Barry "Messi" Bannan - again

[eastie]

The problem with Barry is that his first pass is always looking to be the last pass, the so-called Hollywood pass'. He's been able to do it once or twice but he thinks that he can do it all of the time. The difference between top class players and the rest is consistency. bannan is decent but will have moments in the game where his picked option is the wrong one. That then can drift into games. His possession of the ball becomes poor and he is one iof the reasons we are in the trouble that we are. he gives the ball away too often and then provides no cover for the back 4.

i'd like him to prove me wrong. Not because I have any particular fondness for him as a player, but simply that he is a Villa player. Its in our interests to have every player playing well consistently enough to justify their place in the team, and our place in the top flight. I think Bannan has had his chance and isn't good enough. If we are to go down though I think he would be able to do a job in the next league down. Not that I'd necessarily keep him though.

I think it's gone past that, regardless of relegation. He IS the scapegoat of the moment. I don't think whatever he does now will win over a large percentage of the fans and its best for all concerned if he moves on in the summer.

I wouldn't say he's the scapegoat - people judge on performance and if he had delivered the goods then he wouldn't be getting this stick.

Gabby was in the same boat but has got his game together and is now delivering - bannan has not .

[Concrete John]

I wouldn't say he's the scapegoat - people judge on performance and if he had delivered the goods then he wouldn't be getting this stick.

Gabby was in the same boat but has got his game together and is now delivering - bannan has not.

For me he is a bit in so far as that when everyone is crap, which we've seen a few times this season, he's the one that seems to get the most stick.  Possibly because he see's the ball more often.

[ClaretAndBlueBlood]

he does get the blame a lot of times when it isn't his fault. He had a decent run in the team playing alongside Delph prior to the Chelsea game. Saying that, he has been largely poor since xmas but I don't think he should be written off completely.

A decent squad player in the future I think

[paul_e]

Bannan is the only midfield player who try's anything different. We were crying out for him off the bench v Fulham. As I said off the bench.. He shouldn't play every game but sometimes you need abit of vision. Certainly not knocking the kid but I don't want a team of Ashley Westwoods.

Without having them on hand, I'd imagine Westwood's passing accuracy is comfortably better than Bannan's, didn't Ash have 90% pass ratio against Stoke? Bannan can't repeat that when he's doing his stupid hollywood balls that go out of play.

Over the season:

Westwood 84.4%
Bannan 80.7%
Delph 87%

It's also worth noting that the number of long passes attempted and forward passes attempted is the exact reverse of this, i.e. the players in our midfield who pass sideways and backwards have a better passing % than the ones who pass forward.

but that doesn't matter because the fans have decided the Westwood keeps the ball excellently and Bannan constantly gives away possession.

As someone said it's probably for the best if he moves on but he's a much better player than a lot on here give him credit for.  I agree he gives the ball away in dangerous areas too often but his 'hollywood' passes that never work have a completion rate of about 65% which is about on a par with anyone in the league for long passes.  His crossing completion (i.e. the ball is met by a villa player) is about 45% which is also very good (Valencia = 25%, Baines = 28% - both considered excellent crossers).

His defensive side of his game lets him down, that's clear, but played in the role nzogbia has had a lot of time in since christmas he could be very effective and I find it crazy that we haven't given him a run of 5-6 games there, I think he could be very effective.  His biggest flaw (as a villa player) for me is that he doesn't pass to feet all that often, but rather into the space he expects players to move into; a lot of his misplaced passes (I have no stats to back this up but it's my observation) are 4-5 yards in front of a man who's standing still, is that his fault or the other player, or both?

In a side built around a 'pass and move' mentality he would look a lot better than we're seeing, by only with a lot of the defensive responsibility taken away.

Sorry that's a long post and a lot of stats but as I've said before, people ignore the good he does and focus entirely on the bad.

[Hoppo]

Paul E.. totally agree with BB he is the scapegoat.. the whole Hollywood and Messi thing is bollox. He is a good squad player along with Baker, Clark and Gardner when fit. Succesive managers have sold all our squad players leading to the players mentioned playing to many games. The 'scapegoats' this season are Ireland and Tonne.

[SoccerHQ]

The problem with Barry is that his first pass is always looking to be the last pass, the so-called Hollywood pass'. He's been able to do it once or twice but he thinks that he can do it all of the time. The difference between top class players and the rest is consistency. bannan is decent but will have moments in the game where his picked option is the wrong one. That then can drift into games. His possession of the ball becomes poor and he is one iof the reasons we are in the trouble that we are. he gives the ball away too often and then provides no cover for the back 4.

i'd like him to prove me wrong. Not because I have any particular fondness for him as a player, but simply that he is a Villa player. Its in our interests to have every player playing well consistently enough to justify their place in the team, and our place in the top flight. I think Bannan has had his chance and isn't good enough. If we are to go down though I think he would be able to do a job in the next league down. Not that I'd necessarily keep him though.

Not often I agree with you Peter but you are bang on there I think regarding Bannan.

What's interesting to me is why he's fallen out of favour again. He didn' make the 18 against Man. City and Arsenal remember and then came in from the cold to start and play his part in the wins v Reading and QPR.

His Liverpool performance wasn't the worst I've seen from him so surprised he can't even make the 18 again unless he's been showing the wrong attitude in training.

