Marc Albrighton

[Soar Fox]

I doubt they give a fvck. Their transfer policy appears to be spend massive on big name players. Powell is finished as a Utd player.

Hopefully we'll get a few more bargains from them then. The few times I've saw them play Saidy Janko and Reece James have impressed me.

[ROB-THE-BLUE]

Who was going to get on the end of his crosses against those big defenders?

Ohhh his name is Leonardo, Leicester's number 23!

[jimmeh]

The other week i woke up at about 3am and checked my twitter. There was a post from nick powell which simply said 'Nottingham' so was clearly out on the piss. I'm fairly sure it was the Saturday night after palace defeat. Post was since deleted. But why not i suppose. He didn't even play.

[Rob1742]

No room for him, or many of the other new signings.

With the number of subs at five? If you put Anthony on the bench it wouldn't be wise to put Albrighton on.

I think he was purchased to add Premier League experience, but then it appears we don't need that as the squad adapted quickly.

If you take last Saturdays line up, it leaves

Powell

Lawrence

Simpson

King

Wood

GTF

Hopper

Knockaert

James

Wasilewski

Cambiasso

Just no room for everyone at this point.

If Albrighton came in, everyone will be asking about Anthony.

Don't need two of the same player on the bench

[VLC86]

I'm not sure anyone has mentioned it so I will just say he will get his chance.

[Guest Col city fan]

Of course, as always on here, the pre season was full of how great Albrighton is, how he's going to be better than Knockaert, how we've stolen him from Villa etc etc.

I suggested two things. Firstly, wait till you've seen him play in a blue shirt. Secondly, if he was that good, Villa would have tried harder to keep him.

Nothing I've seen so far makes me sway from this initial opinion. Time will tell. If he isn't very good, 4 years is a long contract when we refused to give Lloyd Dyer 2 years.

[Babylon]

Of course, as always on here, the pre season was full of how great Albrighton is, how he's going to be better than Knockaert, how we've stolen him from Villa etc etc.

I suggested two things. Firstly, wait till you've seen him play in a blue shirt. Secondly, if he was that good, Villa would have tried harder to keep him.

Nothing I've seen so far makes me sway from this initial opinion. Time will tell. If he isn't very good, 4 years is a long contract when we refused to give Lloyd Dyer 2 years.

To paraphrase, I was right and you were all wrong.

[Guest Col city fan]

To paraphrase, I was right and you were all wrong.

Your usual response, used to pick at a poster's remarks..again...

Not at all. Simply, wait and see before expectations of any player are artificially raised. It seems clear, to me, that Villa would have pushed the boat out to keep their better players? And yes, a four year contract on a player who is clearly susceptible to injury and who couldn't push for a first team place at his parent club did seem a gamble. One which could come good..but wait and see.

[Thracian]

No room for him, or many of the other new signings.

With the number of subs at five? If you put Anthony on the bench it wouldn't be wise to put Albrighton on.

I think he was purchased to add Premier League experience, but then it appears we don't need that as the squad adapted quickly.

If you take last Saturdays line up, it leaves

Powell

Lawrence

Simpson

King

Wood

GTF

Hopper

Knockaert

James

Wasilewski

Cambiasso

Just no room for everyone at this point.

If Albrighton came in, everyone will be asking about Anthony.

Don't need two of the same player on the bench

 

 

Knockaert's got to improve considerably to be a good Premiership player. You just can't go losing or giving the ball away like he does and not expect to pay for it. For me there are eight key elements to Premiership football. 

 

a) Retaining possession even under pressure.

 

b) Passing the ball swiftly and accurately.

 

c) Finishing ruthlessly

 

d) Defending dead ball situations resiliently.

 

e) Pressing the ball relentlessly.

 

f) Moving quickly backwards and forwards as a unit.

 

g) Tracking runners.

 

h) Being tactically organised.

 

Knockaert's not particularly good at several of those things but his recklessness with the ball is the big weakness.

 

From much of what I've seen this season, once a team is out of position through the ball being unexpectedly squandered, punishment is swift and costly.   

[Charl91]

Of course, as always on here, the pre season was full of how great Albrighton is, how he's going to be better than Knockaert, how we've stolen him from Villa etc etc.

I suggested two things. Firstly, wait till you've seen him play in a blue shirt. Secondly, if he was that good, Villa would have tried harder to keep him.

Nothing I've seen so far makes me sway from this initial opinion. Time will tell. If he isn't very good, 4 years is a long contract when we refused to give Lloyd Dyer 2 years.

 

But didn't you also say Redknapp was like, a world class manager who did great things for QPR? So I'll take that with a pinch of salt.

[Guest Col city fan]

But didn't you also say Redknapp was like, a world class manager who did great things for QPR? So I'll take that with a pinch of salt.

