Concrete Ron

[Deano's Mullet]

I'm judging him in a Villa shirt. One decent game in 7-8 is not that good.

[old man villa fan]

Hes consistently cos us goals for three years and is nowhere near as good as he seems to think he is. Hes not in the same class as a Teale, Laursen or Ehiogu not to mention Macca himself.

He has cost us less goals than others in the team.  Considering he was 'baby sitting' for the first two seasons, I think he has held the defence together as well as anybody could expect.

I am more concerned about his injury record than how he plays and being able to play him on the right side of the defence.

[Matt C]

If you could keep him on sensible wage/contract length I'd say he's worth keeping around but that isn't going to be the case; this is the last big contract of his career and without a fee he'll be able to command a massive wage. We'd need to make him one of our best paid players.

All of which leads me to think it will be a mutual parting of ways come the summer.

[old man villa fan]

If you could keep him on sensible wage/contract length I'd say he's worth keeping around but that isn't going to be the case; this is the last big contract of his career and without a fee he'll be able to command a massive wage. We'd need to make him one of our best paid players.

All of which leads me to think it will be a mutual parting of ways come the summer.

His contract at Villa has probably been the highest paying in his career.  Even so, it has not exactly broken the bank.  With his injury record, there is going to be a reluctance for clubs to sign him up on a high long term contract.

[ciggiesnbeer]

I think its worth remembering that both he and Delph wanted to re-sign late last season but were told to wait as the club was put up for sale.

I don't blame either of them after the club came back to realizing it needed to attend to contracts (September?) that they both said "err now you can wait a bit if you don't mind".

[brontebilly]

Keown, Southgate, Mellberg, Riccy Scimeca, Kent Nielsen.......

he's probably Carl Tiler class.

And one of the best defenders at the World Cup last year was.......?

He probably ranked with Richard Dunne as the worst defenders at the preceding Euros....Vlaar can on his day be a decent defender for a club at our level but his consistency re form and fitness is nowhere near good enough. A woeful organiser and leader at the back to boot and a player that can go to pieces during a game

Gary Breen and Danny Mills shone at World Cup level, sometimes players can play above themselves for a short period of time.

Dunne and Collins aren't popular ex-players on here but both delivered more on the pitch for the club than Vlaar

[Toronto Villa]

Vlaar was one of the worst defenders at the Euros? We talking the same bloke who received worldwide plaudits for keeping Messi quiet for an entire game? That's the Lionel Messi by the way who is arguably the best player in the game today.

[Percy McCarthy]

Vlaar was one of the worst defenders at the Euros? We talking the same bloke who received worldwide plaudits for keeping Messi quiet for an entire game? That's the Lionel Messi by the way who is arguably the best player in the game today.

You know Messi can't play at the Euros right?

[Toronto Villa]

Vlaar was one of the worst defenders at the Euros? We talking the same bloke who received worldwide plaudits for keeping Messi quiet for an entire game? That's the Lionel Messi by the way who is arguably the best player in the game today.

You know Messi can't play at the Euros right?

And if he could he wouldn't have scored! My point is I certainly don't recall Vlaar being one of the worst defenders at the Euros, and if indeed he was that bad, then the same player wouldn't have risen to the levels he did at the WC.

[peter w]

I still think that he's our best defender. Maybe that there spells out a lot of our problems, but without doubt he's been very up and down since his return. Poor moments cost us v QPR, Stoke, Everton without going into last weekend. But as much as anything he looks like he's struggling with match fitness to me which is unsurprising given his lay off over most of the season. But, he has to ply the next two games because not only is he the type of player who raises his performance for the bigger games, but if we are to offer him a contract, or indeed he wants to try and put himself in the shop window, he needs to play alot better than he is currently.

[PaulWinch again]

Vlaar has made a few very bad errors in his time at the club, but who hasn't done that since he's been here? In general, when he's played, he's been very good and I think it's ridiculous that people would be happy to see him leave.

[passitsideways]

I honestly do think that so long as he's kept on the right side and doesn't have to play a ridiculously high line most of the time, he's worth having at the right wage, even if his lack of durability means that he only manages somewhere between 20  to 30 league appearances per season. I'm not sure it's possible to find an all-round, experienced CB with leadership skills and who's also good enough on the ball for a price we'd be able to afford without taking a big gamble on scouting outside of England. I'm not saying Vlaar is exactly that player I've described, but I think that's the only sort of player I'd happily kick Vlaar to the curb for.

[PeterWithesShin]

Of course a player can be shit at one tournament and great at another. Any player at the top level can look world class for 6 games or look utter bobbins. You only have to look at Vlaar's hit and miss form for us as proof.

[Dr Butler]

Vlaar was one of the worst defenders at the Euros? We talking the same bloke who received worldwide plaudits for keeping Messi quiet for an entire game? That's the Lionel Messi by the way who is arguably the best player in the game today.

You know Messi can't play at the Euros right?

this reminds me of when Christian was on fire early on in his Villa career...a West Ham fan in our village said that when Benteke fucks off to the Africa Cup of Nations...we'd be fucked...

 

UTV
The Doc

[Toronto Villa]

Of course a player can be shit at one tournament and great at another. Any player at the top level can look world class for 6 games or look utter bobbins. You only have to look at Vlaar's hit and miss form for us as proof.

I don't think good players to have such highs and lows. That they are shit for an entire tournament and then great another. I always find that great players just don't perform to their level like Messi as an example. With Vlaar though I certainly don't recall him being one of the worst players at the Euros. Because when we signed him people were generally pleased. Nobody said I can't believe we are signing one of the worst players from the Euros.