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Fabian Delph


davidplatt7

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Fabian Delph is driven to save Aston Villa from relegation in order to thank owner Randy Lerner for not showing him the door at the club.

 

 

fabiandelph20110813_275x155.jpg
GettyImagesFabian Delph has struggled with injury at Villa Park

 

 

Lerner spent £6 million to lure Delph to Villa Park from Leeds United in 2009, but the investment in the England Under-21 international has returned just 36 appearances because of a string of serious injuries.

 

Delph, who has become known as "Dr Delph" at the club because of his catalogue of problems, admits many other owners would have lost patience and cut their losses.

 

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But even during the midfielder's darkest days, Lerner sanctioned a contract extension in 2011, which will keep him at the club for another two years.

 

"My contract is not up at the end of the season. That's the main reason why I have massive respect for the chairman because what he has done for me is fantastic," said Delph. "He's been supportive and I have been injured a lot. He's been one of the main figures that has been really positive towards me and told me to keep going.

 

"He is a really humble nice man and he loves the football club. He invested money in me. You see people who buy the players and they haven't hit the levels that they should do and next thing you know they are out the window and out the door.

 

"This chairman has been totally supportive of me and it's about repaying him and repaying the fans as well because they have shown me tremendous patience. It's nice to be fit!" Delph admits he has not hit the heights expected of him when he signed from Leeds because of the run of injuries which have blighted his time at Villa Park.

 

"I have been injured for three years solid. I have always had something. I ruptured my anterior cruciate ligament, I had sutures in my lateral meniscus, I had medial damage. Then I came back from that and had another injury with a medial ligament," he said.

 

"Then I had an ankle injury, I came back and got a knee injury. I could go on all day. We would be here all day if I keep going.

 

"I've become known as Dr Delph! Whenever anyone gets injured the lads seem to look at me. I think I have told a few of the lads when they have rolled their ankles this season honestly lads, I think it is your ATFL (anterior talofibular ligament). I am serious, Dr Delph... They've gone for a scan and said 'you were right I've done my ATFL!'

 

"I've had a lot of injuries and thanks to the medical staff and people around me I've been lucky enough to have some great support. I've managed to get stronger.

 

"I feel like I am getting stronger, finding a tiny bit of form and do my best for the club. If I keep my place in the team and do well for the club I'll be the happiest man alive."

 

Dr. Delph Determined to Repay Lerner

 

Delph has always come across as a really cool dude with a good head on his shoulders. Will be a good role model to some of the younger players coming through. Glad that he's playing well too.

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There seems to be a lot of love recently for Delph. I have to admit, I don't buy it.

 

Players that run around a lot and kick people tend to be crowd favourites and that is basically what Delph does.

 

I think he could be a solid player if he becomes more disciplined and focuses on keeping things simple. I don't think he has much of an eye for a pass and his forays forward are frequently embarrassing. I've seen enough of him trying to dribble from midfield and then over-running the ball with a heavy touch this year to conclude that his future is not as a box-to-box midfielder. He's 23 now, he's not going to develop much technically from here on in, I'd like to see him limit his ambition going forward and work on his defensive qualities.

 

I'll be very interested to watch Sylla next week, hopefully he can be a medium-term solution to the central midfield along with Westwood who in fairness does have an eye for a pass.  

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There seems to be a lot of love recently for Delph. I have to admit, I don't buy it.

 

Players that run around a lot and kick people tend to be crowd favourites and that is basically what Delph does.

 

I think he could be a solid player if he becomes more disciplined and focuses on keeping things simple. I don't think he has much of an eye for a pass and his forays forward are frequently embarrassing. I've seen enough of him trying to dribble from midfield and then over-running the ball with a heavy touch this year to conclude that his future is not as a box-to-box midfielder. He's 23 now, he's not going to develop much technically from here on in, I'd like to see him limit his ambition going forward and work on his defensive qualities.

 

I'll be very interested to watch Sylla next week, hopefully he can be a medium-term solution to the central midfield along with Westwood who in fairness does have an eye for a pass.  

 

Actually I think if you asked most fans what frustrated them most about Delph it would be that he goes around kicking people and earning yellow cards. I also think that most would have agreed with you a few months ago but recently he's looked a lot more confident on the ball, making some great runs forward and cutting out a lot of the silly mistakes he used to make.

 

I'm still not certain he'll make it here, but up until recently I would have said he hasn't got a chance so let's hope he keeps improving and we might actually see him fulfill the potential he seemed to have at a young age.

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He has certainly been better recently, and deservedly got motm a few times, but I would still say he has only been average. It just goes to show how poor our midfield has been this season that Delph is getting praise for being average

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I think he's been better on that front recently as well, Trent. Just in the last couple of games he's shown signs of why MON spent so much on him. Long may it continue.

 

I'm not sure I'd agree, he missed yesterday and will miss the QPR game because he is suspended following another silly booking which was his 10th of the season. As for why O'Neill paid what he did for him, personally I struggle to see why he did.

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Our best midfielder for me. Been very impressed with him recently.

 

You've got to be kidding. He kicks people and slows the game down. Not what we want when we are chasing wins. I hope that winning without him means he'll be on the bench for the rest of the season. He should be coming on to close out games when we are ahead.

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I think he's been better on that front recently as well, Trent. Just in the last couple of games he's shown signs of why MON spent so much on him. Long may it continue.

 

I'm not sure I'd agree, he missed yesterday and will miss the QPR game because he is suspended following another silly booking which was his 10th of the season. As for why O'Neill paid what he did for him, personally I struggle to see why he did.

 

It was never a booking IMO and it wasn't the sort of pointless late challenge that he usually picks up cards for. It's tough to judge Delph because of the injuries he's picked up. He certainly hasn't justified his transfer fee. Whether or not he ever will remains to be seen but I had pretty much written the guy off - no longer.