Nope, not once did I say that..

[Babylon]

Your usual response, used to pick at a poster's remarks..again...

Not at all. Simply, wait and see before expectations of any player are artificially raised. It seems clear, to me, that Villa would have pushed the boat out to keep their better players? And yes, a four year contract on a player who is clearly susceptible to injury and who couldn't push for a first team place at his parent club did seem a gamble. One which could come good..but wait and see.

You see the reality is that virtually everyone on here other than a handful of idiots do wait and see before forming an opinion on a player.

 

Pres season was not full of how great Albrighton is, there was mostly reality that he's a player that has been in and out at Villa, that has struggled with injury, but someone who does have talent and was one of Villas bright spots the second half of the season. Backed up by what their fans said and his stats.

 

As for Villa not keeping him, Villas manager himself also stated that he wanted to keep him in the press quite clearly. Early pre season everything was obviously on hold for a time due to the potential sale of the club. There were others out of contract or wanting renewals that waited some time to receive an offer.

 

So that's why you got one of my glib "usual responses", because you were making it out like everyone had said he be amazing when it just wasn't the case.

[Guest Col city fan]

You see the reality is that virtually everyone on here other than a handful of idiots do wait and see before forming an opinion on a player.

Pres season was not full of how great Albrighton is, there was mostly reality that he's a player that has been in and out at Villa, that has struggled with injury, but someone who does have talent and was one of Villas bright spots the second half of the season. Backed up by what their fans said and his stats.

As for Villa not keeping him, Villas manager himself also stated that he wanted to keep him in the press quite clearly. Early pre season everything was obviously on hold for a time due to the potential sale of the club. There were others out of contract or wanting renewals that waited some time to receive an offer.

So that's why you got one of my glib "usual responses", because you were making it out like everyone had said he be amazing when it just wasn't the case.

Ah! Now if you would have written that initially, then Id have accepted it with no qualms. I'm not sure you're correct though, I'd have to go back a couple or three months. It's the glibness that riles.

[Bettsj2]

Ah! Now if you would have written that initially, then Id have accepted it with no qualms. I'm not sure you're correct though, I'd have to go back a couple or three months. It's the glibness that riles.

Pack it in you two.

[Babylon]

Pack it in you two.

I don't know why but I can't read that without saying it in a black country accent.

[Guest ttfn]

Knockaert's got to improve considerably to be a good Premiership player. You just can't go losing or giving the ball away like he does and not expect to pay for it. For me there are eight key elements to Premiership football.

a) Retaining possession even under pressure.

b) Passing the ball swiftly and accurately.

c) Finishing ruthlessly

d) Defending dead ball situations resiliently.

e) Pressing the ball relentlessly.

f) Moving quickly backwards and forwards as a unit.

g) Tracking runners.

h) Being tactically organised.

Knockaert's not particularly good at several of those things but his recklessness with the ball is the big weakness.

From much of what I've seen this season, once a team is out of position through the ball being unexpectedly squandered, punishment is swift and costly.

On Saturday he completed 16/17 passes. Even allowing for a bit of a horror show against Everton, his pass completion for the season is 82%, with most of those passes attempted in the final third where loss of possession occurs most frequently.

Last season his pass completion % was higher than Drinkwater.

He's actually very sensible in possession when he does the pass the ball - his biggest problem (as you have partly referred to) could be releasing it in good time.

But even that seems to be overstated. Last season he lost possession less frequently than both Nugent and Vardy. In fact, 136 other players in the division lost the ball more frequently than Knockaert.

The one thing he really lacks is pace. He's ok at most stuff and is capable of moments of genius. Definitely worth persevering with at, what? 22?

[Fosse93]

On Saturday he completed 16/17 passes. Even allowing for a bit of a horror show against Everton, his pass completion for the season is 82%, with most of those passes attempted in the final third where loss of possession occurs most frequently.

Last season his pass completion % was higher than Drinkwater.

He's actually very sensible in possession when he does the pass the ball - his biggest problem (as you have partly referred to) could be releasing it in good time.

But even that seems to be overstated. Last season he lost possession less frequently than both Nugent and Vardy. In fact, 136 other players in the division lost the ball more frequently than Knockaert.

The one thing he really lacks is pace. He's ok at most stuff and is capable of moments of genius. Definitely worth persevering with at, what? 22?

Good post.

[Babylon]

On Saturday he completed 16/17 passes. Even allowing for a bit of a horror show against Everton, his pass completion for the season is 82%, with most of those passes attempted in the final third where loss of possession occurs most frequently.

Last season his pass completion % was higher than Drinkwater.

He's actually very sensible in possession when he does the pass the ball - his biggest problem (as you have partly referred to) could be releasing it in good time.

