Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Can Gana Be Bettered!?!? on December 11, 2010, 06:37:08 PM
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Albrighton, Bannan, Hogg, Clark and Lichaj always seem to look to pass the ball to a team-mate no matter where they are on the pitch and whether there is an opponent on top of them, which is a refreshing change.
I assume they have come into the first team playing like this as this is how they play in the reserves.
It's nice to see players who want to pass and recieve the ball, no matter the situation.
Obviously it'll go wrong on occasions, but for the amount of times they play themselves out of awkward positions, it's worth it and it's good to watch.
Does anyone watch the reserves regularly? Is this how the reserve team play?
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I think it's more what GH is trying to get us playing. Possession football..
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I posted this on the Post Match thread but May as well stick it here..
I was thinking exactly the same. A few people mentioned during the week how Houllier needs time to bring in his own players to play the his style. He's landed on his feet with our kids who have been brought up to play football the right way. They really have done us proud and on todays performance, I may have to eat humble pie regarding Lichaj, who I've never been that impressed with. Today I thought he put in a solid first team debut.
Agree about Hogg too. The lad suffered a serious injury a while back that may slowed down his development but looks like he has what it takes to claim a place in the squad. It was great to have Barry Bannan back, even if he did drift out the game in the second half. As for Albrighton, I've always been a fan and although there's plenty of room for improvement, he looks like being a great player even if he's not quite ready to play the full 90 minutes. As a striker, Houllier is doing the right thing with the Fonz, giving him a few minutes here and there, building up his confidence which I thought was shot after the summer away with England U19's.
We have a lot to thank our people at the Academy and Kevin Mac with the Reserves.
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They're certainly doing very well but we are relying too heavily on them at this stage of thier development imho. I certainly don't want to go in February hoping they will consistently perform. They won't as with all young players. With people like Ireland failing to make any sort of contribution we need a few faces to take the pressure off them and allow the luxury of taking them out of what could be a long hard slog to May.
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I posted this on the Post Match thread but May as well stick it here..
I was thinking exactly the same. A few people mentioned during the week how Houllier needs time to bring in his own players to play the his style. He's landed on his feet with our kids who have been brought up to play football the right way. They really have done us proud and on todays performance, I may have to eat humble pie regarding Lichaj, who I've never been that impressed with. Today I thought he put in a solid first team debut.
Agree about Hogg too. The lad suffered a serious injury a while back that may slowed down his development but looks like he has what it takes to claim a place in the squad. It was great to have Barry Bannan back, even if he did drift out the game in the second half. As for Albrighton, I've always been a fan and although there's plenty of room for improvement, he looks like being a great player even if he's not quite ready to play the full 90 minutes. As a striker, Houllier is doing the right thing with the Fonz, giving him a few minutes here and there, building up his confidence which I thought was shot after the summer away with England U19's.
We have a lot to thank our people at the Academy and Kevin Mac with the Reserves.
good point regarding Fonz Mark. Bringing on Carew today wouldn't have served any purpose really. Giving the Fonz a few minutes while we were winning will give him notice of the manager's confidence in him.
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Lets hope we are the team to break the mould I know its been forced on us but Im more excited about playing the youngsters than buying some over priced so called star that doesn't want to really play for us.
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Albrighton will be an international this time next year. I'd put money on it.*
* Not my own, obviously
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All of the chaps coming through from the youth team look very very good and comfortable on the ball. A friend of mine had lunch with one of the Manure coaches last week and they are really impressed by Bannan. Hogg seems to be growing by the game and Licaj looked very capable today. Some of our returning senior players will find it difficult to regain their first team places.
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All of the chaps coming through from the youth team look very very good and comfortable on the ball. A friend of mine had lunch with one of the Manure coaches last week and they are really impressed by Bannan. Hogg seems to be growing by the game and Licaj looked very capable today. Some of our returning senior players will find it difficult to regain their first team places.
