Sol Long Bamba

[Col city fan]

People seem to forget that up until he went to the African Cup of Nations Bamba was astoundingly good. Game after game he was dominating opposition strikers and throwing in more than a fair share of audacious flair with it.

People talk about 'bombscare' and 'waiting for a mistake' but that's all too easy to say. Yes,Bamba used to pull a turn here and take it past three opposition players there, but too readily did people look at that and render it a threat to the team. It's easy to equate that with risk, but not so easy, when asked, to equate that with goal-costing mistake. I struggle to think of a single goal that we lost through Bamba turning, twisting or teasing his way out of trouble, anyone else feel free to step forward and name one. Some people looked at Bamba's style of play and concluded: "That's risky. Bamba's a bombscare. Get rid." But in the cold, harsh reality of it all, not once did he get caught and cost us a goal. Yet countless times he 'got away with it'.

As I've said before, football is all about possession. The basic principle goes: you don't have the ball, you can't score. And here's something that people don't often think about with Bamba; the amount of times he retained possession. Picture this: the opposition plays a ball down the channel, Bamba comes across, he has two options, Option A is to put it in the stand, and Option B is to take control of the ball and try and bring it away from the opposition. If he puts it in the stand the opposition have a throw-in, they have possession and thus the potential to score. If Bamba fashions an opportunity to keep the ball, they don't. But we do.

Yes that is not a fool-proof principle or theory, but the point I'm trying to make is that Bamba's extravagance was too readily related to risk rather than reward. The one time in ten, twenty, even thirty times that Bamba gets caught and costs us a goal he has to hold his hands up. The other nine, nineteen, even twenty-nine he's well worth a place in our team. Not once did I see him holding those hands up.

Now I'm not saying that Bamba never cost us a goal, sometimes a mistake in his positioning or in losing his marker did cost us. But that happens to every defender, if it didn't half of the goals scored in football wouldn't be scored. What I'm saying is that people look at his style of play and assume that he's a liability. If the evidence is there, draw that conclusion. But I don't think it is.

As you might guess, I'm disappointed to see him go. But strangely that doesn't mean that I don't think it's a good or the right decision. Bamba never was a Pearson defender and I'm confident enough that Pearson will find someone a little more predicatable and suitable for a Pearson team. And that's the difference between the pre-ACON Bamba and the post-ACON Bamba. In a Sven team Bamba could flourish, not so much a Pearson one. And I'm fine with that. Yes, he was brilliant to watch. At times he had my jaw-dropped or me off my seat like a winger only normally could. But if that's not Pearson's cup of tea then it's not mine.

But please don't label one of the best players we've had in recent times a 'bombscare' or a 'liability', because he deserves a little more respect than that from a club that has seen Wayne Brown, Darren Kenton, Paddy McCarthy and Patrick Gerrbrand pass through it's doors recently. And by that same token, the fee is also a pittance.

That's a post worth reading. I agree with every word.

[flowwolf]

We paid more for Wes Morgan who was out of contract than what we've just got for Bamba, an Ivory Coast international brilliant business Pearson.

Ivory coast international :D :D big deal are we supposed to be impressed by that ? i know you were being sarcastic about " brilliant business Pearson " But i think it is. We got double what we paid for him in one season and his wages off the books, brilliant business indeed. If he was any good do you think he would go to Turkey to further his career ? Just wait till he gets the racist treatment they dish out there , he won't know whats hit him. But good luck to him anyway.

[indierich06]

People seem to forget that up until he went to the African Cup of Nations Bamba was astoundingly good. Game after game he was dominating opposition strikers and throwing in more than a fair share of audacious flair with it.

People talk about 'bombscare' and 'waiting for a mistake' but that's all too easy to say. Yes,Bamba used to pull a turn here and take it past three opposition players there, but too readily did people look at that and render it a threat to the team. It's easy to equate that with risk, but not so easy, when asked, to equate that with goal-costing mistake. I struggle to think of a single goal that we lost through Bamba turning, twisting or teasing his way out of trouble, anyone else feel free to step forward and name one. Some people looked at Bamba's style of play and concluded: "That's risky. Bamba's a bombscare. Get rid." But in the cold, harsh reality of it all, not once did he get caught and cost us a goal. Yet countless times he 'got away with it'.

As I've said before, football is all about possession. The basic principle goes: you don't have the ball, you can't score. And here's something that people don't often think about with Bamba; the amount of times he retained possession. Picture this: the opposition plays a ball down the channel, Bamba comes across, he has two options, Option A is to put it in the stand, and Option B is to take control of the ball and try and bring it away from the opposition. If he puts it in the stand the opposition have a throw-in, they have possession and thus the potential to score. If Bamba fashions an opportunity to keep the ball, they don't. But we do.

