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Marc Albrighton is someone who Villa fans can find it generally easy to pull for and get behind. A local boy who grew up supporting Villa. A product of our own academy. And judging by his Twitters (which seem to pop up and disappear a month later), he seems like a decent enough guy. I'll admit (if it wasn't obvious enough by the link) that he's my favorite Villan, and I doubt I'm the only one.
And this is not without reason. His performances in the first half of the 10-11 season were great, with the most memorable coming in the opening day win over West Ham. He, along with Bannan and others, was a bright spot during Villa's brief relegation kerfuffle in the 10-11 season. But as the season wore on, Albrighton's performances became more and more, well, average.
Unfortunately, the averageness continued on into 11-12.
This is not to say Albrighton did not have some bright spots. He scored the first goal and was very good in Villa's 2-1 over Bolton in December, which in hindsight, was kind of a massive win. But other than that, it's hard to come up with another game where he stood out.
At the same time though, I can't come up with any games where he was super terrible. He was just average.
Albrighton's game is generally the same week after week. Get down the wing and send in a cross. It's been discussed in the past, that maybe the rest of the league caught up with that and knows how to play him. Or maybe it's the fact that he was playing in McHoof's system, which isn't ideal for what Albrighton does.
Whatever it is, I think everyone hopes that Lambert can bring back out the form that won Albrighton the players' and fans' Young Player of the Year awards in 10-11. Because I, for one, miss our "Super Fast Elf".