Mantis Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 (edited) And there are still fans who defended what we did in January. Ridiculous. I'm on the fence but I don't think it's ridiculous really. It's not like we could've easily gone out and bought another Vlaar. Clark looks pretty good next to Vlaar but when he's not there he's **** awful. There's no guarantee that that wouldn't be the case with another defender. Its hiis leadership more than his play. Big problem with this team since Lambert came is no leadership no captain. I miss Petrov for this reason. Not a great player but leadership A1! To be fair we suffered the same problem with Petrov too in 10/11 and 11/12. When he was out we fell to pieces. We didn't even win a game after he was diagnosed with leukemia that season. Edited February 8, 2014 by Mantis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Updated table. The figures got even more disparate. Points per game ratio stretched out across the season (rounded up): With Vlaar - 53 Without Vlaar - 22 With him we're a decent if unspectacular side. Without him we're not even Premier League standard - it's that simple. We desperately need him back for the Cardiff game otherwise it's basically a guaranteed defeat. Simply... Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 It's also worth pointing out that both of the wins and 2 of the draws achieved when Vlaar was out were the very first 4 games of his first injury back in late November/December 2012. So basically, since the 3-1 at Liverpool our record without Vlaar has been: won 0, drawn 2 and lost 11. Forget Benteke, Delph or Gabby. This is why our season rests almost solely on Vlaar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Shame Lambert hasn't noticed this?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelVilla Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Ah so having quality players pay off... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 (edited) Ah so having quality players pay off... It's more than that. We have other quality players, but Vlaar is the only one with any real leadership qualities it seems. Edited February 8, 2014 by Mantis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelVilla Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Ah so having quality players pay off... It's more than that. We have other quality players, but Vlaar is the only one with any real leadership qualities it seems. We have others but not very many. Think what a signing of a player with Stan's qualities would have done for us in January. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 (edited) Its farcical that our record is so abysmal without one player. I like Ron he is a decent defender but he is in no way a great player or a one man mountain who stops teams from scoring. What he is though is a good leader who is capable of organizing those around him. As a top flight team though, or any team for that matter, we should not be so reliant on one player to lead and organize. A lot of supporters have been crying out over the last 18 months for some players with a little bit of nous/experience and leadership qualities to be brought into the squad to guide the young lads around them. We haven't though and that means when our only leader is out we suffer far more than we should. In January it was plain that a centre back better than Baker needed to be brought in to cover if Vlaar was out. A player with some experience and leadership qualities that could play the senior centre back role alongside Clark who often looks lost when Vlaar is out. We could pay a heavy price for failing to do so yet it could have been prevented with the necessary backing from Lerner as I am struggling to believe that Lambert couldn't identify a gettable player to help prevent what many of us could see as a potential major issue. Edited February 8, 2014 by markavfc40 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 As far as we know Lambert was never after a centre back, which is worrying?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 As far as we know Lambert was never after a centre back, which is worrying?? As far as we know being the key bit there. Although according to HH we were I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelVilla Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Mantis have a point here, on HH it sounded that we were after a Kouyate type of player…either HH was lying or Lerner is selling up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabby Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I could be wrong but I think we have conceded 2 goals every game Vlaar has been out this season.It's an utter shambles , we fall apart everytime he is injured due to the replacements being so piss poor. Fact is we are better because he is a decent defender and he is EXPERIANCED !!.How many times does the team have to make naive stupid mistakes till this hits home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KjParton Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 We need him for Cardiff or its just another simple defeat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Biro Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Obviously hes been great this year but i cant help thinking he is just one of those injury prone players and we have no backup when he's not there, if he keeps getting injured in the run in then its going to far too close for comfort. Clark/Baker are absolute garbage. Clark passes for a bog standard bottom half CB next to vlaar but when he's not there he's horrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chap of Steel Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 As far as we know Lambert was never after a centre back, which is worrying?? To be fair £4 million (I believe?) had been shelled out on Okore, but I do think a short-term loan should have been sorted out in January given injuries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avflife Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 (edited) Record this season with Vlaar playing played 19 won 7, drew 5 and lost 7 (including against Chelsea) and without Vlaar played 6, drew 1 (where we were outplayed by Swansea) and lost 5, speaks volumes doesn't it. The two goals yesterday, thinking he might of stopped the first, but second was a shocking error from Fabian Delph. He shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the back-four, but he has to cover Lowton's clueless League One arse. Edited February 9, 2014 by Avflife Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I don't know if it's true or if it's been mentioned already but someone said on twitter that we haven't won a match that Vlaar hasn't played in since December 2012, when we beat Liverpool. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 I don't know if it's true or if it's been mentioned already but someone said on twitter that we haven't won a match that Vlaar hasn't played in since December 2012, when we beat Liverpool. This is what I said earlier. Both of our wins achieved with Vlaar out were in November/December 2012 and so too were 2 of the 4 draws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AValon Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 He is a presence, theres no doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiegoD Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Its Ridiculous how bad our record is without him. The complete lack of leadership with him out of the team is nothing short of embarrassing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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