clear out of centre backs

[Archie's penalty]

deff get rid of bennett and sodji. they are both a waste of money. could of got someone way better than them.

Fukc off newbie... and by the way please learn how to punctuate, spell, and use the English language correctly.

Bit harsh don't you reckon? And yes I know the hobnob rules. You do think we should get rid of Bennett and Sodje right?

[Dai Brainbocs]

IMHO the question is not just who to keep, but why ever have so many centre backs on the payroll at the same time in the first place?

[OLLIE KEARNS]

Now it takes an old striker like me to be a good judge of a centre back For what it's worth

BIKEY - Can be whatever he wants to be. The odd lack of concentration is all he has to overcome. I first realised this when he had John Carew in his back pocket all afternoon in the 2-0 home win over Villa. Carew is a real handful and Bikey dealt with him physically, top notch performance. And he scores goals from set plays. Midfield also an option.

INGA - Very solid option for us next year. He only gets found out when sides knock balls in behind him. Premiership pace of strikers was a real problem but Championship is played more in the air / in front of the back four so less exposed and the game will be played to his strengths.

CISSE - Spurs in the cup and Man U home showed a potential top performer at centre back. No doubt about that. Let's see how he progresses next season. He only lost his place after having to partner Sonko (more of that later) against Villa so he was a bit unlucky there.

DUBERRY - See Inga but he has a bit more pace. We bought him because he had Championship strikers in his back pocket every week when at Stoke. Very physical, good in the air, good positionally and has a bit of pace (remember the recovery run when at 1-1 v Wigan ?). Might be our first choice next season given the league we are playing in.

SONKO - At his best he was very quick, good in the air and had a good understanding with Inga. Weakness was positioning and reading the game as he constantly got the wrong side of people. Got away with it in the Championship but not in the Premier (how many pens after getting the wrong side !!). Then the injury took away a fraction of pace which was enough to expose his weak points even more. The games at Spurs away and Villa at home almost made you feel sorry for him but the pen versus Pompey was just the same old mistake.
Thanks Sonks for your superman years but time to move on now. If we can get a decent fee then good business for us.

SODJE AND BENNETT - Decent players but won't feature here unless some of the others were to leave so maybe time to move on.

PEARCE - Like what I've seen so far. If he continues to progress and Bikey / Cisse end up in the midfield role then he might be right in the mix as the year goes by.

So, Duberry, Inga and Pearce (genuine CB's) plus Bikey and Cisse (CB or CMF) should cover our options and make us difficult to score against. Assuming we get the full backs sorted out. But that's for another day

[rg6royal]

As long as we can keep hold of Bikey thats the main thing.

[Ian Royal]

Your typing, spelling and grammar is very good for someone with an IQ in single figures K4E.

Which multi-username wind-up merchant are you again? I seem to have forgotten.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

Get rid of Cisse as well.

Not good enough in the air, not good enough on the ball.

Not really much you can do with that is there? Him and Kebe.

Certainly would like to see Bikey stay. Would have him as 1st choice, with a younger version of Ivar. Of course that would mean signing someone better than Ivar, which won't happen.

Cisse has had one season in English football and that was in the top flight playing teams that made up 3 of the 4 semi finalists in the Champions league.

Next season he will have a season under his belt and be playing a standard of football that is considerably lower than the premiership.

He is a utility player that can fill a number of positions which is what all teams need.

We don't need players to fill positions. We had too many players who could fill a position last season and players like Cisse, Fae, Kebe, not being anywhere near good enough and putting no pressure on the starting 11 is the main reason we went down.

We need competition. What's the point in keeping players we know are not as good as what we have? We need a ball playing centre half as good as Ivar and a holding midfielder. Cisse just takes up space on the wage bill we are told we need to keep down.

I can already here Coppell using Cisse as an excuse not to sign a centre half.

If we can't bring in players better than Cisse then we may as well turn in our transfer cards now.

Staleness is our biggest problem still, our defence is stale, our midfield is stale and our strikers are stale. Cause in 3 years they have not been improved. We need changes across the pitch or we will still have all our last seasons problems. Our cover not being good enough is the top of the list.

