teams had something to go for, the one where we were going to try to defend a two goal lead for ten minutes and they were going to try to break us down.

then he gets rightfully lambasted.

Rightfully?

If he'd come on and scored a great individual goal then he'd have been rightfully lauded - if he'd come on and made a couple of catastrophic errors then he'd have been rightfully lambasted.

He's come on and given a six out of ten performance in a difficult situation for a substitute striker against a good side - he could have done better, a lot better in fact, his awareness of his teammates wasn't great and his ball to Lichaj was poor but he could have done worse - your reaction is quite frankly bizarre to me.

Sorry this was such a long reply, but it's been some time since I saw a short paragraph so packed with concentrated wrong.

wow, blind? i always wonder why people blindly try and defend things which are indefensible, makes them look more wrong than they normally are.

never mind, carry on thinking that he put in a good shift.

[OutByEaster?]

So just so as I understand you BB, you're saying that if we'd brought on a different striker with ten minutes to go we'd have definitely held on to our lead - you're saying that he singlehandedly cost us two points - you're saying that Delfouneso's performance was the worst individual performance you've seen from a Villa player in twelve years - you're saying that you know, just from looking at him that this was because he was angry about being substituted in a previous game, has fallen out with the manager and didn't give any effort because he's got the hump about it.

I'm saying that he had a pretty flat ten minute cameo in a situation where we were defending a lead against a good side.

Correct?

[Jon]

Didnt show much on MOTD but I cant see how he can be blamed for the cross that Vidic scored from.

He can't. Not by anybody with any sanity about them anyway.

[dudevillaisnice]

NATHAN Delfouneso has shown incredible maturity in his bid to fill the big boots left by giant forwards John Carew and Emile Heskey.

The Villa duo have missed recent games through injury leaving the teenaged striker the mammoth task of leading the line on his own.

But one man who never doubted the youngster’s abilty was his former PE teacher, Steve Lilwall.

The former West Brom full back watched ‘The Fonz’ terrorise defences as the prolific goalscorer helped his Ninestiles School team to a string of league and cup successes.

Lilwall has seen an incredible rise to fame for the 19-year-old, who is now a regular England Under-21 international, and admits he has come a long way since his days of banging in goals for the Acocks Green-based school.

“You really started to see the difference in Nathan when he was about 12 or 13-years-old,” said Lilwall.

“He stood out from the other kids and I knew we had a special player in the team.

“He just seemed to get bigger, quicker and stronger than everyone else – he really excelled.

“We all watch him at the school and we’re very proud of him whether he’s playing for Villa or representing the country.

“There is no doubting the ability he has and he’s gone on to prove it by playing for Villa and England under-21’s.

“In football I think a lot of players need to be told that they’re good.

“But Nathan knew he was good enough, and he knew exactly what he wanted.

“If he’s not in the team, he wants to know why and he’ll be determined to prove any doubters wrong.”

Gabby Agbonlahor returned to the Villa fold this week after a long lay off with a groin injury making the Brummie pair the only two recognised strikers available to manager Gerard Houllier.

The Frenchman has already shown enough faith in Delfouneso to throw him into the big games when needed and he is rapidly catching up with the senior trio of Agbonlahor, Carew and Heskey.

On Wednesday he scored a vital goal in Villa’s 3-2 win over Blackpool, and he could have had another had the referee not ruled it out for an infringement on an opposing defender.

Despite his rapid rise into the Villa first team, Delfouneso remains fully grounded and intent on improving rather than living the lavish lifestlye of a professional footballer.

He has strong family links and still lives at home with his parents and 16-year-old brother, Emmitt, who is on the books of local rivals Birmingham City.

One trait that Lilwall admires beyond the Bodymoor Heath graduate’s un-doubted ability, is his polite and friendly nature.

“Nathan is a really nice lad, and he was well mannered at school – he had been brought up well.

“I remember seeing him recently and he was with his Dad. He waved and made the effort to cross over a busy road and say hello.

