Ballard



As You Were said:
What do people make of him? Before xmas I thought after clarke he was the best player at the club and looked like a premier league player but since the mags game to me he just hasn’t looked the same. Hasn’t played as well, his body language to me doesn’t look great etc
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I just thought WHAT! When I read that.
He’s a colossus in this team, take him out and there is a hole as wide as the Wear.
You were right and are still are right, he is a massive player for us and if we lose both him and Clark in window we are up shit creek. Defo a premiership player in my humble opinion
 
When I watch centre backs in this league I wouldn’t swap many of them for Ballard.

He’s big powerful aggressive and good on the ball when he’s under pressure.
He defends first and wins balls first but looks to play when we have possession.

For example million or so he’s an absolute steel and a superb signing.

Could play in the premier league no problem.
 
Comeback_Kenwyne said:
Good player, slightly overrated on here.

Bottom half at best in league above.

You saw why tonight.

He was terrible tonight, but the errors he made in his decision-making, being too rash and overcommitting - that’s not uncommon. It would be ruthlessly punished at the level above and in fact it was v The Mags.

Luke and Hume bailed him out a lot today.
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He was playing on the edge tonight against a premiership striker,and taking no prisoners -Bamford did not get a sniff, he will quickly learn to get the balance right. But let’s be straight he was main reason we got the draw. To say he was terrible is to say you were not concentrating on the game.
He got a couple of things wrong as you say but don’t judge his whole performance on a couple of impetuous tackles and a marginal handball that wasn’t
 
Chewit said:
He was playing on the edge tonight against a premiership striker,and taking no prisoners -Bamford did not get a sniff, he will quickly learn to get the balance right. But let’s be straight he was main reason we got the draw. To say he was terrible is to say you were not concentrating on the game.
He got a couple of things wrong as you say but don’t judge his whole performance on a couple of impetuous tackles and a marginal handball that wasn’t
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He could have gave away pens and had red cards if we had competent officials we could have lost that easily down to mainly him.
 
chopsfc007 said:
He could have gave away pens and had red cards if we had competent officials we could have lost that easily down to mainly him.
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Like I said he was playing on the edge. He was a warrior tonight.
where was the red cards? He got one booking he was no where near a red card. You listen to commentators to much. Maybe they were competent officials as I saw nothing to warrant a second booking
 
Chewit said:
Like I said he was playing on the edge. He was a warrior tonight.
where was the red cards? He got one booking he was no where near a red card. You listen to commentators to much. Maybe they were competent officials as I saw nothing to warrant a second booking
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The booking he got plus the handball which could have been penalty he also got away with one where Leeds player was marginally offside which would have been a pen as well
 
Cream Soda said:
Think he's mint probably one of the best centre backs in the league
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This for me too, he's got onien next to him as much as I love Luke he's basically less experienced there than Ballard so that can't be easy for the lad. He'd thrive with an experienced head back there with him. He'll go on to have a decent mid table premier league career imho.
 
ranks39 said:
Agreed and I hope he stays with us. I really like the look of our backline, especially if we can add another starting-caliber CB and move O'Nien into the CDM. Seelt could still be that guy but needs to prove it out.
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We definitely need a new centre back this summer, Cresswell from Leeds been linked a few times, would like to see him with Ballard.

I would also move O’Nein back to cdm, still think he had his best days for us when he played there under Alex Neil. Does the dirty work and can carry the ball and pick a pass when need be.
 
Comeback_Kenwyne said:
Good player, slightly overrated on here.

Bottom half at best in league above.

You saw why tonight.

He was terrible tonight, but the errors he made in his decision-making, being too rash and overcommitting - that’s not uncommon. It would be ruthlessly punished at the level above and in fact it was v The Mags.

Luke and Hume bailed him out a lot today.
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Bang on
 
Hongkongphooey said:
He's on the whole a very good defender, first half tonight was the worst I've seen him play , second half he was back to his best.
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Just shows how mature and disciplined he can be when he wants, he's learning all the time and will play at the very top I reckon, we look pretty awful when he doesn't play generally, he's a good lad.
 
Like Hume he just needs to learn that he can’t win every single ball. Hopefully that’ll come with more experience as he’s class apart from that.
 
He’s been very good for us.

My concern is at his age, he’ll want to play in the PL in the next year or two. Will he be convinced we can be the team he does that with?
 
SAFC 2012 said:
Onien hasn’t played midfield for about five year man people need to get over this 😂😂😂
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ha its crackers how is still gets mentioned like

he never even played there for us, he had like a 10 game under Neil and that has been almost it since the day he signed!

His position is centre back, its his natural position, he has now played the majority of his senior career there
Frankel said:
He’s been very good for us.

My concern is at his age, he’ll want to play in the PL in the next year or two. Will he be convinced we can be the team he does that with?
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Love Ballard but not totally convinced he is a PL starter for anyone other than a relegation battle team
 
He's been a very good signing for us, but think people assuming he'll have premier league clubs after him in summer are getting a bit far ahead of themselves. Against proper quality he's found it tough imo.
 

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