Yacouba Sylla

[N'ZMAV]

He runs hard and can keepo up with the game, something we've been lacking all season in the middle of the park. Worth keeping him in there till the end of the season.

[Clampy]

I am not convinced by him, but then I think exprience and nerves are big mitigating factors.

There were some people on here not convinced by Benteke 2 games in either.

[He wears a magic hat]

I think Lambert has something to work with here.

I was more pretty impressed with him last week than this but 2 games in and I'd happily include him in the squad.

It will be very interesting to see who Lambert goes with against Liverpool.

Prior to his Suspension Delph was stringing together his most consistent level of performances since he joined us, Sylla has been introduced to the fold and done a steady job and Bannan has come back into the side after weeks of ridicule and performed very well in a team that has won twice.

Personally I'd stick with Sylla & Westwood and then flip a coin between Delph and Bannan

[PaulWinch again]

I am not convinced by him, but then I think exprience and nerves are big mitigating factors.

There were some people on here not convinced by Benteke 2 games in either.

Not convinced is charitable, some said he was useless.

[nigel]

We win two crucial games with Bannan playing and then every wants Delph back.  Odd.

We also won a crucial game with Delph playing and Bannan not when we played the Kitstealers.

We also beat the team we are playing next at their ground with Bannan playing and having a big part in two of the goals!  I'm with you TonyD.

It's great to have the choice, isn't it?
Bannan drops a bit of form, Delph comes in and is arguably our best player for several games.
Delph gets suspended, Bannan comes in and does a fine job.

I think things are beginning to knit together. We're a fair way from being the finished article, but we're getting there.

[pauliewalnuts]

I am not convinced by him, but then I think exprience and nerves are big mitigating factors.

There were some people on here not convinced by Benteke 2 games in either.

Not convinced is charitable, some said he was useless.

Do people ever stop and think that we are talking about kids who are 21 or 22 or so - and that doesn't make them "kids" in the football sense anymore, but in every other sense, it does - coming in from foreign leagues, where the football is played in a different style, and having to move to a new country, where maybe they don't know anyone, they don't speak the language, or struggle to communicate.

That's a massive ask on a human level, and on top of that, they are asked to perform at one of the highest levels in world football.

Having worked abroad myself, and experienced how tough it can be at first, I can understand why this might be an issue for them. I know footballers have it all laid on a plate for them, but that's not to say everything remains easy.

It's like when people talk about Stan Collymore and his depression - "what did he have to worry about, living such a charmed life" - it doesn't change the fact that we're talking about young blokes facing a major upheaval in their lives.

Sylla, until January, was playing in the French second division, for an unremarkable team, and with no inkling whatsoever that this might happen, has suddenly found himself bought by a club in England, left his home country, been dropped in amongst new team mates, and already is being playing in the Premier League.

I think if you take into account all the above, and the two performances he has put in so far, he has done pretty well.

[PaulWinch again]

Indeed he's done very well.

[MoetVillan]

Good post Paulie.  I wanted a big "unit" in the midfield with pace and disciplined postioning.  I think he has helped Westwood and overall pleased with him.  He doesnt look so big next to Mbia and Samba though, crikey, they are massive

[Rancid custard]

He's kind of been thrown in at the deep end, new team, country, language etc. I reckon a good pre season and we'll get a better idea of this prospect. He's done pretty well so far.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Clearly the new NRC from what I've seen so far.

Plenty of energy and willingness, but likes to take a safe pass option often as is not quite capable of more.

As pointed out, very early to properly judge him, but if he puts in the same amount of effort every week then that's good enough for me at the moment.

[PeterWithe]

I like the fact that he doesnt give the ball away, even to the detriment of our forward progression at times, what do we expect for a couple of million, that said I felt the substitution on Saturday was the right one, we needed someone who gave them more to worry about in their third of the field and N'Zogbia did just that. Nice to have these options in midfield, just wish there were more at the back.

[curiousorange]

Being used to following games on radio rather than streams, I usually have to wait for MOTD or watch the game's incidents online, so unfortunately the commentator's opinion tend to colour your view. Against Reading, WM were so adamant that Sylla was basically some sausage meat in a Villa shirt that it led me to believe we'd been sold a pup. Having seen him since, it's pretty clear that's not the case.

I should have known better, because these were people who spent most of late 2012 parroting that they were yet to be convinced by Benteke. I'm not saying Sylla is a world beater, but I guess it's worth seeing a player in the flesh and over a consistent period of time before you mentally ship him out the door.

[N'ZMAV]

Radio WM are the most negative set of commentators alive, they'd say we'd been sold a dud if we signed Messi.

[curiousorange]

Radio WM are the most negative set of commentators alive, they'd say we'd been sold a dud if we signed Messi.

They were talking down our survival chances by early September.

[Steve R]

The way Lambert set us up to play on Saturday was to use short passing in order to work openings by pulling the opposition out of shape. It only works if you move the ball quickly. Most of Sylla's passes were first time, not even a touch to control the ball. It's not an easy thing to do, I thought he played very well.

There's a team in Spain that use the same tactic. The odd thing is, even though we have better strikers they seem to score a lot more than us.

We also have Barry Bannan.