Other Games 2014-15

[Toronto Villa]

Problem for Delph is at this level you cannot make such basic errors.
A few of his passes were championship standard in crucial areas.
It's a learning curve and he needs to learn fast

What basic errors did he make?

Passing to the opposition.

And how about the rest of the England side and some of the Italians? Did they not do the same, irrespective of their experience level?

Because the question was about Delph. Just because others were shit doesn't mean it's ok Delph was.

No, the point is, as usual you are overly critical about everything Aston Villa. Delph wasn't any worse than any other player, and in fact I would argue strongly given he was played out of his normal position he actually did rather well. Especially compared to more seasoned players who were far from impressive like Jones or Walcott or Smalling. It would be refreshing if you could be the least bit positive about something Aston Villa for a change.

[Clampy]

We won't get out of the group in the euros

Why, who is in our group?

With the new format, doesn't everyone now get to the next round?

Pretty much.

Which is why it's strange that not even getting out of the group is such a foregone conclusion.

No idea what the new format is. Prolongated nonsense I'd guess. Either way, we are still a "work in progress" if we over achieve on any level I will be shocked. We are awful compared to our continental peers such as Holland Spain Germany.

At least 'we' are awful and not just Delph eh?

[Ron Manager]

I thought Walcott in particular looked a little lost and was not sure what to do in the position  he was selected for. Kieron Gibbs was poor which is unusual for him. Delph (apart from two dreadful passes to the opposition) was as good as anyone else. Barkley I like, he has above average skill levels Hodgson can do something with him. Harry Kane did ok but nothing more.

We deserved a draw and that's what we got.

[john e]

so not a great England performance,
 but we still got a draw away in Italy, if this was comparative club match we would be calling it a massive success

[Dave Cooper please]

Is Delph off yet? Don't need him playing.

Sadly not. He's running about like a maniac as if it's a World Cup semi or something
No brain

What do you mean 'No Brain'?

He needs to calm down a bit. Conserve batteries for Saturday.

He's not running round any faster than any of the other players. Besides, he's trying to impress to keep his place.

He's doing a dreadful job. Awful passing tonight.

There was a post on Twitter just after Townsend made a similar remark that showed Delph was top of the England passing percentage stats with something like 89%.

[silhillvilla]

I get the claret n blue specs thing, but we should be objective about our players. Delph did well v Lithuania and didn't v Italy . That's not anti villa. That's just a commentary on performance standards.

[Ron Manager]

I get the claret n blue specs thing, but we should be objective about our players. Delph did well v Lithuania and didn't v Italy . That's not anti villa. That's just a commentary on performance standards.

Compared to Jordan Henderson who was hardly noticeable, Fabian Delph made himself available to receive a pass on a regular basis. I was watching the match with two Wolves supporters and they said the same. Its nothing to do with him playing for Aston Villa he works hard and has a fair level of fast skills.

[ADVILLAFAN]

I didn't think the Delph was dreadful, but he definitely misplaced quite a few passes and I thought he looked a lot better against Lithuania.

However, he'd only just come back from an illness and may well have been tired from a second game in 5 days.

He worked harder than anybody on the pitch on Friday, constantly popping up in both boxes, which could be another reason for a slightly poorer performance last night.

[Toronto Villa]

I get the claret n blue specs thing, but we should be objective about our players. Delph did well v Lithuania and didn't v Italy . That's not anti villa. That's just a commentary on performance standards.

Did you really ask others to objective in their views on our players? That sound you are hearing is multiple crews of glaziers showing up at your house. They'll be busy.

Nobody is saying Delph was great. We just don't think he is worthy of pointing out and certainly not in the context of being poor. And relative to the other England players he is nowhere near the bottom of the pack against difficult opposition, being played out of position. A good perspective is recognizing that as part of any analysis. It has nothing to do with him being a Villa player.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

I didn't think the Delph was dreadful, but he definitely misplaced quite a few passes and I thought he looked a lot better against Lithuania.

However, he'd only just come back from an illness and may well have been tired from a second game in 5 days.

He worked harder than anybody on the pitch on Friday, constantly popping up in both boxes, which could be another reason for a slightly poorer performance last night.

I honestly thought he looked absolutely fu**ed when he left the field last night....perhaps that was part of the plan, but playing tired means he is going to make errors.
That said, I don't think he made any more than anyone else. He hit a few wayward passes but more than made up for it in other areas of his game...the "experts" were raving about the only decent cross we got over in the first half...don't think any of them mentioned it was Delph who delivered it!

[Dave]

I get the claret n blue specs thing, but we should be objective about our players. Delph did well v Lithuania and didn't v Italy . That's not anti villa. That's just a commentary on performance standards.

The one impartial set of player ratings that I've read so far is as follows.

After a fine display against Lithuania, the Italians brought Delph back to earth with a small bump. The Aston Villa midfielder lost the ball too often, was guilty of often wayward passing, and became demonstratively frustrated. That said, he performed no worse than Henderson. Might suffer from the fact that he doesn't play for Liverpool, though.

From what I saw, there's not too much to disagree with there.

[silhillvilla]

Yep I'd agree with that. To be honest I didn't even notice Henderson which tells its own story about his performance.
I felt Delph was trying to hard in more ways than one, hopefully not to our detriment.

[paul_e]

I don't really care for the opinions in the press because they completely ignore any concept of being impartial and play up average performances from the favourites and make the players they're less convinced by sound crap whenever possible.

Statistically Carrick and Delph had the same passing accuracy (88%) but one is being slated for his poor passing and the other is being praised for coming on and helping us keep the ball.  No mention has been made of Henderson with 84% or Ross Barkley with 81%.

I reckon if you take out the one a few minutes before he went off where he hit a very tired one into the stand no one would be talking about Delph's poor passing, which is why I prefer to see the stats rather than hear a poor pundit telling everyone his opinion.

[aj2k77]

Does anyone know what the different players pass completion was in the opponents half?

[Dave]

I don't really care for the opinions in the press because they completely ignore any concept of being impartial and play up average performances from the favourites and make the players they're less convinced by sound crap whenever possible.

"The press" isn't one entity. There are plenty of insightful people out there who write about football for a living who do nothing like what you are describing above.

Dismissing anybody who writes about football as being of one opinion is astonishingly lazy in my view. As in any field, there are people who are good at what they do and bad at what they do.

Dave Woodhall is 'an opinion in the press', does he "completely ignore any concept of being impartial and play up average performances from the favourites"?