More than
seven weeks after the last campaign ended with gloating celebrations at
Crawley, City’s close season exploded into life this week with the capture of
three players to bolster manager Steve Cotterill’s options for the new
season. Wade Elliott’s signature was the
least surprising (but still very welcome) deal, whilst Luke Freeman was a name
many of us had hoped for but few dared believe we might get, with reported
interest from several Championship clubs for his services. His pace, direct
running and eye for a goal couldn’t have failed to any watching Robins fan in
our encounters with Stevenage last season, despite him ending on the losing
side on both occasions.
The other
signing is a player many may not know much about. Mark Little may be getting on a bit, I remember
watching him in Neighbours when I got home from school at the end of the 1980’s
but with Bouncer in tow I reckon we’ve got a great signing….
Mark Little
Ah, OK,
not him? Right, right…Little joins from potential promotion rivals Peterborough
United, which may seem a strange move but clearly his time at London Road was
up and full back is certainly an area the gaffer sees the need to strengthen in,
being seemingly unconvinced about the capability of Moloney or Cunningham.
I asked
John Verrall,
long time contributor to the Posh blog and podcast Standing on the Glebe and
more recently writing for UEFA and Here is the City amongst others.
"Answering what to expect from Mark Little is
quite a tough question as, put simply, most the time I’m not convinced he knows
himself.
Little is a great athlete, a competent runner
who is strong in the air, but with the ball at his feet he is clearly
uncomfortable. That said, it is not something that seems like
a hindrance to his play. His own unique
style seems to be very effective, especially at League One level, where his
surging runs from right-back cause defences no end of problems.
Little is an attacking right-back, who will
not stop running forward. You are guaranteed 100% from him and there is no
doubting his persistence.
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Mark Little
What there is some concern over, however, is
his end product. There are times where Little flatters to deceive. A lot of
casual observers of Posh will wax lyrical about his ability going forward and
yet, considering the amount of times he arrives in a dangerous position, his
final ball often leaves a lot to be desired.
When not given time Little seems more at ease,
but when he is able to think about things it often goes wrong for him. He is an
instinctive, attacking player, but not necessarily a naturally creative one for
all his efforts. It is also noticeable that the first thing
that is discussed when talking about Little is his forward-going qualities,
given he is a defender by trade.
When facing his own goal Little can be a
problem. He is not a full-back to rely on in a match played on the back-foot.
His positioning often questionable and it means that he is often required to
use his ample pace to try and recover from a mess that he has put himself in.
At this level, though, he is an excellent
player. Britt Assombalonga would have been Posh’s most noticeable star to an
outsider, but Little was arguably the best player for the course of the season.
He departs and he will be remembered very
fondly at London Road and I’m sure he will become a fans’ favourite at Ashton
Gate, too, in time. Just
don’t expect him to do too much defending…”
My thanks to John for this excellent,
rounded contribution. Our defensive woes
were well publicised last season and on the face of it this signing does ‘Little’ to address that, but the fact
that John believes he was one of their star players – and the way he went past
Greg Cunningham seemingly at will last season – promises much on the attack.
From the signings made so far and the
players we’ve kept (to date) it looks as if we’re going all guns blazing on the
attack. Of most interest to me with
these signings is the formation Cotterill is planning on making the standard
next season. Last year he drifted
between variations of 4-4-2 and a 3-5-2, indicating that the players we had in the
squad were better suited to the latter.
This summer is his chance to mould the
squad how he wants it, which I suspect is a more traditional 4 at the back as a
starting point. However, from the
description above, Little seems more suited to playing as a wing-back, whilst
it was interesting to note comments made during Freeman’s unveiling where –
despite the new man’s natural left wing positioning – Cotterill talked about his
ability to play across the front line and possibly in behind the strikers.
One thing is for sure, you can’t play
wingers and wing-backs together and I hope we don’t negate Freeman’s attacking instincts
by forcing him to think too defensively. It seems the signing splurge is far
from over however, so all may become much clearer over the next few weeks.
Are your expectation levels rising
sufficiently yet?
COYR!
The Exiled Robin
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