All-Time Premier League Villa XI

[Pat Mustard]

And yet people pick Benteke over Ollie.

Benteke at his best was the best cf we’ve had in 30 years, only Yorke comes close. The drop off we saw from him after he left us was staggering, he combined the best bits of Ollie, Carew and Duran and was better than them all.

For me Grealish has too much competition from any number of players we’ve had in the PL who ultimately offered more end product. In a good team we wouldn’t need to rely on him half as much as we did, so I think we’d have a player closer to the one we saw at C115y. I’d probably have a place for him on the bench in our best team of the PL era, but he wouldn’t start.

[paul_e]

Benteke left and a poor team completely fell apart, had our worst season ever, got relegated and took 5 years to recover. Grealish left and 18months later we were on the brink of a run that's been going for 3 years putting us as the fourth best team in the country and ranked in the top 10 globally. Again, not rational but that makes a massive difference to how they get viewed looking back.

[PeterWithesShin]

Grealish is in the top 5 players i've seen for in 50 years. How he left doesn't change that. He was far better than Young.

[Skipper_The_Eyechild]

All opinions but I think that's mad. He's one of the first on my teamsheet. I actually think there's less competition where he plays.

[cdbearsfan]

Grealish is in the top 5 players i've seen for in 50 years. How he left doesn't change that. He was far better than Young.

Not a chance in Hell, IMO. Only time he matched his productivity was in the latter half of our final season in the second tier.

[PeterWithesShin]

You don't see the benefits of 5 at the back, so we know your opinion isn't to be trusted.

[paul_e]

Ignoring Youngs second spell as a full back:

Ashley Young
190 appearances
37 goals
51 assists
so a goal involvement every 2.16 games.

Jack Grealish
213 appearances
32 goals
43 assists
so a goal involvement every 2.84 games.

Obviously is isn't just about stats but that's a pretty significant difference.

[PeterWithesShin]

Bit harsh including a very Young Grealish in a side that stank the league out. But even if you do, he was better than Young.

[paul_e]

Bit harsh including a very Young Grealish in a side that stank the league out. But even if you do, he was better than Young.

Bit generous including the 90 odd games he played in the championship as well so...

but again, this is an opinion and they don't have to all be the same and they don't have to be completely rational, if people were saying Tonev over Grealish then yeah, fine but given Young had a better goals and assists output I think it's a bit weird to be arguing about it this much.

[PeterWithesShin]

I simply pointed out the Grealish leaving before we were good didn't matter as others were picking Benteke. You're the one dragging up stats and arguing.

[paul_e]

I simply pointed out the Grealish leaving before we were good didn't matter as others were picking Benteke. You're the one dragging up stats and arguing.

and it really isn't worth it, I should've stuck with my earlier post.

And yet people pick Benteke over Ollie.

Fair point, it's almost as if people don't have to be 100% rational when doing something largely pointless.

[ldavfc4eva]

Martinez

Wright

McGrath
Laursen
Mellberg

A.Young

McGinn
Barry
Milner

Yorke
Benteke

5-3-2 formation, Wright and Young as the wing backs

We should do a “Best XI by premier league manager”

So Big Ron’s best XI, Sir Brian’s etc

[Halfway to Moseley]

Grealish was better than Young, but Young still walks into the team imo.

Another where it’s easy to forget how good he was - there was a lengthy spell under O’Neill where he was sensational. Made premier league team of the season 2 years in a row, won premier league player of the month 3 times in a year. PFA young player of the year. He was brilliant for us, though sadly tainted his legacy joining Man Utd. 

[PeterWithesShin]

We have a lot of viable options in a number of positions, and then there's RB.

[cdbearsfan]

Earl Barrett, by a mile.