ARTICLE: Drinkwater back in claret and blue

[NewClaret]

If Villa are paying £110k people for him, I’ll be staggered. I’d have thought they need a striker and a keeper first.

[DCWat]

Isn’t McGinn out for a while?

[tiger76]

Isn’t McGinn out for a while?

About 3 months according to reports.so i'd expect DD to get a fair amount of gametime.

[NewClaret]

Isn’t McGinn out for a while?

Good point. Had forgotten about him.

[beddie]

It's interesting that the majority of posts put all their reasons for him not playing for us at Drinkwaters door, so theirs no blame attached to Burnley then?

[SussexDon1inIreland]

Seems happier in that one photo than in the photo when he joined us and any subsequent photo or interview seemed throughly ******-off at Burnley

Cant help feeling angry at DD using us for a wage


UTC

[joey13]

Seems happier in that one photo than in the photo when he joined us and any subsequent photo or interview seemed throughly ******-off at Burnley

Cant help feeling angry at DD using us for a wage


UTC

Dread to think what your feelings are towards Mike Rigg then

[corporal jones]

We did.
He was $h!t.
We move on.

Quoted the wrong person.

So we have a player and never give him a game until the best midfield in the world come to town. Understandably he struggles. Therefore he is ****?
Football fans are thick. QED.

[Goobs]

So we have a player and never give him a game until the best midfield in the world come to town. Understandably he struggles. Therefore he is ****?
Football fans are thick. QED.

18 Dobson
8 McGeouch
13 O'Nien Substituted for Power at 87'minutes
17 Embleton

There you have it ladies and gents. The best midfield in the world according to the all knowledgeable Corporal Jones. Don't panic if like me you thought that this title may have gone to a team slightly better than a team halfway down league one.

[Dark Cloud]

It's interesting that the majority of posts put all their reasons for him not playing for us at Drinkwaters door, so theirs no blame attached to Burnley then?

IMO opinion there's plenty of blame attached to the club here. DD was INITIALLY very much at fault due to the night club fiasco, but once we'd agreed he could stay and we worked to get him sorted out mentally and physically, why the hell didn't we play him!!? If you're not going to, then simply send him packing after the fight!! And surely a fit and firing DD would be an upgrade on an ageing and extremely slow Cork. The people with the last laugh here could well be Villa. We get the guy fit to play and one of our closest rivals profits from it when they're in a bit of a hole after losing arguably their second best player. I know we don't know all the facts and I really don't like to criticise SD or the club, but we do look more than a bit daft I feel.

[corporal jones]

18 Dobson
8 McGeouch
13 O'Nien Substituted for Power at 87'minutes
17 Embleton

There you have it ladies and gents. The best midfield in the world according to the all knowledgeable Corporal Jones. Don't panic if like me you thought that this title may have gone to a team slightly better than a team halfway down league one.

clearly I was referring to man citys midfield and your response has just proved my point again. QED.

[corporal jones]

18 Dobson
8 McGeouch
13 O'Nien Substituted for Power at 87'minutes
17 Embleton

There you have it ladies and gents. The best midfield in the world according to the all knowledgeable Corporal Jones. Don't panic if like me you thought that this title may have gone to a team slightly better than a team halfway down league one.

clearly I was referring to man citys midfield and your response has just proved my point again. QED.

[corporal jones]

18 Dobson
8 McGeouch
13 O'Nien Substituted for Power at 87'minutes
17 Embleton

There you have it ladies and gents. The best midfield in the world according to the all knowledgeable Corporal Jones. Don't panic if like me you thought that this title may have gone to a team slightly better than a team halfway down league one.

clearly I was referring to man citys midfield and your response has just proved my point again. QED.

[corporal jones]

18 Dobson
8 McGeouch
13 O'Nien Substituted for Power at 87'minutes
17 Embleton

There you have it ladies and gents. The best midfield in the world according to the all knowledgeable Corporal Jones. Don't panic if like me you thought that this title may have gone to a team slightly better than a team halfway down league one.

clearly I was referring to man citys midfield and your response has just proved my point again. QED.

[Goobs]

clearly I was referring to man citys midfield and your response has just proved my point again. QED.

Alright calm down petal no need to wind yourself up into such a frenzy that you get stuck on repeat.

[dsr]

IMO opinion there's plenty of blame attached to the club here. DD was INITIALLY very much at fault due to the night club fiasco, but once we'd agreed he could stay and we worked to get him sorted out mentally and physically, why the hell didn't we play him!!? If you're not going to, then simply send him packing after the fight!! And surely a fit and firing DD would be an upgrade on an ageing and extremely slow Cork. The people with the last laugh here could well be Villa. We get the guy fit to play and one of our closest rivals profits from it when they're in a bit of a hole after losing arguably their second best player. I know we don't know all the facts and I really don't like to criticise SD or the club, but we do look more than a bit daft I feel.

How did he look in training? Obviously Sean Dyche thought for various reasons, but especially his performance in training, that Cork was the better option. Did you see something that Dyche didn't?

[Quickenthetempo]

I don't know about you lot but I thought Drinkwater was non existent tonight for Villa, like he wasn't even playing.

[superdimitri]

I think Villa will be in bigger trouble than it looks. They may have beat us and looked good too, but they lost Heaton and Wesley. The addition of Drinkwater is just another risk for them and one that could easily go against them.

It's all rosy when things are going your way but I wouldn't expect Drinkwater is the kind of player you want around when things aren't going well.

