- He has played there before at multiple clubs.
- He's tall and physical
- Crucially, he's good on the ball and be a 'ball playing' centre back
- We keep him on the pitch but free up space for more energetic midfielders- probably James/Bacuna in front of him.
Thoughts. I can't see a problem other than a bit of a limitation on pace.
" I can't see a problem other than a bit of a limitation on pace. "
I see a huge problem.
Massively important requirement for central defenders. Bielik hasn't got that and he lacks agility.
Takes him too long to get back to his feet by which time it's in the net ( again ).
Moreover Sunjic should start with James tomorrow and let Bielik have a rest , he lucked shagged out at Blackburn.
Sunjic will lead by example and hopefully consign the slow starts to each half to the sloath den.
It's crucial.
I've always thought he'd end up there anyway.
And if world class wayne is going to insist on allowing Sanderson and Aiwu to wander around the pitch as they feel like, then maybe a sweeper between them is a good idea as part of a back five.
I can get behind that, as he also reads the game well and has alertness.
Cunningham was no speed machine but his Shepherd/Sheepdog partnership with Upson flying about was fine by me.
Him and Sanderson...?
Yeah, go on then
Is that twice you’ve tried out ‘world class Wayne’ ? It’s the sort of thing people who think they’re taking the p*ss would write I think. The animus seems almost personal- I must say, I don’t get it.
I think in a back 3 it may work but not in a central 2. I’ve noticed this season in particular that he is not very good at tracking runners. This I think contributed to a couple of the goals conceded against Blackburn, with us giving their midfielders too much space to play the ball through the middle.
So I don’t think he’s got the discipline to play at the back unless he’s got a fair bit of cover around him.
Aiwu's positioning worries me a lot.
From Rooneys comments I think we may see Buchanan move CB and Laird & Drameh as full backs, Not the greatest height wise granted
I was wondering the same the other night but thought there must be some reason he’s converted to a midfielder. Unless he was always a midfielder and his centre half days were an experiment.
I doubt he’d improve the back line much, if at all. We are already expecting the poor wee dabs to embrace change, don’t want to overburden them.
If we were to change it I’d rather see what Buchanan can do. Have Dranmeh left back.
Alternatively tell the actual centre halves to wake the eff up.
I think it was Aiwu who let Szmodics to just run off him twice. It was just absolutely basic defending and someone with his pace should have covered it easily. Frustrating.
Scraping the barrel a bit now aren't we?
Yeah, tried to play offside twice, and both times he stepped up after the ball was played, really really poor, just needs to take responsibility and track his man
Yeah defo an option. Would be similar to how Coady became a centre half at Wolves, which allows him to play the pivot role from a much deeper position.
Bielik is a championship version of Eric Dier. Not sure whether that's a good thing.