Mikhail Chigorin wrote:Douglas Higginbottom wrote:Blue In Bolton wrote:Douglas Higginbottom wrote:Blue In Bolton wrote:How has Greg Leigh been getting on at Crewe? Surely has to be a better option nowadays.
No he most definitely is not.
Thanks for that Doug. I am just dismayed at how far Clichy has regressed in his performances for the last couple of seasons and was probably a knee jerk reaction but he is fast becoming a liability.
Angelino is certainly a future possible left back but his strength is definitely his attacking play rather than defensive. At right back I think we have an even better prospect in Pablo Maffeo who I think is top class defensively and in recent games has been playing centre back even though he is quite a small lad.
My take on Clichy is that he might be marginally better than Kolarov defensively but not enough to make him first choice.On Saturday though he was awful with an assist for their first goal with his shocking positioning and then some appalling passes to make iut a really bad game for him.
Zaba isn't the greatest defender but such a 100% player he does get away with things helped of course by his attacking play and great link ups with Silva,Milner and Yaya especially. His main weakness is his speed which did get shown up once badly on Saturday but can often be seen when he has to chase back when attacking and out of position.
Thanks for mentioning this youngster Mr. H.
I don't think it necessarily follows that, just because someone is smaller, they wouldn't be any good, at PL level, in the centre-back role.
If it's the aerial 'warfare' aspect that gives concern, I think that a lack of inches can be somewhat minimised by the timing of the jump and the 'spring' that the defender can bring to the climb (years ago, I'm thinking of Ian Ross for Liverfool).
It's harder to leap higher from a standing start but, when just defending set pieces, taller players in the side could be detailed to mark the opposition's big so-and so's in those situations.
On the plus side, a smaller player might be faster, more mobile and more agile and, in this way, bring other attributes to the defence.
It'll be interesting to watch Maffeo's progress and what position he eventually ends up playing.
Mascherano has played CB for a few years now and he is only 5' 7", so it shows it can be done