N'Zogbia form still a puzzle for McLeish
Alex McLeish today revealed he is at a loss as to why Charles N'Zogbia has struggled to settle at Villa ahead of the player's return to Wigan.
Alex McLeish today revealed he is at a loss as to why Charles N'Zogbia has struggled to settle at Villa ahead of the player's return to Wigan.
The Villa boss spent the best part of £10m to prise N'Zogbia from the DW Stadium last summer but has so far seen scant return on his investment.
McLeish was forced to discipline N'Zogbia, who has one goal and two assists to his name in 21 Premier League games, after he skipped a medical appointment he was scheduled to attend in December last year.
N'Zogbia also incurred the wrath of McLeish when he expressed his frustrations at being substituted via Twitter following Villa's 2-1 defeat to Newcastle.
The French winger's performances have shown more promise lately but he is still to find any consistency which has been a mystery for the Villa manager.
"That's the 64,000 dollar question. Why has Stewart Downing failed to settle down at Liverpool? It's baffling when you know they are great players but who knows what goes on in the mind," said McLeish.
"Going back to Wigan I am sure he would want to do well. Anyone would want to do that going back to their old club. I guess it's a case of how much you make it happen yourself, that's the key to anyone's performance, how much they show that desire.
"He's worked really hard over the past few weeks, he has a programme in the gym working on other parts of the body with fitness coach Adrian Lamb and he's really applied himself well. I am looking for that kind of attitude from players.
"It was something we felt that - on studying players and analysing individual profiles – it was worth implementing some extra programmes for him."
McLeish also tipped Stephen Ireland to fill the boots of Robbie who returns to LA Galaxy after Saturday's trip to Lancashire.
"There's no reason why Stevie can't come back and emulate what Robbie has done," added the Villa boss.
"Stevie can start to finish, in terms of goals rather than setting people up, then Stevie could make a big contribution to the team between now and the end of the season."