31 mars 2011

tidigare publicerad på ChelseaVital

Where Are The Righties?

First let me say I do like and admire José Bosingwa and I think he gets a lot of unfair gripe from Chelsea supporters (a lot).

The only negative, or somewhat less than positive thing I am willing to say about Bossman is that he is better offensively than defensively. But I do not think he is bad at defending, he is just not quite as experienced or quite as good as Ashley Cole is on the other side, which he pays in popularity with, and probably comparisonly.

Bossman had a great start at Chelsea, was voted best player at right-back in the Premier League, at the beginning of last season, then the serious injury came and yes, he has only reached 80-90% of what he showed before that this year. That does not mean that I will be first in the line asking for him to be sold this Summer. For the clueless, the number of prominent clubs supposedly standing in line for a shot of buying him should be a clue - that he is a really good footballer and right-back.

So this is not a cry for Chelsea to buy a new right back. Not at all.

My wonder is broader; where are the great right backs in football today?

There are almost none out there, in England, in the world... I would say Maicon, but he is not the player he was two years ago. I will never mention Dani Alves as he is the player I despise most in football I think. But apart from those two?

Philipp Lahm, of course but he is as good on the left side. So it is hard to say where he is the best as he plays where he is needed the most.

Darijo Srna? Well, I do not know. We all know he wants to come to Chelsea, and claimed for two seasons he is. Still he is at Shaktar Donetsk and is now saying that is as well as they are as good as us! (Well, I do have some doubts, though they are good).

Branislav Ivanovic is an excellent right-back but he also sees himself more as a centre back. Though he does play right-back in the national team too. Still, I do see him more as a centre-back myself, which might be prejudicial.

But I see few for the position behind Iva and Bossman at Chelsea. Maybe Nathaniel Chalobah in the future, but that is some years away and he is playing more in midfield today.

And it is not only in Chelsea. England boast Glen Johnson as its best right-back today. Maybe he is, but he surely is not a great right-back. At Chelsea he would be behind Iva and Bossman. Which he realised early and went to Pompey to collect toilet seats (without paying for them). He might be playing for a more named club today, but that does not change my opinion of him. Still, he is the best as the competition is non-existant in England.

I see almost no one that I think will be a great right-back in the world right now. Sure, I have not total oversightl (and I do not play Playstation). But surely this must be the trouble spot for the entire footballing world?

I see a great collection of young goalkeepers coming about. Centre backs have always been maybe the most fiercely competitive position of all. All teams have competent centre-backs. Most young footballers seems to want to play in the midfield, some have that amazing ability to score goals and they are not as few as it is the most coveted (and well paid) position in football. But where are the right-backs?

I also happen to think that in modern football the roving full back is about one of the most exciting psoitions there is. The footballers that do it all, apart from maybe heading in corners. In the old days the full back was just a defender, any full back venturing past the middle was punished and probably fined the day after 30-40 years ago. Today they are the wingers of yester-years.

There are loads of promising lefties, as well as Ashley Cole and comers like Coentrerao, Baines in England (I am so impressed by his early crosses) and many more around. There really are many great or to become great left backs out there. Clichy used to be good, Evra, Gibbs, Bale (if he steps back)…

Chelsea has Patrick van Aanholt (sadly injured right now and played midfield in Leicester before the injury) and Ryan Bertrand and both are capable of taking the leap. They are not alone either. I think both could be great, if they can break through and get the chance. We also have Yuri Zhirkov though we see him as a midfielder, but he got his big break as left back in the Euro 2008 when he was elected the left-back of the tournament. All lefties.

Gregory van der Wiel is hailed as an up and coming right-back man. Sure he is good, but compared to the lefties - no. I am quite not impressed. Rafael at United? If he can stay on the pitch without being red-carded.

Only 11% of all people are left-handed, though in artistic occupations the figures are higher. Translated that should mean that the absolute majority of footballers should be right footed, still that does not seem to be the fact.

So how come that right full-back is the scarcest position in football? You see promising players everywhere but there. Any suggestions?

(Lamentations from a right winger that in modern football might have found his position as a right-back, and yes I am so embarassed to admit, I did play in a red shirt).