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I think he's been better on that front recently as well, Trent. Just in the last couple of games he's shown signs of why MON spent so much on him. Long may it continue.

 

I'm not sure I'd agree, he missed yesterday and will miss the QPR game because he is suspended following another silly booking which was his 10th of the season. As for why O'Neill paid what he did for him, personally I struggle to see why he did.

 

It was never a booking IMO and it wasn't the sort of pointless late challenge that he usually picks up cards for. It's tough to judge Delph because of the injuries he's picked up. He certainly hasn't justified his transfer fee. Whether or not he ever will remains to be seen but I had pretty much written the guy off - no longer.

i'm with this. I had thought he would never do it for us , last few games he is beginning to show maybe he might. Long may that continue.

As to why we spent the money, at the time he was the most sought after youngster outside of the premier league, many clubs were looking at him and it was something of a coup that we signed him

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I have to admit i havent his biggest fan but in the past 4-5 games i think he has been fantastic for us.  I've put that down to him finally getting a good run of games under his belt.  Cream will always rise to the top, it might have taken 3 years to get this run of games but he is starting to look the player we thought we were buying back in 2009.

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He does have the quality, I'm sure of that. The only question is whether his penchant for the physios table will allow us more than the odd fleeting glance of it?

 

I'd love to see him have an extended run, because he has proved himself lately, but the odds of that happening could be a lot better..

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I think he's been better on that front recently as well, Trent. Just in the last couple of games he's shown signs of why MON spent so much on him. Long may it continue.

 

I'm not sure I'd agree, he missed yesterday and will miss the QPR game because he is suspended following another silly booking which was his 10th of the season. As for why O'Neill paid what he did for him, personally I struggle to see why he did.

 

It was never a booking IMO and it wasn't the sort of pointless late challenge that he usually picks up cards for. It's tough to judge Delph because of the injuries he's picked up. He certainly hasn't justified his transfer fee. Whether or not he ever will remains to be seen but I had pretty much written the guy off - no longer.

 

but he should have been booked 10 minutes earlier for a reckless tackle in middle of pitch and only got away with it as ref played advantage. was always getting a yellow for his next infringement

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There seems to be a lot of love recently for Delph. I have to admit, I don't buy it.

 

Players that run around a lot and kick people tend to be crowd favourites and that is basically what Delph does.

 

I think he could be a solid player if he becomes more disciplined and focuses on keeping things simple. I don't think he has much of an eye for a pass and his forays forward are frequently embarrassing. I've seen enough of him trying to dribble from midfield and then over-running the ball with a heavy touch this year to conclude that his future is not as a box-to-box midfielder. He's 23 now, he's not going to develop much technically from here on in, I'd like to see him limit his ambition going forward and work on his defensive qualities.

 

I'll be very interested to watch Sylla next week, hopefully he can be a medium-term solution to the central midfield along with Westwood who in fairness does have an eye for a pass.  

 

Actually I think if you asked most fans what frustrated them most about Delph it would be that he goes around kicking people and earning yellow cards. I also think that most would have agreed with you a few months ago but recently he's looked a lot more confident on the ball, making some great runs forward and cutting out a lot of the silly mistakes he used to make.

 

I'm still not certain he'll make it here, but up until recently I would have said he hasn't got a chance so let's hope he keeps improving and we might actually see him fulfill the potential he seemed to have at a young age.

Very much this.

And I would argue that he abslutely does have an "eye for a pass". If I'm not mistaken he's, statistically, the best passer on the team in terms of passes per game and pass success rate (comfortably on the last stat), and that's shown dramatically in his last few games for us.

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We're beginning to see what I saw in him.  It has taken a lot longer than I'd have liked and he still hasn't done it for long enough nor is he the complete package.  The final bit being the bookings that Trent is rightly concerned about.  But I think he is definitely going in the right direction and is now an asset to the team.  His injuries have meant that not only have we not seen enough of him but they have also impeded his progress meaning what we have seen wasn't his best.  Perhaps he has been trying too hard to impress as a youngster.  Maybe now with a bit of maturity we're seeing him apply himself more effectively in the middle of the park.  Yes, discipline must improve but even in saying that, a lot of his bookings came before we saw the 'good' Delph of late.

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I've always really wanted Delph to come good. He looked top class at Leeds and there was a reason man city were very interested the same time as us. I thought in his first few appearances he looked good, great range of passing, good pace on the ball and looked a threat going forward.

Since then I've gone from thinking he'll be good, to thinking he's not got what it takes, to thinking he should be replaced and now back to thinking he's going to be a good player for us again.

He has the attributes needed to play in CM. Hopefully he can have an injury free run in the team to really push on.

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The thing is, with injuries, he still hasn't really played a full season for us. 36 appearances is it?

 

If we signed a youngster injury free and he was doing alright 36 games into his first season, we'd all be happy that he hadn' settled yet and would come good with experience.

 

I know you can't make that comparison directly, it's not all purely about appearances. But the point is I think we (myself included) easily forget just how little experience Delph has at PL level because he's been with us for so long.

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Whatever talent he may or may not have the problem with Delph is and always has been his hot headed nature and his almost total lack of self control.

 

Those things make him a liability to both himself and the team.

Well yes, you have a point, But if you take say NRC or Wayne Rooney, they were similarly "hot headed" and frequent booking or red card candidates, but with time and coaching they both lost that idiotic streak and became better players for it.

I'm not using them as ability comparisons, I think he's better than one and nowhere near as good as the other, but just as examples of the many players who "grow up".

 

I'm with BOF and others who think he has ability and if he controls his discipline, he's an asset, for sure, based on recent performances.

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