Yes that is not a fool-proof principle or theory, but the point I'm trying to make is that Bamba's extravagance was too readily related to risk rather than reward. The one time in ten, twenty, even thirty times that Bamba gets caught and costs us a goal he has to hold his hands up. The other nine, nineteen, even twenty-nine he's well worth a place in our team. Not once did I see him holding those hands up.

Now I'm not saying that Bamba never cost us a goal, sometimes a mistake in his positioning or in losing his marker did cost us. But that happens to every defender, if it didn't half of the goals scored in football wouldn't be scored. What I'm saying is that people look at his style of play and assume that he's a liability. If the evidence is there, draw that conclusion. But I don't think it is.

As you might guess, I'm disappointed to see him go. But strangely that doesn't mean that I don't think it's a good or the right decision. Bamba never was a Pearson defender and I'm confident enough that Pearson will find someone a little more predicatable and suitable for a Pearson team. And that's the difference between the pre-ACON Bamba and the post-ACON Bamba. In a Sven team Bamba could flourish, not so much a Pearson one. And I'm fine with that. Yes, he was brilliant to watch. At times he had my jaw-dropped or me off my seat like a winger only normally could. But if that's not Pearson's cup of tea then it's not mine.

But please don't label one of the best players we've had in recent times a 'bombscare' or a 'liability', because he deserves a little more respect than that from a club that has seen Wayne Brown, Darren Kenton, Paddy McCarthy and Patrick Gerrbrand pass through it's doors recently. And by that same token, the fee is also a pittance.

I'll post the same thing I did on TB:

The key to a successful defence in the Chamionship is complete organisation, everyone in the back four must know exactly what their job is and they've got to be very discplined. Not only did Bamba make it difficult for himself half of the time, by running off into the opposing half, or trying to dribble his way out of the box with two or three opposing players round him, he made it difficult for any other defender to play with him. How can you defend well when you have no idea what your defensive partner is going to do next?

Bamba is undoubtedly a talented footballer and he was certainly entertaining to watch on occasions, but his complete lack of tactical discipline means I won't be sad to see him go. I prefer midfielders and strikers to provide the entertainment, while I prefer defenders to be an absolute solid unit. I take much more pleasure in clean sheets and victories than the sight of one of my team's centre backs trying to dribble the ball into the opposing half. You're not Beckenbauer. Do your job properly.

[Danno]

Good stuff never really rated him, only had 4 or 5 'good games'. He had poor positioning and his strength and heading ability for a guy who is 6 foot 4 is appaling. He wasn't that good against Man City either. He was only marking Jo who is probably the worst striker i've seen at the KP for a while.

[Adster]

Ain't bothered he's left.

Cya Sol.

[Freeman's Wharfer]

I'll post the same thing I did on TB:

The key to a successful defence in the Chamionship is complete organisation, everyone in the back four must know exactly what their job is and they've got to be very discplined. Not only did Bamba make it difficult for himself half of the time, by running off into the opposing half, or trying to dribble his way out of the box with two or three opposing players round him, he made it difficult for any other defender to play with him. How can you defend well when you have no idea what your defensive partner is going to do next?

Bamba is undoubtedly a talented footballer and he was certainly entertaining to watch on occasions, but his complete lack of tactical discipline means I won't be sad to see him go. I prefer midfielders and strikers to provide the entertainment, while I prefer defenders to be an absolute solid unit. I take much more pleasure in clean sheets and victories than the sight of one of my team's centre backs trying to dribble the ball into the opposing half. You're not Beckenbauer. Do your job properly.

And the key to this is the whole team knowing each other.

There's nothing wrong with a centre half striding out of the back four. This is the modern game where ball-players are prominent and the way you deal with that as a team is that one of your central midfielders (usually the more defensive one/s) drops back into the space vacated in the back four until the defender is back in his position. From what you're saying players shouldn't exploit an opening if they see one. Let's remember Bamba didn't try to dribble every time he got the ball, he did it when he knew/thought he'd got an opportunity to move the play from one area of the pitch to another. From the fact that he was never once at fault for a goal when doing it vindicates him.

The only credit I'd give to your theory would come from the fact that we struggled for a decent defensive midfielder with such nous all season.

[David Lowe]

You are right to point out that he never made a mistake that led to a goal. Whether his positional sense was any good is difficult to say. He must have been tricky to play with as you never knew what he was going to do! Overall I'm a little disappointed he has gone but he was never likely to be a Pearson type

[21st Century Fox]

elveda Sol.

