The, he's finally GONE! Tell us your thoughts Thread

[KHV]

You dont know if he was looking, you dont know the reasons as to why no one was signed, so you cant lay the blame with McLeish. But again maybe McLeish believed Delph could step up or Clark or Gardner or maybe he has the idea that our most experienced player and one of the best readers of the game would fit the role nicely next to someone like Jenas.

No I don't know what he was doing in the summer.

I do know the following:

- Delph is not a DCM. He has never played there in the past and shouldn't. McLeish's attempts to play him there this season have, IMO, ruined his game in the short term. He is a playmaker/box to box player.

- If he had intended Clark to step up I find it hard to understand why he hasn't given him one game in that role as yet.

- Gardner is not a DCM from what I have seen, and has barely made the bench let alone the first team.

- Stan and Jenas - we will see IF he is ever fit. I just don't see this working.

Glad you have faith though mate!!

where do you get this Delph is a box to box playmaker stuff from? Ask any self respecting Leeds fan and they will tell you they can't believe how much we paid for him. hot headed dangerous tackler is what most of them say with dodgy ball control. i live with 2 Leeds fans and they just laugh whenever he is is mentioned

[briny_ear]

where do you get this Delph is a box to box playmaker stuff from? Ask any self respecting Leeds fan and they will tell you they can't believe how much we paid for him. hot headed dangerous tackler is what most of them say with dodgy ball control. i live with 2 Leeds fans and they just laugh whenever he is is mentioned

Mind you, it doesn't always pay to listen too much to the fans of a club a player is at.

I can vaguely recall a lot of chat on here about how Ashley Young was limited, couldn't cross, fell over all the time, etc., before he went off to Man U and instantly became a massive asset to that club.

[Stu_The_Villan]

where do you get this Delph is a box to box playmaker stuff from? Ask any self respecting Leeds fan and they will tell you they can't believe how much we paid for him.

....because Delph is an attacking midfielder. Are you trying to tell us otherwise now?! I thought you were going to enlighten us as to what his best position is due to your obviously clued up Leeds mates but only responded with this...

hot headed dangerous tackler is what most of them say with dodgy ball control

Which is also bollocks. Just because McCleish has shoe-horned him into the DCM position due to Petrovs inability to break up play it doesnt mean thats his best position. Hes a goascoring creative midfielder. Always has been and always will be. Maybe with a propper DCM next to him he can get on with what he does best instead of playing in a position just to accomodate somebody else.

Lovely to see people slagging off our youngsters again by the way. Last year it was Bannan but now hes the best thing since sliced bread and now its Delph. Cant wait to see the pelters Gardner gets when he eventually gets a game...

[Zatman]

Well we already have two centre-backs better than Collins in Cuellar and Clark.

NO,NO,NO,NO. Cuellar is not better than Collins, GH, MON didnt rate him ahead of Collins and personally dont think Eck does either and he knows about defenders

How do you know Mcleish doesn't rate Cuellar? He's been injured since he got here hasn't he?

didnt he try flog him to Rangers

[macandally]

That Fabian Delph, hes shit int he?

[Zatman]

yes 08/09 in 3rd division

[macandally]

yes 08/09 in 3rd division

You mean before the career threatening injury? The one he is now recovering from and has played ooooh, 6 games or so? :winkold:

Trust, me, some of those were not going to be saved by any keeper. The talent is there, its just been held back due to injury and dubious management.

[kurtsimonw]

Just because McCleish has shoe-horned him into the DCM position due to Petrovs inability to break up play it doesnt mean thats his best position.

Stan lead the league in interceptions earlier in the season and got a staggering 9 against Man City. He's doing a better job at DM than Delph whilst not even playing there.

As for your excuse as it not being Delphs best position, so what? He can't control a ball so it doesn't matter where he plays he's going to be ineffective. At least now it's not ruining every single attack.

[ryanvilla_1994]

Stu_The_Villan, just wondering why you think Delph is a creative goalscoring midfielder? he has 6 career league goals ( all in league 1 I believe ) and to be quite honest I can't ever remember him looking remotely creative at Villa. Not having a go or anything just curious.

[Richard]

That Fabian Delph, hes shit int he?

No disrespect to any of these teams but I hardly think oals against Crewe, Walsall, Hartlepool and Stockport are evidence to suggest he can be the player we need in the premier league

I would also say, looking at the "goal of the season" against Brighton, that given the defence of Brighton for that match, the freedom he got to take the ball the length of the pitch unchallenged and then to get a shot off on the edge of the box I may very well have had a stab at that goal too.

