Which Defender Gets Dropped?

Why can't I vote for Hughes instead of Bardsley?

Mellberg did well at right back during the early part of the season (notably WHU (a)), Laursen and Ridge looked comfortable in the centre. Ridge for me, concedes too many needless free kicks (levering off strikers when a good 40 yards up field), and Cahill has matured over the past 8 months somewhat. However, a pacey attack would cause havoc at the back for Villa if the defensive pairing was Laursen with Ridge/Cahill. Worth a try would be a back 3 (it work for Big Ron and Brian Little!)? This would also encourage Bardsley to get forward which he doesn't do often enough....

Yep! I'd go with Olof on the right. Bouma on the left. Then Cahill and Ridgewell in the Middle. Stick Laursen on the bench, after all – you can't expect to just walk into the team, people are saying how class he is, and I think it's been so long since we have seen him as a regular everyone remembers him being better than he was. I would have liked the Bardsley that we had for first few games to come back. Truth is he is making a few mistakes and running alongside people rather than tackling. Maybe he has been spending too much time with Jloyd??

I'm all for laursen in the middle with one of the youngsters ridge or gary. mellberg to right back bouma left back.

I would play Hughes over Bardsley, and Melberg at right back. Melberg was a shocking right back i thought, really poor distribution and poor going forward. Laursen is really quick, Bazzah, well he was before he got injured, unless that has changed, which i doubt it would have, i don't think there would be a problem with his pace. He's also our best defender so i would bring him in, if not for the next game then fairly soon (i think it would be diffacult to drop Cahill or Melberg after their recent performances). But if Cahill can start to consistantly play as good as he has been, especially against the better teams, i would leave him in. Bouma i think has been our best player of late, and is one of the few certain starters, in my opinion.

A couple of points. What a disgraceful headline!!! Which defender gets dropped?????? Typical of the negative attitudes that are obviously still hanging around from the Ellis years. I could have understood the question if it had read 'will youth or experience serve Villa better for the remaining games of the season'? All that M'ON has said is that Laursen is in contention for Monday. I think the 'Mellberg for right back' needs knocking on the head immediately. His distribution is poor, he can't cross and his awareness in that position is terrible (excusably so because he is not a full back). I am not sure that Bardsley is better than Hughes though. As we have four players for the two central positions we are going to get several variations for each individual fans preferences. Attempting to fit three of them in at the expense of a loan player, would only weaken the team and would be an obvious fudge of the real issues. I personally would go with Cahill/Mellberg. Since they came together during the Fulham game they have only conceded 1 goal (the fluke against the Arse). So if it ain't broke, don't fix it. However I am not sure the long term is bright with this pairing. Mainly due to Mellbergs distribution and lack of ability in picking up strikers in the box. As a slight contradiction, I think that Laursen is the most dominant of the four centre halfs available. He must be eased back though and not thrown straight into action, otherwise we will probably lose him for the rest of the season. So when we go 4 - 0 up on Monday I would bring on Laursen for Mellberg to ease him back in and let Mellberg know he is not an automatic choice.

Don't forget that J Lloyd can also play at right back , but the fact is we don't have a single decent available right back and we are not going to see Delaney again this season (or ever). The question of who plays at centre half is not the problem , all 4 players are decent at the position , it's who do we suffer at right back ? My choice would be Wilf, Cahill, Ollie,Hughes . Mr Learner - can we please have some dollars for a new right back !

No, not automatically but we have Laursen, Mellberg, Cahill, Ridgewell. Two will play or three if Mellberg goes to right back. Therefore someone will be on the bench, someone will be dropped.

Can't quite believe you are making an issue over a title, but then, if you are the voiceoftheholte, maybe you should start proving it, write a few articles and give us some super titles with it?!?! ;-p Seriously there are things to argue about and this is not one of them.

The main problem with our defence this year has been the number of times it's changed. For a good solid defence to succeed you need the same players playing in their proven position week in week out. First we lost Laursen, then we had more keepers than Dudley zoo, then Ridge was changed for Cahill, Samuel for Bouma, Bardsley for Hughes. I think MON will be doing major surgery on the defence in the summer and will then try and keep the backbone of the team playing regularly. Laursen is undoubtedly a great player but all his injuries are disruptive and I can’t see him figuring in MON’s plans long term.

trouble is, for the midfield, we've got to go out and buy I think, at the moment it all but picks itself?

Dont rush him back in, Ridge and Cahill in the centre, Olly at right back with Boom at left. Put Larse on the bench with Stan and give Davis a start. Luke should also start and rest Gabby to the bench, with his pace in the last 20 mins could be a good tactic.UTV.

It seems that negativity is the order of the day, with several people agreeing with Fear that the negative approach is the way forward. I bow to the majority, after all this is a democracy. So if you can't beat them, join them. So Mr Fear how about another headline, this time for season tickets. "What pricing structure should there be if we get relegated?" Is that negative enough?? No apologies for the facetiousness. I am no longer surprised by supporters who boo, don't turn up, moan at every opportunity and do their best to run the club down. While we are at it, lets officially change the word 'supporters' to 'customers'. That means you either support the club or you are a customer. If you are a customer and you do not like the product, then go and buy it somewhere else. Stop moaning, we don't need it and don't want it. If you are a supporter, then show some support. I would not class support as asking who should we drop or booing Agbonlahor, as he was last game when he didn't take on a defender. I wouldn't class the 15,000 empty seats against Bolton as support. To right I have got the hump at the moment and I make no excuses. Brummies have got a reputation for moaning and whingeing and as much as some of us try to change that perception, it is hard when so many try to reinforce the stereo typical view. Next thing is we will be saying that Scousers are scallies and that they wear shell suits and rob cars. OK so that bit is true, but you get what I mean. To me it seems that we have a board, management and a squad who are pulling in the same direction. Unfortunately we still have customers, who think they are supporters, pulling in another. It is simple really. If somebody pushes and somebody pulls, you will probably stay in the same position, or you will end up with stronger element having to much strength over the weaker one. If we all push (or pull) in the same direction then we will get to our destination (world domination) much sooner. Rant over. For now.

VOTC, it's all about opinions. I certainly don't think that some of your gripes are wrong, ***** – I agree with a few of them. But just because people have an opinion, it doesn't mean they are moaning. We all realise that something BIG is changing at our club, but you can't look at our current situation and not ask questions can you??? I'm all for loyalty, but I personally don't do blind faith. It's reserved for higher beeings and those are not managers, players and owners of football clubs.

Looks like The Fear is not keen on critisism and must revert to personal abuse if somebody dares question him??

Fear old boy, whay may seem trivial to one person may be something more serious to somebody else. However as site editor I believe that personal abuse is probably uncalled for. I passionately disagree with you but that does not mean I do not know of all the good work that you have done over recent years in support of our club. So I am not and would not question your support, most definitely not. So with reference to chips, talking *****e and being told to 'sod off' I think you need to reign it in.

That's like forum schizophrenia? however if someone has 2 user names – at least they will always have one friend. The Fear, I've told you before, you're not allowed to have an opinion unless it agrees with certain people. yeah right ;-) Well if it counts for anything, out of all the people I know who can be called negative, I don't think you're one of em Mr Fear. You are well balanced and considerate of other people's opinions. Far more than I can say for some.

Getting back to the question, Larse is a gem, dont rush him back. Mr Fear keep on doing the job. I enjoy your posts, dont agree with all of them, who does?