[davieG]

Hibs look to have earned themselves a welcome £75,000 windfall after former player Sol Bamba completed his £750,000 transfer to Trabzonspor. The 27-year-old defender agreed personal terms over the weekend and his move fromCity was formally announced by the Turkish side yesterday.

The Ivory Coast internationalist left Hibs in January last year. The Easter Road hierarchy ensured they would add to the estimated £250,000 they received after inserting a sell-on clause into the former Dunfermline player’s Leicester deal. It is understood that Hibs are due a 15 per cent cut of the profit made by the Foxes on Bamba’s switch, reported to be £500,000 of the £750,000 fee confirmed by Trabzonspor.

[indierich06]

And the key to this is the whole team knowing each other.

There's nothing wrong with a centre half striding out of the back four. This is the modern game where ball-players are prominent and the way you deal with that as a team is that one of your central midfielders (usually the more defensive one/s) drops back into the space vacated in the back four until the defender is back in his position. From what you're saying players shouldn't exploit an opening if they see one. Let's remember Bamba didn't try to dribble every time he got the ball, he did it when he knew/thought he'd got an opportunity to move the play from one area of the pitch to another. From the fact that he was never once at fault for a goal when doing it vindicates him.

The only credit I'd give to your theory would come from the fact that we struggled for a decent defensive midfielder with such nous all season.

I wouldn't argue with your theory regarding the modern game, I would simply suggest that it doesn't apply to Championship football. Football at this level is, generally speaking, about physical presence, pace and organisation. I think Sol will fare a lot better in a continental team where the style of the game is more tailored to him as a player, he clearly has a lot of ability, but I just don't think the Championship is the league for him. If you look at the best defence we've had in recent years in Morrison, Hobbs, Brown and Berner, none of those players were amazing, they didn't have a lot of pace, their distribution left a bit to be desired at times, but they were well organised. That defence conceded just 41 goals in the entire season. The season after with the whole Sousa/Sven debacle we conceded 71 goals. Last season we conceded 55 - which, admittedly, is a slight improvement, but despite all these amazingly talented defenders we've had since the four I mentioned, our defence has never been as good. I'm not just singling out Bamba, I think our entire defence as a unit was poor last season and, barring Naughton and perhaps Cunningham, was very poor the season before.

My point is that we don't need ball-playing, attacking defenders to succeed in this league and in fact our defence has gone downhill since the departure of Pearson, the deconstruction of that successful defence and the arrival of Sousa, Sven, Sol Bamba, et al. We need a defensive unit which is organised, where every man knows exactly what his job is and knows that he can rely on his partners. Successful defences in this league keep it simple. It may not be pretty, but I'll take a Jack Hobbs or a Wayne Brown over a Sol Bamba in this league every time.

[Happy Fox]

I wouldn't argue with your theory regarding the modern game, I would simply suggest that it doesn't apply to Championship football. Football at this level is, generally speaking, about physical presence, pace and organisation. I think Sol will fare a lot better in a continental team where the style of the game is more tailored to him as a player, he clearly has a lot of ability, but I just don't think the Championship is the league for him. If you look at the best defence we've had in recent years in Morrison, Hobbs, Brown and Berner, none of those players were amazing, they didn't have a lot of pace, their distribution left a bit to be desired at times, but they were well organised. That defence conceded just 41 goals in the entire season. The season after with the whole Sousa/Sven debacle we conceded 71 goals. Last season we conceded 55 - which, admittedly, is a slight improvement, but despite all these amazingly talented defenders we've had since the four I mentioned, our defence has never been as good. I'm not just singling out Bamba, I think our entire defence as a unit was poor last season and, barring Naughton and perhaps Cunningham, was very poor the season before.

My point is that we don't need ball-playing, attacking defenders to succeed in this league and in fact our defence has gone downhill since the departure of Pearson, the deconstruction of that successful defence and the arrival of Sousa, Sven, Sol Bamba, et al. We need a defensive unit which is organised, where every man knows exactly what his job is and knows that he can rely on his partners. Successful defences in this league keep it simple. It may not be pretty, but I'll take a Jack Hobbs or a Wayne Brown over a Sol Bamba in this league every time.

Sven tried to create a philosophy based on defenders playing the ball from the back I would hazard a guess that if we made it to the prem with Sven we would be do far more better because of the philosophy he tried to adapt. I think it bottles down to the club's philosophy ( we don't have one) on how you want to play the game namely we sack a manager and he often has to implement a new philosophy so he buys the players for his suitability it should be the other way round, and that is why we haven't had much success over recent years. Continual player changes isn't great.

