Arbeloa was very good but he was a poor mans Finnan. Best crosser of the ball with his wrong peg I've seen too. Both players were very consistent; never a 10/10, always a 7/10 or 8/10
interesting. I think championship is a good level for a very young lad. he needs this and it explains the sudden switch to teixeira on our bench.
Very happy with this. the lad needs game time but he isn't going to get much ahead of SaSaS and Coutinho is he?
soo.... right fulls. now someone here remember phil neal.. i don't. Steve nicol was my first memory i reckon and he got player of year once. I think personally looking across the periods of evans and souncess that briefly rob jones was yes good but injury ruined him. I would say that since nicol Finna was the best defender and he was always consistent and relatively positive going forward too. Rafa never fancied finnan and tried 4 times to replace him but never got a guy in. arbs played left full until finnan finally got injuries and slowed up.... finnan was a lower level player for a lot of his career before us. so yeah anyone can "develop" the issue is players need time and games to develop so frankly flanagan would have to take the slot now and hold it to develop so in theroy if he went to a championship team and performed he could come back more able but i cannot see him taking that slot and holding it.
Can't argue with what you're saying as I rate Finnan very highly and I'm too young to remember Phil Neal etc too. I just about remember Steve Nicol but it was the latter stages of his time. However, I'd have a fit Rob Jones ahead of Finnan.
i would agree. Rob jones for one year prior to back injury was a meteoric rise and IMO souness' one great buy. really pity he got injured in before that euros and never got back. heggem, mcateer etc were not real strong RBs I think.
Right, let's look to the future: Possible right backs: Martin Montoya Oliver Sorg Gotoku Sakai Possible left backs: Alberto Moreno Oliver Sorg (Can play on both flanks) Ricardo Rodriguez Possible RCBs: Dede Hoewdes Papa
old enough to remember phil neal lol. best lb i have seen has to be alan kennedy (any of you ****ers remember him ) and rb has to be phil neal with hansen and hyypia cbs. tell you what, we could get close to that, we would have a ****ing team on our hands.
honestly i don't know until they really react to the prem. any or none of hose guys could be the guy but they are all nearly unproven for consistency an thats what you really need.. week in and week out the same energy on the win up and down and positioning.
We don't get consistency from our current set of full backs and I rather be investing in talented youngsters - Ricardo Rodriquez is having a good couple of years in Germany and is arguably the best young left back in the world - both defensively and offensively. Montoya is a very solid player who doesn't look out of place for Barcelona. Personally, we should spend on these two players and do whatever we can to entice them - that could sort out our full back positions for the next decade. And I also hope the Dede rumours are true - another monster of a defender who can play alongside Sakho.
This. Finnan as has been noted is in that category as well. I think Riise was too before the later years? Felt like he was reliable enough as a LB and still struggling to replace him.
See, I don't think Finnan was average though. He was excellent defensively, wasn't afraid of getting forward and had a superb cross with either foot. He wasn't able to take a man on (nor was Beckham) and his shooting wasn't the best but they're not exactly priority defensive attributes!
I have Finnan and Arbeloa in about the same category and level of player. Both consistent and good and exactly what we needed.
Arbeloa could defend very well but was useless beyond the half way line. Finnan wasn't the greatest attacking player but he did what he needed to very well.
