The trouble with left backs

It’s quite possibly the most under-appreciated position in football, the left back. The stars of the defense are much more often on the right or center, and yet, the left back must handle the attacking team’s right side, often their better one. In Scotland, we have our right back well and rightly sorted, with Alan Hutton holding down that position basically until someone injures him, and now that Hutton has played all of his matches with Chelsea and Ashley Cole for the season, we all feel a lot safer. In the center, there are all sorts of options, from the old veteran (Davie Wier) to the heady youngsters (Christophe Berra and Darren Barr). On the left, however, there’s a bit of a gap. Here are, in my mind, the best players to serve the role of Scotland left back, at least until another better choice emerges.

Lee Wallace, Hearts
Wallace is young (20) and a bit rough around the edges (see: 2006 gun charge), but has seems to have really settled down, and is one of the best of the upcoming class of Scottish football. He has seen regular action this season both for Hearts and for the Scotland U-21s, and after Steven Fletcher graduated to the senior side, he’ll be keen to do the same. The apparently Celtic-free May friendly may be a chance for him, but it may still be a bit early for Wallace. Besides, he is still needed by the U-21 side, which is still very much alive in the Under-21 European Championship qualifying race.

Jay McEveley, Derby County
Of the three here, Jay is the one with the most recent Scotland experience. He made his third senior appearance against Croatia last month, taking on the left back responsibilities well, but not without stutters. At 22, he has a bit more experience in the game. France and Liverpool fans, of course, will always remember Jay as the player that broke Djibril Cisse’s leg in 2004. Defending for Derby County has certainly been an exercise in humility for the youngster, and next season will, for me, show a lot about him by his reaction to that humbling. I don’t rate him as highly in pure skill as Wallace, but perhaps higher in terms of readiness.

Kevin McNaughton, Cardiff City
The subject of my last post, McNaughton was meant to have been on the Croatia squad, but was unavailable by injury. He got another knock in the FA Cup semifinal against Barnsley, but he should return swiftly enough. Cardiff’s FA Cup run has been impressive this season, and I’d love as much as anyone to see McNaughton, and teammate Gavin Rae, lift the Cup next month, but I’d really prefer to have two wingbacks in the top flight, rather than give attackers a choice between a rock from Spurs (Hutton) and a somewhat less frightening option from Cardiff City. The issue of whether it’s better to be on a bad team in the best league, or a decent team in a weaker one, is up for debate, but for my money, we have too many players as it is in the Championship, and McNaughton is a decent option, but not yet up to snuff for a full Scotland starting position. It doesn’t help that he’s a natural right back with left back abilities, either. We need a natural left back.

So, to sum up … still looking for the perfect fit, but I see Wallace as the future of the position.

In other news …

Kris Boyd, I try to defend you and stand up for you, and this is what I get. Tsk tsk.

and … tomorrow, the FIFA rankings for this month are announced. I’ll be on here to talk about Scotland’s new placing. By my reckoning of it, we lost some points this month, and Mexico might just jump above us with their win over Ghana, but the rankings are a strange system, and hard to predict. Luckily, with World Cup qualifiers set, this is the time of year that our rankings really don’t matter all that much. Still, a high ranking is a matter of pride, and that matters to us Tartan Army folk quite a bit. More tomorrow.