Defence- in with the new!

[LionVilla]

Our current back 4 are clearly struggling and unlikely to get better due to their age and motivation.
The questiuon is do we have  a new  and good enough back 4 line up from our young players and if not now how long before this lot make the grade?

Herd, Clark, Baker, Stevens, Lichaj

[IRISHPHIL]

does anyone think by having a left footed centre back next to warnock will help him. (clarke as think he is too slow for the midfield but can play the ball out of defence if need be)

[timeoutbigbar]

I'd stick with Dunne and Carlos, keep Hutton in because we have little choice and perhaps try Lichaj if he's fit at LB.  I like Clark and as much as I can see his passing ability, he isn't commanding enough at centre half at the moment.

[Chipsticks]

I personally think Herd and Clark are good enough, or at least definately will be - but the problem with them is that their best positions for me are in holding midfield, we need to bring through some 'proper' central defenders.

For the time being I'd like to see Dunne and Cuellar in the middle, with Lichaj at Right Back with Clark on the left, and then after we invest in a world-class left back in the summer, intergrate Clark into midfield as the next Barry.


If only.

[supertom]

We need to sign two new centrebacks, simple as that. Collins is awful and Dunne is indifferent. He's not been bad this season, but by the same token, he's not been very good. What's more, he's not raised his level of performance to what he's capable of, signifying that he's not perhaps putting in the effort. We're not talking Houllier period laziness, but he's definitely not giving 100%

We need fresh blood. A couple of decent new defenders with experience but not too old.

Cueller will leave, which is a shame because I think he's still got a lot to offer the club. He just needs a bit of a run in the side and not keep getting shifted aside or out the team by a shite Collins.

Warnock and Hutton are both terrible. Hutton's not actually too bad going forward sometimes, but you just never know when the next handball or crazy tackle is coming from, and he's been so lucky to have gone unpunished on so many. His luck will run out. That aside his positioning is awful too.
So next summer, two decent full backs are in order too. I think we're gonna have to look at lower leagues or europe.

[Mister E]

... Warnock and Hutton are both terrible ...

I think that's a litle strong: they are both prone to either error or stupid rushes of blood to the head; or both! On their day, they can play a bit.
Not good enough therefore to hold down a regular place in the starting 11; but not terrible

[olaftab]

Has Lowry signed for Milwall permanently?

[Matt C]

Yes, Lowry has gone.

[DrGonzo]

... Warnock and Hutton are both terrible ...

I think that's a litle strong: they are both prone to either error or stupid rushes of blood to the head; or both! On their day, they can play a bit.
Not good enough therefore to hold down a regular place in the starting 11; but not terrible

Sorry, but for a professional full back, Warnock is terrible.  A defender who makes errors/fouls that gift the opposition good goal scoring chances every game is terrible. 
 

[supertom]

Neither Hutton or Warnock are good enough for the Premier League. At their absolute best they're both average, but their level's of consistency are nowhere near what a club like Villa needs. I wouldn't say either would even excel in the Championship. I don't really think terrible is too harsh a word. We're all fed up with the same old shite from both of them.
The sooner they're both gone, the better. We'll never get anywhere near Europe again, if we don't have better defenders.

[Dave]

Neither Hutton or Warnock are good enough for the Premier League. At their absolute best they're both average

At Warnock's absolute best he is one of the best left-backs in the league as seen by his early season form when he first joined.

He's a liability at the moment, but he has been a very useful player for us in the past.

[jonc73]

I'd like 3 of the four to be replaced. Hutton might improve yet in my view so I excluded him.i can see some hope in the rest of the team, but without a solid back four progress will be severely limited.

[Gareth]

For me the back four will make or brak McLeish as a Villa boss, if he gets the defence and the defensive systems in both open play and at set pieces sorted in the summer he will be ok, if not it will eventually break him.

We need a pool of 7 or 8 good defenders who can be interchanged when form dictates and more to the point can be 'horses for courses' ie Hutton against the poor sides can be an asset but against quality wingers he is an accident waiting to happen.

[fredm]

Dunne is ok as long as he has someone alongside him with pace as he has lost what little he had as was shown by Cisse the other evening.  He makes up for it to a degree by his reading of the game but on occasions that has gone awry as well.

The other thing about him that worries me is that this summer he will (Presumably) be playing in the Euros.  After that he won't have anything to strive for and we know that he can be a bit unreliable regarding fitness!  It may well be that this summer would be a good time to offload him to a club in the North West, Blackburn/Wigan etc, for his final contract.  We might be able to do a swap for a youngster these teams have or else get a million or two for him.

[Shoody]

Lose Cuellar - £1.8m saved
Sell Collins - £4-5m - £2.6m saved
Sell Dunne £3-4m - £2.6m saved
Lose Beye - £2.08m saved
Sell Warnock - £3-4m - £2.3m saved

Earning us about £10-13m in cash and saving a further  £9.3m in wages

If this was FM (obviously not). I would love to see something like this happening:

Scott Dann - £5m - £1.8m a year
Nathaniel Clyne - £300k [tribunal] - £1.04m a year
Emilio Izaguirre - £5m - £1.8m a year
Rhys Williams - £3m - £1m a year.

roughly £13m spent. roughly £3m saved in wages.

Giving us

                     Given

Clyne         Dann    Clark     Izaguirre
Hutton   Williams    Baker    Stevens
Lichaj                                 Clyne
Herd                                   Baker