Chris Sutton playing centre half

First of all can i say how good a player the big man was.

He played many games alongside Larsson and that was the best partnership I've seen in my lifetime at Celtic.

He also played many games in midfield when MON played hartson and larsson upfront. And he didn't look out of place,playing excellent in many major games in that position.

But what i want to talk about is his ability to play centre back.

Where would he fit in our team in centre back now?

Would he be the best, would he start at centre half or if centre half was his only position would he not be in the starting team?

And because i only want to discuss Chris sutton playing centre half,where would he fit in alongside the other centre halfs in the last 15 years?

If anyone wants to add a poll about Chris sutton and his centre half ability feel free.

My own opinion is in the last 15 years we have only had 3 centre halfs better that sutton

 

How can we agree or disagree with you when you don't name the three better centre halfs that you said we had .
Remember when Sutton filled in as centre half we normally played three centre halfs and had two fantastic defensive midfielders in Lennon and Lambert . We never had as many strong defensive players again .
I thought Sutton was a fantastic player for us in any of the three positions he was played in .

 

Ok fair enough the only 3 centre halfs i rated above sutton were:

VVD
Mjalby
Joos

 

What about big bobo?

 

I loved big bobo but sutton was a class act even in defence

 

Bobo Balde
Alan Stubbs

 

I actually cant mind him playing centre-half much(I say much but I really mean all) and I had a season ticket throughout his time. How many times did he actually play there?

I mind him in midfield though, he must have played about 50 games in midfield or more, especially the last 2 season of Martin O'Neill when Lambert became bit part/non existant.

In my time i'd rate the centre halves as

1. Mjallby
2. Van Dijk
3. Bobo
4. Varga/K.Wilson
5. Valgaeren
6. Ambrose
7. Mulgrew
8. Caldwell
9. Majstorovic
10. Rogne
11. McManus

Nobody else is worth mentioning I dont think, except Vega but he probably only played about 20 games so couldnt really count him.

After them it's not worth mentioning. Was too young to fully recall players of the 90s, defenders anyway being under 10 I wasnt looking for good defensive displays.

 

He was fantastic at centre half. One of his best performances in a Celtic jersey was the 1-0 win at Ibrox in October 2003, we were injury ravaged at the back and he strolled through that game.

He was never a midfielder though.

 

I always thought he played well in midfield. Could win balls in the air and his link-up play was 2nd to none. Id actually say that the 2003/04 first choice team which I think was, this kind of 4-4-2 was probably the best team we've had in the last 40 years.

Douglas
---------- Balde Varga McNamara
Agathe-----Lennon-------------
----------Petrov Sutton Thompson
Larsson Hartson

With Miller playing instead of Hartson a fair bit and Sutton up front.

So sometimes...

Douglas
---------- Balde Varga McNamara
Agathe-----Lennon-------------
----------Petrov Miller Thompson
Larsson Sutton
​

 

He could do a job in the middle but it was definitely the weakest of the 3 positions he could play.

You're right about that side though, still kills me that we never got out of our CL group, why the * Bobo handled that ball in the dying seconds in Lyon I'll never know.

That side could have made the semis at least.

 

To be fair to big Bobo it was never a hand ball, as I recall it he went up for a header and the ball went over him and hit his arm on the way down.

Hedman was more to blame, mind the two howlers away to Bayern, we should have atleast drew if not won that game.

We could have won the UEFA Cup too but Villarreal were a quality team, said it on here a day or two ago but before or since, I cant remind us getting a skelping on our own pitch like that Villarreal game, they dominated from start to finish.

 

Hedman howler in Munich and Anderlecht were down to 10 men for about 60 minutes as well and we couldn't put them away, Varga missed an open goal in that game from about a yard.

Yeah we turfed Barca out of the UEFA cup as well, albeit with some incredible luck.

Pumped the huns 6 times that season and didn't lose a league game until after the title was won too, great side.

 

I remember Sutton playing at centre back against Rangers and he played a blinder. best player on the park by a mile that day

It was hard to keep either Sutton or Hartson out the team. Sutton playing behind Hartson and Henrik seemed to work though


the side of 03/04 was vastly undderated, many go on about the 02/03 team being brilliant(which it was) but the season after we had Marshall in goals instead of Rab the brickie

 

Balde's handball away in Lyon was a stone waller if I remember correctly. I'm pretty sure the header was going in, and hit Balde's arm as it was on its way. Pretty sure his arm was outstretched also and not in a natural position.

 

Yep, the 2003/04 team was probably our peak - we had switched then to a 4-4-2 and it worked wonders for us. Some tremendous performances, most notably Lyon at home and of course the beating of Barcelona over two legs. Team should have achieved far more in Europe.

Marshall only came into the team and stayed in from the Barca 2nd leg in mid March though.