Barry Bannan

[Concrete John]

Here's the exact quotes,

"Barry sees pictures and Benty (Darren Bent ) probably loved it when he came on," McLeish told the club’s official website.

"I guess Benty may fancy Barry in the team but it's difficult when you're looking at all elements of play to keep everyone satisfied but he's got a contribution to make and his cross for Benty's header was typical of the way those two connect.

"It's hard to ignore a guy of his ability. He does want to play. He does want to make the passes.

"He's got a clever mind. He's inventive and creative. There are a lot of creative players in the world as we know and we can't ignore these guys."

See, that sounds to me like he wants to and intends to start playing him more. 

Despite everything, Emile has done OK so far this season and doesn't deserve to be dropped based on himself alone.  However, failing to score in two out of three league games is a sign of a potential issue, so as manager he has to balance that with the fact we've only let in one goal in those games, which i in part to do with the overall team set up.

Personally, I'd drop Heskey and play Bannan, but I can still understand why AM might not just yet. 

[Concrete John]

I don't think mcleish has done much wrong

This is very true.  The only 'bad' result we've had so far was not beating Wolves at home, but when you consider their form and that we lost that game the previous season, even that was far from disastrous.

[Ryu]

That's something I was thinking about the otjer day John. Last season we beat blackburn at home, but lost to fulham away and wolves at home. So we've done better in our 3 games this season when compared with the same games under GH. 

[Vanilla]

I don't think mcleish has done much wrong

This is very true.  The only 'bad' result we've had so far was not beating Wolves at home, but when you consider their form and that we lost that game the previous season, even that was far from disastrous.

Remember this was our easy start to the season as a lot of pundits stated. I am just worried we are reading too much into that Blackburn victory, a team which couldn't score against Everton, even when given two penalties.

[VillaAlways]

That's something I was thinking about the otjer day John. Last season we beat blackburn at home, but lost to fulham away and wolves at home. So we've done better in our 3 games this season when compared with the same games under GH. 

We drew with Fulham away,although it felt like a loss

[Concrete John]

What I'm reading into the three games thus far is a very strong defence, which I think we'll continue with through the season.  As we also know we have players that can score and create, getting the blend of that front 6 right is where we'll fail or suceed this season. 

[pedro25]

We played superbly at Fulham away last season with Bannan, Clark, Albrighton and Delfouneso all playing.  They were benchwarmers this time round, and we were pretty dire, same result though granted.

[Concrete John]

I wouldn't say we were dire, although it was a pretty dull game all round.  And say what you like about Clark and Bannan, but on present form Albrighton and Delfouneso do not deserve a start ahead of Gabby, Nzogbia and Bent.

[Duncan Shaw]

We did indeed Pedro, the ball from wee Barry to Marc for the goal was one the passes of the seasom IMO.

[Monty]

Here's the exact quotes,

"Barry sees pictures and Benty (Darren Bent ) probably loved it when he came on," McLeish told the club’s official website.

"I guess Benty may fancy Barry in the team but it's difficult when you're looking at all elements of play to keep everyone satisfied but he's got a contribution to make and his cross for Benty's header was typical of the way those two connect.

"It's hard to ignore a guy of his ability. He does want to play. He does want to make the passes.

"He's got a clever mind. He's inventive and creative. There are a lot of creative players in the world as we know and we can't ignore these guys."

See, that sounds to me like he wants to and intends to start playing him more. 

Despite everything, Emile has done OK so far this season and doesn't deserve to be dropped based on himself alone.  However, failing to score in two out of three league games is a sign of a potential issue, so as manager he has to balance that with the fact we've only let in one goal in those games, which i in part to do with the overall team set up.

Personally, I'd drop Heskey and play Bannan, but I can still understand why AM might not just yet. 

I'm afraid you've hit the nail on the head there, John - Heskey can't really have played that well because his role is surely to help the creation of chances and, frankly, in two out of three games not only did we not score, we barely created anything. He may have done well defensively (though I don't actually remember him clearing away more than two set-pieces over the course of all the three games), but while it's 1 point for a draw and 3 for a win a team should always prioritise how its forward players can attack, not defend (besides, Bannan helps us defensively by keeping the ball better - it's the old Clough maxim, that if you have the ball in their half, they can't score).

[Ryu]

 Quote from: Ryu on Today at 10:20:19 AM ---That's something I was thinking about the otjer day John. Last season we beat blackburn at home, but lost to fulham away and wolves at home. So we've done better in our 3 games this season when compared with the same games under GH. 

--- End quote ---
We drew with Fulham away,although it felt like a loss



My mistake, it was so gutting I must have remembered it as a loss. I still maintain that its not been a bad start, at all and my feeling is that if pretty much any other manager had been appointed than mcleish a more people would be giving him a bit of leeway rather than proclaiming that anything approaching decent football has been banished from VP for the forseeable future.

[Concrete John]

I'm afraid you've hit the nail on the head there, John - Heskey can't really have played that well because his role is surely to help the creation of chances and, frankly, in two out of three games not only did we not score, we barely created anything. He may have done well defensively (though I don't actually remember him clearing away more than two set-pieces over the course of all the three games), but while it's 1 point for a draw and 3 for a win a team should always prioritise how its forward players can attack, not defend (besides, Bannan helps us defensively by keeping the ball better - it's the old Clough maxim, that if you have the ball in their half, they can't score).

Although I wouldn't necessarily disagree with you, you could also argue he's scored one of our three league goals this season.

I don't think AM sees him as being creative as such, but arther he's there to hold the ball up and feed others.  Plus his ability at set pieces.  I'd still prefer Bannan and think we'll see that change before too long. 

[VillaAlways]

Quote from: Ryu on Today at 10:20:19 AM ---That's something I was thinking about the otjer day John. Last season we beat blackburn at home, but lost to fulham away and wolves at home. So we've done better in our 3 games this season when compared with the same games under GH. 

--- End quote ---
We drew with Fulham away,although it felt like a loss



My mistake, it was so gutting I must have remembered it as a loss. I still maintain that its not been a bad start, at all and my feeling is that if pretty much any other manager had been appointed than mcleish a more people would be giving him a bit of leeway rather than proclaiming that anything approaching decent football has been banished from VP for the forseeable future.

I agree Ryu,although we'll never be playing like Barcelona I think he has made a good start.His priority was our defence,getting us more solid and getting back the reputation of being hard to beat.Last season we dropped so many points from winning positions opposing teams knew they had a chance of getting something from us right to the end.In my opinion he has got everything spot on so far

[Ryu]

John I agree. Heskey isn't as bad as some would have you believe and has done Ok this season, even scoring a goal!  And reading AM's comments it appears he rates Bannan pretty highly so I'm sure he'll feature regularly this season. 

[Shrek]

I hope Bannan gets a chance but this supposed good start won't be so good if we have drawn 10 games by November, which will happen if he keeps playing Heskey in an attacking role.