Right back is a problem position

[Danny 0]

With the signing of Wallace, we appear to have a good state for left back. He's slowly winning me over, and Papac will provide him with good competition (unless he starts appearing on the left wing regularly...) for that slot.

 

Right back is a bit of a shambles, on the other hand. We appear to have 4 contenders for the role, and none of them are currently adequate.

 

1: Steven Whittaker. Forgetting the contract nonsense, he's endured a nightmare start to the season on every level, and didn't even feature in the squad for the Chelsea friendly. His form is abysmal, his head appears to be in a bit of a mess, and he's making howlers all over the place.

 

2: Kirk Broadfoot. Barely adequate as a right back, his demands preseason that he had to play week in week out was a real faux pas and incredibly arrogant for such an ordinary player. Quite dire in the middle, his 'best' form is at right back and even there, his form is rarely ever impressive.

 

3: Mo Edu. Known to deputise here. He struggles badly enough in midfield these days without trying to make him a flanking defender too. He's not the answer.

 

4: Jordan McMillan. Did surprisingly well today at RB but throwing him in at the deep end is unwise.

 

Do we need to buy a new RB or do we keep faith with the players we have?

[craig 5,199]

Funnily enough, I was impressed enough with Jordan McMillan that I think the lad deserves a shot - yes, it was only a friendly, but he surely couldnt do more damage to us than Whittaker has thus far this season could he ?

 

After my "these kids arent good enough yet" post yesterday I feel like re-considering. I know it was only a friendly but I was pretty impressed with McMillan, Hutton - Fleck did well when he came on too and I was surprisingly impressed by Bendiksen too.

[Zappa 0]

Whittaker was in the directors box today, so it looks as though he's maybe been suspended for his discipline lapse in Sweden.

 

In an ideal world we'd buy a really good right back because all good teams need top quality full backs, but without that Champions League cash I think Ally will concentrate what's left of his budget on getting another central defender and a good winger. I'd be extremely surprised if he bought a right back, although if we were able to conclude the Cuellar deal then I think he would be an excellent option for the position given the amount of right back experience he's gained in the EPL.

[Danny 0]

How much have we actually spent this window?

 

Wallace - 1.5M

Goian - �£800k

Ortiz - �£500k

 

We've spent barely �£2.5M so far up front. Rumour is that we have a �£3M bid out for Zuhasz, �£1.7M for Verhoek, and �£2M for Cuellar. There are another 3 mystery players we have bids out on seeing as Whyte's said we've bids for 6 or so players.

 

I'm guessing the hope is that all the above bids reap rewards and that will be our business for the window.

 

Looking back, I'm not totally sure what I'm trying to say here, but I guess I just reaffirm that while I agree Zappa that Ally is unlikely to buy a new right back (especially given how hard he worked keeping Whittaker) it clearly has become a position where we could well have problems this season.

[Zappa 0]

I know he's a central defender, but I can't help wondering how well Bartley would get on at RB.....

[Danny 0]

  Zappa said:

I know he's a central defender, but I can't help wondering how well Bartley would get on at RB.....

 

Probably as well as Papac on the other side given he's a CB by trade too.

 

I'm not a fan of trying players out of position, especially not a CB - an area that we're anything but well endowed in at the moment. We have the forum's very own marmite in David Weir, the reasonably unknown Goian, the impressive Bartley, and unless I'm very much mistaken, that's all we have in there. Oh yeah, Papac, if Wallace is now to be our first choice LB. But then Ally will probably deploy Papac at LM this season. Because he seems a certain starter always.

 

I'm rambling again.

 

In summary - Bartley or Cuellar at RB = not a fan.

[Zappa 0]

I can't see Papac playing at LM very often domestically. Maybe in the EL games against the Slovenian mob since Ally seems to be trying to copy Walter's 'stick as many defenders on the park as possible' euro tactic, but he's not going to play Papac on the left wing very often, if at all in the SPL.

[Zappa 0]

Just going to have to wait and see how the team is looking when the transfer window slams shut Danny.

[Danny 0]

I remain absolutely bewildered at him selecting him in that slot V St Johnstone. Fair enough, we won, and he was responsible for one very good cross. But it was a bizarre personnel choice otherwise.

 

Is Papac one of our 'untouchables' as Jose put it? A first choice who will always be in the team regardless of position? Did we buy Wallace as WELL as Papac rather than as a replacement?

[Danny 0]

  Zappa said:

Just going to have to wait and see how the team is looking when the transfer window slams shut Danny.

 

When it opened we had the major 3 defenders we were after - Wilson, Cuellar and Bartley. We've managed to get one of them. Maybe that's a sign of averages. That out of 3 players we want, we'll get one?

 

I do wonder who else we'll manage to get. It's been a strange window. A very poor one really till we got a small trickle of players, then a big boost in getting Bartley.