Leandro Bacuna - Sold

[mattjpa]

Another point, does anyone else wonder why our PR was so shockingly bad last season? A well placed interview with someone like Matt Kendrick saying he was misinterpreted, poor translation, he signed a new deal because he loves the club and is priveleged to pay for Aston Villa etc would have nipped this in the bud early on. I think he made a silly remark off the cuff without thinking about it and was hung out to dry a bit.

Playing devils advocate, he is still young and could possibly develop under the right management. There is a degree of talent in there somewhere

[Nelly]

Bacuna doesn't deserve the fans ire for me. Misinterpreted in an article with probably a leading question that he seemingly answered honestly. I think the Birmingham Mail (surprise surprise) article made it seem like he had plans to jump ship as we were being relegated, whereas to me it sounded like "If someone like Ajax came in for you, would you move? Yeah I probably would".

Bacuna gets the anger that Richards, Lescott and Agbonlahor should have gotten. Guzan is another one who gets hatred for reasons I don't know yet.

[peter w]

He was asked the same question just not as loaded as Tshibola in his recent interview. he was asked where he wanted to be in 5 years and he made it clear he wanted to progress and that Villa were the right club for him now. Bacuna just expanded that by saying he wanted Champions League football. When the interviewer happily led him down (or up) the garden path by mentioning Ajax et al he gave the journo a story and Bacuna a headache.

[ClaretAndBlueBlood]

It's amazing how an innocent remark that he made can cause so much fury, it's ridiculous.

Agree.
He was far from being our worse player.
One thing I noticed was, even with the crowd on his back, he never went missing from the games

you are joking right? On quite a few occasions, he was clearly giving less than 100%

Tell me the games he went missing from when his every touch was booed?

He should have gone off after his back pass!! vrs Southampton (?) just before h/t. It was horrendous, but could, and should, have been dealt with, but had Richards bothered to rush back to help Guzan and Lescott  a goal would not have been scored. Baccuna took the full brunt of the crowds frustration where, imo, Richards was equally, if not more,  culpable. But he was back, and booed even more, but still carried on.

I don't happen to buy into the 'not gIving 100%' club. Not good enough, certainly, though.

I cant name particular games but it was obvious to me that he wasn't giving 100% in certain games, and I am talking about before the booing started. A number of times when possession was lost, he didn't try 100% to get it back or chase back to try and stop the opposition attack.

And I'm not just singling out Bacuna either.  I think it was true of a number of players, Hutton being another prime culprit.

In my mind, the booing started because fans could see that players weren't giving 100%, not the other way round

Randomly you pick the prime example of a player I would have picked as never lacking in effort. Granted, I stopped watching most of our games at the very end but ive never noticed Hutton slacking

I didn't pick Hutton randomly, I gave an example of a player who suffers with a similar lack of effort to Bacuna. Hutton is great going forward in terms of being very willing, puts in some tough, full bloodied challenges which the fans love of course. But you watch him when we lose possession. He doesn't exactly bust a gut to get back. You can see opposition players running past him so it's not just the player in possession who he doesn't chase

Bacuna is worse in lack of effort in my opinion, its not just tracking back that he doesn't do but there are also times when he doesn't compete for the ball (unlike Hutton), not just in tackles but if the ball is played into space in front of him and it becomes a 50/50 ball, he seems to give up too easily and doesn't advance towards the ball.

[Hoppo]

Smiling when we got relegated at Old Trafford.. should of being fucked off that day.

[cheltenhamlion]

A fat middle aged bloke who ought to know better than to wear a replica shirt was mooching around outside work earlier. Bacuna 7 emblazoned on the back.

[ClaretAndBlueBlood]

A fat middle aged bloke who ought to know better than to wear a replica shirt was mooching around outside work earlier. Bacuna 7 emblazoned on the back.

was it Gabby in disguise?

[Hookeysmith]

Smiling when we got relegated at Old Trafford.. should of being fucked off that day.

Often it can be a nervous reaction - I have seen people smile at a funeral
He is not the best and his cock up against Soton was very poor but I think he has got balls to be available to be played anywhere in a struggling team

As for useless

Free kick against Man City
Great breakaway goal versus Norwich
Killer pass for Cleverly to score against Everton

I think too much has gone with the fans for him to stay  (In one game he was booed, went on a great run and was cheered, lost the ball and then booed again all at the same time) but certainly not the worst more a symptom rather than the disease of our season

[ChicagoLion]

I imagine Juventus will want Bacuna to replace Pogba when he joins Man Utd.

It's amazing how an innocent remark that he made can cause so much fury, it's ridiculous.

Nothing to do with what he said, his attitude stinks and he should never play for the club again.
I would add Richards and Gabby to that list.

[peter w]

For Bacuna you could say the same for many players regarding too much has happened for them to stay. But the reality is that it is a) Not really practical to lose a whole swathe of your squad when preparing for the next season; and b) Di Matteo and Clarke will no doubt look at some of those that have been mentioned as players one, or more would like to see going for various reasons (Guzan, Bunn, Hutton, Okore, Lescott, Richards, Cissokho, Veretout, Gana, Sanchez, Westwood, Bacuna, Gabby, Sinclair, Kozak, Gestede) but the stark reality is that the majority are still going to be with us when we kick off in 3 or so weeks time.

The job of those whose job it is is to work out what they can do with those that many want out and what they can bring in to improve us.

I think that we are genuinely a team that no-one can predict at the moment where we'll finish. We were shocking last season but that just wasn't a poor team just not being good enough. That was disparate factions looking like an under-prepared under 11s team that were aimless.

We need to draw a line somewhere and get on with it. Starting at hillsborough and get behind whoever Di Matteo sends out for the start of probably the most important season for us since 1971-72 or 1974-75.

[Witton Warrior]

We need to draw a line somewhere and get on with it. Starting at hillsborough and get behind whoever Di Matteo sends out for the start of probably the most important season for us since 1971-72 or 1974-75.

Agree totally with that sentiment - the booing was cathartic at the end of last season - now we need to look to the future promotion of Aston Villa whoever is in the team - no more heroes anymore...

[ChicagoLion]

The problem PW is that if things do go wrong early on the reaction against Bacuna Gabby and Richards Guzan ? will take us back to where we were last season.
It is such an important season we can not afford to take the risk.The situation could get toxic very quickly.
I think the other players you mention will get a fair chance.

[usav]

Bacuna doesn't deserve the fans ire for me.

He's just not good enough, so he felt the fans frustration.  Harsh, but that's how it works.   

Maybe the championship will be more his standard and he will look half-decent?  Doubt it, though.

[JUAN PABLO]

When I saw this Bacuna thread on the top of the page for one minute I thought somebody might be buying him , Burnley or Hull maybe.

Bit disappointing now.

this player needs to go before the season starts , he was shocking last season.

[Dave Cooper please]

He's down on the squad list as a defender which to me is very worrying