I think Bamba plays better against quality. He was great against Real Madrid and didn't look uncomfortable at all. I think it would be a huge loss for him to go now after all the efforts to gel the team during pre-season. Also, how much will a similar replacement cost? Keep him.
We need to keep Bamba aswell because the squad has had enough changes and we now have a settled squad, we dont need to needlessly sell good players to replace them with players with roughly the same ability
Also, Bamba's inconsistency problem might be helped by the competition for places we have in our sqaud. One mistake or lapse in concentration he has then he knows SSL and Tunch are ready to take his place so he'll have to be more consistent and not so lackadaisical or he'll be on the bench.
Vichai and Top are businessmen, do you honestly think they would turn down the opportunity to make a 1,200% profit on a player who is incredibly inconsistent? I don't think so. The 'we don't need the money' argument is pretty irrelevant; if there's an opportunity to make a big profit on a player who's value could quite easily go down if he loses his place, I believe they, and Sven who is also a canny worker of the transfer market, will take it. From what I've heard from Reading fans, Mills himself seems to have his moments of madness. Whilst they have looked solid so far, there is a significant chance they could both have a crazy spell, maybe even at the same time. How I see it, Mills could do with a more experienced head alongside him to help him out, someone like a Steven Taylor or Jody Craddock type figure.
But do the financial benefits of selling him outweigh the footballing benefits of keeping him? I don't think they do. Bamba is easily Premier League class on his day and as I mentioned above, he knows he will have to knuckle down and play to his 100% best otherwise he won't be in the team. There is no need to tinker with a central-defensive partnership that has looked solid so far. Also, who would we bring in as a replacement? And whoever we do bring in would have to settle within the squad and the defensive rebuilding process takes a step-back which is the last thing we want.
Well I'd argue Dany N'Guessan is PL class 'on his day', but the question has to be does his 'day' come around enough? Of course not. Bamba is certainly more consistant, and better, than N'Guessan, but the question remains the same, does that day come around enough? We need a defender who is going to be good 90% of the time, not someone who can turn from good to poor in the shake of a hand. I am still far from convinced that Bamba is the real deal; yes, he played very well against Real Madrid and Coventry (although Cov weren't up to much), but he was awful against Valencia in the friendly and had a poor end to his season last year prior to his injury. My concern now is that we will have 65% of Bamba when he's brilliant, and 35% of him when he's poor, and we can't allow for passengers this season. If we did sell him, in the short term either St ledger or even Pantsil would be more than good enough alongside Mills, and then we could look at replacements. I have already suggested Taylor and Craddock, and Proud yesterday suggested Boyata, another good albeit inexperienced player.
OK, let's say Bamba has an absolute stinker vs Reading and in the next game St Ledger is brought in to replace him. Then, 5 games down the line, St Ledger picks up an injury and Bamba is brought back in. In that match, Bamba will know that he has to perform and he has to give 100% in that game and thereafter. So Bamba will have to make sure he has his good days a lot more otherwise St Ledger will come back in. The problem with Bamba has never been ability but concentration. But now, with a proven International like St Ledger behind him, I think concentration shouldn't be an issue for him because if he doesn't he'll be dropped. Simple. He knows that as well. That's the beauty of competition and how it helps players like Bamba. If you can marry Bamba's ability with the focus that competition for places could provide, then you have one of the best CB's in the division and a player worth a lot more than £3 million.
At the end of last season all our defenders was crap. Mee showed potential but still showed inexperience by diving into stupid challenges giving a way aload of penos and he got sent off playing for England u21s. Bruma was just crap and Vitor was always injured but when he did play he did well but still didnt look solid. This season we have brought in a leader in Matt Mills and Sol Bamba seems to be flourishing with someone commanding next to him. Bamba's best games last season was against Man City when he had Jack Hobbs next to him. So one else who had experience and know what they are doing. We have a proven player in this league as back up in Sean St. Ledger and with Tunchev aswell if he stays fit we have another commanding centre half. Funny thing with Tunchev we have sent him to Palace to get games but he would of played more had he stayed here as he probaly would would have played in the carling cup while Palaces game was called off.
StringerSport Ian Stringer Sven: "Sol Bamba is not for sale. There has been no bid or contact from Blackburn Rovers" more on 104.9fm from 6pm #lcfc #brfc
money atm is not an issue for us, and in selling Bamba we would then be a little short of quality cover at CB, especially with SSL being an international player and Ball lacking match fitness. so for me, it's a no brainer. keep Bamba.
