Aston Villa v Norwich City Pre-Match Thread

[Clark W Griswold]

Same situation its been for over 2 years, the entire defensive 'team' of 5 players i.e. back 4 and holding midfield player are shite. 3 of them are young and up and coming i.e. Lowton, Bennett and Clark but they are not on their game yet, hopefully they will get a lot better. We don't have a holding midfield player and haven't since Reo Coker left, and he was a limited one. We buy one Delph clone in Makoun, then another In KEA, lightweight centre mids that are not the type of player we have been crying out for.

1-1 by the way tomorrow.

[Dave Summers]

the problem is the centre of midfield. KEA and delph are like a pair of blind crabs, side-to-side, they hardly pass the ball forward.

Delph is a waste of space, but in all honesty, most of the team are pretty wanky.

Been some time since we've had such a sub-standard squad.

I agree, with the Delph description. We give the ball away too much in midfield as it is without him in it. If we can stop doing that we'll be OK.

Funnily, from my seat behind the goal at Craven Cottage, Delph was the only player amongst the front six who did himself justice last week.  He was my man of the match and also someone else behind me, who I had never met, as well.

I would agree that it wasn't saying a lot last week but he spent the entire game covering KEA's arse and with Holman seemingly knackered from his travelling for Australia and Ireland his usual infuriating self, he was fighting a one man battle.

I think he suffers a bit does young Delph, but I am not sure of the reason why.  Think he has had only 30 starts or so since he came, due to a combination of injuries mainly and a bit of bad luck and I think at last this year he is showing a bit of promise.  He has benefited from his first proper run in the side and I still believe there is a good player in there.

For tomorrow, I would play him and Herd in the centre to at least make sure we don't get bullied.  Gabby on one wing and Holman on the other, with Bent and Benteke up front.

UTV !!!

[eastie]

Same situation its been for over 2 years, the entire defensive 'team' of 5 players i.e. back 4 and holding midfield player are shite. 3 of them are young and up and coming i.e. Lowton, Bennett and Clark but they are not on their game yet, hopefully they will get a lot better. We don't have a holding midfield player and haven't since Reo Coker left, and he was a limited one. We buy one Delph clone in Makoun, then another In KEA, lightweight centre mids that are not the type of player we have been crying out for.

1-1 by the way tomorrow.

To say the back 5 are shite is a well over the top exaggeration- Vlaar looks decent as do baker and Clark who are developing into very good defenders, the full backs while inexperienced have shown more promise than Hutton and warnock and looked solid enough.

The biggest problem is midfield and the lack of creativity and chances being created for the strikers to feed on.

[Mister E]

Funnily, from my seat behind the goal at Craven Cottage, Delph was the only player amongst the front six who did himself justice last week.  He was my man of the match and also someone else behind me, who I had never met, as well.

I would agree that it wasn't saying a lot last week but he spent the entire game covering KEA's arse and with Holman seemingly knackered from his travelling for Australia and Ireland his usual infuriating self, he was fighting a one man battle.

I think he suffers a bit does young Delph, but I am not sure of the reason why.  Think he has had only 30 starts or so since he came, due to a combination of injuries mainly and a bit of bad luck and I think at last this year he is showing a bit of promise.  He has benefited from his first proper run in the side and I still believe there is a good player in there.

For tomorrow, I would play him and Herd in the centre to at least make sure we don't get bullied.  Gabby on one wing and Holman on the other, with Bent and Benteke up front.

UTV !!!

I think Delph has done okay this season - he's gradually cutting out the schoolboy errors and has some dynamism to his play.
I've argued for Herd, KEA and Delph to form a MF three with a front man of Benteke and Holman and Weimann supporting; because I think this offers solidity in the middle and some energy upfront.

I don't think it will happen, partly because Herd seems to be out of favour and PL won't want to be accused of being defensive at home. Not that I think it is being defensive, but some may think so.

[Clampy]

I don't think we need two holding players in midfield, we just need to go back to what we did against Swansea and Newcastle and that's not give the other team anytime on the ball.

Another thing we could try is Holman just behind a forward, which would mean we could play a winger in a midfield with Bannan, Ireland and KEA.

[silhillvilla]

The thing I like about Delph is his willingness to get on the ball. He's a brave player in that regard.

