Tony Mowbray reveals how he will use fit-again Dan Ballard
Tony Mowbray says there is no established pecking order for the centre back positions as he gets ready to welcome Dan Ballard back into contention.
Ballard fractured his foot in the third game of the season, with Luke O’Nien deputising brilliantly for him since.
There is an assumption, though, that O’Nien will drop back out for Ballard once the former Arsenal man is fit, but Mowbray says that is not necessarily the case.
Instead, he intends to select his centre-backs on a game-by-game basis to nullify specific threats from the opposition.
"Dan Ballard, Luke O'Nien, Danny Batth, Bailey Wright - it doesn't really matter,” Mowbray said in what could be a hint that he sees Aji Alese as more of a full-back now.
“They're all in a competition within a competition. Dan has to await his opportunity and bide his time and get fit and train hard every day and show me his real competitive edge.
"There might be an argument to play Dan Ballard because he is really fast and strong and powerful, and he's really good in the air - I'm not sure what he's like with the ball, he's only had a couple of training sessions with us - but if he is good with the ball as well then all of a sudden you've got a footballer who is ticking more of the boxes and maybe is going to force his way into the team. It'll depend [upon] what we need.
"Are we playing a very direct team, when we'll probably pick Danny Batth to play alongside Dan Ballard, and Luke O'Nien with all his qualities might have to sit it out. Or they have really fast, darty little strikers, and maybe Danny Batth will sit out that day and Luke will play.
"It doesn't mean one is better than the other, it means they have different attributes. The manager's job is to pick a team to win the game, not to appease the players.
"Sometimes you get stuck thinking 'well, we kept a clean sheet, let's keep the same back four,' but the logic in the back of your head is ticking away saying 'he's lightning fast up front, so you really should be changing that winning team and put your fastest players in to deal with that mobility'."
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