Concrete Ron

[PeterWithesShin]

No doubt they are always shit parties. Sometimes one room will be quite good, but overall as a party? No.

[Louzie0]

I would say Dunne and Collins were both better than him in their first season at the club. But it was downhill from there for both of them.

agreed. Alpay at his best was superb for Villa. Wouldnt be against selling Vlaar, his price will be inflated to 6m or so now. We should be able to get a much better less injury prone central defender for that money

Good shout Brontebilly. I agree.

'Much better' for 6m?
Who would be available for that? Just interested.

[old man villa fan]

I would say Dunne and Collins were both better than him in their first season at the club. But it was downhill from there for both of them.

agreed. Alpay at his best was superb for Villa. Wouldnt be against selling Vlaar, his price will be inflated to 6m or so now. We should be able to get a much better less injury prone central defender for that money

Good shout Brontebilly. I agree.

'Much better' for 6m?
Who would be available for that? Just interested.

My thought as well.  If we could get somebody better for the money, why wouldn't a potential buyer for Vlaar not just go and buy the other player.

[edgysatsuma89]

I would say Dunne and Collins were both better than him in their first season at the club. But it was downhill from there for both of them.

agreed. Alpay at his best was superb for Villa. Wouldnt be against selling Vlaar, his price will be inflated to 6m or so now. We should be able to get a much better less injury prone central defender for that money

Good shout Brontebilly. I agree.

'Much better' for 6m?
Who would be available for that? Just interested.

My thought as well.  If we could get somebody better for the money, why wouldn't a potential buyer for Vlaar not just go and buy the other player.

Clever

[silhillvilla]

Vlaar did well but you need to keep some perspective. In another situation he's given a pen away and they're out (it was a pen awell). Then he's missed that pen. Yes brave of him to step up, but poor pen. Good tournament , yes, great? No.

You must be a wow at parties.

Maybe debate the point rather than personal insults ? Isn't that the site rules ?

[dave.woodhall]

Vlaar did well but you need to keep some perspective. In another situation he's given a pen away and they're out (it was a pen awell). Then he's missed that pen. Yes brave of him to step up, but poor pen. Good tournament , yes, great? No.

You must be a wow at parties.

Maybe debate the point rather than personal insults ? Isn't that the site rules ?

I make them up as I go along.

[Olneythelonely]

Vlaar did well but you need to keep some perspective. In another situation he's given a pen away and they're out (it was a pen awell). Then he's missed that pen. Yes brave of him to step up, but poor pen. Good tournament , yes, great? No.

You must be a wow at parties.

Maybe debate the point rather than personal insults ? Isn't that the site rules ?

Your WUMing was going to catch up with you sooner or later.

[SoccerHQ]

This might court controversy but Ron Vlaar's WC surpasses that of the Lord himself in '94. He was simply superb at what he was asked to do as a defender, so I don't count the penalty miss. He was asked to mark some of the best players in the game and in pretty much every contest came out on top. You could argue McGrath's game vs Italy was the single most dominant performance by Villa defender playing for his country but Vlaar vs Argentina comes close.

He has comfortably been one of the top 3 or 4 defenders at the tournament.

Vlaar isn't fit to lace the boots of McGrath in any shape or form.
He's certainly played well in the last few games though, but let's not go over the top.

Must be getting close to touching the greatness of Collins and Dunney at least?

[KevinGage]

I didn't take it that TV had gone the route of suggesting Vlaar is better than McGrath. 

Only a few defenders who have ever played the game could say that, and Vlaar isn't in that elite category. 

It is an interesting discussion though, at a time when players are even fitter and sharper than in the era McGrath played in, Vlaar has looked outstanding.  Not just in one game, but throughout the entire length of the biggest tournament in world football.  McGrath has many accolades, but he doesn't have that.

A poster mentioned it earlier, and it's a valid point: Imagine Vlaar alongside a Mellberg or a Laursen.  He would have been far more highly thought of than seems to be the case at present.  Equally, imagine Mellberg, Laursen or even Southgate and Ehiogu having to operate alongside some of the deadbeats that have managed to sneak their way into a Villa shirt in recent years.  They had talent, for sure.  But there are only so many times you can cover for the shite alongside you. 

[SoccerHQ]

It's irrelevant anyway. Apart from McGrath (obviously), Mountfield, Neilsen, Teale, Ugo, Southgate, Alpay, Mellberg and Laursen were all better than Vlaar in a Villa shirt and that's all that counts for me. He's probably the best since Laursen but only marginally and that really, really doesn't say a lot.

Agree with this 100%.

I think it just shows we have been spoilt in having a great knack of finding excellent centre halfs for not too much money every couple of years for pretty much the last 20.

I agree Vlaar has underwhelmed at times playing for us but you also have to look at some of the circumstances. Most of those above were playing in stable and experienced defences with other solid professionals.

Pretty much from the word go Vlaar has been the senior man in defence with rookies like Baker, Bennett, Clark and Lowton, some of whom it's fair to say aren't good enough for the premier league. That will impact on performance.

[Mister E]

... Vlaar has looked outstanding.  Not just in one game, but throughout the entire length of the biggest tournament in world football. 

TBF, Vlaar was slated for his performance in the game agin' the USA IIRC.
But you're right, he has generally been excellent alongside de Vris and in a formation that suited him

[The Laughing Policeman]

Hopefully his future will be set in concrete fairly soon.
Torygraph

[mrastonvilla]

If he is planning to stay, I think we need to be careful how we handle Vlaar over the remainder of the summer, particularly with his tendency to have a period of injury during most seasons. Hopefully Lambert will allow him an extended recovery period rather then using him in too many pre-season friendlies.

[SamTheMouse]

I thought he had a stunning tournament. He looked rock solid the whole way through. I always rated him, even during his first season, as you could see he had the ability but was taking time to adapt and was also hampered by injury. The only slight criticism I would make, which isn't really even a criticism, is that he's perhaps not a natural skipper.

He's been judged very harshly at Villa, but we've only very rarely seen what he's capable of when he plays alongside better defenders and with a good midfield in front of him. As the elder statesman we all expect him to work miracles, but there's only so much even a top defender can do when Baker comes galloping out and misses the ball, or Westwood fails to track back and leaves him to mark two players, or Bennett gets skinned for the 16th time in the first half.

We'll be a poorer side again if Vlaar leaves. I hope he doesn't.

[Percy McCarthy]

I'm not Lambert's biggest fan, but fuck me he's made the odd brilliant signing.