BLAKEY’S VERDICT ON STAR MAN BAMBA
WHY I’D LOVE TO HAVE PLAYED ALONGSIDE THE BLUEBIRDS’ VERY OWN ‘KAISER SOL’ NATHAN BLAKE COLUMN
HE didn’t score or capture the headlines like Junior Hoilett and Kenneth Zohore, but, for me, Cardiff City’s player of the week is Sol Bamba – or ‘BeckenBamba.’
I love him. He’s the type of player I’d want to play with.
A leader. I know Sean Morrison is actually the Cardiff skipper, but I’ve said it since he’s been here that I think Bamba is the real captain of the team.
He may not have the official armband, but he bosses, organises and leads by example in every other sense. Why, BeckenBamba? Because Warnock once joked about Bamba thinking he was Beckenbauer when bringing the ball out of defence.
He’s certainly cool in possession, produced some incredibly calm moments against Leeds on Tuesday night despite the white-hot atmosphere and highly pressurised sense of occasion.
That night, of course, he played in the centre of midfield. Took to it like a duck to water.
Bamba always shows his defensive quality, but if you keep an eye on him when the ball has moved away, like on Tuesday with Pablo Hernandez, he was organising Morrison, Bruno Manga and even, at times, Craig Bryson, in front of him.
He was just immense. It was down to Bamba that Hernandez, Leeds’ main playmaker, was kept so quiet.
Cardiff didn’t even really miss Aron Gunnarsson. It didn’t matter. We didn’t think ‘Oh heck, we’re missing Gunnarsson and Joe Ralls.’ In fact, there’s actually an argument for saying that the midfield against Leeds was actually a better trio.
More creativity, more legs, and Bamba was there to mop up everything. Does Neil Warnock go with the same line-up against Derby?
Whether they can do that consistently game after game is up for debate, but Bamba’s performance was huge and the others just followed.
In terms of the defence, I think there’s always going to be a dilemma when you’ve got three or four good centre-halves. Personally, my first choice pairing would be Bamba and Bruno Manga, although Warnock clearly disagrees.
Morrison and Bamba have been his first choice and, to be fair, Morrison has been playing well.
But I just think Manga and Bamba are more athletic, quicker and better in the air defensively. Not necessarily at the other end as I feel Morrison is the biggest threat there, particularly when it comes to scoring from set pieces.
But defensively, it’s Bamba and Manga every day for me.
In my opinion, Morrison’s biggest problem comes against players when they have the ball at their feet and they can shift it quickly. For me, he isn’t totally comfortable with the ball over his shoulder and on the turn either.
He could do with someone like my mate Darren Campbell getting hold of him and teaching him some running techniques!
For someone who hasn’t got great pace, he often plays too tight and too high.
But I see little reason not to go with a three-man defence, with Bamba in the middle, Morrison on the right and Manga on the left, although Warnock is likely to instead opt to play Morrison in the centre.
There is merit to that idea as it protects him from that ball over the shoulder, allowing the other two to deal with it.
All things considered, three at the back looks a good system and gives us an extra body in midfield, while also offering more freedom to the wing backs.
But there are plenty of other possible set-ups Warnock can go with. In fact, I’d say Cardiff can comfortably play four or five different systems. For a side going for promotion, such flexibility is a massive bonus. It’s just more feathers in Warnock’s cap.
But while the defensive set-up is important, there is still plenty to ponder at the other end. I still believe Lee Tomlin is in the picture - he came on and did a fantastic job against Sheffield Wednesday the previous week. It’s difficult because when you see people play, you can judge performances, but when you don’t know them or know their personality, it’s difficult then to understand why they’re not in the team. But remember this is a nine-month season. A hard old haul. Tomlin will be called upon at some point, I have no doubt about that. The great thing about the side is that everyone involved – subs, non-subs and first team players are together. That performance against Leeds will have sent their confidence sky-high, although the difficulty is to repeat it on Saturday, which I doubt they’ll do. I expect them to fall below the standard they set on Tuesday because of energy levels. They put so much into that game and it’s going to be difficult to emulate that performance four days on. But I do think that what they’ve done psychologically is set themselves up so that they will expect to beat Derby. Warnock obviously won’t let standards slip too far, but at this moment in time you’ve got a very confident squad and that’s always a good thing. The Bluebirds to round off a great week with a narrow win and retain their place up at the top of the table.
Cardiff can play four or five systems.. for a side going for promotion, such flexibility is a bonus Nathan Blake