One To Watch: Adam Clayton

Adam Clayton is one of those players that you just hate facing as an opponent. His philosophy is clear to see. Either the man gets past, or the ball, but not both. He is more than happy to put a stud where it hurts if it means halting play.

This kind of player will be a thorn in our side because usually one of Birmingham City’s strengths is breaking quickly. With Clayton about, the chance of this happening are slim and this could be real hindrance come Saturdays fixture.

He is also their main distributor of the ball. If he is given freedom, then he is able to sweep the ball from left to right very comfortably. Therefore, I think that we would need to have someone who plays in midfield sticking on him when we are defending in order to harry him and put his head down. This would mean that he is less of an attacking threat.

He also likes to bomb forward from midfield as a runner when a cross is about to be delivered. Due to this, our midfield will have to constantly be tracking him when Middlesbrough have the ball. We should have the fitness to do this and it should allow us to stifle any threat coming from Clayton.

Having seen him play several times last season, I can assuredly say that he is a very consistent player. He always gives the maximum amount of effort that he can and therefore will be quick to close down. Therefore, I would prefer to play Davis and Kieftenbeld at the base of a midfield triangle with Toral at the tip. I believe these players are best on the ball and have the ability to play at a high tempo.

Gleeson is a good player, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes he can be too slow upon making his mind up and passing the ball and so due to Clayton’s constant patrolling, I would see Gleeson as a liability.

Adam Clayton has the ability to dictate this game and due to this, it’ll be down to how well we cope with his threat that will decide upon the outcome of the game.