Jores Okore

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Can't knock Senderos and Baker. Okore will get his chance, throwing him in tonight would have been risky.

[OzVilla]

Can't knock Senderos and Baker. Okore will get his chance, throwing him in tonight would have been risky.

But then he played Benteke. And nothing could be riskier than playing Baker against tricky, speedy forwards.  What are we waiting for, unless they don't rate him.

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Benteke has played 60 odd times in the top flight, Okore has played only a few.

[PeterWithesShin]

Strange that he seems to have vanished from the squad.

Baker was very good today, especially first half when he was excellent.

[supertom]

Can't knock Senderos and Baker. Okore will get his chance, throwing him in tonight would have been risky.

But then he played Benteke. And nothing could be riskier than playing Baker against tricky, speedy forwards.  What are we waiting for, unless they don't rate him.

I just think it's experience. Baker did well today and has done largely well when he's played this season, particularly today and Liverpool. Whether he can maintain it I don't know.
But in terms of Okore he looked shit in pre-season. Clearly lacking in sharpness (not surprising), and perhaps a bit of confidence. He tends to dwell on the ball a bit too much and take too many chances. I think Lambo prefers his CB's to just punt it down the pitch or into row z.

Okore will get his chance, but it hasn't surprised me we've not seen him during this horrific run of fixtures, because he's so inexperienced at this level. It's alright giving Jack a few minutes further up the pitch but I don't see us risking it in defensive areas.

He's gonna have a job earning his place back in the squad though. Ron's to come back and Phil and Baker have been good. Clarks also experienced too. If we switch to a back 3 I think he'll play as he's quick and good on the ball but that formation seems to be out of fashion somewhat now and Lambert appears to have gone off it. If he didn't play it in the last four games I don't think he will.

[PeterWithesShin]

Have you seen this man? Last seen two weeks ago in the B6 area of Birmingham.

[supertom]

Have you seen this man? Last seen two weeks ago in the B6 area of Birmingham.

Last spotted climbing down into a manhole underneath Villa Park with this man with a bag of  buns pilfered from a nearboy hotdog vendor:

[brian green]

Talking to a fan at the game who seems well versed in Villa gossip and tittle tattle, he is convinced that Okore is not in the side because the quality of his performance in training is simply not good enough.   His horrible injury may well have given him a taste for living in the comfort zone.   I cannot think of any other plausible explanation if he is match fit.

[UK Redsox]

If he plays against Albania and/or Portugal we'll know that there's something up.

Having said that, Baker and Phil are playing ok together at the moment.

[FrankyH]

Can't knock Senderos and Baker. Okore will get his chance, throwing him in tonight would have been risky.

Putting him on the bench ain't risky though.

[OCD]

It will be interesting to see if he starts getting involved more after the international break. Its one thing to throw Benteke in but with Okore, it would be disrupting a defensive unit that have been organised and know their roles in games where we have to be solid and know that we're going to be on the back foot for much of the game.

If he's struggling to get his performance levels back (which is possible - it seems to have happened with Gardner with suggestions that he's getting better), then send him out on loan with a recall clause. If we don't need to recall him, review the situation again in January.

[pauliewalnuts]

Can't knock Senderos and Baker. Okore will get his chance, throwing him in tonight would have been risky.

Putting him on the bench ain't risky though.

That is what surprised me.

Not even on the bench. Hmmm.

[villan from luton]

Maybe he is getting back to fitness. Lots of us have slagged Baker off, I thought e was superb this evening by the way

[tomd2103]

Strange that he seems to have vanished from the squad.

Baker was very good today, especially first half when he was excellent.

Really?  I thought he was OK at best.  He is so limited in posession and was caught out on a number of occasions. 

[Clampy]

Strange that he seems to have vanished from the squad.

Baker was very good today, especially first half when he was excellent.

Really?  I thought he was OK at best.  He is so limited in posession and was caught out on a number of occasions. 

I agree with PWS. He was outstanding in the first half, he won everything. I don't remember him being caught of that much at all.