WorldClass Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Stu... I think for Villa to sign a player like VDV we'll have to sign them young and take a chance. When MoN signs Downing we had first refusal on Adam Johnson... he refused to the chance to sign him for £6m... in step City. Right there was the kind of singing that would have made all the difference. It all got a bit depressing when we where linked to the same players every summer... Keane, Parker and Doyle... Houllier will surely know of some young kids that he can snap up and turn Villa in to a young dynamic force in the Prem, the thing is we will need to taste success or these players will smell the cash at city and be off... Spurs too will face the same problem if they don't repeat last years CL place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonno_2004 Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Good post and one that i endorse fully. Stating that VDV was the difference is a little simplistic though, since i felt we created the room for him to be so effective, due to the gap left between NRC/Petrov and Ashley. But VDV is a good player.Agree with this. Modric or Bale could have equally have done what he did if Petrov had let them go free in the penalty area. I think it also hides the fact Huddlestone was playing CB and that we had a real chance. Carew was an absolute abomination for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonno_2004 Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Stu... I think for Villa to sign a player like VDV we'll have to sign them young and take a chance. When MoN signs Downing we had first refusal on Adam Johnson... he refused to the chance to sign him for £6m... in step City. Right there was the kind of singing that would have made all the difference. It all got a bit depressing when we where linked to the same players every summer... Keane, Parker and Doyle... Houllier will surely know of some young kids that he can snap up and turn Villa in to a young dynamic force in the Prem, the thing is we will need to taste success or these players will smell the cash at city and be off... Spurs too will face the same problem if they don't repeat last years CL place.Johnson may be a MOTD player that makes everyone go 'wow!' but he can play like that as they have De Jong, Barry and Yaya Toure behind him. You really think he'd have that much freedom with Petrov and NRC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limvillian Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Dunne seems to be taking a lot of stick around here at the moment but I would say he was better than Collins at the weekend who I thought had a very poor game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Thought we'd get beat by a lot more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhyscartwright_avfc Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Decent performance. Crouch's knockdowns to V.D.Vaart were causing us real problems and Dunne was at fault for the goals. Not a good performance from him. Neither was it from Carew. Never thought I'd say this but we missed Heskey.:shock: NRC was a beast in the middle, so glad he's getting played. Cuellar has to come back in vs Chelsea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieB Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Watched game in a Cypriot bar with a few Spurs fans in Pernera up the road, had a good laugh anyhows as one of them was nearly as tall as Crouch so he was getting some stick off everyone. VDV was definitely the difference, he's lethal in front of goal and we're NOT simple as. We had our chances AGAIN, but just didn't bury them AGAIN! Looked worse for heskey going off, but what was so pleasing is that we out passed Spurs for most of the game. It was a good performance & a pity we couldn't hang on for at least a draw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry'sboots Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 VDV was definitely the difference, he's lethal in front of goal and we're NOT simple as. We had our chances AGAIN, but just didn't bury them AGAIN! Has to help when you have as much space to operate in as he had. I bet he wishes he could play against Stan every weekend?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldClass Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 Johnno... yes Johnson play an expansive game, but he still works hard and tried to win the ball back. Downing once he loses the ball has the initial reaction of looking at the ref, then putting his hands on his hip, then standing a staring at the ref..... all the while the other player is 40 yards away running at Warnock who is trying to cover two players.... That was the point I;m trying to make. Johnson may not of had such a big impact at Villa, but at least we could have depended on him. By all accounts a move to City hasn't done the young man any favours with Mancini making comments accidentally about his off the feild activities. Lim, I agree I think Collins was brought in to do a job on Crouch and failed miserably. For me Cuellar although a bit shorter is better in the air by a long way. He is also more dependable and reads the game far, far better. I don't know how Dunne and Cuellar would work as both like to lead the defence and hold the line. With Collins I just whince every time the ball is hoisted towards him, and given his size that shouldn't be the case.... He's been at Fault more than any defender this season IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry'sboots Posted October 4, 2010 Share Posted October 4, 2010 For me Cuellar although a bit shorter is better in the air by a long way. He is also more dependable and reads the game far, far better. When he came on H2 against Bolton, he was the only one of our CBs that beat Davies in the air as he would step in front of him etc.. He is a smart CB and will become a Villa legend. I like Collins because he is 100% - he will throw his body in front of everything - but he is not as intelligent a defender as Cuellar. We should have known that Spuds would be pumping high balls into Crouchy (no surprise as this was their main tactic against us last year). You need to put him under enough pressure so that he doesn't get free headers BUT make sure that the space around him is properly marked and compete for the second balls. We didn't do this, and won't, IMO, whilst Stan is the DCM as he lacks the necessary energy and will let people run off him. VdV had a field day because he had space in the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alienvillan Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 For me Cuellar although a bit shorter is better in the air by a long way. He is also more dependable and reads the game far, far better. When he came on H2 against Bolton, he was the only one of our CBs that beat Davies in the air as he would step in front of him etc.. He is a smart CB and will become a Villa legend. I like Collins because he is 100% - he will throw his body in front of everything - but he is not as intelligent a defender as Cuellar. We should have known that Spuds would be pumping high balls into Crouchy (no surprise as this was their main tactic against us last year). You need to put him under enough pressure so that he doesn't get free headers BUT make sure that the space around him is properly marked and compete for the second balls. We didn't do this, and won't, IMO, whilst Stan is the DCM as he lacks the necessary energy and will let people run off him. VdV had a field day because he had space in the box. No matter what the subject is you always remember to put in a good word for Stan. Collins didn't do his job, Dunne didn't do his job, and a top quality player VDV scored, and you blame Stan. You really are a man on a mission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry'sboots Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 No matter what the subject is you always remember to put in a good word for Stan. Collins didn't do his job, Dunne didn't do his job, and a top quality player VDV scored, and you blame Stan. You really are a man on a mission. And you will probably defend him? I think this is a key weakness and is highlighted on the Stan thread with an external article referring to the second goal. As discussed elsewhere, I would switch Stan and NRC around - so Stan is the more advanced of the two and NRC has the responsibility in front of the back two - and bring SI in, so we have three in CM, to provide the link to the front three. I would replace him but don't necessarily think we have that replacement available at the minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alienvillan Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 And you will probably defend him? Yes, I'm obsessed . But I'm doing it only because IMO he is unfairly criticized. I think this is a key weakness and is highlighted on the Stan thread with an external article referring to the second goal. That article is only an opinion, nothing more. As discussed elsewhere, I would switch Stan and NRC around - so Stan is the more advanced of the two and NRC has the responsibility in front of the back two - and bring SI in, so we have three in CM, to provide the link to the front three. I would replace him but don't necessarily think we have that replacement available at the minute. I don't think SI is the answer, IMO he is not a play maker and he is 1-dimensional like Gabby. I prefer A Young. If 4-3-3 is the solution then van der Vaart is what we need (ironically). There really is no real competition for places in our CM at the moment in my opinion. And I don't think there is English talent available so I hope Houllier has the "French connection" in transfer markets. I'm thinking about Flamini but there must be others... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry'sboots Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 I'm thinking about Flamini We do agree on one thing then - Flamini would be awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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