Matthew Lowton

[Phil from the upper holte]

Crossing was ace, will always be thankful for the pen against the Albion, Not good enough but good luck

[pauliewalnuts]

It'd be too easy to say Lowton just wasn't good enough.

Defensively, he was poor, but going forward, he was very good at times. Maybe if he were playing in a better side, he'd have got away with the defensive shabbiness, but he was never going to have that luxury with us.

That ball he pinged across for Weimann to score against Sunderland was excellent. He could play balls like that. The problem was he'd then find himself not where he should be when needing to defend.

[simon ward 50]

All the best to Matt Lowton!

[Ads]

I think it’s very easy to say he wasn’t good enough.

He couldn’t defend, as he lacked pace. He also lacked the positional sense to make up for the former, which also on its own create problems.

Going forwards, he had a decent delivery, but was far too inconsistent. A Championship player and another piece of evidence towards why 15th has been the summit of our abilities most recently.

[Risso]

He still could have stayed at the club. He didn't have to leave. Did the manager force him out and tell him he had no future because of his style? If he did I stand corrected. And if he looked an England regular why did he end up at Bolton valued at around £5m and not a club of greater significance? Because future England regulars costing £5m don't come around every day. You'd think they'd be lined up around Villa Park to sign him.

I can remember us selling two England internationals to Middlesbrough; there wasn't much of a queue for either of them. You can attempt to re-write history as much as you like but the fact is that Cahill looked every inch a top quality player of the future when he was here and just about everyone except Martin O'Neill thought so.

I'm not re-writing anything Dave. I asked a question as to why more clubs didn't see what apparently everyone except MON did? And I'm not defending MON because none of us want to see our top prospects leave.

I have absolutely no idea, but I do know that virtually everyone on here thought he was mistaken, and this was at the height of his popularity.

Let's not forget that to accommodate O'Neill's super new central defenders of Curtis Davies and Zat Knight, we also had to shunt Olof Mellberg out to right back.

[pauliewalnuts]

He still could have stayed at the club. He didn't have to leave. Did the manager force him out and tell him he had no future because of his style? If he did I stand corrected. And if he looked an England regular why did he end up at Bolton valued at around £5m and not a club of greater significance? Because future England regulars costing £5m don't come around every day. You'd think they'd be lined up around Villa Park to sign him.

I can remember us selling two England internationals to Middlesbrough; there wasn't much of a queue for either of them. You can attempt to re-write history as much as you like but the fact is that Cahill looked every inch a top quality player of the future when he was here and just about everyone except Martin O'Neill thought so.

I'm not re-writing anything Dave. I asked a question as to why more clubs didn't see what apparently everyone except MON did? And I'm not defending MON because none of us want to see our top prospects leave.

I have absolutely no idea, but I do know that virtually everyone on here thought he was mistaken, and this was at the height of his popularity.

Let's not forget that to accommodate O'Neill's super new central defenders of Curtis Davies and Zat Knight, we also had to shunt Olof Mellberg out to right back.

MON had a weird obsession about right backs. His 75 minute subs almost always involved fiddling around with right back.

Didn't Reo-Coker play there a few times, even?

Actually, I think I may have imagined that.

[supertom]

He still could have stayed at the club. He didn't have to leave. Did the manager force him out and tell him he had no future because of his style? If he did I stand corrected. And if he looked an England regular why did he end up at Bolton valued at around £5m and not a club of greater significance? Because future England regulars costing £5m don't come around every day. You'd think they'd be lined up around Villa Park to sign him.

I can remember us selling two England internationals to Middlesbrough; there wasn't much of a queue for either of them. You can attempt to re-write history as much as you like but the fact is that Cahill looked every inch a top quality player of the future when he was here and just about everyone except Martin O'Neill thought so.

I'm not re-writing anything Dave. I asked a question as to why more clubs didn't see what apparently everyone except MON did? And I'm not defending MON because none of us want to see our top prospects leave.

I have absolutely no idea, but I do know that virtually everyone on here thought he was mistaken, and this was at the height of his popularity.

Let's not forget that to accommodate O'Neill's super new central defenders of Curtis Davies and Zat Knight, we also had to shunt Olof Mellberg out to right back.

MON had a weird obsession about right backs. His 75 minute subs almost always involved fiddling around with right back.

Didn't Reo-Coker play there a few times, even?

Actually, I think I may have imagined that.

Yeah I remember Coker playing there a couple of times.

[dave shelley]

If the club was being run right during the Lambert era.  By that I mean the footballing side, then a good defensive coach would have spotted Lowton's shortcomings and sorted them.  I'm assuming this never happened.  Given that scenario being correct (I don't know) then I believe a player with potential has passed us by.  We shall see how he performs next season.  Anyway, good luck Matt, thanks for your efforts.

[not3bad]

He still could have stayed at the club. He didn't have to leave. Did the manager force him out and tell him he had no future because of his style? If he did I stand corrected. And if he looked an England regular why did he end up at Bolton valued at around £5m and not a club of greater significance? Because future England regulars costing £5m don't come around every day. You'd think they'd be lined up around Villa Park to sign him.

I can remember us selling two England internationals to Middlesbrough; there wasn't much of a queue for either of them. You can attempt to re-write history as much as you like but the fact is that Cahill looked every inch a top quality player of the future when he was here and just about everyone except Martin O'Neill thought so.

I'm not re-writing anything Dave. I asked a question as to why more clubs didn't see what apparently everyone except MON did? And I'm not defending MON because none of us want to see our top prospects leave.

I have absolutely no idea, but I do know that virtually everyone on here thought he was mistaken, and this was at the height of his popularity.

Let's not forget that to accommodate O'Neill's super new central defenders of Curtis Davies and Zat Knight, we also had to shunt Olof Mellberg out to right back.

MON had a weird obsession about right backs. His 75 minute subs almost always involved fiddling around with right back.

Didn't Reo-Coker play there a few times, even?

Actually, I think I may have imagined that.

Was it Houllier who moved Reo-Coker to right back for a time?

[Dave]

The best game I ever remember Reo-Coker having for us was at right-back - a 0-0 at home to Man Utd where he didn't give Ronaldo a kick all match.

Although that might just say more about how limited he was when playing as a midfielder.

[Toronto Villa]

He played there in Mellberg's last home game when Harewood came on.

[AV82EC]

Without going too off topic who can forget MONs greatest ever right back scenario - Emile Heskey for the last 10 minutes against Boro in our last away game of the season one year.  I thi k it was the one where Petrov clattered Downing as well and broke his foot!!

[brontebilly]

Letting Cahill go was a mistake and pretty sure it was obvious at the time with O'Neill oddly and stubbornly preferring Knight.

Letting Cahill certainly was a clanger but think Knight was brought in primarily as back up to Laursen and Davies.

Think Knight was relatively solid as a backup centre half when he came in, it was Davies and Cuellar who went to pot completely after Laursen's injury.

[Phil from the upper holte]

I'm sure NRC Played right back under mon when we got battered at Anfield ?

[cheltenhamlion]

He was at right back when Yobo scored to put Everton 3-2 up before we went up the other end and Carew equalised. The first 6th place finish season.