Petrov - 'We have let the fans down.'

[UsualSuspect]

Good at passing sideways

Falls over a lot

Terrible level of fitness

Mediocre player at best

[Mazrim]

He has not been one of our best performers at all. He's had one game recently where you could say he was the standard we need in a central midfielder and that was the Newcastle match.
It's mostly crab like ineffective passing, being bypassed easily and breathing through his arse 10 minutes into the second half. Reo Coker, for all his faults, is regularly outperforming him and has been far more consistently good this season.

If he is in the starting XI next season we are in big trouble in my opinion and currently there is no way he should be in the side ahead of Delph certainly and Makoun.
He'll do well in a more ponderous league though. Maybe a midtable Serie A side or something.

I'm not sure what Delph has done to demonstrate he should be in side ahead of those who have been playing.

Faster, better range of passing, tenacity and fitness. Also more of a goal threat. He only lacks experience and he wont get that unless he's played.

[Greg N'Ash]

He has not been one of our best performers at all. He's had one game recently where you could say he was the standard we need in a central midfielder and that was the Newcastle match.
It's mostly crab like ineffective passing, being bypassed easily and breathing through his arse 10 minutes into the second half. Reo Coker, for all his faults, is regularly outperforming him and has been far more consistently good this season.

If he is in the starting XI next season we are in big trouble in my opinion and currently there is no way he should be in the side ahead of Delph certainly and Makoun.
He'll do well in a more ponderous league though. Maybe a midtable Serie A side or something.

I'm not sure what Delph has done to demonstrate he should be in side ahead of those who have been playing.

yep, no wonder leeds thanked us when we bought him.

[Merv]

Thanks Stan.

So far this week:

Brutal Honesty 2 (Petrov, Luke Young) Footballer-tinted Specs 1 (NRC)

As for his future... sorry, not for me. Flashes of class still but looks laboured too often. I wouldn't want us to keep both him and NRC in the squad next season and given that we have Makoun now, who plays a similar type of game to Petrov, I'd sell Stan to a European club while his international reputation is reasonably sound still. Get £2m or so. We'd be better off moving him on and getting in Kallstrom, who's more athletic and three years younger.

As for an impact off the bench... he's got composure alright but that's part of my reasoning for retaining an experienced player like Reo-Coker next season. I'd rather, if we needed a midfielder capable of opening up a defence, we turned to Bannan from the bench. Stan's showing the classic signings of a once-decent playmaker getting old - retreating further and further back, playing safe passes. Not what we need.

[nick harper]

He has not been one of our best performers at all. He's had one game recently where you could say he was the standard we need in a central midfielder and that was the Newcastle match.
It's mostly crab like ineffective passing, being bypassed easily and breathing through his arse 10 minutes into the second half. Reo Coker, for all his faults, is regularly outperforming him and has been far more consistently good this season.

If he is in the starting XI next season we are in big trouble in my opinion and currently there is no way he should be in the side ahead of Delph certainly and Makoun.
He'll do well in a more ponderous league though. Maybe a midtable Serie A side or something.

I'm not sure what Delph has done to demonstrate he should be in side ahead of those who have been playing.

Faster, better range of passing, tenacity and fitness. Also more of a goal threat. He only lacks experience and he wont get that unless he's played.

If he's that good (and I have to be honest I'm not sure), then why hasn't he had more opportunities in his favourite position from the various managers we've had this year?

[Mazrim]

In what way is he a class performer? And if we're ever going to be a top 6 side again we dont need any kind of version of Petrov.

I find that a bizarre statement considering we were 6th for three consecutive years with him being a fixture in the side?

What we need, and have needed for a while, is an improved version who has extra energy and physicality to truely dominate a midfield.

He did have a lot to do with us finishing 6th, you're right. With a better player (not hard) we would have done better than 6th though. Any success we had in midfield was more to do with the likes of Barry and Milner.
Unfortunately we bought Sidwell instead of Parker for instance.

Sorry, I'm yet to see why we need a better version of Petrov and what it is he brings that has any charm to begin with. He's not terrible and is a model pro but why do we need a younger version? So he can crab across the midfield in more spritely fashion?

How about this for an idea. Dont bother with any version of Petrov and get another kind of player that is just better. One who'll boss a midfield, support the attacks with driving runs and a few goals, and/or protect the defence for the whole match. One who'll move into space to collect the ball and look forward first to realease the ball to our attacking threats? Since we lost Barry first and then Milner, we've had nobody who can use the ball quickly, bravely and intelligently.

If he's playing with NRC he needs to do this and he's not up to it, neither is he a defensive midfielder you can rely on.
So whilst I admire him as a person, I'm trying to list his pros and apart from experience, all I come up with is cons. So please, somebody tell me why he should be a central midfielder for Aston Villa. Because I dont get it.

[Mazrim]

He has not been one of our best performers at all. He's had one game recently where you could say he was the standard we need in a central midfielder and that was the Newcastle match.
It's mostly crab like ineffective passing, being bypassed easily and breathing through his arse 10 minutes into the second half. Reo Coker, for all his faults, is regularly outperforming him and has been far more consistently good this season.

If he is in the starting XI next season we are in big trouble in my opinion and currently there is no way he should be in the side ahead of Delph certainly and Makoun.
He'll do well in a more ponderous league though. Maybe a midtable Serie A side or something.

I'm not sure what Delph has done to demonstrate he should be in side ahead of those who have been playing.

Faster, better range of passing, tenacity and fitness. Also more of a goal threat. He only lacks experience and he wont get that unless he's played.

If he's that good (and I have to be honest I'm not sure), then why hasn't he had more opportunities in his favourite position from the various managers we've had this year?

Apart from the fact he's been recovering from a serious injury, I honestly dont know. I know he is rated by the coaching staff though. That I can guarantee you. Obviously MON was playing him a lot more before his injury.

[Villa'Zawg]

I think it is foolish to judge any of our players on this season's form.

[not3bad]

I think it is foolish to judge any of our players on this season's form.

Does that not kind of excuse them from any responsibility?

[pauliewalnuts]

On the form of the team as a whole, that's unfair, but there are a number of them who have consistently put in performances which have been nothing short of pathetic this season.

[Mazrim]

I think it is foolish to judge any of our players on this season's form.

In relation to Petrov, I'm not.

[JJ-AV]

I'd keep him and let him go next Summer.

I reckon he'll still be here next season and then go on a free next summer.

How long has he got left? I thought he had another 2 years after this season.

[not3bad]

I'd keep him and let him go next Summer.

I reckon he'll still be here next season and then go on a free next summer.

How long has he got left? I thought he had another 2 years after this season.

I thought you could go on a Bosman when there was only one year left?

[Merv]

I think it is foolish to judge any of our players on this season's form.

Really? I agree if a player has had three good seasons and then been below-par this season - Hi Gabby! - then that's reasonable but I think Petrov has been a declining force for a couple of seasons now. In fact, he's been far from totally convincing for a good amount of his time here, IMO.

[garyshawsknee]

I think it is foolish to judge any of our players on this season's form.

Really? I agree if a player has had three good seasons and then been below-par this season - Hi Gabby! - then that's reasonable but I think Petrov has been a declining force for a couple of seasons now. In fact, he's been far from totally convincing for a good amount of his time here, IMO.

You can say the same about Dunne and Warnock ,especially the latter,he's been Blues for over a year now.