For all his faults Dyche is a good judge of character so you can bet there's good reason he didn't get a chance and my guess is it's something to do with ego or arrogance.

[Dark Cloud]

How did he look in training? Obviously Sean Dyche thought for various reasons, but especially his performance in training, that Cork was the better option. Did you see something that Dyche didn't?

I appreciate what you're saying and no, of course I didn't, but all I'm saying is that rather than spend time and money getting him fit after the night club scrap, we should just have got rid. At the time I had no issue with us keeping him as I thought he'd get sorted, play some games and give us something extra, but we didn't even try him, so would have been better all round just sending him back. That's all.

[Rileybobs]

I appreciate what you're saying and no, of course I didn't, but all I'm saying is that rather than spend time and money getting him fit after the night club scrap, we should just have got rid. At the time I had no issue with us keeping him as I thought he'd get sorted, play some games and give us something extra, but we didn't even try him, so would have been better all round just sending him back. That's all.

But we’d entered into a contract to take the player on loan. What makes you think we could just send him back?

[Dark Cloud]

But we’d entered into a contract to take the player on loan. What makes you think we could just send him back?

I definitely thought that after the night club incident the club (SD?) strongly implied that they could have pulled the plug because of it, but decided not to and to work with DD. (Which as mentioned, I didn't have any problem with, but if he then was NEVER going to play, why bother?) I may be wrong of course.

[Top Claret]

If Villa get Drinkwater firing on all cylinders, they really are going to make Dyche look like a right Charlie

[dsr]

If Villa get Drinkwater firing on all cylinders, they really are going to make Dyche look like a right Charlie

That's true of all players. How would it have looked if Jutkiewicz had scored 30 goals and then torn it up in the Premier League? You have to take that risk when you let players go.

(And I reckon the likelihood of Drinkwater proving himself worthy of his vast salary, is remote.)

[aggi]

If Villa are paying £110k people for him, I’ll be staggered. I’d have thought they need a striker and a keeper first.

The reporting I've seen says that Villa refused to pick up the full wage bill and it's nearer the ~50% that we were meant to be paying.

I guess Chelsea thought there was no harm in trying it on but obviously no-one bit.

[Long Time Lurker]

A professional player desperate to get game time and give their manager something to think about should be 100% fit and firing, pulling out all the stops to impress.

Drinkwater was happily coasting along at Chelsea, trotting out on the training pitch and picking up a big wage. If he had been pulling out all the stops to claim a place in the managers thinking he should have been ready to hit the ground running when he came to us. The fact that he was some way off being 100% in terms of his general fitness ( never mind sharpness ) is a clear indication of his casual disregard for putting in the effort.

As we all know he had has hiccup almost as soon as he arrived. That required more downtime and in the game against Man City he didn't look like he had a full 90 minutes in him. Neither did he look all that sharp in terms of his playing contribution. Finally, we get his Villa interview in which he talks about watching the Villa game from our bench and wishing he was playing for them.

No fitness, no commitment, happy to coast given the option, didn't look that good against city and taking our money while wanting to play elsewhere. Not the type of player you want to be reliant on when you are up against it as we very well could be in the remainder of this season.

Happy to be rid of him, we gave him a golden chance to resurrect his flagging career and he threw it back in our face, complete cock and we did well to show him the door.

Did I mention that he sat on our bench taking our money while harbouring a drooling desire to play for an opposing team ( in our own ******* stadium ). Oh, I did mention that, well I'm not deleting it because thinking about it pisses me off. In fact I'm tempted to write it again and highlight it in bold.

[jrgbfc]

A professional player desperate to get game time and give their manager something to think about should be 100% fit and firing, pulling out all the stops to impress.

Drinkwater was happily coasting along at Chelsea, trotting out on the training pitch and picking up a big wage. If he had been pulling out all the stops to claim a place in the managers thinking he should have been ready to hit the ground running when he came to us. The fact that he was some way off being 100% in terms of his general fitness ( never mind sharpness ) is a clear indication of his casual disregard for putting in the effort.

As we all know he had has hiccup almost as soon as he arrived. That required more downtime and in the game against Man City he didn't look like he had a full 90 minutes in him. Neither did he look all that sharp in terms of his playing contribution. Finally, we get his Villa interview in which he talks about watching the Villa game from our bench and wishing he was playing for them.

No fitness, no commitment, happy to coast given the option, didn't look that good against city and taking our money while wanting to play elsewhere. Not the type of player you want to be reliant on when you are up against it as we very well could be in the remainder of this season.

Happy to be rid of him, we gave him a golden chance to resurrect his flagging career and he threw it back in our face, complete cock and we did well to show him the door.

Did I mention that he sat on our bench taking our money while harbouring a drooling desire to play for an opposing team ( in our own ******* stadium ). Oh, I did mention that, well I'm not deleting it because thinking about it pisses me off. In fact I'm tempted to write it again and highlight it in bold.

Or maybe he realised no matter what he did Dyche was never gonna drop his blue eyed boys Cork and Westwood so he was wasting his time with us?

[claretblue]

he also played a full part in Chelsea pre-season before being loaned to us - which suggests he had reached on-field fitness

[Rileybobs]

he also played a full part in Chelsea pre-season before being loaned to us - which suggests he had reached on-field fitness

He really wasn’t. I remember a couple of weeks before he signed for us he had just played a in a pre season tournament game in the USA, I think it was, and the radio commentator remarked on how out of shape he looked.