Middlesbrough’s Neil Warnock makes Sol Bamba admission following positional experiment | OneFootball

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Football League World

·24 September 2021

Middlesbrough’s Neil Warnock makes Sol Bamba admission following positional experiment

Article image:Middlesbrough’s Neil Warnock makes Sol Bamba admission following positional experiment

Neil Warnock has admitted that he will not be playing Sol Bamba at full-back for Middlesbrough after trialling him there for an under-23’s game in midweek.

Boro have suffered from a number of injuries in both full-back positions, with Anfernee Dijksteel joining Darnell Fisher on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.


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Marc Bola’s absence since the international break as well has led to Lee Peltier filling in at left-back, but he will be needed on the right-hand side this weekend due to Dijksteel’s setback.

Quiz: Have Middlesbrough ever been involved in these 18 scenarios?

1 of 18

Won the top division of English football

Yes

No

Warnock did experiment this week though with experienced centre-half Bamba playing on the left of a back four in the under-23’s, but it didn’t really work out.

The Ivorian told Warnock that he didn’t want to play in that position again and Warnock was in agreement with the experienced defender, with Bola set to take his place back in the side if he’s fully fit to do so.

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“I did try Sol at full-back the other day in the Under-23s, but he said to me after, ‘I hope I never, ever have to play left-back again, gaffer’,” Warnock revealed, per the Northern Echo.

“It was only for 30 minutes, but I can assure you I actually agreed with him!”’

The Verdict

With Boro’s inability to get a free agent left-back through the door, Warnock has had to work amongst adversity when it’s come to injuries.

Peltier has been able to fill in reasonably well but he would have only expected to be a back-up right-back before the season started, so moving over to the left side and starting games would have been a shock.

Thankfully for Boro fans though it seems like Bola will be back for the clash with Reading tomorrow as Bamba’s trial in the position did not go too well by all accounts.

Bamba has always lacked a bit of pace and mobility so playing him in that position probably wasn’t the best idea in the first place, and rest assured it won’t be happening in the Championship.

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