It was hardly Dalian Atkinson v Wimbledon

[macandally]

That Fabian Delph, hes shit int he?

No disrespect to any of these teams but I hardly think oals against Crewe, Walsall, Hartlepool and Stockport are evidence to suggest he can be the player we need in the premier league

I would also say, looking at the "goal of the season" against Brighton, that given the defence of Brighton for that match, the freedom he got to take the ball the length of the pitch unchallenged and then to get a shot off on the edge of the box I may very well have had a stab at that goal too.

It was hardly Dalian Atkinson v Wimbledon

He was what, 18?

If Delfonso went on loan and did that now we would be waxing lyrical.

As for not being able to control a ball, thats just ridiculous. Give the kid a break, move onto another scapegoat, there are far worse in the team.

[Rob182]

Stu_The_Villan, just wondering why you think Delph is a creative goalscoring midfielder? he has 6 career league goals ( all in league 1 I believe ) and to be quite honest I can't ever remember him looking remotely creative at Villa. Not having a go or anything just curious.

When I've seen Delph in, what I believe has been, his best games for us, he's had room to push forward, sprayed passes wide and forward to create attacks and has also been excellent at dribbling the ball forward, round opposition players.

I do remember a bunch of games where he was the only person in our team who had the confidence to actually push forward. Now I would say that him and Bannan are the two most confident of doing this (though Delph's confidence has probably been effected with his recent, below-par performances)

[Keyblade]

That Fabian Delph, hes shit int he?

No disrespect to any of these teams but I hardly think oals against Crewe, Walsall, Hartlepool and Stockport are evidence to suggest he can be the player we need in the premier league

I would also say, looking at the "goal of the season" against Brighton, that given the defence of Brighton for that match, the freedom he got to take the ball the length of the pitch unchallenged and then to get a shot off on the edge of the box I may very well have had a stab at that goal too.

It was hardly Dalian Atkinson v Wimbledon

He was what, 18?

If Delfonso went on loan and did that now we would be waxing lyrical.

As for not being able to control a ball, thats just ridiculous. Give the kid a break, move onto another scapegoat, there are far worse in the team.

How is it ridiculous when he's shown in the past couple of games that he is inept at controlling simple passes and even giving them. Not having a go or anything but he's been shocking these past few games. The talent is there; he put in 2 MOTM performances at the start of the season.

[barry'sboots]

there is a slight difference between Barcelona and rafas Liverpool team compared to us. main thing being the quality of players, quality of the coaches and the style of football. when we play 4-2-3-1 it totally kills any attacking options off. bent gets limited supply and gabby and heskey are ineffective as they are out of position. We can't bring nzobia or allbrighton in as they are very poor. Ireland is still fairly lazy and Delph is woeful at best. Hutton is meant to be an attacking outlet but he can't cross and his position play when defending is awful. our team lacks the creativity and technical ability to play this system. to make a 4-2-3-1 work he would need to make about 5 or 6 signings.

Looking at your assessment of our personnel, I am not sure that there is any formation that we could play that would only involve players acceptable to you?

[barry'sboots]

I wonder with Young out the door, Lichaj unavailable, Cuellar unavailable and only Herd as a viable RB how many people would argue he'd got his priorities wrong if he'd gone out and bought a defensive midfileder who had thus far performed to the same level as Hutton but it was at right back where teams were cutting us apart and setting up goal scoring opportunity after goal scoring opportunity.

I honestly dont think he can do anything right in some people's eyes.

On what appears to be a very tight budget he went out signed an excellent GK, an attacking player who we all agree has much more class than he is currently showing, a proven centre midfielder at upper PL level who should be hungry to show what he can do and a proven right back at this level.

Now as far as I can see if the club had managed the NRC situation a little better we pretty much wouldn't have anything to moan about personnel wise and we could all focus on discussing our views on formations and styles of football.

Sure we would all like better quality sprinkeld throughout the side but I seriously think we have to be realistic about what we can attract at the moment both in terms of reputation and wages we're prepared to pay.

It's a bit like me telling you I want a 3 yr old car that performs like an Aston Martin but I'm only going to give you the value of 12 year old fiesta to buy it with, and then blaming you for not being able to provide what I asked for. I mean some people would argue that I dont even need a car with the performance of an Aston Martin anyway....

