Aston Villa News 24/7Writer: J P Fear 
Date:Sunday March 9 2008
Time: 7:11PM
UK time is: 15:47:55
Choose your club
Other Sites
Network Navigation
Vital Partners
'If It's Football, It's Vital'
Who Should Fill Centre Back Void?
We are a simple bunch at Vital Villa and this is a simple question, with Davies out, who should fill the void?
Our latest poll, suggested by young_jonah, asks who should step in.
My personal preference, Gary Cahill, is off to pastures new with Bolton and is being linked with the England squad, so I would go for experience and bring Olof Mellberg back, however as he has chosen to leave for Juventus in the summer, I'm sure many will opt for Zat Knight who joined Villa from Fulham and kept Curtis Davies out the team for a good part of the season.
The choices are:
Zat Knight, Olof Mellberg, Wilfred Bouma (with Gareth Barry moving to left back) or try Zat Knight first and if he doesn't work out, opt for the old faithful bearded wonder.
It might be a cliche but every game up to the end of the season is like a cup game, so surely we go with experience first?
Vital F1 Prediction League - Join now for Monaco
Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.
Join the Vital Fantasy Football League - its Free!
Your Comments
I would like to see: Mellberg and Laursen in the middle. Bouma on the left and Maloney on the right.
I would also like to see Alesha Dixon at Villa Park!
SuperTommyJohnson
Anybody want to bet against Zat playing? He'd still be playing now had he not got sent off . MON is not one for change unless its forced upon him.
Villan57
Who, on God's earth, was talking about Cahill for England????? He was dropped by the Under 21-s last summer and has looked awful since joining Bolton. Have you seen their record since he has been there? I like the kid (alot), but let's be serious.....
gmvillan
Zat Knight is a good player - he was awful against Man United and has a strange running style that makes him look slow/lazy - even though he isn't. I see Fulham have been defending well without him :)
gmvillan
Knight for Davies, Mellberg for Gardner. Gardner is a great prospect but Mellberg is better right now...
gmvillan
It's gotta be Knight. Mellberg isn't a first teamer anymore. If we didn't give places to the likes of Knight and Gardner now, what chance would they have when the "big guns" are bought in the summer?
stpaulmcgrath
ahem, gmvillan, where exactly are fulham in the league, please remind me and then tell me they have been defening well without our Zat..............?
Jongekki
Jongekki, I might be wrong here but I reckon that gmvillan may just be being ironic, as in ooh, havent they done well since Zat Knight left. Which obviously they havent, when Zat was there they successfully avoided relegation every year and it looks they are going to be relegated without him.
young_jonah
I'd like to see a back four of Gardner, Mellberg, Laursen and Boumer. I think this gives more flexibility with Mellberg dropping out to cover the right back position and instantly changing 4-4-2 into 3-5-2 if we need more in midfield at any time.
godzvilla
Id go for Mellberg. How many times in a game does he get nut megged? Close your legs Zat.
Kilga
Got to be Zat Knight surely? He formed a very good central defensive pairing with ML, and certainly wont let us down. I dont think that he's a better player than Curtis Davies, nor is he the long term future, but for now he will certainly suffice in this emergency situation. Go sort 'em out Zat!!
glensider
Well said gmvillan. I fully endorse your comments, for what thats worth. Zat deserves more credit than is thrown his way.
glensider
Have Your Say
Recent Articles
Broadcasting Revenue For AVFC For 2012/13 Season (Wednesday May 22 2013)
N'Zogbia Exit And £5m Given To Keeper? (Wednesday May 22 2013)
Villa's Pre Season Schedule (Tuesday May 21 2013)
Vlaar Pleased With First Good Touch Of The Game (Tuesday May 21 2013)
Villa Season Ticket Help Sessions (Tuesday May 21 2013)
They Think It's All Over - Not Yet - Soccer Sevens (Tuesday May 21 2013)
Vital Villa Man Of The Match v Wigan (Tuesday May 21 2013)
The Aston Villa Summer Transfer Thread Pt 1 (Tuesday May 21 2013)
Brentford Midfielder Linked (Tuesday May 21 2013)
No, No, NO. Weimann & Benteke Cannot Be Sold! (Tuesday May 21 2013)
Archived Articles
Vital Members League (view all)
| 1. | Pride of Lions | 960 |
| 2. | The Fear | 749 |
| 3. | BodyButter | 481 |
| 4. | kefkat | 389 |
| 5. | CDX_EIRE | 318 |
| 6. | ClivetheVillan | 259 |
| 7. | Villan57 | 243 |
| 8. | thefacehead | 241 |
| 9. | DeanoVilla | 214 |
| 10. | mike_field | 189 |
League Results (view all)
| Latest Results | ||||
| Wigan | 2 | - | 2 | Aston Villa |
| Aston Villa | 1 | - | 2 | Chelsea |
| Norwich | 1 | - | 2 | Aston Villa |
| Aston Villa | 6 | - | 1 | Sunderland |
| Man Utd | 3 | - | 0 | Aston Villa |
| Aston Villa | 1 | - | 1 | Fulham |
League Table (view table)
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 12. Fulham | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | -10 | 43 |
| 13. Stoke | 38 | 9 | 15 | 14 | -11 | 42 |
| 14. Southampton | 38 | 9 | 14 | 15 | -11 | 41 |
| 15. Aston Villa | 38 | 10 | 11 | 17 | -22 | 41 |
| 16. Newcastle | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | -23 | 41 |
| 17. Sunderland | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | -13 | 39 |
| 18. Wigan | 38 | 9 | 9 | 20 | -26 | 36 |
Breaking League News
| Broadcasting Revenue For AVFC For 2012/13 Season
» Aston Villa : 22/05/2013 14:52:00
|
| Bookie watch: Alfie's next club
» Reading : 22/05/2013 13:00:00
|
| John Motson - Latics Fans Best In Premier League
» Wigan : 22/05/2013 12:14:00
|
| Vitor Pereira becomes new favourite
» Everton : 22/05/2013 12:14:00
|
| VIDEO: Pulis Leaves Stoke
» Stoke : 22/05/2013 11:27:00
|
| VIDEO: Carroll Stalls On Future After Fee Agreed
» West Ham : 22/05/2013 11:26:00
|
| VIDEO: Man City Confirm MLS Franchise Expansion
» Man City : 22/05/2013 11:23:00
|
Current Site Poll (view all polls)
|
|
1 © - All content copyright Vital Network Ltd, not to be reproduced without explicit permission Copyright Issues
Cookie Policy
At Vital Football, we along with most other modern websites use small files called 'cookies' to create the most secure, effective and functional website possible for our users. Without these files our business model, based on advertising, breaks down and we would be unable to continue to provide the services that you are here to utilise. By continuing to use this website after seeing this message, you consent to our use of cookies on this device unless you have disabled them. For full details please read our Cookie Policy which can be found here. However, if you would like to disable cookies on this device, please view our Cookie Policy which contains an opt-out tool for disabling advertising cookies. Please also visit our information pages on 'How to manage cookies' if you would also like to block all other types of cookies. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies.