Steven's

[Esablade]

Think I'm in a minority here in that I think he's doing well (still!)...switched off for the goal last night which cost us but generally performed well against two lower Prem/International quality players coming at him all night...hey-ho.

 

[Slim Man]

For what it's worth I'd give Lafferty a go.
He was decent against Preston and he is good defensively. We're going to need that against Wolves.

If Stevens drifts in like he normally does when the opposition are attacking and leaves us overloaded on our left with the quality Wolves have at Molineux we'll get trounced.

And if Lafferty isn't going to get a run out, please Chris, sign someone else. It's not fair on him as much as owt.

 

[Tynemouth Blade]

Both Basham and Stevens started the season really well but you do wonder whether this is a step too far for them. I thought most of our players looked every bit like they belonged on the same pitch as Villa but Basham and Stevens both looked a bit out of their depth for me.

I want to like Basham, but.....
He can be ok defensively, but when he tries to get forward I just think BOMB SCARE!!!!!

 

[Coily]

Reassured to read the posts in this thread acknowledging that Stevens was in a difficult position due to Villa having an overload against him. Some of the posts on here and on Twitter were miles over the top last night.

Yes, he made a mistake but you could see why he made it - there was a split second where he didn't know whether Snodgrass was going to slip it to the unmarked full back and it that moment, Snodgrass went away from him.

Don't disagree with that, but his job was to cover Snodgrass and his indecision meant he didn't do it, which at that stage of the game was a huge error. He must have known his strength was cutting in on his left and so he had to deal with that. No issues if he did that and the ball was played on the overlap as the defenders are then there to close down and clear up the cross in. Other than that, I thought he had a better game than recently and is certainly a better option than Lafferty.

 

[alcoblade]

Basham giving the ball away because his ball skills are woeful. Leonard was absent. Stevens arguably at fault for the goal. Lack of creativity from midfielders. Didn't 'go for it' second half.

That doesn’t make us poor. That’s a few isolated criticisms.

The only keeper who pulled off any saves, including the second half, was theirs.

 

[mosbolad]

Started soo strong.... has been subpar for the past 10 games+

'Subpar' Tronto? Is that a mis-spelling of 'super' or 'bobar'........

 

[Baaaaaaa Blades]

for me Lafferty deserves his chance, solid defensively and Laffety always pops up in the box also (like on Saturday although did miss /good save )
he scored a few last season and my god we need goals from somewhere at home !

Stevens is so predictable going forward now /JOC doesnt seem to run past him as much anymore and its all so slow - other side is better although still need to be quicker at times as does the whole team going forward

 

[sheffielder]

I can see why people would be critical of Stevens, however a few things have changed in regards to our wing backs. Other teams stick wingers on them ala Snodgrass. It stops him getting forward as much and certainly has an effect on O’Connell.

Bash and baldock are slightly different as they have pace to burn to get back. Loads of times last night they managed to recover.

I think when this happens we need to be more flexible with the back three and put Basham in the centre to bring it out ala Maguire.

I am sure the team will continue to evolve and when we work it out we will be better for it.

 

[Dnblade]

Glad i’ve recorded the match because I have to look at Leonard’s contribution. I’m getting too old to stand right at the back of the kop, glasses an all, and pick out individual players. He seemed relatively anonymous ?

He had his hands full trying to contain Grealish who was Villa's best player for me.
The new players are still bedding in...Evans was the pick of them,but did lose the ball a couple of times.
As for Stevens;I don't think he played that bad,especially first half...just the mistake that let Snodgrass in on his left cost us.
Overall,Villa were decent;we were better than them and didn't deserve to lose.

 

[nopigfansintown]

Excellent player, very few left wing backs backs in this league anywhere near his level. It wasn't his fault we kept getting overloaded on our left: blame the midfielder on the left of the three, and to a lesser extent the striker on the left (Wilson). The space for Villa was down our left.He'd already bailed us out on a number of occasions before the goal with fantastic last ditch tackles. A valid criticism of both of our wing backs would be that they have to put the ball in the box earlier - when they have their yard of space.Take responsibility! Too many times the gap opens up and they wont drive to the byline either; they go back or square.It's extremely frustrating for strikers who've made runs.If we were to sell him, anything less than 4 million would be giving him away which says it all.