Richard Dunne

[ozzjim]

I agree with Eamonn, Clark should get a run in midfield at some point for me, I think he is a touch similar to Jones at United, a very good footballer that can play anywhere really, and scored a couple last season too, nearly won the Blues game at VP with a great run and header near the death. Good footballer and should be in the side somewhere.

[PeterWithesShin]

I agree Ozz but can't decide whose place he should take to be given a run.

[SoccerHQ]

He should be in ahead of Collins.

[brontebilly]

Dunne is one of the best defenders in the league at the moment. true he acted the prick last season but so did gabby but he gets nothing like the stick.

He is by a distance our best defender and to honest Kompany aside would you swap him for anyone else in the league?

Gabby might not have had a good season last year but I don't remember him doing anything that could be classed as 'acting the prick'. Remind me? I certainly don't remember him turning up at the start of the season well out of condition and compounding that by (allegedly) getting hammered and attacking a club coach who did more for this club than he'll ever do?

As for the second part, yes I would - Jones, Vidic, Agger, Vermaelan, King (when fit), Shawcross, Cahill, Samba to name but a few.

gabby's attitude was no better than Dunne's last season. He was definitely overweight, muscle or not, he had far too much bulk. There was a load of games where he was half arsed in the extreme. Blackburn away in particular where he didnt try a leg but Im sure if you dig up the Gabby thread there will be a load more examples. Seemed to me as if was sulking all last season and looking for a way out. At least Dunne had it out with the coaching staff and was key to us surviving. Gabby was hopeless all last season.

Jones' positioning is dire for a centre half. A fully fit Vidic fair enough, the others no chance. Cahill if he was any other nationality wouldnt have half the hype about him. Shawcross is no better than Collins. Vermaelen is better with the ball but as a stopper Id have Dunne ahead of him too. Agger is nothing special at all.

far from me to say Dunne is a top class centre half. But for a team with our budget he is more than good value. This isnt exactly a golden season for centre halves in the EPL. Dunne can hold his own with the vast majority. Dunne was 4 time Man City player of the year, part of the best Villa defence in more than 10 years in his first season, key to us avoiding the drop last time and easily our best defender this season so far. He has also been at international level once of the best centre halves in Europe over the last 4 years. He isnt the buffoon some of you try to paint him to be anyway

[Aston Manor]

I agree with Eamonn, Clark should get a run in midfield at some point for me, I think he is a touch similar to Jones at United, a very good footballer that can play anywhere really, and scored a couple last season too, nearly won the Blues game at VP with a great run and header near the death. Good footballer and should be in the side somewhere.

I think he needs to bulk up a bit before he can be considered a midfielder. As for the defence I'm not sure he's quite ready. Dives in too much but that comes withe experience. As a left footed player I wouldn't replace Collins for him either as you need players finding their way to be in positions natural to them.

[KevinGage]

You could look at last season as a one off for him.

You could, if you ignore his record at Everton, Man Citeh and Villa.

If he was so good, why has he only been part of a side that has finished in the top 6th once during his whole career? How many trophies has he won? Good players sometimes play for struggling sides, but if he was consistently one of the best defenders in the league he would have been parachuted out of Man Citeh after one of their many seasons of struggle.

He was no stranger to fitness and conditioning issues at his previous clubs either.
There was a period at around the time when Pearce was manager that it finally looked like the penny had dropped and he took better care of himself and he did form a consistent partnership with Distin.   But once Distin had departed -and even when Citeh had a bit of money to spend- their defence looked suspect again.   Pick up a paper during that time and chances are if the match report was about Citeh, it contained a picture of Dunne with his hands on his hips as more goals rained in.

His response?   To work harder in training?   No. He publicly blamed the foreign players.
It's always someone else.


I do get the impression that there are one of two on this thread (not all) who let their passport influence their opinions on Dunne.   If his performances for Villa reflected his performances for his country I could understand that.  But there is a pretty sizeable discrepancy between the two.

[brontebilly]

You could look at last season as a one off for him.

You could, if you ignore his record at Everton, Man Citeh and Villa.

If he was so good, why has he only been part of a side that has finished in the top 6th once during his whole career? How many trophies has he won? Good players sometimes play for struggling sides, but if he was consistently one of the best defenders in the league he would have been parachuted out of Man Citeh after one of their many seasons of struggle.

He was no stranger to fitness and conditioning issues at his previous clubs either.
There was a period at around the time when Pearce was manager that it finally looked like the penny had dropped and he took better care of himself and he did form a consistent partnership with Distin.   But once Distin had departed -and even when Citeh had a bit of money to spend- their defence looked suspect again.   Pick up a paper during that time and chances are if the match report was about Citeh, it contained a picture of Dunne with his hands on his hips as more goals rained in.