Agreed, hopefully that means we can sell/release a bit of the deadwood like Sidwell, Salifou, Osbourne and Beye and keep the competitive edge when the injured players return as they will have the babbies nipping at their heels for the shirt.
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It all bodes well for the future i also like the way they pass themselves out of trouble the youngsters are really stepping up to the plate now and considering this was Lichaj's first start very accomplished performance roll on wigan next week i say.
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Albrighton will be an international this time next year. I'd put money on it.*
Then the trouble starts.
'You're only earning how much?'
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Albrighton will almost certainly be a first team player for us for years to come.
Clark and Bannan could very well be too. And judging on their performances so far, Hogg and Lichaj could definitely offer something to the squad.
Throw in Gabby who's already made it and you have to saw how well our academy is proving to be.
Gabriele Marcotti (pompous twat, but very knowledgeable) made the point a few years back that the likes of Hibbert and Osman were the success stories of Everton's academy, as opposed to Rooney - because special talents will make it anywhere, whereas the other two were just very well coached young kids who'd been moulded into professional footballers.
I think our kids have the same sort of look about them, I don't think there's any world beaters there, but they're all valuable assets.
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Albrighton will almost certainly be a first team player for us for years to come.
Clark and Bannan could very well be too. And judging on their performances so far, Hogg and Lichaj could definitely offer something to the squad.
I think even if just Albrighton makes it - and at present I'd say that he's the most likely - then that is justification enough for the current Academy set-up.
The reality is that in the cut-throat world of top level professional football, only the very best stay around for long enough to be considered to have made it. That's why the Beckham-Butt-Scholes-Giggs-Neville Bros situation at Man Utd was so exceptional: a top club having a generation that came up together and had long, successful careers at the club that brought them through.
With Villa's current set up, if we're producing a player every two or three years that goes on to make 250+ appearances for the first team, then as far as I'm concerned our Academy is a success. If it also pays for itself by selling on the others to "lesser" teams (think Ridgewell, Gardner, etc), so much the better.
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It is good to see this as young players and parents would see our academy is doing the right thing by making them a good footballer and person and we are a good club to learn the trade and get the chance to become professional whether it is for Aston Villa or Port Vale.
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I posted this on the Post Match thread but May as well stick it here..
I was thinking exactly the same. A few people mentioned during the week how Houllier needs time to bring in his own players to play the his style. He's landed on his feet with our kids who have been brought up to play football the right way. They really have done us proud and on todays performance, I may have to eat humble pie regarding Lichaj, who I've never been that impressed with. Today I thought he put in a solid first team debut.
I though Lichaj had a very good game yesterday, a good enough performance to keep Luke Young out of the side for the Wigan game too. He looked composed and didn't treat the ball like it was a hot potato....something Young has a tendency to do at times. Seeing defenders pass there way out of trouble is a welcome change.
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I posted this on the Post Match thread but May as well stick it here..
I was thinking exactly the same. A few people mentioned during the week how Houllier needs time to bring in his own players to play the his style. He's landed on his feet with our kids who have been brought up to play football the right way. They really have done us proud and on todays performance, I may have to eat humble pie regarding Lichaj, who I've never been that impressed with. Today I thought he put in a solid first team debut.
I though Lichaj had a very good game yesterday, a good enough performance to keep Luke Young out of the side for the Wigan game too. He looked composed and didn't treat the ball like it was a hot potato....something Young has a tendency to do at times. Seeing defenders pass there way out of trouble is a welcome change.
Agreed Bren and I don't think Luke can have any complaints if he has to sit on the bench for a game or three. Eric took his chance and deserves to keep his place based on his performance yesterday.
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we also have to do better at set pieces, and Lichaj's throw ins should become a weapon just as Delap's has for Stoke. He played very competently yesterday, but I wouldn't mind seeing Luke at LB instead of Warnock for a bit.
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Bring Luke in for Warnock, IMO.
