Nathan Baker - Sold

[john e]

I don't hold this "gets shown up against the big teams " arguement, because of his lack of pace .He is a solid 21/22 year old CH, who always gives 100% every time he puts on the shirt.He doesn't deserve the stick he gets imho.

 Hes better than Clark, not as good as Vlaar, and probably Senderos.Hopefully Okores will come through, but Baker as 3rd/4th choice is about right.

 Rightfully MOM last night, but it was his type of game, but the interception just before H/T was crucial.

 Well played to a lad who has come through the ranks.

 Enjoy beating the Sad Scouse more than any other team tbh.

He's 23.  He was very good yesterday, and hopefully he continues to improve.  Being back up may give him the breathing space he hasn't had for the last two years.  Be interesting to see what happens when Okore is fit.

Maybe Lambert rates Baker more than Okore at the moment

[Damo70]

He played well yesterday, but from what I have seen of the Vlaar/Senderos partnership that has to be the way forward for the foreseeable.

[GordonCowansisthegreatest]

He played well yesterday, but from what I have seen of the Vlaar/Senderos partnership that has to be the way forward for the foreseeable.

Lambert say's that Vlaar is out for a few weeks!

[Matt Collins]

He played well yesterday, but from what I have seen of the Vlaar/Senderos partnership that has to be the way forward for the foreseeable.

Lambert say's that Vlaar is out for a few weeks!

Do you have a link to that? There's been very little press around his injury

[GordonCowansisthegreatest]

He played well yesterday, but from what I have seen of the Vlaar/Senderos partnership that has to be the way forward for the foreseeable.

Lambert say's that Vlaar is out for a few weeks!

Do you have a link to that? There's been very little press around his injury

It was a post match interview I think! On O/S

2 minutes and 15 seconds into post match interview with JW.

[peter w]

He had a great game v Chelsea at home last season, especially having been booked in about the fourth minute, so he's got it in him. I really thought he'd got it sussed after that game, but, like the rest of the team, regressed after that. So maybe it was a team thing, and/or the competition motivating him like others have posted.

Agree fully. I actually had him as my young player of the year in the H&V votes. I thought he was decent for most part of last season but got more flak than most of the team because he was poor and we as a team were dreadful after the first 10 minutes against Stoke. I like Baker and think there's a player there. He was brilliant yesterday. Top class.

[Villa in Denmark]

In games like yesterday's, when we set-up to defend deep, Baker is decent. He attacks the ball brilliantly, and his positioning has improved a lot since he first came into the side. It's when we try to defend higher-up the pitch and he gets caught on his heels frequently that he's a bit of a liability. He's also fairly poor in possession, which will always hold him back as a Premiership centre-back, but as Dave says above, he's now showing that he's good enough to be our 3rd/4th choice centre-back.

Good point. Might also go some way to explaining the very deep back line yesterday.

[ktvillan]

If Vlaar is fit, he plays in front of Baker.

We have seen Vlaar consistently perform. Baker has had the odd great game before then tailed into hideous form. He has been awful at times, one performance does not change that. If he performs like he did today every time he is called on, then fantastic and we will have to re-assess, but Vlaar is a much better centre half than Baker, and has also kept 2 clean sheets this season.

Yup. One good game every now and then doesn't mean he's suddenly a good player, and certainly not up to Vlaar's level.  He looked good  yesterday but he'd have to do it on a far more consistent basis and cut out the diving in and getting caught out of  position for me to change my opinion of him. 

[UK Redsox]

Baker made ESPN's team of the weekend

http://www.espnfc.us/barclays-premier-league/23/blog/post/2035406/premier-league-team-of-the-weekendsept-13-14

Centre-back: One Villa-supporting friend of mine tweeted "Pray for Nathan Baker" when learning of his selection ahead of a tough-looking trip to Anfield, but the arch-pessimist needn't have worried, for the 23-year-old turned in a magnificent display. This composed and assured performance in the face of Mario Balotelli and company had our pundits purring. "Heroic," cried Nicol. "Dominant and unfazed," screamed Marcotti. "A pillar of defensive strength," hollered Mariner.

[peter w]

It's a shame that he has had a couple of seasons in a poor Villa defence that has shown him to be overexposed because the performance on Saturday really was top-drawer. If an international defender had have played that well the media would have been enthusing about it. They are with Baker but because of the recent past no-one has dared mention international quality defending when talking about Baker. I'm not saying he should be playing for England now but keep this up and thats exactly where this top of display will lead him. His distribution may be a drawback on the bigger stage but to be fair it's no worse than Gary Cahill's.

[rob_bridge]

Very well played. I'm not his biggest fan but credit where it is due.

[Ads]

It helps that there is now a midfield in front of him. If three players worked harder than Delph, Westwood or Cleverley on the week end then I would be surprised.

[aj2k77]

It helps that there is now a midfield in front of him. If three players worked harder than Delph, Westwood or Cleverley on the week end then I would be surprised.

Westwood covered more ground than any player in the league this weekend.

I'm not a big Baker fan at all, but would be more than happy to see him play like that every weekend and prove me a numpty.

[RussellC]

Not wanting to put a dampener on things, but it’s going to be interesting to see how we set-up against Arsenal if Vlaar is still out. They’re not the kind of team that we can drop that deep against and hope to hold-out. They won’t resort to throwing hopeful balls into the box for us to defend, they’ll actually try to walk the ball-in – and showed against man city at the weekend that they’re capable of doing it.  It’d be harsh to drop Baker after that performance, but I’d be looking at a more mobile centre-back (Okore or- at a push- Clark) to come in and play alongside Senderos, and also probably sacrifice Richardson for Sanchez to try to close-off a lot of the central gaps that Ramsay and Wilshere like to play in. The good thing after our win at Anfield, is that a point would represent a really good result now.

[Clampy]

I've always liked Baker. He's got the ability to be a very dependable defender and he's nowhere near as bad as some people make him out to be.