What did you think of his performance at CB yesterday? Personally I would like to see him get a run of games in that position. We have all been crying out for a young, big and fast CB. I think we all already have that in Onouha. Would make a solid CB pairing with Samba or Hill for next season IMO.
Fast and can play both CB and RB - performances have been consistently good after a poor start to the season - but then who didn't have a poor strat to the season?
Hopefully we can recoup a lot of what we paid for Samba. I am confident that Onuoha will do a good job for us next season.
Onuoha, definitely. But not Hill. Love the bloke but his lack of pace and awareness makes him a liability these days. Even in the Championship
Following my last post. the only positive I took from the game v Reading was that Onuha should be our CB next year. get another older experienced guy in to partner him & he will be fine!
Onuoha is a plus, played well and Hill didn't look too bad with him. I thought Ben Haim was a CB as well, admittedly older.... I wonder if Samba will stay...after all he has not set the world on fire since he came
Onuoha for me too. Huge committed ability that guy - with bags of integrity to match. I think his mum being in the later throes of a terminal illness was largely responsible for his dip in form earlier this season.
When I saw Ned playing at full back and putting aside his personal issues in dealing with his mothers illness, he looked solid enough as a defender but offered nothing going forward and therefore should never play at right back again. If he got a run of games in the centre along with A N Other CB then he would be more than good enough as a first choice CB in the championship and we might eventually see the player many Citeh fans were sad to see go. However, I suspect that will come if Samba has not devalued himself too much in the eyes of would be suitors with a couple of his dire displays and we can still flog for 10-12m when the window opens. Get Samba off the wage bill, get a younger, cheaper CB or two so that poor old Clint Hill is not expected to be first choice CB when he is the wrong side of 35.
Noticeable improvement in Onouha since his return after his Mum’s passing. Psychologically he must be in a better place now and its showing. Good in the air, one of our quickest players (2nd in England 100m as 14 year old) and clearly an intelligent bloke with morals who isn’t just another mercenary. Also came over and gave his shirt to the fans after the game yesterday and he’s a bit of a unit. Think him and Samba would be my 1st choice. But if we can shift Bosingwa at championship level he would do a vey job as a right back. Defending set pieces will be key and a right back as good in the air as him will be a big help
He was competent and effective. It has to be said though that Reading's forwards hardly tested him. Definitely deserves the chance to stake a claim. I wouldn't be so hasty to despatch Clint Hill just yet. Yes , he will have the odd blip but he has shown that he reads the game better than most of our defenders and provided he is in charge and other players listen to him, his pace should not be an issue in the Championship. I have more doubts about Samba frankly. Our best defensive operformances have come when the two old warhorses, Nelsen and Hill played together. Neither had pace but they knew what to do and that the other would cover the areas they couldn't get to.
Nelsen made Samba look a good player at Blackburn. Hill has to think about his own game too much to do the same job.
@Peter Damage I have to disagree with you about starting him in the right back berth buddy. We need full backs who can defend certainly but also need to be able to motor up the wing and deliver a cross or bring midfield players into the action effectively further up the field. I can see Ned coming out with the ball from a CB position and finding room to find a pass into the midfield, but so many times at RB he gets about 10 metres up the line and then stops, checks, invites and brings a challenge on himself and then possession is lost either directly to an opponent or via an opposition throw in. CB yes, full back no.
Why do people think of selling Samba???? Just because he couldn't save us?? We bought him in the close season in Russia which meant he wasn't fit, but he was also bought to be the leader we are missing. He is staying and will be captain next year! I think he and Onuaha, with Yung Suk at left back is the way to go. Get rid of the mono brow chelsea twat and bring in another young and hungry right back and that will be a great start. I also thought Granero had a great game yesterday, he was composed even when under pressure and it was his best game since his earlier performances. The only players I really think we need to get rid of are Bossingwa cause he's shown all that he is as far removed from a professional footballer as you can get. Zamora because he's injured and requires an operation which will mean he misses all of next season, although I do admire him for the way he played through the pain. Johnson, while I do like him, he for me was Hughes' most stupid signing, we were weak up front all last season and to only strengthen that department with a player who has spent the best part of his career on the treatment table was stupid. And the only other one is Park, simply because he's said he wants to retire at the end of the season, but again why did we sign someone who can only play on the right wing and then never play him there??? But the rest I think we should keep!! We need to keep them because in parts they showed why we bought them, but alas with no team spirit or leader, trying to get the best out of them just hasn't worked. But if we continue to get rid of every player and start again, we will always have the same problems. It tells you something when your longest serving player is Adel Taarabt with 2 years service plus loan spells to his name. We've lost our soul due to 6 years of managerial merry go rounds, and a constant changing of the squad. If it doesn't stop now then there's no hope for us.
"Why Samba?" Because I do not think we will bounce straight back up and we have to start to address the imbalance in the squad in terms of the financial outlay on the weekly wages. I have nothing against Samba, but if we can get £10mm for him and get 75K-100K of his purported weekly wages off the bill and replace him with two solid younger hungrier centrebacks who can survive in the Championship then I am all for it. I did mention on here earlier that if Samba had not done too much damage to his reputation we might recoup his money and the same goes for Remy. The flip side of the coin is to say, its alright, we have the parachute payments, so lets hang on to our expensive assets for this season as they will be better than anything else we can bring in and we will get back up at the first attempt. So we then spend a season in the Championship with the same outlay, less revenue from not having a full house every week and dont get promoted. What then, give it one more year and one more after that? That is what will be "doing a Portsmouth". We tried to stay up, we failed, now look at the balance sheet and make rational decisions as a club for life in the second tier for 1-3 years.
@cs4christsamba1: Just wanna say sorry about today,really was a blow to QPR we will come back up at the first attempt to the premier league,sorry again Sambas tweet from last night. The two of them at centre back is a good start!
