Marc Albrighton

[Risso]

It was always going to be a risk replacing the experienced and reliable Young and Downing with N'Zogbia and Albrighton.  It's early days, but so far I think the evidence is pointing to the fact that the latter pairing aren't going to be so effective this season.  However, if Delph and Bannan can continue to impress from the middle of the park, maybe we'll be less reliant on wingers anyway.

[Billy Walker]

It's a loss of form but he'll get it back.  I don't doubt Marc's talent in the slightest.  With young pros like this you have to be patient and give them time to adjust to the mental pressures and expectations of senior football.  I'm sure if we all stick with him he will become a very special player for Aston Villa.

[Matthius]

It was always going to be a risk replacing the experienced and reliable Young and Downing with N'Zogbia and Albrighton.  It's early days, but so far I think the evidence is pointing to the fact that the latter pairing aren't going to be so effective this season.  However, if Delph and Bannan can continue to impress from the middle of the park, maybe we'll be less reliant on wingers anyway.

I 100% agree with this.

[TopDeck113]

Nothing new here.  Young players often burst on to the scene, then fail to sustain their initial impact.  Coupled with that as far as Albrighton is concerned, is the fact that wide players regularly flit between being world beating match winners and a passenger that the other 10 guys are carrying - often in the same game. 

He probably just needs an arm around the shoulder and a couple of good back-to-back games.

[Mazrim]

Well said mate.

[Risso]

He's a cracking player, and I don't recall many of our young players impressing as much in their full first season as Marc did last year.  He'll be right.

[darren woolley]

I think he will come good again you dont become a bad player overnight.

[Monty]

I'd like to see him play more on the left than the right. At the moment he seems to feel like he has to beat the full back and cross every time he gets the ball. On the left he could cut in on his stronger foot, have more forward passing options or whip in a cross without having to beat his man - in short, more options, which could be good for his all-round game.

[Toronto Villa]

It's just a bump along the road in his career. He's got bags of potential and his challenge now is to find a way through this little patch and get back to the form he showed when was introduced. Most importantly he has the perfect attitude to do that.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

I have to say, he's not looking all that great at the moment. His main asset was his crossing, but that seems to have deserted him. He can't beat players and, although you can't doubt his effort, which is always 100%, he can't seem to tackle without fouling a player, sometimes in dangerous positions as well.

It's not looking good, but we've seen he can do it, he just needs some confidence. Maybe if we could get in a player for his position he could go out on loan and come back better, a la Barry Bannan?

[DeKuip]

It wasn't just last night, I haven't seen him play half decent all season

It was only the 3rd game, and he came on as sub in the other two.


It's not really surprising that he will go through dips in form, and in fairness he was given too much adulation last season from fans and press and that creates a pressure. On top of that he probably really needed a good break after last season, but was involved with U21s Championship in the summer has now come back to another new manager he has to impress.

It can't be easy for these young lads to have had so many managers in the last year or so, whose styles of play and man management seem to go from one extreme to the other.

A bit of patience required, but he'll be fine.

[not3bad]

I noticed in the games that I watched him start that he would look a little lost in the first half but would put in a much stronger permorfance in the second half.  In fact he was sensational a couple of times in this respect. Obviously someone had had a word at half time and he'd come out 2nd half with a lot more confidence and purpose. This indicates to me he needs strong management and direction to get the best out of him.

[UsualSuspect]

Disagree about these players going out on loan

If they go to a PL Club then they could be helping our rivals

Sending players of 22 to a fizzy pop team is ludicrous - see BB at Leeds

[TimTheVillain]

The judge is out on Albrighton.

The way to look at these things is to ask the question, 'would it be better to sell him ?' and thus risk another club benefiting from his talent.

Keep a watching brief and see whether AM and team can make him become the talent that we all want him to be at VP.

[Mazrim]

Just to put things into perpective, we're talking about our young player of the season from last season, which was his first essentially. He scored 6 and created 6, which is very respectable for experienced players never mind kids. Those stats are superior to, for instance, Young and Downing at a similar stage.
In fact Albrighton created a few of the much celebrated Downing's goals.

He can cross, he CAN beat players, he can score goals. This is a kid who tore the champions to bits less than a year ago and had Fergie admitting such. We're 3 games into the season, give him a break.
I think he just needs to keep playing, keep his cool and he'll reach his best form again and improve on it. We don't have the luxury, never mind the sheer stupidity, of neglecting our more promising prospects.