[ACVilla]

The problem with Barry is that his first pass is always looking to be the last pass, the so-called Hollywood pass'. He's been able to do it once or twice but he thinks that he can do it all of the time. The difference between top class players and the rest is consistency. bannan is decent but will have moments in the game where his picked option is the wrong one. That then can drift into games. His possession of the ball becomes poor and he is one iof the reasons we are in the trouble that we are. he gives the ball away too often and then provides no cover for the back 4.

i'd like him to prove me wrong. Not because I have any particular fondness for him as a player, but simply that he is a Villa player. Its in our interests to have every player playing well consistently enough to justify their place in the team, and our place in the top flight. I think Bannan has had his chance and isn't good enough. If we are to go down though I think he would be able to do a job in the next league down. Not that I'd necessarily keep him though.

Not often I agree with you Peter but you are bang on there I think regarding Bannan.

What's interesting to me is why he's fallen out of favour again. He didn' make the 18 against Man. City and Arsenal remember and then came in from the cold to start and play his part in the wins v Reading and QPR.

His Liverpool performance wasn't the worst I've seen from him so surprised he can't even make the 18 again unless he's been showing the wrong attitude in training.

I thought he was atrocious against Liverpool and I'm a Bannan fan.

I think you may be spot on regarding his attitude.

[neo_Villan]

Don't really get why he is being dropped from the squad. Worth having on the bench and a better option then Holman surely?

[paul_e]

The problem with Barry is that his first pass is always looking to be the last pass, the so-called Hollywood pass'. He's been able to do it once or twice but he thinks that he can do it all of the time. The difference between top class players and the rest is consistency. bannan is decent but will have moments in the game where his picked option is the wrong one. That then can drift into games. His possession of the ball becomes poor and he is one iof the reasons we are in the trouble that we are. he gives the ball away too often and then provides no cover for the back 4.

i'd like him to prove me wrong. Not because I have any particular fondness for him as a player, but simply that he is a Villa player. Its in our interests to have every player playing well consistently enough to justify their place in the team, and our place in the top flight. I think Bannan has had his chance and isn't good enough. If we are to go down though I think he would be able to do a job in the next league down. Not that I'd necessarily keep him though.

Not often I agree with you Peter but you are bang on there I think regarding Bannan.

What's interesting to me is why he's fallen out of favour again. He didn' make the 18 against Man. City and Arsenal remember and then came in from the cold to start and play his part in the wins v Reading and QPR.

His Liverpool performance wasn't the worst I've seen from him so surprised he can't even make the 18 again unless he's been showing the wrong attitude in training.

I thought he was atrocious against Liverpool and I'm a Bannan fan.

I think you may be spot on regarding his attitude.

I don't think he was that bad but I think it was pretty clear that the fans got on his back after a few poor passes.  It may be that Lambert has reacted to that as much as anything.

[SoccerHQ]

The problem with Barry is that his first pass is always looking to be the last pass, the so-called Hollywood pass'. He's been able to do it once or twice but he thinks that he can do it all of the time. The difference between top class players and the rest is consistency. bannan is decent but will have moments in the game where his picked option is the wrong one. That then can drift into games. His possession of the ball becomes poor and he is one iof the reasons we are in the trouble that we are. he gives the ball away too often and then provides no cover for the back 4.

i'd like him to prove me wrong. Not because I have any particular fondness for him as a player, but simply that he is a Villa player. Its in our interests to have every player playing well consistently enough to justify their place in the team, and our place in the top flight. I think Bannan has had his chance and isn't good enough. If we are to go down though I think he would be able to do a job in the next league down. Not that I'd necessarily keep him though.

Not often I agree with you Peter but you are bang on there I think regarding Bannan.

What's interesting to me is why he's fallen out of favour again. He didn' make the 18 against Man. City and Arsenal remember and then came in from the cold to start and play his part in the wins v Reading and QPR.

His Liverpool performance wasn't the worst I've seen from him so surprised he can't even make the 18 again unless he's been showing the wrong attitude in training.

I thought he was atrocious against Liverpool and I'm a Bannan fan.

I think you may be spot on regarding his attitude.

Worse than the Bradford performance? He was still in the 18 after that game.

[ACVilla]

Hard for me to compare them. I watched the Liverpool game on TV but went to the Bradford debacle and sank a few pints before.

[peter w]

I think the 45% cross completion is a little misleading. he took most corners and even a corner flicking the top of a team mates head counts as a completed cross. you don't see him actually putting more balls into the box from other parts of the pitch.

As for the reasons that he is out of the matchday 18 I think his 'sort my head out' type quote says it all. Its purely conjecture as to why he isn't there but that's as big of a clue as I think we'll get.

[Monty]

I think he will be off at the end of the season if we stay up. I think there's a high standard player there, Premier League even maybe, but I think he needs a change of scene to help him get his act together.

[Merv]

What's interesting to me is why he's fallen out of favour again. He didn' make the 18 against Man. City and Arsenal remember and then came in from the cold to start and play his part in the wins v Reading and QPR.

His Liverpool performance wasn't the worst I've seen from him so surprised he can't even make the 18 again unless he's been showing the wrong attitude in training.

That's the key for me, too. A while back a few of us were assuming that was him done for the season, he wasn't involved at all. Then he was back in the X1, surprisingly, he did well when we both those games, poor v Liverpool, but now out in the cold again.

PL does this a fair bit. KEA has been nowhere recently but is then first option off the bench v United. Holman's been a bit like that recently too.

[Vancouver]

Its seem to me that PL really looks at the work put into the training session and picks the players that he thinks are fit, training well and raring to go. If Bannan isnt really in the zone then he wouldn't get a look in until he does. I would like to think that anyway