Why wasn't he a solid midfielder for Villa then?
Because he wasn't played in his correct position for a start...
So even at his worst, he has to be played in a specific 'non-midfielder' position or there's no point.
Are you pissed, Dave? He was played fairly deep alongside Petrov in a midfield 2 when he's an attacking midfielder who needs freedom. Would we play Tiote off the striker? Or Ben Arfa infront of our defence? Ner, because they would be shit.
He was also coming into a club that had just lost it's manager and had a woeful first half of the season (the team and him). Using those dozen or so games against him is canny harsh like.
I'm not sugesting he's right for us or anything like.