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Josh Onomah

Gutter Boy said:
Not connected. Barkley would be Alli's cover, whereas Onomah is Dembele's heir
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On the whole that's how i would normally think of things, but Poch is so fluid with how he uses players it may not be so clear-cut as that (see how Winks was used as the only 'defensive' midfielder yesterday..)
 
My thoughts exactly. Before he started testing this 352 I'd have agreed. If we are going to use it more, having midfielders like Barkley and Onomah will be great going forward.
 
glorygloryeze said:
On the whole that's how i would normally think of things, but Poch is so fluid with how he uses players it may not be so clear-cut as that (see how Winks was used as the only 'defensive' midfielder yesterday..)
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Winks has been played as one two central/deep midfielders though and thrives in that role. That's the role Onomah seems to impress in too. Whereas Barkley just hasn't so far...
 
glorygloryeze said:
On the whole that's how i would normally think of things, but Poch is so fluid with how he uses players it may not be so clear-cut as that (see how Winks was used as the only 'defensive' midfielder yesterday..)
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Winks and Onomah have played CM all the way through youth football. Barkley has never played there - he's always been an AM.

Remember it took Poch about 15-18 months to convert Dembele to a CM suitable for our system (for that time he used him sparingly at AM, while preferring Bentaleb and Mason at CM). Barkley is going to need at least that long, especially considering he has no positional intelligence and no defensive bone in his body. And there's no point either, as Winks and Onomah both have much higher ceilings.
 
Gutter Boy said:
Winks and Onomah have played CM all the way through youth football. Barkley has never played there - he's always been an AM.

Remember it took Poch about 15-18 months to convert Dembele to a CM suitable for our system (for that time he used him sparingly at AM, while preferring Bentaleb and Mason at CM). Barkley is going to need at least that long, especially considering he has no positional intelligence and no defensive bone in his body. And there's no point either, as Winks and Onomah both have much higher ceilings.
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Dembele was injured for most of that 18 months. I guess that’s where your comparison with Barkley is coming from? As Dembele clearly showed he was an exceptional CM alongside Sandro under AVB as well until injury hit them both.
 
Gazza Dazzla said:
Dembele was injured for most of that 18 months. I guess that’s where your comparison with Barkley is coming from? As Dembele clearly showed he was an exceptional CM alongside Sandro under AVB as well until injury hit them both.
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According to this record, Dembele didn't have one injury during 14-15 season: http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/mousa-dembele/verletzungen/spieler/19368. He was on the bench a lot and AM occasionally, but Poch just didn't trust him in CM. It was coaching him during year to release the ball, to enable him to play in a quick transitioning setup, that turned around his career.
 
Gutter Boy said:
According to this record, Dembele didn't have one injury during 14-15 season: http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/mousa-dembele/verletzungen/spieler/19368. He was on the bench a lot and AM occasionally, but Poch just didn't trust him in CM. It was coaching him during year to release the ball, to enable him to play in a quick transitioning setup, that turned around his career.
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Your right he wasn’t injured for “most” of that period as I’d mentioned, but your link says he didn’t have 1 injury from Nov 2012 to Dec 2015?

The improvement in the team performances came because he taught the team how to move and attack properly, not how moussa should release the ball, because frankly he still holds on to it.

Edit: also I could flip this argument on its head and say that Poch was proved incorrect in preferring Bentalab and Mason in CM tat season, as we are quite clearly better with Moussa in there than we were with those two. But I won’t simplify it like that and then repeat the same thing every few months whether the theory was proved wrong or not!;)
 
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LCLC said:
I think the comment re. Forums actually holds some weight. However having a villa season ticket holder as a close friend I would summarise as he started the season wonderfully well and stood out as their best player and a cut above over the first 6 weeks. He then got an injury and the teams form picked up meaning he was restricted to sub appearances and the odd start playing in a more advanced role and he seemed to get mixed reviews. I think he has had a couple of crap performances (to be expected in a young player, esp Ina team struggling for form) but he has also put in several MOTM performances and the last few weeks he has impressed again.

Overall villa fans say he looks too good for this level and if he is more consistent then he will come back to spurs as a first team player. In terms of his development, he needs this. I have watched him since 13 or 14 and I still believe (like several spurs coaches) that he was the talent to go into be a first team regular for us - eclipsing the likes of winks in the process. Time will tell but I would love for him to get 5 games in a row for us in midfield to show fans what he's about. He is potentially a star.
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You've watched him a lot more than I have, so I'll defer to our judgement on his potential. But it's interesting that both Poch and Bruce have seen fit to try him out in advanced positions, despite his generally indifferent displays in such roles - why do you think that is? I mean, as far as I know, his most impressive moments have come as a central midfielder for the U-20s, no?
 
DubaiSpur said:
You've watched him a lot more than I have, so I'll defer to our judgement on his potential. But it's interesting that both Poch and Bruce have seen fit to try him out in advanced positions, despite his generally indifferent displays in such roles - why do you think that is? I mean, as far as I know, his most impressive moments have come as a central midfielder for the U-20s, no?
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It's only a theory but watching that video I think we can maybe get something of an inkling as to why.

I'm no expert on Villa but it's well known that they have struggled mightily to score goals over the past few seasons so it's probably safe to assume that one of the reasons is they have lacked someone who can open up defences. To find a player therefore who can not only see a pass through to his attackers but also execute it to perfection and with regularity is something quite rare. In that clip Onamah does it time and time again. Brilliantly.

So maybe Bruce has seen this in him and is playing him higher up the park in order to exploit his potential to unlock defences for him.

Thoughts?
 
We were interested in Barkley. There were a lot of reports over the summer about Poch seeing him as a central midfielder and believing he could fit Barkley in there.
Then comes the most recent formation switches where we are playing 3 midfielders without a recognised DM. Barkley could fit into that system without as much training as if he was being converted into a #8.

Back on topic though. I thought Onomah looked really good in the vid and more like his U20 self. What's more encouraging is that he looks more switched on and playing at a higher tempo.
 
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