Back in the old days, it was almost compulsory for pundits to talk about teams having a good spine - or not, as the case may be. This usually involved an uncompromising centre back e.g. Tony Adams, a tackling midfielder e.g. Roy Keane, a battering ram centre forward e.g. Alan Shearer and a commanding goalkeeper e.g. Peter Shilton. So, to the point. I've been thinking that Hughton has settled on a favoured formation and personnel, and have been struck by the fact that we seem to have a decent spine - namely Ruddy, Bassong, Tettey and Holt. Thoughts?
I agree, and hopefully Turner has shaken off the cobwebs, builds on his recent form and adds his name to that list as there's nothing better than having a settled back five with a spine leading through it It's not something we ever really had under Lambert with all his tinkering of formations, and I can see Hootun looking to play an unchanged team as much as form and fitness will allow him. Last year at Birmingham he only used 21 players all season, which is pretty amazing nowadays considering they played more than 60 games in all competitions and still managed to finish fourth on a shoe-string.
If we can keep that group fit the future looks brighter than it did 4 games ago. Tettey seems to be the one we have been looking for to link it all together.
I must say that I've been really impressed with Tettey and I can see him going far in the game. Hopefully with us but if and when he does move on, it will probably be a record transfer fee received. IMO he really does have all the attributes and he's not afraid to have a pop if he sees the whites of the goalkeeper's eyes !
Its an excellent point that I was musing on te other day, I'd almost be tempted to stick hoolahan in that spine. It's very important to have that directionality in a team. It's clearly working as we are playing much better football.
