Matthew Lowton

[GarTomas]

Made it into team of the week for the BBC this week.
Memory maybe rose tinted but always thought he was a solid if unspectacular option.

[sirlordbaltimore]

Chuffed for him, likeable bloke who tried his best.

[brontebilly]

Made it into team of the week for the BBC this week.
Memory maybe rose tinted but always thought he was a solid if unspectacular option.

Tidy enough on the ball but he consistently would be sold by a winger feigning to go inside before dusting him down the line. Incredibly slow on the turn. Brutal defending his post in the air too. Nah he was shite really

[saunders_heroes]

Made it into team of the week for the BBC this week.
Memory maybe rose tinted but always thought he was a solid if unspectacular option.

Good for him, but I'm still glad he's not in our team anymore. He's worse than Richards when it comes to being out of position.

[Big Dick Edwards]

Reasonable going forward but a poor defender. I'll remember his positives though - a wonder goal at Stoke and an amazing individual performance at home to Sunderland when we gave them a real good hiding.

[Brend'Watkins]

Lowton versus any player with a hint of pace will be skinned every time. But I suppose if your team only has 20% possession in a game then he isn't going to be getting forward too much so he'll look half decent doing the thing he's fairly good at.

[Virgil Caine]

Perhaps it is a case of Lowton has benefitted from some proper coaching and has improved - Villa did have a remarkable gift for turning decent players into crap. Hopefully those days are in the past.

[Dante Lavelli]

Made it into team of the week for the BBC this week.
Memory maybe rose tinted but always thought he was a solid if unspectacular option.

Good for him, but I'm still glad he's not in our team anymore. He's worse than Richards when it comes to being out of position.

The big difference however is that Lowton was on manageable wages and arguably more willing to learn and adapt, whereas Richards seems oblivious to any failings.  Out of the two I think I'd prefer a squad of Lowtons although I ultimately agree that it's not exactly a choice if good v bad.

In many ways I think we failed Lowton - and others - by Lambert seemingly deciding to abandon any sort coaching structure at the club.  At one point I think it was just Lambert and a couple of other coaches.

[Mister E]

Perhaps it is a case of Lowton has benefitted from some proper coaching and has improved - Villa did have a remarkable gift for turning decent players into crap. Hopefully those days are in the past.

Correct, VC.

[nigel]

Perhaps it is a case of Lowton has benefitted from some proper coaching and has improved - Villa did have a remarkable gift for turning decent players into crap. Hopefully those days are in the past.

My thoughts, too.

He was very good going forward, could certainly cross a ball and he could read the game pretty well.
If only he'd have had some proper defensive coaching.
As you say, he joined us during a period where we turned decent players to crap.

[saunders_heroes]

Perhaps it is a case of Lowton has benefitted from some proper coaching and has improved - Villa did have a remarkable gift for turning decent players into crap. Hopefully those days are in the past.

My thoughts, too.

He was very good going forward, could certainly cross a ball and he could read the game pretty well.
If only he'd have had some proper defensive coaching.
As you say, he joined us during a period where we turned decent players to crap.

I don't know what you mean when you claim he read the game well when his positional sense was absolutely appalling. Also I don't go with the "poor coaching" routine that some of our fans spout regarding the last 6 years either. We just bought inferior players not fit for the PL. Claiming its down to poor coaching sounds like a convenient excuse to me.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Perhaps it is a case of Lowton has benefitted from some proper coaching and has improved - Villa did have a remarkable gift for turning decent players into crap. Hopefully those days are in the past.

My thoughts, too.

He was very good going forward, could certainly cross a ball and he could read the game pretty well.
If only he'd have had some proper defensive coaching.
As you say, he joined us during a period where we turned decent players to crap.

I don't know what you mean when you claim he read the game well when his positional sense was absolutely appalling. Also I don't go with the "poor coaching" routine that some of our fans spout regarding the last 6 years either. We just bought inferior players not fit for the PL. Claiming its down to poor coaching sounds like a convenient excuse to me.

Or the elephant in the room you try to ignore, s_h.

For me, Lowton had tonnes of potential that was never developed.

[paul_e]

Perhaps it is a case of Lowton has benefitted from some proper coaching and has improved - Villa did have a remarkable gift for turning decent players into crap. Hopefully those days are in the past.

My thoughts, too.

He was very good going forward, could certainly cross a ball and he could read the game pretty well.
If only he'd have had some proper defensive coaching.
As you say, he joined us during a period where we turned decent players to crap.

I don't know what you mean when you claim he read the game well when his positional sense was absolutely appalling. Also I don't go with the "poor coaching" routine that some of our fans spout regarding the last 6 years either. We just bought inferior players not fit for the PL. Claiming its down to poor coaching sounds like a convenient excuse to me.

Some were inferior players, that is clear and undeniable.  Others that we bought, or who came through at the club, had the potential to be easily good enough for midtable in the premier league.  Ryan Bertrand is a good example, started well with us, looked terrible by the end of his spell.  Went to a club with a decent coaching structure and is now and England international, Marc Albrighton came through brilliantly then faded and we couldn't find a way to get him playing at that level again, he's now got a league winners medal.  Okore is another example of where a player has gone backwards at the club and players like Clark and Baker showing the same technical flaws 5-6 years after they first appeared in the first team again shows that no one on the coaching team was capable of identifying and fixing those weaknesses.

Putting al lthe blame on players means that you think the only think fundamentally wrong at the club over the last 5-6 years is that we didn't spend enough money, which is hugely naive when so many clubs that are still in the premier league spent less and had lower wage bills than us in that period.  If you take a more balanced view that the playing side of the club was managed terribly by an owner who didn't really want to know then you have to start to point fingers at coaching, scouting, fitness, etc as all being below the required standards with poorly scouted players and poorly developed players coming as a consequence of those issues.

[Lastfootstamper]

It's hard to think of a player that's even slightly improved in their time with us of late. Fullbacks especially, all make a bright start then rapidly get shitter right before our eyes.

[PeterWithesShin]

Since Houllier left up to the end of last season, how many players have improved at the Villa besides Delph and Benteke? We must be talking about 50 odd players in 5 years and I can think of 2 that improved. No matter how bad you think our transfer policy was in that time, it shows there has been something fundamentally wrong with the coaching for years regardless of who was manager.