Concrete Ron

[steamer]

Goodbye Ron thanks a lot, somehow we will have to  learn to live without you.

[PeterWithesShin]

Dunno who we'll cope without him stopping our regular defensive collapses if he goes.......

[villa for life]

Bye bye Vlaar. Is baker fit?

[Toronto Villa]

I hope there is a chance of Baker playing because Vlaar on the right is a 100 time better then when he gets turned inside out on the left.

[olaftab]

Vlaar MOTM today.

Yes that was announced by the Southampton with ten minutes to go as elected by their supporters!

[OCD]

They've been strongly linked with him so the laughing might stop soon enough.

[Ads]

He's utter shite.

[oldtimernow]

if Baker plays in place of Vlaar what are the odds he would pick up an injury and not be available for the Final?

[Villafirst]

He's utter shite.

A bit harsh - you have a short memory - he was magnificent in the Spurs 1-0 away win.

[OzVilla]

Thing is we've been so blessed with centre backs down the years, Evans, Keown, McGrath, Southgate, Laursen etc that Vlaar, though solid enough in a poor defence when fit, is no where near their quality.

I'd like him to stay, he's a good Premier League CB when he's fit. My issue isn't whether he's good enough, it's whether he's fit enough to be worthwhile for the next 3 years.

[silhillvilla]

Too many howlers and injuries.
Simply has to go this summer.

[Clampy]

He wasn't the only poor defender yesterday but after his fuck up at Man City, you'd have thought he'd have learnt not to make unnecessary back passes.

[frank black]

Vlaar and £5 million for cleverly if I was sherwood

Cleverley is a free agent. No fee required, just a hell of a lot of convincing and a decent wedge of wages.

[passitsideways]

Ultimately, Vlaar is a backs-to-the-wall, penalty box kind of CB, not particularly suited to an open setup, and it's been proven time and time and time again. He was fantastic in the WC because Holland played tight with 3 CBs and 2 midfielders shielding them, and relied on Robben hitting them on the break. He was very good to start off the season in our defend-defend-defend system. Even in that Spurs game, we played well with the ball but were extremely disciplined defensively, and he was superb then.

If we're not going to give him what he wants, I'd prefer the reasons to be that he's far too injury-prone, and that we're planning to continue playing this high-intensity, high-line, open stuff as often as possible. Not because he's inept in a general sense.

[Pete3206]

I like to think we're showing him the door, rather than him leaving us.