His response?   To work harder in training?   No. He publicly blamed the foreign players.
It's always someone else.


I do get the impression that there are one of two on this thread (not all) who let their passport influence their opinions on Dunne.   If his performances for Villa reflected his performances for his country I could understand that.  But there is a pretty sizeable discrepancy between the two.

he was player of the year for four years in a row at City which kind of blows your passport argument out the water. Part of the best Villa defence in donkey years 09/10. Season where he made the team of the year. Check our goals conceded that term compared to others. Our best defender again this season I doubt very few would argue with.

Paul McGrath spent a lot of his club career outside the top league positions too.

Dunne isnt the greatest professional in the world, he was a disgrace at the start of last season and has off field issues generally. But he is a very effective player. I honestly cant understand the stick he gets on here.

[KevinGage]

he was player of the year for four years in a row at City which kind of blows your passport argument out the water.

How so? 

  Being Citeh's best player during those halcyon days wouldn't exactly have been the hardest gig in the world - very much a case of the least worst option.
 And I did actually say he was much improved around that time (latter Keegan period -Pearce years).

If we were getting closer to that version of Dunne on a more consistent basis I'd have no complaints.  But we don't. 

Paul McGrath spent a lot of his club career outside the top league positions too.

 This will be the Paul McGrath that won the FA Cup at Man U, two League Cups at Villa and was a key player for us during two title challenges? During his seven years with us we finished in the top 5 4 times. And even in the seasons when we did struggle he looked a class above.

Dunne actually looked like the weak link for us when we struggled last year - there's the difference.

Credit where credit is due, he's been better this year.  But I'm with Sheffield Villain on this one, there are a whole host of CB's in this country I'd select over him.  There there are plenty of other limited stoppers roughly on a par too.

[LeeB]

Ask yourself who else would have signed him when we did?

[john e]

Ask yourself who else would have signed him when we did?

Bramble

[SheffieldVillain]

gabby's attitude was no better than Dunne's last season. He was definitely overweight, muscle or not, he had far too much bulk. There was a load of games where he was half arsed in the extreme. Blackburn away in particular where he didnt try a leg but Im sure if you dig up the Gabby thread there will be a load more examples. Seemed to me as if was sulking all last season and looking for a way out. At least Dunne had it out with the coaching staff and was key to us surviving. Gabby was hopeless all last season.

Jones' positioning is dire for a centre half. A fully fit Vidic fair enough, the others no chance. Cahill if he was any other nationality wouldnt have half the hype about him. Shawcross is no better than Collins. Vermaelen is better with the ball but as a stopper Id have Dunne ahead of him too. Agger is nothing special at all.

far from me to say Dunne is a top class centre half. But for a team with our budget he is more than good value. This isnt exactly a golden season for centre halves in the EPL. Dunne can hold his own with the vast majority. Dunne was 4 time Man City player of the year, part of the best Villa defence in more than 10 years in his first season, key to us avoiding the drop last time and easily our best defender this season so far. He has also been at international level once of the best centre halves in Europe over the last 4 years. He isnt the buffoon some of you try to paint him to be anyway

With all due respect, your comparison of Gabby having too much muscle mass (i.e. overtraining) and Dunne turning up overweight (i.e. eating too many pies) is rubbish. As is the thought that Dunne 'having it out with' or in real terms 'getting hammered and hurling abuse at least verbally if not physically' was in any way something to be proud of. It wasn't showing passion, it was an appalling way to conduct himself which in any other line of work would have resulted in a trip to the dole office the next morning.

As for the comparisons with other defenders, well I guess that's subjective. The very fact that most of those I've mentioned either play for the Champions League crowd or are reguarly linked with them would suggest that actually they do have something in the way of ability.

[KevinGage]

Ask yourself who else would have signed him when we did?

Wolves and Slumberland were both keen IIRC.

[SoccerHQ]

Pretty sure Spurs wanted him the previous year and it fell through at the last minute.

Going back to that summer, I'm sure Distin was first option but that fell through for some reason and then we went for Dunne. Collins was the Zat Knight replacement.

[Chris Smith]

Eighteen months ago when asked to pick the best players in the Premier League his fellow professionals chose Dunne ahead of all the more celebrated names mentioned above.

I do wonder what people expect from a centre half if they can't see how good he is. Strong, good in the air, reads the game well, quick, a good organiser and is reasonably composed on the ball - in short a top, modern defender.

[SoccerHQ]

He was very good in 09/10 but at his age we were only really going to get that one outstanding season out of him. He's still been good this season but 32 and on big money, he's going to difficult to shift in the summer.