The Bjorn Engels Thread | Page 12 | Vital Football

The Bjorn Engels Thread

crimsondonkey said:
I agree on Engels. I thought I saw a calm comfortable defender with good positioning and decent clearing headers. He turns slowly and hasn’t got recovery pace which means that he’s not really suited to Deans high line press into the opposition half (although neither is Mings based on that goal he gave away against BHA!).

I suspect that’s part of the friction between him and Deano. He’s been asked to play a role he knows leaves him vulnerable. Also he appears to be the first player to openly suggest playing a bit tighter (which wasn’t well handled by either party) and that was him out the squad. Interestingly a few month later a group of senior players said the same, and then after lockdown Dean appeared to have finally figured it out. Engels must have either felt vindicated or just puzzled.

Or you could just go binary and simplistic and hark back to the Tottenham game and based on that alone and that Dean doesn’t like him and declare him shit 🙄

Tl; dr - I think there’s a player in their but not in a set up like Deanos.
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His slow turn and lack of pace was targeted a few times last season. From memory he was poor at home to Leicester and Southampton way before the Tottenham game. Once one team has exposed a glaring weakness other teams will often copy the plan. If we want to progress I think we need better players than Engels
 
Hause played better than Engels last season overall, I think that shows you where Engels is at in someways.
 
Pangloss said:
Hause played better than Engels last season overall, I think that shows you where Engels is at in someways.
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Hause makes more headers than any of them.
Mings makes loads of mistakes but gets away with it because we now seem to have turned the corner> Konsa and Mings were god awful against Brighton but it doesn't mean they don't have good games.
 
garygaryshaw said:
If we want to progress I think we need better players than Engels
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Oh I agree. He’s probably not good enough, but he’s definitely unsuited to the system under Dean.

It’s the misleading and inaccurate idea that Engels was somehow wholly responsible for Villas terrible defensive displays that I find laughable- when he was out the team we got the same shit but with different players.

Anyways he’s got no future at Villa so yes please bring back Axel.
 
crimsondonkey said:
Oh I agree. He’s probably not good enough, but he’s definitely unsuited to the system under Dean.

It’s the misleading and inaccurate idea that Engels was somehow wholly responsible for Villas terrible defensive displays that I find laughable- when he was out the team we got the same shit but with different players.

Anyways he’s got no future at Villa so yes please bring back Axel.
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Yes, I think the way we had set up and lack of protection from midfield and out wide were the main problems with our defensive record
 
Villan57 said:
He must be the only Villa player who is getting worse the longer he is out, most of them seem to get better
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All stems from a bad game at Southampton and the highly-visible mistake against Spuds. If he'd made as many glaring errors and been as soft as Mings some would be calling for the gallows....
 
Pangloss said:
Hause played better than Engels last season overall, I think that shows you where Engels is at in someways.
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Hause is impressive for 60% of a match; for the other 40% he's either out of position or too slow to react.

Engels is solid and consistent, a good CB who puts his body on the line where necessary. He gets slated because he made a couple of glaring mistakes which get brought up time and time again, because he played in matches where the whole team was sh*t, and because it justifies DS not playing him.

In the last match McGinn was a disaster every time he got the ball. Where are the cries for his head? Apparently SJM is undroppable.

I think it would be perfectly possible to pair Engels and Mings in central defence, with advantage, while maintaining the overall approach we seem to be developing. The only snag is that Konsa is doing great. But if either Konsa or Mings were injured then Engels would be the obvious replacement. He'd also do well as the centre of a back three.
 
I also think what is getting missed here is the fact that he's had a series of medium-term injuries since last season. The conspiracy theories about him being not-liked by Smith don't make any sense to me. He was on the bench a couple of times earlier this season but has picked up another knock. Must be frustrating for him. The conspiracy theory that I'd like to float is that he's trying too hard/too soon to come back and be available for the team and getting himself re-injured....
 
JW1985 said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1405919535899758597

Engels the next out the door. On a permanent deal to Royal Antwerp. Probably would have been fine 10 or more years ago but you need a bit of pace in the Premier league now. Good luck to him.

Does this mean we're after another cb or promoting a youngster like Revan or Bridge. Probably signing someone I'd think.
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Was he that slow? Can’t say I ever noticed it. I thought he was alright but obviously fell out of favour and ultimately wasn’t as good as Mings or Konsa. He’s been around quite a few clubs now suggests something’s not quite right with his approach. Wasn’t terrible but will will undoubtedly be forgotten in 5 years time.

I’d be shocked if we weren’t signing a centre back to replace him in the squad. The youngsters look like a way off yet.
 
I would be very surprised if Engels going did not signal that there is one incoming? Tuanzebe has also indicated he expects to be playing more games this year hmm interesting. It might be a loan though? Lets see.
 
JW1985 said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1405919535899758597

Engels the next out the door. On a permanent deal to Royal Antwerp. Probably would have been fine 10 or more years ago but you need a bit of pace in the Premier league now. Good luck to him.

Does this mean we're after another cb or promoting a youngster like Revan or Bridge. Probably signing someone I'd think.
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Wasn’t that fussed about Engels overall after a good start. Felt like he would’ve been successful in a mid-2000’s Villa side but wasn’t quick enough or good enough on the ball for how we want to play. The triangles we play from the back need to be done with precision, I don’t think he’s got that in his locker.

Good luck to him though.

Sergio Ramos anyone?
 
Good luck to Engels. I have two memories of him. Just missing with a header at Wembley and the blunder against Spurs in the last game at Villa Park. Apart from those two I was unable to form much of an opinion of him.
 
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