By Allen Cummings
Three into two don’t go!
Manuel Pellegrini knows that full well, but it’s a conundrum he is going to have to face up to and solve for Saturday’s visit of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The centre of defence is a key area for any side, especially against a side like Wolves with plenty of attacking flair. So the boss needs to get it right for such a vital game.
Angelo Ogbonna, Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena are the three main protagonists. But which pairing will serve us best?
Balbuena is the only one of the trio to have played in all three of our Premier League games so far. The big Paraguayan, known as The General back home, was his country’s Player of the Year in 2017, and came with a reputation for being a solid, no nonsense defender.
A slightly shaky start at Anfield was followed by more settled performances against Bournemouth and Arsenal. Ogbonna was his partner for the first two games but Oggy has a tendency to be slow to react to situations, and not always appearing to be aware of what’s going on around him, led Pellegrini to replace him with Diop, for the visit to the Emirates.
The youngster certainly didn’t disgrace himself, and was hugely unlucky to be ‘credited’ with an OG he could do nothing about.
Wednesday saw the new pairing of Diop and a recalled Ogbonna. Unfortunately Angelo found himself out manoeuvred and out muscled by Pigott in the first couple of minutes resulting in that shock opener for Wimbledon. But the pairing was only rarely tested after that – and even found time to score a goal a piece at the other end.
So who will Manuel Pellegrini go for this weekend? It would be something of a surprise if Balbuena wasn’t restored to the team – and my gut feeling is that Diop will be the one to partner him.
The youngster’s goal on Wednesday was a screamer – executed with a fair degree of skill. He’s clearly a defender who can ‘play a bit’ too. With two games behind him he’s looking a lot more settled in the side, and with the older and more experienced head of Balbuena alongside him, I believe the two of them have the right ingredients to grow into a solid partnership for the season ahead.
I hope you are right but I have not been overly impressed just yet but they do need time to settle. For this reason I would probably have considered playing a back 3 with Rice in there with them so they get time to settle.
Balbuena and Diop were excellent today shame Fabianski couldn’t do them a favour in injury time …
That’s a bit harsh 32… if it wasn’t for Fabianski we’d have lost by 3 or 4 today. It’s a shame his defence didn’t do him a favour and stop the attack happening in the first place.