Concrete Ron

[pauliewalnuts]

It is strange, really.

If you put to one side his world cup showing, and looked objectively at Vlaar over the time he has been in the PL, then he's really nothing special at all.

What he is, in the context which matters most for us, is "easily good enough for us" and one of our more competent players, at least one who manages to give the impression of competence on a regular basis.

Given that, it'd be a shame to lose him, but my major concern would be the fact that we're losing him for nothing, as we've got half way into the last season of his contract.

Whatever Vlaar is, there was no way he was going to lose value over his time here. He didn't cost that much in the first place. So, I don't get why we weren't a bit cuter about this and why we didn't avoid this contract problem in the first place.

I appreciate he's got injury issues, there's no getting away from that, and I also appreciate that nobody knew this time last year that he was going to have such a brilliant world cup, but we at least knew that he was one of our better players.

I appreciate this is one player, and that we don't know the ins and outs of what has gone on, but here we are, two of our best players with six months left on their contracts, and neither look like staying.

With Vlaar, it isn't quite so bad, but to have the same situation with Delph is deeply disappointing.

Like I said, yep, we didn't know this time last year that they'd go on to improve so much, but we did know that they were two of our best players.

[Clampy]

One of the reason's why I thought Lambert was given that new contract was to show continuity and in turn persuade the likes of Delph and Vlaar to pledge their futures to the club too. That obviously hasn't happened.

I think Delph will be the bigger miss of the two. I like Vlaar but there's no reason why we can't find a good replacement for him, one less injury prone as well.

[Villa in Denmark]

Danish sports channel (viasat 3) are reporting that Napoli have made a formal enquiry about taking him in January.

[Dave]

If we get a few million for him then that's probably a good move for all parties.

It seems like any central defender we bring in at the moment is perfectly competent, so best of luck to him and thanks for keeping the tissue-paper thin defence of the last couple of years together on the rare occasions that he was part of it.

[Villafirst]

3 seasons of calf injuries. Get rid, Okore is better and younger.

[PeterWithesShin]

Ron Vlaar has hailed the performances of Jores Okore and Ciaran Clark and also spoke of his delight at playing alongside the in-form pair in the impressive draw with Man Utd.

The skipper believes the manager's decision to switch from a flat back four to three in the heart of the defence hastened his own return to the starting XI for the Red Devils encounter.

But he was thrilled to be back nonetheless and spoke of a determination to stay fit ahead of a hectic festive schedule, starting with Swansea on Boxing Day.

He said: "It's been a strange season - played a few games, injured, played a few games, injured.

"So let's hope I stay fit now. I believe in that. I trust in that.

"With the team it's going quite well to be honest. It's been hard to sit in the stands and watch the games when I've been injured but it's great to be back and it was good to play a full 90 minutes on Saturday.

"Let's push on now for more. It's too bad that we lost our unbeaten run against West Brom but let's hope we started it again on Saturday.

"Against Man Utd, we had some opportunities at the end. We were a little bit unlucky.

"We worked really hard. It was really good to be part of it. If we do that in every game, we will be hard to beat.

"I think Jores and Ciaran are doing well. I have been pleased to see that, especially with Jores after his tough season last year with the big injury he had.

"He has now come back and he's a great player.

"It's not always been easy for Ciaran but I really think he stepped up and did great.

"I think I had to be lucky that the manager chose three central defenders.

"Everyone is pushing everyone else forward which is great for the team and will improve us.

"I am used to the three man defence. In the summer we did the same with the national team. We did it a few times last year too.

"We grew together. I think it looked really solid.

"They didn't have big chances. They had one just before the goal from Robin van Persie but other than that Brad just had to make saves from far."

[Toronto Villa]

Is the return of the halcyon days of Sir Graham and three CB's now upon us? I wish off course, but it looks like we will go with three CB's against Swansea again with Hutton coming for Lowton.

[Witton Warrior]

I think Vlaar works best in a three where another CB shepherds players towards him so he can nick the ball away - he did this in the World Cup very well as his timing is so good

As to selling him - be nice to see out the season but we will get nothing - he is also about due 6 matches injured I reckon. He had a tweak in the first half on Saturday by the looks of it.

[peter w]

Wasn't it before the 15-0 that we were using 3 men at the back - with herd being 1 of them - and then dispensed of it after Wigan?

[brontebilly]

Wasn't it before the 15-0 that we were using 3 men at the back - with herd being 1 of them - and then dispensed of it after Wigan?

Yes used it away at Anfield that season too. Herd used hoof everything. Lowton and Bennett at full back. The likes of Bannan in midfield. To be fair we have improved a bit since then.

[N'ZMAV]

Bannan, Holman and El Ahmadi in midfield.

[SoccerHQ]

The defensive stats weren't too bad in fairness and we were picking up some decent results. Then 8 nil at Chelsea happened and everything imploded after that for a good two months.

[Malandro]

My first thought was bollocks to him, good player but disruptive because of his injuries.
But I now do hope we keep him - I doubt selling him would do anything for the transfer budget and we need all the leaders we can in this team

[Big Dick Edwards]

The club have been negligent in allowing the contracts for both Vlaar and Delph to get to this stage. However, while he's a good player he's hardly irreplaceable. And concrete he most certainly isn't.

[Salsa Party Animal]

As Tom Cleverley is joining us on permanent deal why not just do a straight swap deal with no fee.