What's the point of Collins?

[Rudy Can't Fail]

As for Clark, doesn't he prefer to play on the left, so it would be Dunne not Collins he's in line to replace.

That's why you'd play Cuellar and Clark as a partnership ...

To be fair, Dunne has been more than decent this season but I get the idea that Dunne and Collins are best mates so neither is dropable without rocking the boat. If it meant dropping both to bring in Clark, so be it, nobody is bigger than the team. More urgent than Collins is Hutton, does anybody know when Eric L is back?

[Big Dick Edwards]

I like Collins personally. He's no world beater but he's an example of where we are as a club at the moment.

[TimTheVillain]

He's the least-skillful half of a centre-back duo. See also Chris Nicholl, Ken McNaught, Shaun Teale. What was the point of them?

They had better foils than Dunne maybe.
I hope Clark is a first choice this time next year otherwise the ''Why did we sell Cahill?'' threads will be overtaken for most multiple topics about the same bloody thing.

And they were better players themselves.

[villa exile]

I like Collins..

He may not be the quickest Centre Back in the World but he more than makes up for it with his tackling & blocking.

He'd get in my Villa Team every week.

[AV82EC]

I think he's been out of form all season.  He gets bullied and dominated too easily by large opposition strikers and centre backs at set pieces and has had a huge tendency all season to dive into challenges ending up on his arse and out of the game.  His positioning at times is woeful as he seems to get dragged to the ball like a 10 year old schoolboy meaning he quite often has to resort to risky last ditch tackles and blocks.  His distribution is woeful and he doesn't score enough from set pieces.  So on balance he shouldn't be in the team.  He's got out of jail on more than one occasion this season by Dunne's covering.

However, the one mitigating factor he gets in his favour is having to play alongside Alan Hutton who is even more clueless.

[Clampy]

I like Collins as well, but i'd also like to see Carlos finally given a proper run at centre half.

[SoccerHQ]

Our right side of the defence is incredibly weak at the moment and it will continually be exposed over the next few weeks.

[QBVILLA]

Collins is brave and committed, can't knock his attitude.However, ability wise he's IMO not good enough.Personally i'd give Cuellar and Dunne the chance to form a partnership but I feel that is unlikely as Cuellar will be off in January.

[N'ZMAV]

How many mid-table Premier Leauge teams would Collins get into? Stoke? Fulham? Newcastle? Everton? not sure.
I'd like to see Clark play.

[brontebilly]

Cuellar might be an improvement on Collins defensively but he will hoof it just as bad.

That is why I would bring Clark in. We need a complete transformation of the way we play.

Clark will help us keep the ball. Particularly when other sides playing one up front he can push on a bit.

McLeish wont see that though. He hasnt a clue frankly.

[rutski]

He cannot tackle, has no pace, goes down too easily, can't read the ball correctly and finds himself out of position alot. It appears he enjoys hoofing the ball way too much that's the worst out of the lot. How can he pick up so much wages every week without having any guilt that he has no football ability? Why is it he always starts in our team but can't get off the Wales bench? He always looks lost and hopeless on the pitch.

It seems he has too much power in the dressing room because there's no other reason why a manager would pick him even over someone like Clark who actually has football talent and could really blend well with Given and Dunne by his side. It actually makes me sick we've gone from good defenders such as Laursen, Mellberg to this troublesome waste of space who must be thinking it's the lottery every week with the money he's on.

Now it looks like he could be getting a 2 year extension if McLeish gets his way. 

you are a right bundle of fun you are arent you. If we were in the trenches i hope you aint anywhere near me! talk about a harbinger of doom!

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I think he's been out of form all season.  He gets bullied and dominated too easily by large opposition strikers and centre backs at set pieces and has had a huge tendency all season to dive into challenges ending up on his arse and out of the game.  His positioning at times is woeful as he seems to get dragged to the ball like a 10 year old schoolboy meaning he quite often has to resort to risky last ditch tackles and blocks.  His distribution is woeful and he doesn't score enough from set pieces.  So on balance he shouldn't be in the team.  He's got out of jail on more than one occasion this season by Dunne's covering.

However, the one mitigating factor he gets in his favour is having to play alongside Alan Hutton who is even more clueless.

Spot on there, AV82EC, especially the last part.

[UsualSuspect]

Collins has the positional sense of a sunday league player. How hard is it to man mark a player as opposed to giving him 5 yards space then lookind bewildered holding your arm up for offside when at least 2 teammates are standing behind you

He isn't making the Welsh first team is he?

Cuellar needs to come in for him

[TheSandman]

I don't know what's scarier. That 3/4 of our back four is either out of form or just plain crap or that the remaining quarter is Mr Inconsistency himself, Richard Dunne.