Talisman?

[Billy Walker]

Gabby is the man for me.  He never goes missing in big games and more often than not he delivers when the pressure is on.  True, he doesn't have that voice or media presence but he's 100% synonymous with Villa.

[danno]

"He could pop up with a match determining goal when it looked as though the game was going away from them.

He could work a dodgy free-kick or penalty and, was the player his team-mates always seemed to look to for inspiration."

Dwight Yorke, Paul Merson, Ashley Young.

I don't think you could call any of them a talisman in the same way Gerrard was for Liverpool, but they certainly fulfilled some of that criteria in their time here.

[Damo70]

The first person that sprang to mind from all of my time watching Villa was Peter Withe. As for this team it would have to be Benteke for me. The MON teams had a few candidates like Mellberg, Laursen, Barry, Milner, Young, Gabby and Carew. Under Gregory it was probably Merson. Before that, under Little it was Yorke. BFR had McGrath, Teale, Richardson (who was vastly under rated in my opinion) and Saunders. Under SGT it would have been Platt along with Cowans and McGrath. As well as Withe the early eighties side had Evans and Mortimer. I think the best sides have more than one. I would say the great Liverpool side of the early eighties had Souness and Dalglish. Chelsea have had Terry, Lampard and Drogba in the same great team. Earlier Arsenal teams had Adams and later they had Henry. Blackburn had Shearer. The old stand out talisman in a very good side was Cantona. Gerrard, to be fair has looked the best player in good sides and still looked good in lesser sides, both for club and country.

[not3bad]

What about Delph or Grealish?

[Villan For Life]

It's Sid for me. Over 400 appearances, more than 50 goals, spells as academy coaach, first team coach and assistant manager.

One of the best players to ever wear the shirt, probably the best I've seen.

[ChicagoLion]

I know what he means, when I played every now and then you would end up in a team with such a player.
Even though it looked felt like we were going to lose, he is the player that says No I am not having it and drives the rest on the team on through deeds. They are pretty rare but I did see Mortimer as that player I felt that it was him that the rest of the team looked to.

[not3bad]

Wiflred Bouma would have been a talisman if he'd stayed longer.  Then there's Mellberg and Laursen?

[ktvillan]

Villa have tended to be team oriented and rarely seem to have stand-out individual players who can be described as talismanic.  Platt,  McGrath and Yorke were top class players but either didn't stay around long enough or were not really the central hub or driving force of the team like say Shearer was at Newcastle.  Even the early 80s team didn't really have one stand out personality.   Benteke is the closest we have at the moment.

[Nelly]

Carew, Barry, Young, Yorke, Merson, Grealish soon if not already, maybe? McGrath, Laursen, Mellberg, Platt. I think we've had more than our fair share of talismanic players, though they maybe weren't always here for long, for whatever reason.

Also Ian Taylor. For me, all of these have had that ability to raise themselves to get Villa going.

[paul_e]

Carew, Barry, Young, Yorke, Merson, Grealish soon if not already, maybe? McGrath, Laursen, Mellberg, Platt. I think we've had more than our fair share of talismanic players, though they maybe weren't always here for long, for whatever reason.

Also Ian Taylor. For me, all of these have had that ability to raise themselves to get Villa going.

Surprised it took that long for Taylor to get a mention, he's the perfect choice for the title for me.