“It’s not one of the things you expect professional footballers to always do. But he’s remained level-headed since his rise into the Premier League.

“He may be full of confidence but he’s not arrogant at all – there’s a big difference between the two.

“I’m just his old PE teacher but he took the time to have a quick chat, that’s the type of person he is.”

Although Delfouneso was a talented athlete and basketball player at school, football was always his passion.

Like many other schoolboys he would spend his lunchtimes kicking around a football in the playground alongside his pals before training with Villa in the evening or playing for his year group.

School coach Lilwall was exceptionally lucky to also have Coventry defender Jermaine Grandison – who he also monitors closely since he left in 2007 – in the same successful team.

“It’s very rare that you will see two players from one school team that appear for Premier League and Championship clubs so quickly.

“Nathan and Jermaine used to take their opposition apart.

“Both of them are very different players but they’re both nice lads.

“Nathan would be the one who scored most of the school goals and defenders were terrified of him but it was the two of them who stood out.

“You could see the both of them had natural ability.

But Lilwall, who played in Albion’s epic 1993 Division Two play-off final win against Port Vale at Wembley, was not Delfouneso’s only admirer.

“Nathan was very popular at school, all the other kids loved him,” he added.

“He was too focussed on his football to get into any bother though – he knew exactly what he wanted. The majority of his time was focused on what he wanted to achieve.

“If you can get a career out of football it’s best to stay away from any distractions and this is what Nathan did.

“He was born with a gift and he channelled it in the right way.”

http://tinyurl.com/34dwkw5

[theunderstudy]

Amen to that DVIN.

[SoccerHQ]

The Fonz isn't a lone forward from what I've seen in the last 3 games.

Gabby lead the line brilliantly yesterday so it was inevitable once he went off we'd lose something up front.

I must say if we have to play 4-4-2 in the future, I'd like to see Gabby and the Fonz as the front two as I think it could work.

[beasley14]

Well thats a nice interview about him.

[dudevillaisnice]

FOR a modern day football fan there’s nothing quite like seeing a home-grown striker succeed at their local club.

In an era where money dictates success, local talent often gets overlooked in favour of multi-million pound international signings.

But at Aston Villa, a top Premier League club in their own right, things are a little different.

For the past decade Villa have given the youth a chance and the latest hitman to be showing signs of promise is teenage striker Nathan Delfouneso.

Make no mistake, Villa have had their fair share of foreign forwards of late, but there’s always been a local lad waiting in the wings.

Since Dwight Yorke left Villa Park for Manchester United in 1998, the claret and blue side have struggled to find a player capable of scoring goals like the Trinidad and Tobago ace used to.

His departure did, however, coincide with the emergence of a young Darius Vassell, who went on to play for England.

The Sutton Coldfield-born star was a success in the Midlands but his career has tailed off since he left in 2005.

He’s now plying his trade for Leicester City, managed by the boss that gave him his international break – Sven Goran Eriksson.

The Moore brothers, first Stefan and then Luke, followed suit, but both failed to live up to their high reputations.

Villa fans didn’t have to wait long before another local hero was born in Gabby Agbonlahor.

Brought up in Erdington, just a stone’s throw away from Villa Park, the 24-year-old has rapidly become a fans’ favourite.

Delfouneso admits that his team-mate is already a ‘‘great’’ player and he will continue to learn from him.

He is also fully aware of the growing tradition at the club to produce home-grown talent and how some have succeeded and others have failed.

But the Bodymoor Heath academy graduate is focusing on his own game and not what others have done in the past.

“I knew about all the local strikers growing up,” the 19-year-old said.

“I saw them coming through but personally I don’t think about them.

“It’s all about me and whatever has happened to any other players or whatever they’ve done I can’t focus on, I must concentrate on me.

“All I’ve got to do is keep practising and training hard to keep progressing and become the best player I can be and achieve a successful career.

“This is my career, I’m going to be myself and not going to try and be like anyone else, just be myself.”

