Rohan Ince at centre back

[Jimmy Grimble]

I don't know. Sometimes things that seem preposterous work out, such moving Steve Foster from centre-forward to centre-back.

Yep, there are occasions when it works, but in the context of Ince it would be foolish IMO.

 

[Machiavelli]

Unbelievable! We have just had a great result against the top team with Ince and Bridcutt an outstanding partnership and we have a thread on Saturday selling Bridcutt and today pushing Ince into defence. What is wrong with playing them both in Midfield. Could still play with Ulloa up front supported by three from Orlandi, Lopez, Buckley, KLL or even Crofts. Drop Crofts and put in Barnes! That's not counting Conway if we chose to sign him!

While agreeing with everything else you've said, why is it unbelievable to pose this question? It opens up issues of: what is/will be Ince's best position; where will he have the most impact on the team; how do we consider the current state of our defence, and central defence in particular. There are other questions that it has provoked, such as Ince's heading. While accepting that other players bottle it when facing Ince, as algie states, I still think there's substantial improvement with Ince's heading. He may well prevent the opposition from winning headers, but he doesn't tend to 'win' them himself, if by winning, we mean that he connects with the ball and heads it to one of our players. It is this that he needs to improve. I'm sure that Oscar, the rest of the coaching staff and Ince are aware of this, and improvement will come.

 

[Bob!]

Neither his heading or tackling ability are good enough to be a central defender and the last line before the keeper. In midfield if he misses either somebody else can cover him. As a central defender I think that his reckless missed tackles would result in a number of penalties conceded. Leave him in midfield where he can do more damage to the opponents and less to our defence.

I agree with BG on something!

 

[Peter Grummit]

Maybe CB in 10 years - the key is reading the game and being disciplined , he's not ready for that yet.

What I love about him is he has the attributes to not do the obvious. Sometimes this can lead to mistakes, but it can also lead to runs, passes and tackles that no-one else in the side could produce. In this age of disciplined keep-ball, it's great to have that option. I was also hugely encouraged by how Bridders and Ince played together. It sets up the possible flair line-up:

PIG

Bruno
Greer
Upson
Ward

Bridcutt
Ince
Crofts

Buckley
Ulloa (Barnes until fit)
LuaLua

PG

 

[ThePolishJig]

Saw him play there at Hastings, I think he should stick to midfield.

 

[Bold Seagull]

In a scale of value in transfers: defenders < midfielders < strikers

Why would anyone want to turn a prospect like Ince from a superb looking box to box midfielder into a defender?

It would be like taking a Mercedes AMG, striping it of all the AMG parts and upgrades and saying "there you go, a quality Mercedes".

I'll keep the AMG thanks!

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

I've hardly seen him lose a header. The direction of his heading could be improved granted.
By your standards Greer would be a hopeless centre back as his heading is poor and he barely make an actual tackle.

And that is the whole issue. He is not good enough to be a CB, his heading is wayward at best. Ben's Grandad, is spot on in his assessment, he does have a tendency to dive in, which you cannot do as a CB. I believe Poyet used to issue fines for players who dived in...... (i.e. Kish at Rochdale a couple of years back).

Ince is a fantastic player who gets better with each game, but his long term position has to be midfield.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

It wasn't like I was suggesting a new position for him like left wing.

Just wondering whether people had seen him play centre back which, until a couple of months ago was his ACTUAL position.

Credit to Oscar Garcia for seeing his potential in that midfield position because he has been superb there.

I wonder whether Liam Bridcutt's injury might actually be hugely important to Ince's career. Would he have been played there if we didn't need an alternative? Funny how some things work out. He could go on to have a great career in a position he only played in because someone else got a hernia.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

It wasn't like I was suggesting a new position for him like left wing.

Just wondering whether people had seen him play centre back which, until a couple of months ago was his ACTUAL position.

Credit to Oscar Garcia for seeing his potential in that midfield position because he has been superb there.

I wonder whether Liam Bridcutt's injury might actually be hugely important to Ince's career. Would he have been played there if we didn't need an alternative? Funny how some things work out. He could go on to have a great career in a position he only played in because someone else got a hernia.

I think Dunk played defensive mid against Whitehawk, so maybe Garcia was looking for one of the younger defenders to make a move to CDM to cover Bridcutt. Just happened Ince was better suited

 

[portslade seagull]

I've hardly seen him lose a header. The direction of his heading could be improved granted.
By your standards Greer would be a hopeless centre back as his heading is poor and he barely make an actual tackle.

Seen him miss/lose a fair few, its the one thing he needs to work on especially a man of his height

 

[WATFORD zero]

I wonder whether Liam Bridcutt's injury might actually be hugely important to Ince's career. Would he have been played there if we didn't need an alternative? Funny how some things work out. He could go on to have a great career in a position he only played in because someone else got a hernia.

And as far i remember, it was Navarro's injury that gave Liam his chance

 

[severnside gull]

I rather like the fact that we have a coach who can see the potential in players and not just accept what he is presented with. March came as a winger but has been played as a central midfielder in the DS using his passing skills and vision offensively while Courtney Richards is being converted from a centre forward to a box to box midfield general. In the first team I could see Bruno converting to central midfield if needed and whilst we all knew the versatility of Barnes I dont think we saw him as the lone central striker before and his temper seems to have become an issue left well behind. Spanish is now encouraged to move across the field and his form is improving and no temptation to use him as a stand in full back. All very encouraging.