bs392762 Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 When we get healthy in the back line, get Yobo back and especially Jags, is Hibbo going to be the lone man left out, with Baines on the left, Jags and Yobo in the middle, and Heitinga on the right? Hibbo is playing great right now, but I don't think he is good enough to start when were healthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiemaher85 Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 The good thing we have going now is that he can mix things up a little bit at the back if people lose form. Hibbo is currently is a rich vein of form and would be hard (ish) to move. I think he knows that his position is under threat so has upped his game, I wish Ossie would do the same thing. However with everyone fit and on form I just cant see Hibbo holding down a regular place. If he can keep up this current form though I wouldn't mind seeing the odd appearance from him. Heitinga is better at CB but I feel on is day he is still better than Hibbo at RB, his confidence on the ball and his willingness to keep the ball moving forwards is refreshing and I think he is still the long term option there. Once he gets used to the pace needed there he'll be a top player. I believe our strongest back four will probably look like this:- Heitinga Jags Distin Baines. We'll have to see how Distin and Jags blend though. It's good problems we're havng at the bac right now though, which is refreshing. Left-back is the only worrying position in the team for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toffeeman Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 The good thing we have going now is that he can mix things up a little bit at the back if people lose form. Hibbo is currently is a rich vein of form and would be hard (ish) to move. I think he knows that his position is under threat so has upped his game, I wish Ossie would do the same thing. However with everyone fit and on form I just cant see Hibbo holding down a regular place. If he can keep up this current form though I wouldn't mind seeing the odd appearance from him. Heitinga is better at CB but I feel on is day he is still better than Hibbo at RB, his confidence on the ball and his willingness to keep the ball moving forwards is refreshing and I think he is still the long term option there. Once he gets used to the pace needed there he'll be a top player. I believe our strongest back four will probably look like this:- Heitinga Jags Distin Baines. We'll have to see how Distin and Jags blend though. It's good problems we're havng at the bac right now though, which is refreshing. Left-back is the only worrying position in the team for me. In terms of replacement or starting 11? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiemaher85 Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 In terms of replacement or starting 11? In terms of depth. I love Baines (though he's had a slow start this year), but if he gets injured then we're fucked. It's the only position in the team where we have no depth what-so-ever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bs392762 Posted October 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 When healthy I feel like we can have depth all throughout the back. I feel like Gosling, Hibbo, Yobo, Heitinga can all play right back, Heitinga, Distin, Jags, Yobo can all play centre back, and Baines, Hibbo, Heitinga, Yobo I feel could all play left. I am not too worried about our back four as long as we don't have a lot of injuries back there, but as we have seen before Neville can play back there too. Our team is pretty good at adjusting to new situations that usually come with injuries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeO Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 I feel like Gosling, Hibbo, Yobo, Heitinga can all play right back, Heitinga, Distin, Jags, Yobo can all play centre back, and Baines, Hibbo, Heitinga, Yobo I feel could all play left. You forgot Lucas Neill . Only one left back in all those though....definitely a weakness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncanmckenzieismagic Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 In terms of depth. I love Baines (though he's had a slow start this year), but if he gets injured then we're fucked. It's the only position in the team where we have no depth what-so-ever I dont think you can say we have no depth what so ever at left back when we have Baines Neville Distin Coleman and Neill who can all play there. Granted Baines is the only specialist LB amogst that lot but Neville has won England caps playing there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Would like to see Lucas Neil get a few games at right back, and i'd like to see Heitinga play in the middle, just in front of the back 4 (holding Midfield). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue 250 Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Would like to see Lucas Neil get a few games at right back, and i'd like to see Heitinga play in the middle, just in front of the back 4 (holding Midfield). That's exactly what he (Heitinga) says he can do! Gives us an option instead of the young Rodwell and the not so young Neville. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiemaher85 Posted October 10, 2009 Report Share Posted October 10, 2009 I dont think you can say we have no depth what so ever at left back when we have Baines Neville Distin Coleman and Neill who can all play there. Granted Baines is the only specialist LB amogst that lot but Neville has won England caps playing there I think we can say we have no depth. Only Distin is left footed out of all those players and from what I've seen of him im not convinced he can still play at right back. When you look through the squad you can clearly see that left back is the weak spot in terms of depth. Every other position has people who can play there fairly naturally, left back, well Neill, Neville, Distin and Yobo have been mentioned, none of them are left backs, only one of them has played at left back for any pro-longed period of time and that was at least 10 years ago. For me we have no natural depth at left back, it's all well and good saying we could expirment with someone there and try them out, on that logic last year we had depth up front when we only had Cahill and Felli available to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncanmckenzieismagic Posted October 10, 2009 Report Share Posted October 10, 2009 I think we can say we have no depth. Only Distin is left footed out of all those players and from what I've seen of him im not convinced he can still play at right back. When you look through the squad you can clearly see that left back is the weak spot in terms of depth. Every other position has people who can play there fairly naturally, left back, well Neill, Neville, Distin and Yobo have been mentioned, none of them are left backs, only one of them has played at left back for any pro-longed period of time and that was at least 10 years ago. For me we have no natural depth at left back, it's all well and good saying we could expirment with someone there and try them out, on that logic last year we had depth up front when we only had Cahill and Felli available to us. Maybe Im being a little bit picky but if we had no depth at all at LB that would mean we only had Baines who has played there before and we had no other options what so ever and that quite simply is not the case. Distin played plenty of games at LB for Pompey as recently as last season, Neville has played umpteem times for England in that position, Lucas Neill has played for Australia in that position. So we have got some level of cover there all be it none of those players are specialist LB's, as you rightly pointed out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bs392762 Posted October 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2009 We are a team that is great at adjusting and coping. If we did lose our only real specialist LB in Baines I know we wouldn't miss too much of a step with replacing him as I know whoever takes his spot is going to be smart and give everything on the pitch. We may not be the most skilled players, but we work hard and have the heart to play there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted October 10, 2009 Report Share Posted October 10, 2009 Neville has won more medals at LB than our entire team has won in their natural positions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevO Posted October 11, 2009 Report Share Posted October 11, 2009 Neville has won more medals at LB than our entire team has won in their natural positions. Neville has a sore leg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romey 1878 Posted October 11, 2009 Report Share Posted October 11, 2009 He also looks like he has a sore face . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bs392762 Posted October 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2009 Neville is on the IR with about 10 other blues. One thing that is a positive, cross our fingers, is that Saha is still healthy and looking great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse_Wray Posted October 12, 2009 Report Share Posted October 12, 2009 Maybe Im being a little bit picky but if we had no depth at all at LB that would mean we only had Baines who has played there before and we had no other options what so ever and that quite simply is not the case. Distin played plenty of games at LB for Pompey as recently as last season, Neville has played umpteem times for England in that position, Lucas Neill has played for Australia in that position. So we have got some level of cover there all be it none of those players are specialist LB's, as you rightly pointed out Are you sure about that. I can't remember a single time where he's played at anything but CB and RB for Australia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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