EDIT: Forgot about Beye (But that's easily done)

I think the player that you forgot and then included via your edit makes your argument redundant for me. I would rather see Beye playing RB for a few games and see a strong DCM playing than Hutton play and a big gap in the middle of the park. I also think we have unnecessarily helped Spurs - a potential rival - out of a tight spot by taking one of their 4 right backs off their staff and creating capacity in their wage bill for a CM'er.

[stanthemanisgod]

Well BB I'll bow to your superior footballing knowledge.

The way I see it I've seen nothing form Beye to indicate he could the job at RB and the fact that Herd has been preferred to Beye would suggest those involved in the team selection agree. It would therefore follow that a Right Back was required if Luke Young was sold.

I dont see why you have it down as black and white as one or the other, how do you know the purchase of Hutton meant there was no funds for a defensive midfielder, how do you know the manager didn't try to sign one Lerner wouldn't sanction the wages? How do you know it wasn't a case of 'you can go and sign as many players as you want providing their individual wages dont total more than £30k a week?

You're assuming that any wages saved on not buying Hutton would have been made available for this extra midfielder.

Now I dont know the ins and outs of it either but then again I'm not making rediculous criticisms of a manager, who whilst I do not neccessarily agree with, has done very little wrong since taking over.

As far as I can tell you're criticising him for not being somebody else, and that's hardly his fault, if you wasnt to have a moan, then moan at the board who have set the financial contraints for player recruitment and have seemingly set their level of expectation in appointing a man like McLeish in the first place.

[Stu_The_Villan]

Just because McCleish has shoe-horned him into the DCM position due to Petrovs inability to break up play it doesnt mean thats his best position.

Stan lead the league in interceptions earlier in the season and got a staggering 9 against Man City. He's doing a better job at DM than Delph whilst not even playing there.

As for your excuse as it not being Delphs best position, so what? He can't control a ball so it doesn't matter where he plays he's going to be ineffective. At least now it's not ruining every single attack.

Why is it that whenever Petrovs name is mentioned the stats start coming out??. Watch the Man City goals again, one of the goals Petrov lost the ball in the centre and then did absolutley fook all to win the ball back and the next thing you know Man City have breezed past him and gone down the other end and scored. The best one was the goal from the corner though. Watch Petrov...he actually turns his back on goal as the corner is taken and starts to walk towards the opposition goal. THEN when the ball goes in the net he turns around and throws his arms up into the air!! Wasnt picking ANYBODY up and wasnt even looking at the ball!! Hes useless. How people cant see this amazes me.

But Stan is a true pro and a very nice bloke and Delphs just a kid from Leeds. I guess its just easier to make Delph the scapegoat

[Villarocker]

I wonder with Young out the door, Lichaj unavailable, Cuellar unavailable and only Herd as a viable RB how many people would argue he'd got his priorities wrong if he'd gone out and bought a defensive midfileder who had thus far performed to the same level as Hutton but it was at right back where teams were cutting us apart and setting up goal scoring opportunity after goal scoring opportunity.

I honestly dont think he can do anything right in some people's eyes.

On what appears to be a very tight budget he went out signed an excellent GK, an attacking player who we all agree has much more class than he is currently showing, a proven centre midfielder at upper PL level who should be hungry to show what he can do and a proven right back at this level.

Now as far as I can see if the club had managed the NRC situation a little better we pretty much wouldn't have anything to moan about personnel wise and we could all focus on discussing our views on formations and styles of football.

Sure we would all like better quality sprinkeld throughout the side but I seriously think we have to be realistic about what we can attract at the moment both in terms of reputation and wages we're prepared to pay.

It's a bit like me telling you I want a 3 yr old car that performs like an Aston Martin but I'm only going to give you the value of 12 year old fiesta to buy it with, and then blaming you for not being able to provide what I asked for. I mean some people would argue that I dont even need a car with the performance of an Aston Martin anyway....

EDIT: Forgot about Beye (But that's easily done)

I think the player that you forgot and then included via your edit makes your argument redundant for me. I would rather see Beye playing RB for a few games and see a strong DCM playing than Hutton play and a big gap in the middle of the park. I also think we have unnecessarily helped Spurs - a potential rival - out of a tight spot by taking one of their 4 right backs off their staff and creating capacity in their wage bill for a CM'er.

As well as giving their now right back half a season's Premier League experience whilst freezing out our own youngsters who could have played there instead!!

[Villarocker]

I see Big Eck is going to drop players who neglect their defensive duties at corners. I might have to start taking my boots along in December!

[Zatman]

I see Big Eck is going to drop players who neglect their defensive duties at corners.

and rightfully so