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I said back in the summer that the club need a 'philosophy' of football that runs through from the youth level right up to the senior team. When we were looking for a new manager i read some articles by Jurgen Klinsmann that impressed me. He stressed the importance of having the junior, reserve and senior teams all playing the same type of football; so that the youth can develop naturally into the senior team and integrate easier because they all play the same style of football.
I think Houllier is the right manager for that and this was probably one of the main considerations for bringing him in in the first place. It's possibly the case that in the reserve and youth teams he has found more players that can play the kind of football he wants to play than in the senior squad. We obviously have a talented pool of players now developing from the reserves, all of whom look like they will cut it at some level in the permier league. Mix these in with some of the quality players we have in the senior squad, and a few new additions, and we'll have a very good squad of players that are all being trained to play in the same way.
I think that consistency will prove to be invaluable. Under MON the reserve and the senior teams seemed to play very different styles of football, and this meant it would have been very difficult to develop the reserves into the first team. How many of the young players would he have developed and integrated into the team i wonder? It was hard enough for the subs to get a run out. They would have probably been yet more wasted assets. I wonder what the increase in value would be if you took the prices of Albrighton, Bannan, Clark, Hogg, Herd, Lihaj, Delfouneso at the start of the season and now?
When you think we also have the likes of, Delph, Gardner, Weimann, Collins etc., to possibly come through, then it's exciting times. Possibly not right now, but injuries have meant we have had to throw in the youngsters at the deep end a little quicker then we possibly would have wanted. But i think they have all pretty much given a good account of themselves and all of these players could find themselves playing regularly in a Villa shirt for a few years to come.
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Bring Luke in for Warnock, IMO.
+ 1. Luke has been poor recently but he's still better than that accident waiting to happen.
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I'm a bit out of the loop when it comes to the reserves, is there a stellar left back just waiting to break through into the first team?
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Ellis Deeney impressed me when I watched him for the youth team last season. Reminded me of Freddy Bouma.
Captain of last years youth team. I don't know how old he is though.
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Ellis Deeney impressed me when I watched him for the youth team last season. Reminded me of Freddy Bouma.
Captain of last years youth team. I don't know how old he is though.
With a name like Ellis he will have a great bicycle kick I am sure, maybe a Bid on Wayne Bridge is on the cards!
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LYoung is awful, and certainly should'nt play LB.
I thought yday, all the youngsters tried to play football all game.Even Licjah in his debut, tried to play football.Would perservere with Licjah at RB tbh.
Collins was the worst culprit yday for giving the ball away.
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Albrighton, Bannan, Hogg, Clark and Lichaj always seem to look to pass the ball to a team-mate no matter where they are on the pitch and whether there is an opponent on top of them, which is a refreshing change.
I assume they have come into the first team playing like this as this is how they play in the reserves.
It's nice to see players who want to pass and recieve the ball, no matter the situation.
Obviously it'll go wrong on occasions, but for the amount of times they play themselves out of awkward positions, it's worth it and it's good to watch.
Does anyone watch the reserves regularly? Is this how the reserve team play?
I went to watch the U-9s play at Bodymoor Heath on Sunday morning. This 'pass and move' philosophy is encouraged at all levels. We beat Leicester 8-6, by the way.
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Bring Luke in for Warnock, IMO.
+ 1. Luke has been poor recently but he's still better than that accident waiting to happen.
I agree with the sentiment but it would be better to have a left back at left back ! O'Neill copped a lot of flak for putting Luke Young on that side.
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I'm not sure i'd drop Luke Young for Lichaj just yet
as well as Lichaj played, he was playing against Jerome Thomas
I realise its not Lichaj's fault who he was facing, but its abit risky dropping Young just like that after one decent game
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I said back in the summer that the club need a 'philosophy' of football that runs through from the youth level right up to the senior team. When we were looking for a new manager i read some articles by Jurgen Klinsmann that impressed me. He stressed the importance of having the junior, reserve and senior teams all playing the same type of football; so that the youth can develop naturally into the senior team and integrate easier because they all play the same style of football.