[Archie's penalty]

Get rid of Cisse as well.

Not good enough in the air, not good enough on the ball.

Not really much you can do with that is there? Him and Kebe.

Certainly would like to see Bikey stay. Would have him as 1st choice, with a younger version of Ivar. Of course that would mean signing someone better than Ivar, which won't happen.

Cisse has had one season in English football and that was in the top flight playing teams that made up 3 of the 4 semi finalists in the Champions league.

Next season he will have a season under his belt and be playing a standard of football that is considerably lower than the premiership.

He is a utility player that can fill a number of positions which is what all teams need.

We don't need players to fill positions. We had too many players who could fill a position last season and players like Cisse, Fae, Kebe, not being anywhere near good enough and putting no pressure on the starting 11 is the main reason we went down.

We need competition. What's the point in keeping players we know are not as good as what we have? We need a ball playing centre half as good as Ivar and a holding midfielder. Cisse just takes up space on the wage bill we are told we need to keep down.

I can already here Coppell using Cisse as an excuse not to sign a centre half.

If we can't bring in players better than Cisse then we may as well turn in our transfer cards now.

Staleness is our biggest problem still, our defence is stale, our midfield is stale and our strikers are stale. Cause in 3 years they have not been improved. We need changes across the pitch or we will still have all our last seasons problems. Our cover not being good enough is the top of the list.

I wouldn't get rid of Cisse but we do need a shakeup. I agree that staleness was our big problem last year...

[Ian Royal]

A winger or two a midfielder or two and a left back should shake things up a bit. Thats what we really need and they should be ready for the first team.
Thats plenty of change.
Centrebacks are mostly good enough for the championship. Concentrate on them next season when Ivar and Duberry are more in need of replacement.

[brendywendy]

Get rid of Cisse as well.

Not good enough in the air, not good enough on the ball.

Not really much you can do with that is there? Him and Kebe.

Certainly would like to see Bikey stay. Would have him as 1st choice, with a younger version of Ivar. Of course that would mean signing someone better than Ivar, which won't happen.

Cisse has had one season in English football and that was in the top flight playing teams that made up 3 of the 4 semi finalists in the Champions league.

Next season he will have a season under his belt and be playing a standard of football that is considerably lower than the premiership.

He is a utility player that can fill a number of positions which is what all teams need.

We don't need players to fill positions. We had too many players who could fill a position last season and players like Cisse, Fae, Kebe, not being anywhere near good enough and putting no pressure on the starting 11 is the main reason we went down.

We need competition. What's the point in keeping players we know are not as good as what we have? We need a ball playing centre half as good as Ivar and a holding midfielder. Cisse just takes up space on the wage bill we are told we need to keep down.

I can already here Coppell using Cisse as an excuse not to sign a centre half.

If we can't bring in players better than Cisse then we may as well turn in our transfer cards now.

Staleness is our biggest problem still, our defence is stale, our midfield is stale and our strikers are stale. Cause in 3 years they have not been improved. We need changes across the pitch or we will still have all our last seasons problems. Our cover not being good enough is the top of the list.

dont need an excuse not to sign centre backs

bikey and duberry will be more than a match for anything the 2nd tier can throw at us

anbd cisse is more than good enough to be our new brynnjar gunnarson

[John Peel]

This is the same Bennett who played some great football for Saints last season. My Southampton mate was gutted when we recalled him at Christmas. Saints started letting goals in again after his departure. He may not have been good enough for the Prem, but his spell at Soton showed he can play Championship football when his confidence returned.

[YateleyRoyal]

Shut up you newbie!!

Go back to the zoo.

And please take Sonko, Kebe, Sodje and Bennett with you.

Newbie?

See the date when I joined?

A hell of a lot earlier than you!!! And because of that, I was actually grown up enough to remember Sonko being a star player in the Championship season and well worth keeping. And yes, before you ask, I do still think you're a rascist fcukwit and am sure most others on this board agree with me

[winchester_royal]

This is the same Bennett who played some great football for Saints last season. My Southampton mate was gutted when we recalled him at Christmas. Saints started letting goals in again after his departure. He may not have been good enough for the Prem, but his spell at Soton showed he can play Championship football when his confidence returned.

