Nathan Baker - Sold

[UK Redsox]

Baker had been fine in the Norwich and Chelsea games. Hopefully yesterday was a blip.

However, it should be noted that Vlaar was just as bad, if not worse, at times yesterday. As were Bacuna and Bertrand.

[PaulWinch again]

Baker showed that he is a squad player at best yesterday. His positional play got worse and worse as the game wore on.

Roll on April and the reutrn of the Beast.

'At best' being the operative term, because he really isn't good enough.

[eastie]

4th choice squad player - can perform on his day but like too many in this team that day is not regular enough .

[PeterWithesShin]

4th choice squad player - can perform on his day but like too many in this team that day is not regular enough .

More fibre in his diet will help.

[b23]

I admire his bravery and full on commitment.

He is not the future of AVFC.

Awful defender.

[Dante Lavelli]

Curtis Davies is odds on favourite to be Hull's player of the year according to what I read this weekend. 
I suppose that means nothing to us however I remember how we (rightly) wrote him off but yet he's come good. 

Given time I think Clark and Baker will become solid centre backs (one, if not both).  Whether we can afford them the time to develop is a harder question but as things stand we need to run the club on a shoestring so we should do our best to support Clark and Baker rather then see them as the cause of our problem whereas I think they're just the symptoms of the current malaise.

[KevinGage]

Curtis Davies is odds on favourite to be Hull's player of the year according to what I read this weekend. 
I suppose that means nothing to us however I remember how we (rightly) wrote him off but yet he's come good. 

Given time I think Clark and Baker will become solid centre backs (one, if not both).  Whether we can afford them the time to develop is a harder question but as things stand we need to run the club on a shoestring so we should do our best to support Clark and Baker rather then see them as the cause of our problem whereas I think they're just the symptoms of the current malaise.

Tend to agree. 

Reading the game is where Baker struggles, but for a centre half, that can come in time.

He has played too many games over the past two seasons though. If we had adequate squad depth, he should have been seeing 10-15 games max.

[aj2k77]

Baker is too slow. If a defender is slow he needs anticipation and/or brains and experience.

He doesn't have any anticipation or brains, he's a lummox and i'm not willing to sit by watching him fuck up for the next 3 years in the hope he gains the experience to become average.

Can we please, sometime in the next 2/3/4 years get out of the position of having to pay fucking donkeys like Nathan Baker thousands of pounds a week to be crap.

[KevinGage]

He's 22.   If he's happy to have a bit-part role over the next few years, I see no reason to bomb him out. 

Dunne, Collins, Ridgewell and Curtis Davies were hardly speed merchants either, yet all have carved out reasonable top flight careers. 

Our mistake with most of them was paying ridiculous fees and wages.  Baker is a local lad, wants to play for the club and has enough of the basics already in place to be a decent centre half (in the old school mould).

[N'Zimidy]

He's 22.   If he's happy to have a bit-part role over the next few years, I see no reason to bomb him out. 

Dunne, Collins, Ridgewell and Curtis Davies were hardly speed merchants either, yet all have carved out reasonable top flight careers. 

Our mistake with most of them was paying ridiculous fees and wages.  Baker is a local lad, wants to play for the club and has enough of the basics already in place to be a decent centre half (in the old school mould).

In fairness to Doughey Dunne he was always a fairly fast centre back despite his weight. Both him and Davies would finish a good three seconds before Baker in a 100m sprint. I would compare Baker quite closely to Collins, although that's not necessarily a good thing.

Baker clearly needs a lot of training before he's close to Premier League standard. He's not getting that training now because he's as bad as he was when he first appeared for us 4 years ago. My suggestion would be to get Martin Laursen down at Bodymoor and show him the ropes.

[ozzjim]

His insistence on diving in drives me insane.

[fredm]

Baker suffers, like every one of the "young and hungry" players that have been brought into the club, by not having a nucleus of experienced, battle hardened players within the squad. Players who, not only during the match, but also on the training ground would tell them what they had done wrong and what they should do in a similar situation in the future.  Who do we have who can be described as experience and battle hardened - Vlaar? Gabby? anyone else?  Don't forget that even the wonderful Kids team that Man U had included at least half a dozen top class senior players who formed the backbone of the team.

[Dante Lavelli]

Baker suffers, like every one of the "young and hungry" players that have been brought into the club, by not having a nucleus of experienced, battle hardened players within the squad. Players who, not only during the match, but also on the training ground would tell them what they had done wrong and what they should do in a similar situation in the future.  Who do we have who can be described as experience and battle hardened - Vlaar? Gabby? anyone else?  Don't forget that even the wonderful Kids team that Man U had included at least half a dozen top class senior players who formed the backbone of the team.

There's a lot of thruth there.  I was against it at the time (as I hoped/expected Westwood's form to continue into this season), but how much would Barry have helped our midfield both as a player and an old head to help players along.

With regards to Baker, we could do worse than send him on loan for a season as with experience he could be a premiership standard defender.  But to do that we'd probably need to sign someone and I think we have bigger priorities.

[nigel]

He's 22.   If he's happy to have a bit-part role over the next few years, I see no reason to bomb him out. 

Dunne, Collins, Ridgewell and Curtis Davies were hardly speed merchants either, yet all have carved out reasonable top flight careers. 

Our mistake with most of them was paying ridiculous fees and wages.  Baker is a local lad, wants to play for the club and has enough of the basics already in place to be a decent centre half (in the old school mould).

Agree.
You could add our best ever centre half to that list, too. Paul McGrath. Blimey I could walk as fast as his sprint 

As Dante said:
"Given time I think Clark and Baker will become solid centre backs (one, if not both).  Whether we can afford them the time to develop is a harder question but as things stand we need to run the club on a shoestring so we should do our best to support Clark and Baker rather then see them as the cause of our problem whereas I think they're just the symptoms of the current malaise."

[bob]

McGrath was quick.