But even that seems to be overstated. Last season he lost possession less frequently than both Nugent and Vardy. In fact, 136 other players in the division lost the ball more frequently than Knockaert.

The one thing he really lacks is pace. He's ok at most stuff and is capable of moments of genius. Definitely worth persevering with at, what? 22?

 

Good post, I would say Knockaert tends to lose the ball by getting tackled or losing it whilst dribbling rather than by bad / risky passes.

[Dan]

As I've said to the Inckleyknowitall, It is possible for a club to sign a young player on loan to effectively asses his ability and see if he's worth a punt, it's done all the time. 

 

We were left in a dire situation in August, in where Andy King was our only fit midfielder and we had to play a central midfield with 0 combined league appearances at one point. Pearson obviously looked to make sure this didn't happen again so along with Cambiasso who will obviously always be competing for a first team place Powell was probably bought in to add depth, play some academy games so our staff can have a look at him, and if we have a repeat situation like the one we had in August, he can be called upon to do a job, he's also pretty adaptable having played center mid out wide and up front in the past, so he's a good young lad to have around.

 

If development staff rate him he might even get a few games later on in the season even if we don't suffer an injury crisis. 

 

But as I've  said before there was no chance he was going to come in and dislodge established first team players immediately and that was never the intention I don't think (despite what might have been said, football managers talk a lot of shit)

 

I'm not sure about this particular loan though. Do Man Utd not intend to have him playing in future?

 

Saying that I think the amount of money they spent this summer could ruin Powell's future prospects there so we might well even get him permanently.

[Fox Ulike]

Cannot understand why we have signed him when he cannot even get a place on the bench? His crosses could have proved invaluable against Burnley because our set piece delivery is very poor especially from corners. I believe Albrighton is a better player than Knockeart so why he can't even make the bench is baffling. Is he injured?

 

I thought our delivery from crosses was good on Saturday. Mahrez's corners were dangerous. Didn’t we score TWO goals from crosses?

 

The decision to bring on Knockaert though was baffling. Burnley were out-muscling us all over the pitch and out-numbering us in midfield. We just needed to close out the game. Bringing on a flair player in those circumstances was crazy. We should have subbed Mahrez for James and gone with 3 in the middle. We could even have bought on Was and gone 5 at the back. Then just play on the counter with Schlupp and Vardy to hit them on the break.

 

It’s not often I say this, but I think Pearson was poor on Saturday. Poor substitutions at critical times, and he made no attempt to try and change our gameplan even though we were being dominated.

[Focks]

I thought our delivery from crosses was good on Saturday. Mahrez's corners were dangerous. Didn’t we score TWO goals from crosses?

 

The decision to bring on Knockaert though was baffling. Burnley were out-muscling us all over the pitch and out-numbering us in midfield. We just needed to close out the game. Bringing on a flair player in those circumstances was crazy. We should have subbed Mahrez for James and gone with 3 in the middle. We could even have bought on Was and gone 5 at the back. Then just play on the counter with Schlupp and Vardy to hit them on the break.

 

It’s not often I say this, but I think Pearson was poor on Saturday. Poor substitutions at critical times, and he made no attempt to try and change our gameplan even though we were being dominated.

 

Agree, as I remember it wasn't this the reason fans turned on him a few years ago?

[Bamba's Babes]

Well done you... he's still only played a couple of sub appearances. So what's your point?

 

I suppose you were one of the ones who slated Drinkwater or Vardy or James when they weren't instantly great. How have people not realised that it can take time for some signings to settle into the team, whilst some can start brilliantly.

 

Did you not Mr Fantastic?

[Fox Ulike]

Agree, as I remember it wasn't this the reason fans turned on him a few years ago?

 

Could of been.

 

I remember us desparately defending a 1-0 lead away at Brighton and Pearson brings on Harry Kane! Needless to say we drew 1-1. To be fair to Sir Nigel though I can’t think of too many other occasions where this has happened. We're normally scoring late goals not conceding them.

 

The last moan I wanna have about Pearson today is that I really wanted him to come down from the stands and try and inject some urgency into the team from the touchline.

 

It’s all very well saying he gets a better view of the game from  up on high, but sometimes the players need to see their leader on the touchline screaming like William Wallace in Braveheart. Pretty much like Dyce was doing for Bumley.

[Babylon]

Did you not Mr Fantastic?

After two 20 minute performances.... errrr no I didn't.

[Babylon]

It’s all very well saying he gets a better view of the game from  up on high, but sometimes the players need to see their leader on the touchline screaming like William Wallace in Braveheart. Pretty much like Dyce was doing for Bumley.

 

Well, we've done ok with him up in the stands so far and all for Dyche's screaming it didn't help them much last year, or this year actually.