The problem with Bennett is that there are a number of better centre backs in our squad in Duberry, Ingi, BK, Sonko, and Pearce is definitely one for the future.

That would make him 6th choice CB,and the wage bill is too high,

He is unlucky......but we should let him go.

[YateleyRoyal]

This is the same Bennett who played some great football for Saints last season. My Southampton mate was gutted when we recalled him at Christmas. Saints started letting goals in again after his departure. He may not have been good enough for the Prem, but his spell at Soton showed he can play Championship football when his confidence returned.

Ha! When I saw him turn out for Brentford last season, he was hit and miss at the best of times and most of the time looked out of depth at that level....oh well, maybe he raised his game because he was at a HUGE club like Southampton...

[brendywendy]

This is the same Bennett who played some great football for Saints last season. My Southampton mate was gutted when we recalled him at Christmas. Saints started letting goals in again after his departure. He may not have been good enough for the Prem, but his spell at Soton showed he can play Championship football when his confidence returned.

Ha! When I saw him turn out for Brentford last season, he was hit and miss at the best of times and most of the time looked out of depth at that level....oh well, maybe he raised his game because he was at a HUGE club like Southampton...

or that he had a few games in a settled defence, and grew in confidence, and started playing to his potential

agreed though, with the rest of our CBs being better he should probably go

[Scarface]

The one position we need a good clear out of is centre back - we could get at least 3 off the wage bill and then combine the wages to get a decent midfiedler or right winger. Or even left winger should Hunt go and the rumours about Convey retiring turn out to be true.

I would keep

Duberry
Ingimarrson
Bikey
Pearce

Cisse is cover here and in midfield

Get rid of

Sonko
Sodje
Bennett

I'd probably agree, but Mr Negative is happy with the sqaud as it is (have we heard that anywhere before ?)

[Streets]

deff get rid of bennett and sodji. they are both a waste of money. could of got someone way better than them.

Fukc off newbie... and by the way please learn how to punctuate, spell, and use the English language correctly.

Yeah you tell him.

[CCFC Fan]

Lads,
Alan Bennett is a quality centre half. He is easily good enough for Championship level, as he proved last season with Soton, who wanted to extend his loan but Coppell decided to recall him and not give him a game, before farming him out to his buddies in League Two. Coppell just won't give him a chance and I have no doubt that if Benno is givn one then ye will all realise how naive ye have been.

[floyd__streete]

Alan Bennett is a quality centre half. He is easily good enough for Championship level, as he proved last season with Soton

.....whose supporters rated him the worst defender that they had ever seen? The same set of supporters who watched Francis Benali play week-in week-out for more than a decade.

[Ian Royal]

Ouch!

[Son of Len]

by winchester_royal on 22 Jun 2008 19:44

John Peel wrote:
This is the same Bennett who played some great football for Saints last season. My Southampton mate was gutted when we recalled him at Christmas. Saints started letting goals in again after his departure. He may not have been good enough for the Prem, but his spell at Soton showed he can play Championship football when his confidence returned.


The problem with Bennett is that there are a number of better centre backs in our squad in Duberry, Ingi, BK, Sonko, and Pearce is definitely one for the future.

That would make him 6th choice CB,and the wage bill is too high,

He is unlucky......but we should let him go.

If someone wants to pay 1 M or 1.5 M for Sonko, take it. Keep Bennett to fight it out with Pearce for the 4th spot (behind Dubes, Bikey and Ingi). Duberry and Ingi are getting older and between Bennett and Pearce we should hopefully have a partner for Bikey in August '09. Center back is the building block of the entire team and having a 5th is not really a luxury. Especially since Duberry and Ingimarsson have spent time being injured over the past couple of years.

Bikey, Pearce and Bennett are a good foundation for next season, when Dubes and Ingi will be breaking down even more.