Julian Gray For Left Back?
By Aydan Anderson
October 19 2004
Julian Gray has been tipped by fellow defender Matthew Upson to continue his great performances on the left hand side of defence. With David Dunn playing well on the left wing could Gray make the left back slot his own?
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Julian Gray was signed by blues boss Steve Bruce as a back up winger when he
arrived at St Andrews from Crystal Palace in the summer. But with injuries to
left sided players Jamie Clapham, Stan Lazaridis, Martin Grainger, and David
Dunn, Gray was handed a first team place quicker than expected.
He had the job of marking tricky Cristiano Ronaldo who proved at Euro 2004 he is one of the best right wingers in the world at the moment. And Gray came through the game with flying colours having kept the Portuguese youngster quiet. He made superb tackles against Ronaldo, Rooney and Smith, distributed the ball well and kept possession when he needed to. Add this to a few dangerous runs up the pitch to help out David Dunn and the blues attack and Gray was certainly a contender for man of the match. This performance has led to blues defender Matthew Upson singing the praises
of Gray to the media, and tipping him to continue playing in the left side of
the Birmingham defence: "Julian did exceptionally well against Ronaldo and also made a couple of
really well-timed tackles against Wayne Rooney after he came on," Upson said.
With David Dunn producing the goods on the left wing and Gray playing well at left back then it looks like the two could form a good partnership in blues premiership campaign this season. And with them both being English... who knows! |
Gray
played his first few games in a Birmingham shirt on the left wing, and made a
good impression on the manager and the fans. But when blues made the trip to
Middlesbrough he was asked to fill in at left back. Six games late and Gray is
still filling that role for Steve Bruce's men.
