Wednesday 9 December 2009

Bridge goes on the defensive

After Alan Hansen's Match of the Day demolition job:

He said: "I didn't watch Match of the Day that night but it's not going to hurt or bother anyone. I didn't need to watch it to realise I played badly that day.

"Alan Hansen said a few things but I'm not going to cry about it.

"I've come in since and trained hard. Since then I feel I've done well defensively and attacked as much as I could.

The shame with that Burnley horrorshow is that it has distracted people from the fact that Wayne Bridge has had a pretty good season to date. Calm and reliable in defence, and more incisive than people realise going forward - he's certainly a huge improvement on those that have gone before. And so I do feel sorry for him that there has been such attention on what was a very anomalous performance.

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see who plays in his place for the next few weeks. I think the most likely scenario is Sylvinho, although he may just use Gareth Barry there as a means to partner Nigel de Jong and Stephen Ireland in central midfield. One other option is Joleon Lescott with either Vincent Kompany or Nedum Onuoha alongside the captain at centre half, but I think Hughes would be loathe to break up what is an increasingly functional partnership. And I'm not sure Javi Garrido has recovered from his shameful Stretford End coining is up to it either.

2 comments:

Rios Dos Santos said...

Burnley horrorshow aside I don't think he's that good... He's okay but I don't see that much potential in him. If we're gonna be challenging the top boys then I think we need someone who at least has the potential to be great.

Or am i being too harsh.? :-D

TPB said...

I agree. He hasnt been 'calm and reliable in defence'