[TrentFox]

Sven tried to create a philosophy based on defenders playing the ball from the back I would hazard a guess that if we made it to the prem with Sven we would be do far more better because of the philosophy he tried to adapt. I think it bottles down to the club's philosophy ( we don't have one) on how you want to play the game namely we sack a manager and he often has to implement a new philosophy so he buys the players for his suitability it should be the other way round, and that is why we haven't had much success over recent years. Continual player changes isn't great.

That's an interesting point, and I totally get where you're coming from. But isn't it the case that most managers leave because they are sacked ? In which case, presumably a change of philosophy IS required ? Otherwise you're just fine-tuning something that has already failed ?

[Fox92]

You are right to point out that he never made a mistake that led to a goal.

He was easily turned by Jason Scotland for the goal at Portman Road, that's just an example.

[davieG]

That's an interesting point, and I totally get where you're coming from. But isn't it the case that most managers leave because they are sacked ? In which case, presumably a change of philosophy IS required ? Otherwise you're just fine-tuning something that has already failed ?

Depends what you mean by fail, first of all you have to decide what you want and then give it enough time to develop, you might initially drop back a bit as changes kick in and then success might just mean establishment or movement up upwards but you stick with it. Swansea are a good current example, Martinez, Sousa, Rogers and now Laudrup all play a broadly similar game.

Compare that to the managers we've had.

[TrentFox]

Depends what you mean by fail, first of all you have to decide what you want and then give it enough time to develop, you might initially drop back a bit as changes kick in and then success might just mean establishment or movement up upwards but you stick with it. Swansea are a good current example, Martinez, Sousa, Rogers and now Laudrup all play a broadly similar game.

Compare that to the managers we've had.

Hi Davie, I'm reading this and your equally eloquent comment in "Fixtures" and kind of merging the two. there is definitely something in Happy Fox's original comment and your subsequent point. Swansea are a great example. Most good business plans fail, not because they aren't good business plans, but because the culture of the organsiation gets in the way of that plan (Jack Welch's words - not mine, sadly). Swansea epitomise a club tha has laid its stall out and stuck with it. In many ways, your point about arses's and elbows is spot on for us in this respect - it's hard to imagine more "different" managers and philosophies than Sven and NP ! I'm not really strongly opionated enough about this to argue one way or the other. Sometimes, when sackings occur, players have lost faith in a "system" and changing it gives everyone a new lease of life. WHU were an interesting example last year ... with their fans singing "we play on the floor" to Allardyce ............. as he lead them back to where playing on the floor had got them relegated from ! But certainly, teams like Swansea should be applauded for sticking to their principles. I hope Norwich and Saints do the same now that they have seemingly gone down that route. Someone posted this morning (can't recall where) that Championship footy is all about pace and power and organsiation. Historical promotion tables would suggest that is one route to success. However, there are many examples of other teams like Reading and Swansea and Saints and QPR palying footy to get up. I guess in short, there are many ways to achieve one's goal, but whichever option a club goes for their manager has to be given time to embed his philosophy. Sven should have been given time to do so with his, and NP must be given time to do so, too. The only sure thing in my view is that short-termism just doesn;t work. Are we the only people on FT this morning, by the way ????????????????? Might be easier if we just rang each other !!!!

[tribal]

Hello mates. I have a question for you. I want to know that, How much was Sol Bamba earning in one year in Leicester City ?

[Foxes Blue Blood]

according to Turkish press Trabzonspor have disclosed transfer details of Bamba's move

http://www.turkish-football.com/news_read.php?id=3070

equivalent of about £16,500 per week,

wonder if thats a pay rise?

[Bamba]

He is simply the best player of Trabzonspor so far this season.

Today actually, he got the "player of the month" award.

I don't know what you think but he is a great defender and Trabzonspor fans are all crazy about him

[Danno]

He not been subjected to racist abuse yet?

[Mark_w]

Personally pretty pleased he's gone, he had a great start with us, but he isn't a fantastic player, he must be a pain to play alongside and whilst he's an entertaining player to watch I'm personally much happier with our CB options now.

[MC Prussian]

He started out brightly, only to fade away with time progressing. Erratic, always switching between genius and failure.

Still a cult hero for some fans, particularly thanks to that goal against Manchester City in the cup.

[MGLCFC]

Great athlete, talented footballer, wonderful entertainer, likeable person but most importantly average defender.

[Bamba]

He not been subjected to racist abuse yet?

thankfully Emre Belözoğlu, the famous racist of Turkish football, is playing abroad this season.

other than him, there has never been racist abuse in Turkey, particularly from the fans. No, not once.

[Webbo]

A good player and a great character. You're lucky to have him.

[FoxLAD]

befor yeah i was gutted, but morgan is much better at the moment!