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Earlier today I had a look at the ages of City’s current back four and I was quite surprised:
Lee Peltier is 32 and will be 33 in December.
Aden Flint turned 30 in July.
Sean Morrison is 28 and will be 29 in January.
Joe Bennett is 29 and will be 30 in March.
Meanwhile, Sol Bamba is 34 and will be 35 in January.
I was surprised by how old Peltier, Bennett and Flint are and was even more surprised to find that Morrison is only 28 (I thought he was in his early thirties).
Given their ages, none of these players are likely to improve and there must be a good chance that several of them have already peaked. Personally, I think that’s very likely to be the case with Sean Morrison, who seems to me to be out of sorts this season. Perhaps the disappointment of last season has made a mark on him and 2017/18 was as good as he’s ever going to get. I may be wrong, but he looks like he’s struggling with both his weight and his fitness this year.
I like Lee Peltier. He seems to be a really good professional, he plays to his limitations and his form is pretty steady. However, although he’s dependable, he’s not going to get any better at 32 years of age. I’ve never liked Joe Bennett and I think he’s probably peaked. Meanwhile, Aden Flint is 30 but has never played in the Premier League or in a team that has been promoted from the Championship. There’s obviously a reason for that.
As things stand, the defensive line-up really does look average by Championship standards and none of the individuals within it appear to have any potential for improvement. That’s not to say they can’t improve as a unit, because some of the defending has been uncharacteristically poor of late. I’m sure they can do a bit better than this as a group, but can you imagine any of these guys playing in the Premier League next season?
Or any of these playing in a top 6 championship team ?
I think that statement is a good barometer for how good individuals are.
I don't think we have a player that would turn out for any of the top 6 so expectations of finishing there is purely a dream.
You are probably right.Originally Posted by The Lone Gunman
At least Morrison has shown that he has the ability to play at a higher level and so has it in him (he did OK last year), but the others are not likely to improve (much).
Bennett had a chance in the Premier League and didn't really step up when playing against better players and I can't see Pelts or Flint getting any better, but I live in hope!
They are reasonable Championship defenders and could form a decent defensive unit, but I still think that Flint is the weak link, and to not concede goals, all 4 defenders need to be of at least a similar standard, and sadly I have not seen that in Flint, or maybe he is the sort of player who needs to play with much better players to improve, but that isn't going to happen at Cardiff City. :-(
I hope that he does come good though.
I think Peltier has been the pick of those so far this season, very consistently good. Morrison has been inconsistent as has Flint, who seems to vary from being excellent to awful. And Bennett has been way below par. We need someone like Bamba (but not Bamba) to play alongside one of the two centre backs ,a s they are too similar in style.
Bamba has been out for a long time and as the OP says he nearly 35, so I doubt if he'll play again regularly for us, just fill in when the other two are injured. Not seen Nelson much, but he's only cover. And we have no cover at full back except for Cameron Coxe. Jazz is his usual "two weeks away" and Connolly will never wear the blue shirt again, due to his injuries. Cunningham is out on loan and now injured anyway. So the current back four looks likely to stay for the foreseeable future.
But we do let in lots of goals these days, good job we can now pop some in at the other end.
Bennett is shockingly poor, any manager worth his salt would tell his players to target our left side, he seems more concerned that his hair doesn't fall out of place! It makes me laugh how the entire defence are always giving each other fist-bumps and fives, like they're doing a good job.
Funnily enough, I posted something similar over a year ago. Our defence is a ticking time bomb that has not been good enough this season. I don't find that surprising, neither should anyone else.
It was shit last season. I think that there's this perception amongst some of our fans that being shit in the premier league wont transmit at championship level, it certainly will. Performing poorly on a consistent basis even if it is at a higher level isn't good for anyone. In sport it can be difficult to bounce back as the players have reached their peak and have found out that they're just not good enough, infact, they're not even close. That must be disheartening for players who have programmed themselves to be able to perform at any level, it must knock confidence and have an adverse effect on some of their development-They've found out that they're not good enough at the highest level. Where do you go from there if you're Morrison, Bennett etc
Bennett in my mind is about 23
Cunningham will be 29 by the time he returns from his loan so he will not lower the average age by much
I'm pretty confident the entire team won't be playing premier league football next season so not too bothered if the defence isn't up to it. Curtis Nelson will be 27 next year so a) instantly makes our defence significantly younger with a player reaching their peak but b) no exactly a developmental project. With Bamba to return later in the season, we could have used Flint money to buy Nelson a long-term partner and establish our future CB pairing rather than a player who is having a better season than Morrison but is as unlikely to make step up to next division successfully. We do at least seem to be backing our young full-backs with some time on the bench and main cover if current crop get injured.
I thought Morrison was clearly exposed as not being able to make the step up last season. In fact, I was surprised at how poor he was. And as has been mentioned, he still looks a shadow of his firmer self. He was outstanding in the promotion season.
Thought he was really bad. Always caught out of position having to scramble back etc, slow to turn, never reading the play etc.
I think that we generally underestimated the value that Manga and Gunnar brought to the defence. Now they’ve gone there is no one who provides the cover. We are exposed at every turn by swift attacks.
An additional problem is6 foot 6 and can’t stick out a leg to take the ball away last night which led to a soft goal. It seems to me that At least Bamba made those kind of interceptions on a regular regular
I think that you need to consider his performances last year in the context of the whole team, as we were under pressure from the very start of almost every game (it must have been pretty dreadful for a defender). So considering that the defence was fire fighting from the very off, I think that he came out of it OK.
I am struggling to see Cardiff anywhere near the premier league anytime soon. Decent post on football as usual though.
I genuinely don’t think the team had anything to do with his speed and reaction time. That’s on him. As is his positioning and reading of the game...
Amateur league defenders can see danger coming and drop back in..
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