Leandro Bacuna - Sold

[supertom]

I've always liked Lowton. I think he'd be better in a more forward position.

It's not an absolutely crazy idea but I guess the problem with that is that he's slow compared to your average wide player; and that lack of general pace as well as recovery speed probably also contributed to him losing his starting spot at RB. Obviously pace isn't everything but it's really important in the modern game and you have to be good in a lot of other areas to make that up. Lowton's delivery is excellent of course and he looks fairly comfortable in possession, but he needs more than that to be a competent wide midfielder.

I actually think playing on the left has had to make him stay sharper when it comes to concentrating on his positioning. He's not leaving huge expansive gaps like he did on the other side at times (again, good coaching would help that anyway). Obviously playing on the left too, he picks and chooses more when he comes forward and sits back sometimes to let whoever is in front of him (normally Sinclair) express themselves. I think defensively he's actually looked better on the left that he ever did on the right.
I do wonder whether the switch may become more long term. We've all of a suddenly got a lot of options on the right hand side with Bacuna, Hutton and Lowton all playing well.

I don't merely see Lowton as filling in at the moment. I'd be happy to see him stay at LB for the remainder of the season. The big test of course will be the away games against the top 6 sides.

[passitsideways]

Yeah, I'm happy to see him get an extended run at LB as well, given that Cissokho and Richardson, while both competent, are guaranteed mediocrity. Certainly it's been encouraging so far, but the right midfielders he's faced have been Gabriel Obertan, James Morrison, and whoever could be arsed to stroll over to the right side for Sunderland on Saturday. An assured performance at Old Trafford or WHL would get me feeling much better about it as a more permanent solution.

What I do like about him playing left though is that he's putting in inswinging crosses. We haven't had that sort of thing since the days of Young and Downing.

[Holte L2]

It's possible that Hutton will start at right-back and Bacuna right-mid, shifting NZog across and dropping Sinclair.

I wouldn't do that either. Sinclair was great against Sunderland and played well against WBA.  off the ball, the movement from Gabby, Sinclair, Benteke and N'Zogbia was great to see.

I really would be annoyed if we changed the team from last Saturday.  Hutton's unfortunate, that's football.

[Nastylee]

I've always liked Lowton. The kid has something and was harshly treated by some who made him a scape goat for other people's failings. I think he's decent and wouldn't be rushing him out the door anytime soon.

[passport1]

You don't change a winning team and Tactics Tim has said he will make any decisions based on the best interests of the club not the individual. Leave Hutton on the bench.

[Richard]

I actually think Sherwood will change a winning team if he thinks there is a better combination of personnel to beat the next opponents, for example no one would have thought Westwood would be dropped after the cup game, and yet he was in favour of a more attacking line up.

[Clampy]

It will be a bit different for him today from last week because I think Swansea play with two wingers (i stand correct on that though). He had acres of room against Sunderland. Taking nothing away from him though, he was bloody good. It'll be an interesting call for Sherwood.

[Gregorys Boy]

Would actually be my MOTM from last week.  The cross for the 4th goal was excellent.

[Pete3206]

Good crosses and all that, but I doubt if Bacuna will ever have that amount of time and space in a football match again.

[dekko]

Good crosses and all that, but I doubt if Bacuna will ever have that amount of time and space in a football match again.

This.

As good as we were, there were large parts of that game where Sunderland literally stood ten feet away from all our players and let us do whatever we wanted.

In some ways it was a bit of a freak result, because Sunderland literally couldn't have tried any less.

[Gregorys Boy]

Good crosses and all that, but I doubt if Bacuna will ever have that amount of time and space in a football match again.

This.

As good as we were, there were large parts of that game where Sunderland literally stood ten feet away from all our players and let us do whatever we wanted.

In some ways it was a bit of a freak result, because Sunderland literally couldn't have tried any less.

Very true, it doesn't get any easily than it was last weekend.  But to fair he has been impressive in more than one game recently.  I have always liked him and with a bit of luck this is where his Villa career takes off.

[Rudy65]

He reverted to type today.

I dont rate him. His dead balls are consistently poor and a couple of good crosses last week dont fool me.

One free kick late on in a dangerous position was appalling

[supertom]

He reverted to type today.

I dont rate him. His dead balls are consistently poor and a couple of good crosses last week dont fool me.

One free kick late on in a dangerous position was appalling

He hadn't faced pace in the last two games. Today he did and he struggled.

He also failed to exploit space that their left back was leaving and didn't seem confident enough to take him on. He opted for the hopeful (poor) early cross 9 times out of 10.

I'm not entirely sure, long term, what Bacuna's best position will be. He's looked at his best and his worst at right back. Other than that he's been anonymous as a wideman and out of his depth in CM. We'll see but ultimately we've got to be ruthless. He's probably not good enough. If we're playing sides lacking in pace he may do okay, but that limits him to about 4-5 sides he can play.

[PaulWinch again]

If he's going to play right back, he has to play right back. It's as simple as that.

[oldhill_avfc]

If 6/7 different fullbacks have all looked largely woeful you have to question the system they're playing in as much as their own ability.  Given how poor Lambert was at some parts of the game I think making the assumption that anyone who played badly under him is automatically a bad player is totally unfair.

As I've said before if you genuinely think the squad is crap and is where it should be you have to accept that Lambert was doing an ok job.  I outright refuse to accept that to be the case which means the players are capable of more.  If that's the case for the guys in the squad no then it may well be the case for a few of the guys who are out on loan as well.

The full backs have been woeful because they aren't good players - it's as simple as that.  Bacuna occasionally produces something which suggests he might have something going for him, but most of the time he struggles to kick a moving ball.  I maintain that Hutton isn't up to much either. 

The squad isn't crap but it isn't as good as many are claiming either.  It's a fair few players short of achieving mid table.

If you want any further proof of that then you only have to look at today's game.  The full backs were useless, Sanchez made Cleverly seem like a major loss.  Okore made so many mistakes I lost count.  Benteke is a shadow of his former self. 

Too many players are simply not good enough.  Major rebuilding is needed - anything else is delusional.