I think Houllier is the right manager for that and this was probably one of the main considerations for bringing him in in the first place. It's possibly the case that in the reserve and youth teams he has found more players that can play the kind of football he wants to play than in the senior squad. We obviously have a talented pool of players now developing from the reserves, all of whom look like they will cut it at some level in the permier league. Mix these in with some of the quality players we have in the senior squad, and a few new additions, and we'll have a very good squad of players that are all being trained to play in the same way.
I think that consistency will prove to be invaluable. Under MON the reserve and the senior teams seemed to play very different styles of football, and this meant it would have been very difficult to develop the reserves into the first team. How many of the young players would he have developed and integrated into the team i wonder? It was hard enough for the subs to get a run out. They would have probably been yet more wasted assets. I wonder what the increase in value would be if you took the prices of Albrighton, Bannan, Clark, Hogg, Herd, Lihaj, Delfouneso at the start of the season and now?
When you think we also have the likes of, Delph, Gardner, Weimann, Collins etc., to possibly come through, then it's exciting times. Possibly not right now, but injuries have meant we have had to throw in the youngsters at the deep end a little quicker then we possibly would have wanted. But i think they have all pretty much given a good account of themselves and all of these players could find themselves playing regularly in a Villa shirt for a few years to come.
Interesting post Dribbler.
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What will be interesting is how many games the likes of Bannan, Clark, Lichaj, Hogg and Delfouneso get to play come the middle of February when the old guard are back from injury and we've had a transfer window.
To his credit Gerard is favouring them to Carew and Ireland at present and not using them as an excuse for recent poor results.
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What will be interesting is how many games the likes of Bannan, Clark, Lichaj, Hogg and Delfouneso get to play come the middle of February when the old guard are back from injury and we've had a transfer window.
To his credit Gerard is favouring them to Carew and Ireland at present and not using them as an excuse for recent poor results.
Let's hope they're not getting too many games and risking being burned out.
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I agree with everything you have said there dribbler. I too wanted Klinsmann to get the job as I could see him hanging around for 5 to 10 years, whereas Houllier might be about for 5 years tops (at his age) which is odd as his perceived strength is building the infrastructure and the long term aspects of a team/club.
I wonder what the increase in value would be if you took the prices of Albrighton, Bannan, Clark, Hogg, Herd, Lihaj, Delfouneso at the start of the season and now?
Albrighton £500k (before) £6m (now, and rising)
Bannan £1m (before) £2m now
Hogg £250k (before) £500k now
Herd nominal fee (before) £250k now
Lihaj £250k (before) £750 now
The Fonz £2.5m (before) £3m now
Whaddaya reckon?
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If you have Albrighton at £6m and rising then Bannan would be not far off that imo.
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You think? Albrighton seems to be more consistent than Bannan at the moment so I am not sure where his actual ability lies. Is he the Man Utd destroying wizard or the more anonymous player we saw versus the baggies? That's why I have his value is relatively low.
In his defence, a player like Bannan needs - to some extent - to have the team built around him. Ideally you have some brutes that can protect him, like Barca have/had Toure/Mascerano/Busquetes protecting Xaxi and Iniesta. Due to injuries we have not been able to do that.
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Albrighton's delivery and pace is so good that even when he's not 'at it' he's a threat. 2 assists on Saturday despite a relatively poor game, for example.
Reminds me of Ash in that regard, can do nothing for most of the game and then pop up with an assist or a goal.
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I reckon SuperMarc is as good as Ash was at the same age and how much did we pay for him?
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Young had played for a full season in the championship and half a season in the Premier League before we signed him if I recall correctly. Therefore there was arguably more certainty that Young would make it.
I actually think by the end of the season Albrighton will firmly be a 10-15m player but right now I could not see a club paying more than 6m (...and if I was Randy I would tell the hypothetical buying club to politely do one).