by OLLIE KEARNS »
21 Jun 2008 12:15
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