good point goldeneye. i do think our two best centre halves are ayala and whitbread (as a pair) at the moment but bennett coming in will just make it all the harder to choose. good luck lambo!!
For whatever reason, Lambert (I think) likes Ward a lot. I can see the current centre back pairing being first choice, with Ayala and Bennett being the back-ups.
slight lack of pace don't you think? i know naughton can cover but poor old drury bless him, as well as he's done (which is bloody remarkable in my opinion) could mean we struggle with balls over the top or round the sides, counter attacks. lambert certainly likes ward big time and you can see why. its going to be fascinating to see what he does for stoke away. will he throw bennett in at the deep end? its the sort of thing he'd do! mind you, he'll probably play him on the wing - did you see his cross the other day for posh's equaliser? sublime
Whitbread is very possibly my player of the season and I think it will be Bennett or Ayala alongside him when all are fit, but as we know at least two of those are pretty injury prone so it's great to have such options as Ward, Martin and Barnett to be able to come in and do a job when one or both are on the treatment table. Anyone else slightly concerned about Russell Martin's form since he's switched back to RB? "concerned" is clearly the wrong word as he has been immense this season and I'm certainly not criticising the bloke as I absolutely love the guy, but I can't help feeling he's looked a bit below par in recent weeks when he's gone back to his supposedly preferred position at full-back. Understandable for people to have a drop in form though, he has played pretty much every match for the past two seasons and I can hardly recall a bad one amongst them
In my opinion, to play full-back in the Premier League, you have to be lightning quick or have a very good footballing brain. R. Martin has neither of those abilities, whereas Drury's saving grace is that he does have that brain. No doubt that Martin has been immense when playing centre back.
Against Stoke, Ward is big enough to provide a substantial challenge to Crouch, the nice thing is that he seems like the type we need, loyal and willing to wait to get games. He seems to enjoy it here, and he is more than adequate back-up, so can't really understand the sell-him comments... pace aside, he makes up for it with effort, passion, seems a popular member of the squad and the dressing room morale, and some fantastic goal-saving tackles or blocks
.......we loaned him back for one month to give them time to find a replacement, not another player from us.
I feel a bit sorry for him. He wasn't first choice full back at the start but came in and helped out immensely at centre back and since he's moved back he's playing a CB role at RB. In the middle it was OK for him to get rid. At full back you are a midfield player come winger at times so getting rid isn't good enough. Definitely agree Whitbread is 1st choice CB. Started off slowly but now looks a calm assured footballing defender.
......he is a good defender who appears to read the game well, but in the premier to play full back you need speed and russ is not that rapid, whic was why elliot bennett was so good in tracking back and helping out.
