Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Left back crisis?

Carlos Bocanegra will be suspended for Saturday's game having now received 5 yellow cards. This went through my mind as I watched the highlights on Saturday and is now confirmed on the F.A.'s website. With Konchesky still serving a three match ban Sanchez now has an interesting choice to make. Does he use a young inexperienced player in a position he is used to playing or does he move one of the more recognised first team players to fill the gap. The options as far as I can tell are;

Nathan Ashton, the 20 year old left back we signed after his release from Charlton. He was on the bench on Saturday which suggests he is at least in Lawrie's thoughts and would make his club debut if selected.

Aaron Hughes or Dejan Stefanovic. Both have played left back in the past, though of the two I would favour Hughes. In using either player we would be left trying to fill the centre back vacancy. That may possibly open the door for Chris Baird to try his arm at the centre back position where he so impressed for Southampton last season. Alternatively Elliot Omozusi has generally played as centre back for the reserves and could be given a chance with either Baird or Volz (if fit) returning to the right back berth.

Chris Baird has also played left back, though quite early on in his Southampton career. Maybe he could achieve that Rosenior ability of performing better on the wrong side than he does on the right side.

Omosuzi thoroughly deserves to retain his position at right back, but other than that I have no idea what the best selection would be. If Ashton is up to the job then we would at least retain some consistency in our back four, if he's not then I suspect Hughes will get the nod with Baird given his chance at centre back. I wasn't feeling confident about Saturday anyway and this isn't making it any better.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chopper-Just checked Volzy's site to see if he wrote about where he is at with rehab and it looks like he still is a ways away. (See below for entry) The defensive situation is a really interesting dilemma that we don't particularly need at this point and time. Good post!

25th October 2007

"Just a quick update today as I haven’t been up to much other than the daily grind of injury rehab. I’m now in my fourth week and the monotony is killing me. I try to keep reminding myself that this is sometimes what we have to put up with – I just hope that this is my last time out injured for a long while. In terms of progress I had a meeting on Thursday and it looks like an injection in a day or two and then possibly off to Germany next week to see a specialist over there. Hopefully it’ll only be another week or two and the long term benefit is that I’ll be fitter and stronger than I was even at the start of this season."

Anonymous said...

Cheers BQ - That's kind of what I figured too. Though even if he was fit I'm not sure he'd help us out right now, unless he get's to play in centre midfield!

Chopper