Two players the Tyseley-born star did look up to as a kid was Yorke, and his Manchester United strike partner Andy Cole.

The England Under-21 star said that the duo were the perfect pairing because they complimented each other’s skills so well.

“I watched Yorke at Man Utd more than Villa because I was a bit too young.

“It was more the Cole and Yorke partnership that I liked, the way they intergrated together. and how they performed next to each other.

“I was a massive fan of Andy Cole already and when Dwight Yorke joined him at Manchester United I got to see what a true partnership was like.

“It’s something that you look at and you strive to be like.

“The way they linked up, they way they assisted each other, the way they got into better positions.

“There are lots of players that you can look at and learn off. Every striker can give you something, whether it’s goal-scoring, hold-up play, beating players, heading, I can learn it all off other strikers.

“It was nice to watch them both because they are top quality finishers.”

Delfouneso requested a loan move earlier in the season which Gerard Houllier rejected. The forward, who has a prolific goal-scoring record for the youth and reserve team, was eager to get games under his belt so he can succeed at Villa as first-team opportunities seemed few and far between.

But in recent weeks he has been elevated into the first team because of the current injury crisis sweeping across Villa Park. Agbonlahor has just returned from a two-month spell on the sidelines after an aggravating a groin injury which has kept him out for the majority of the season. John Carew injured his calf earlier this month and is some way off a return.

Emile Heskey, who has been in red hot form since the arrival of Houllier in September, is also out injured and is unlikely to be fit in the near future.

The injury crisis has seen Delfouneso start his first Premier League game this season.

After playing 88 minutes in the 1-1 draw at Fulham, which saw Villa concede in the 94th minute, the teenager was retained up front for the 3-2 home win against Blackpool.

His full home Premier League debut was extra special as he bagged a goal as Villa defeated Ian Holloway’s men.

Delfouneso is likely to start on the bench this afternoon with Agbonlahor leading the line on his own.

But Houllier admitted that he has been pleased with how the forward has responded to being called into the first team.

“He played with the Under-21s in midweek and I spoke to Stuart Pearce who said he had a good game,” he added.

“He’s looking stronger.

“I told him in training that he is starting to get into it now.

“It’s a step between youth and the first team so I’ve been pleased with him.”

http://tinyurl.com/24esjus

[MCU]

I didn't know he had a request to be put on the loan list rejected? I suppose after January it would be great for him to give him as much game time as possible. From what I've seen of him this season he needs to play with somebody alongside him as he struggles to hold up and create on his own. However I think he has the ability the become one of the best finishers at the club in the near future. Improve a little on his first touch and he could be a real gem.

[dudevillaisnice]

I think due to injuries he wasn't allowed to go, once we have fit players (and probably sign 1 or 2 in jan) he will let him go out on loan.

[Morales]

Personally would have him second choice behind Gabby, with Heskey or Carew coming on to hold the ball up or giving us another option, but if gabby not fit, I would go for Nathan. Seem to have a good attitude and talent to make it to the top, I think its a question of character in him now, whether the desire and the will to win is strong enough to make him want to be one of the best in the premier league, I think that where alot of young talent are wasted.

[AVFC-Prideofbrum]

Other way round today, Gabby didn't look bothered, didn't get into the game while Delfouneso made plenty of good runs off the ball and nearly got in a few times.

[CrackpotForeigner]

I can't decide whether he's going to be a superstar or a nobody, but you kindof get the feeling that it will be one or the other, rather than somewhere inbetween.

One thing that will count in his favour is that he looks like being a pretty big bloke in a couple of years.

[Jon]

Came on and did some useful things today. Looked more promising. More "effort" seemingly too, which is always good.

[GypsyKing]

His movement on the forward line created chances, half chances but chances none the less. Would have loved to have seen him come on for Ireland to play alongside a clearly, and understandably, off the pace Gabby.

[beasley14]

Promising he is improving and GH thinks he is doing well.