So who really is Newcastle's strongest back four?
Posted by JamesB in Newcastle | 4 April 2006
Most football fans will associate dodgy defences with Newcastle these days, as since the Kevin Keegan era the defence has never really been given enough attention, the preferred option instead being to splash out on attacking players.
Despite this years problem actually being scoring goals, the media continue to pick up on our defence, and the pressure on the back four of United is huge. But who is our first choice back four?
Boumsong has probably been the most heavily criticised defender in the Premier League this season. The problems started in the Man Utd home game when two errors led to two Man Utd goals, and a number of individual errors have led to his own fans jeering him, and others just ridiculing him. The trouble with Boumsong is he continues to play well for France, and it also can not be forgotten that he was one of our top defenders last season. This to me suggests that a lot of the problems when he plays for Newcastle are mental; he has suffered from the errors, certain fans have got to him, and not to mention the fact that his wife and child have been severely ill in France, which can't make life easy. With other centre backs slowly emerging from injury, I think a spell on the bench would do Boumsong good. He needs to be out the limelight and away from the criticism so he can really put his head down and try and regain some of his old form, although if he had a good World Cup and a reasonable bid came in I would not blame Shepherd for shipping him out.
Steven Taylor for me has to be our top choice centre back, despite his lack of experience. At the start of this season he was immense, the shoulder injury really was a sucker punch for him and the club. As long as he regains the form he showed before the injury once he comes back, I would have him as my first choice centre back.
Titus Bramble is another player who has been under scrutiny for more than just this season. Decent performances are often ruined by high profile errors, and I'm not sure if it is worth persuing with him any more after the amount of time he has had. I would keep him as a backup player, but I think the club needs someone better if we are to change our "dodgy defence" label.
Craig Moore is an interesting one. I was actually really pleased when we signed him, he is captain of the Aussie team, and is a strong defender who I thought would be an excellent addition to our squad. Many people labelled him a "Souness signing" because he had played in Scotland before, and even though none of the pessimistic fans "Souness signings" ever actually arrived, they labelled Moore as a poor signing without ever really seeing him. Sadly, they have only just started to see him after one of the most injury plagued seasons I can remember for a player. However, in his comeback game against Chelsea he settled down well; we did not concede any goals after he came on and I remember thinking he made a decent impression on me for a half hour. Charlton were next, and despite him giving away the penalty and getting unlucky with an own goal, again I thought he had a solid game. On Saturday at Spurs I thought he had an excellent game (although most of the team did). He looked solid, and even though he isn't the quickest he has a good brain that gets him out of trouble. Some would argue he was lucky not to get sent off, but I'm not taking anything away from what was a good performance. For me he could well play at first choice in the run in this season. A rest for the players who have been under the spotlight will do them good, and Moore is experienced enough to deal with anything that comes his way and deal with it by putting in a good performance.
Ramage is another who has shown good form this year, but recently he has struggled a bit, especially against Man Utd, where I think it was him who gave the ball to Rooney for their first. He has played across the back four this season, but we must be careful with him as we do not want him becoming an Aaron Hughes or Gareth Barry at all costs; ie. a player who is decent everywhere, but excels nowhere. Ramage is a centre back by trade, and once Taylor returns I would leave him out and play Taylor and Moore at the heart of defence. Ramage has had a good season that he will remember, and he knows he has a future at the club, so I don't think leaving him out would do any harm (on the proviso there are no other injuries).
Carr for me is a steady right back whos place is assured when he is fit, as there are no other right backs in the squad! Some people have suggested playing Ramage ahead of him, but as a full back I don't think Ramage is of the same calibre as Carr, and as outlined above I don't want Ramage becoming a decent all rounder.
Babayaro is another one who has an unthreatened place, but left back is a position we need to strengthen in the summer. He has been decent this season, but I'd like to see improvement in that area, and if not improvement then at least a bit of depth.
Robbie Elliot should be no more than backup for us. When he is called upon he does a job, but he should not be starting games if the rest of our defence is fit in my opinion.
Following all that, my back four choice for the rest of this season is Carr, Moore, Taylor, Babayaro. Until Taylor comes back I would keep the Ramage/Moore partnership going, as it showed promise against Tottenham at the weekend. Boumsong and Bramble will benefit from being out the limelight, and once this season is over we need to look at strengthening the defence in the summer.
Comments
In my opnion from seeing most of the games this season I would think that our 3 Geordie defenders are good enough for the the Toon, the rest of them have been slightly better than average this season, we have to get rid of old man Carr, Boumsong and Bramble simply havent cut the mustard at center back, Moore experienced as he is, is just not Newcastle material, Babayaro was good at Chelsea but again not Newcastle material. We need another left and right back, say Glenn Johnson and Wayne Bridge.
I'm glad there's someone apart from me who can see that Craig Moore is a good plaer. I've seen him playing more for Australia and in Australia than I have overseas but he's always been a steady player who can read the game well. He has good positional sense (something Boumsong seems to lack), he can organise (that seems to be a commodity sadly lacking in recent matches) and I think he'll do well if he stays in the first team.
I agree with almost everything written and even agree on the final back four. But the bit where you say about Boumsong "it also can not be forgotten that he was one of our top defenders last season" I disagree with, the truth is he has been second rate from his game against Yeading to his game against Man U. He is garbage and in a long line of appalling defenders at this club he is near the top of the list