[pooligan]

Have had a bad feeling about this game for some weeks now and it has not been helped by hearing the news that Dowd is the referee. This is a so called must not lose game like the Bolton  home game  last season ,so we will probably go lose 2-1

[PGW]

This is the first time that i have read criticsm of KEA....long overdue...i just do not rate him at all. He runs around looking pretty, i read things about him when he signed that he was a bit of a 'bully boy' in the centre of the park and took games by the scruff of the neck...aint seen it yet. I dont profess to know the answers but he has to be left out tomorrow and maybe get Herd to sit deeper in midfield to protect what could be an insecure back four if Lowton at CB. Get Bannan back in at least to ignite some creative spark alongside Delph with either Albrighton / N'Zogbia to add some width with Bent & Benteke up front. Norwich will concede they always do (last week one off) just got to ensure we concede less than them....

[PGW]

Sorry meant Holman or Albrighton!!!!

[eastie]

I don't think we need two holding players in midfield, we just need to go back to what we did against Swansea and Newcastle and that's not give the other team anytime on the ball.

Another thing we could try is Holman just behind a forward, which would mean we could play a winger in a midfield with Bannan, Ireland and KEA.

Rather see nzogbia in the role behind two forwards , benteke and Weimann have shown good movement and nzogbia has the ability to create chances , a midfield of kea Holman and ireland behind them for me .

Albrighton and bannan ,at get their chance from the bench but in all honesty I'm not sure either of them are much more than squad players and they have failed to grasp the nettle several times when given their chance.

I would quite like to see Carothers on the bench as he has impressed me a lot when I've seen him , raw but talented and confident with it.

[Mister E]

N'Zog's a flake; wouldn't rely on him to put the bins out.

[Clampy]

N'Zog's a flake; wouldn't rely on him to put the bins out.

That's very harsh. Bins have wheels now which make them easier to move about.

[Rigadon]

I don't think we need two holding players in midfield, we just need to go back to what we did against Swansea and Newcastle and that's not give the other team anytime on the ball.

Another thing we could try is Holman just behind a forward, which would mean we could play a winger in a midfield with Bannan, Ireland and KEA.

Rather see nzogbia in the role behind two forwards , benteke and Weimann have shown good movement and nzogbia has the ability to create chances , a midfield of kea Holman and ireland behind them for me .

Albrighton and bannan ,at get their chance from the bench but in all honesty I'm not sure either of them are much more than squad players and they have failed to grasp the nettle several times when given their chance.

I would quite like to see Carothers on the bench as he has impressed me a lot when I've seen him , raw but talented and confident with it.

I can't remember N'zogbia creating one single chance for us since he's been here.  I mean, he surely must've done, but I can't recall it.  He gets the ball, his head goes down and he runs in straight lines.

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Do not understand the critism given to KEA. He is great on the ball has one of the best records of intercepting the ball and has great ball retention. And people still are groaning about Reo Coker being what we need. He could not pass could not shoot and lost the ball on a regular basis, his only quality was breaking up play at times. Would he of scored a goal like KEA`s against Everton or the intricate passing in the Newcastle game ? I suppose someone will come out with an incident he done about 5yrs ago. Get real .....

[eastie]

I don't think we need two holding players in midfield, we just need to go back to what we did against Swansea and Newcastle and that's not give the other team anytime on the ball.

Another thing we could try is Holman just behind a forward, which would mean we could play a winger in a midfield with Bannan, Ireland and KEA.

Rather see nzogbia in the role behind two forwards , benteke and Weimann have shown good movement and nzogbia has the ability to create chances , a midfield of kea Holman and ireland behind them for me .

Albrighton and bannan ,at get their chance from the bench but in all honesty I'm not sure either of them are much more than squad players and they have failed to grasp the nettle several times when given their chance.

I would quite like to see Carothers on the bench as he has impressed me a lot when I've seen him , raw but talented and confident with it.

I can't remember N'zogbia creating one single chance for us since he's been here.  I mean, he surely must've done, but I can't recall it.  He gets the ball, his head goes down and he runs in straight lines.

Looked lively in his recent sub appearances but if he gets the nod it's Down to him to deliver- in all honesty the likes of albrighton,, bannan and nzogbia have all had chances to stake a claim and not really grasped it .