Under the radar tonight- Balogun

It's amazing just how smooth the transition from Helander on Saturday to Balogun today was, there was no drop-off whatsoever.

When you consider the circumstances it's unreal. Helander strolls an Away Old Firm game and restricts them to 0 shots on target.

Balogun strolls a tough European fixture against a decent technical side in torrential weather and restricts them to 0 shots on target.

Our depth, in a season where our team will be disrupted by all sorts of craziness, is looking rock solid.
 
Good thread OP. With all the obvious headlines a vital contribution like his could easily be overlooked.

He was immense back there alongside Goldson, played well and when needed he went row z. Nobody scores from there.

On a terrible night there was more room for error and our entire defence handled the conditions really well and he was a big part of that. Playing half the game with only half our first choice back four, can’t beat that eh?
 
Being a international class footballer and a big lad who can play a bit will certainly help, but he’s one of those guys where not a lot of us would have heard of him and yet he’s came here, slotted into the side when required and did his job. When signings like him come around, the positivity isn’t always going to be there but he’s came in and been tremendous so far.

An absolute bargain and the best has yet to come from this guy. But I guess at this time all you can ask is for him to do his job properly, and he’s done that very well so far
 
He was excellent. I like defenders who defend first and foremost in conditions like that. Great bit of business.
 
He was very good, we have three clear centre backs who look top notch. To think we get balogun for free and they spent a 2 million loan fee plus his massive wage on Duffy, Hilarious.
 
Did he get a one year deal?

Time to extend it and let Katic (for fitness) and possibly Edmundson (for development) go out on loan next season.

We have three excellent CDs just now.
 
We have the three best centre backs in the league and will have the four best centre backs in the league when Katic returns.
 
friend of mine that is a BHA supporter says “he’s a great player but has a gaff per game in him”. Interesting as the intensity that we play at may knock that out of him. He was switched on tonight for sure.
 
This guy looks like a real footballer......

Out for weeks and just slotted into the side with no issues.

Strong and really comfortable on the ball and the most disciplined in a positional sense I’ve seen him

The good players sometimes go unnoticed
Just out of curiosity.
Id love to see Balogun right or Helander for 90.
 
This guy looks like a real footballer......

Out for weeks and just slotted into the side with no issues.

Strong and really comfortable on the ball and the most disciplined in a positional sense I’ve seen him

The good players sometimes go unnoticed
This guy is absolute class.
You can see how confident he is, which shows every time he is on the ball.
Ask Timmy who they would rather have right now between Balogun or Duffy?
 
Very clever game management in the last 30 minutes when the pitch was unplayable. No messing about and just cleared his lines.
Excellent point. Our style is play it out from the back. He obviously knows that, but he had the intelligence to realise that style was not appropriate in the extraordinary circumstances tonight.
Get it up the park or out of the park.
 
Maybe controversial with some, but I think his extra pace slightly nudges him in front of Helander. We now have some great depth in defensive cover and squad overall.
 
Not good news for george edumson.
Maybe not in the short term, but if you look at the age split for most of our positions, there's a natural flow for moving into the team as another leaves/retires age-wise. Think that's very intentional. We've been pretty lucky so far in that none of our top players have left, but the time is going to come when that does happen.

Of course, whether the players set for movement into the team stay around for the duration in order for that to occur is another matter.
 
Katic and our Edmundson will probably be sold on our loaned out and Balogun kept on don't know what it is but I was more comfortable with Balogun coming in than one of the other two
 
Maybe not in the short term, but if you look at the age split for most of our positions, there's a natural flow for moving into the team as another leaves/retires age-wise. Think that's very intentional. We've been pretty lucky so far in that none of our top players have left, but the time is going to come when that does happen.

Of course, whether the players set for movement into the team stay around for the duration in order for that to occur is another matter.
Forgot about katic , could see him or george being loaned next season.
Katic will need first team football
 
This guy looks like a real footballer......

Out for weeks and just slotted into the side with no issues.

Strong and really comfortable on the ball and the most disciplined in a positional sense I’ve seen him

The good players sometimes go unnoticed


We have 3 central defenders vastly superior to anything the mentally challengeds have.

Goldson, Helander and Balogun are on a different level to anything they have.
 
So, our two ex-Brighton centre halves keep not just a clean sheet but limit a team that's not lost a Euro game at home in 6 years to NO shots on target and look comfortable the whole game. Whilst that mob over the citys ex-Brighton centre half has fault in all 3 goals scored against them.

And ours cost less for both than they have paid for one.

I'm not laughing, honest.

Also, Balogun looked solid last night. Another guy who's just a bloody good defender before you even look at the rest of his ability. I didn't notice we'd changed the team. That's a squad.
 
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