‘Classy player’ – Swindon Town insight into Charlton’s new full-back Mandela Egbo
What can Charlton fans expect from new summer signing Mandela Egbo? Here a Swindon Town journalist provides insight.
Jonny Leighfield from the Swindon Advertiser, provides background on the former Crystal Palace full-back.
IT WAS ONLY SHORT, BUT HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE MANDELA EGBO’S TIME AT SWINDON?
He made a really good impression on the fans by showing what he’s about straight away. There were a couple of games where he notched a brace of assists and that caused fans to clamour for him to feature more regularly. He’s very much an attacking full-back, and showed his quality going forward. We didn’t see too much of the defensive side of his game, but it didn’t fill me with loads of confidence on the occasions we did. Off the pitch, he’s a really intelligent and eloquent talker – a good guy to have in the dressing room, it seemed.
HOW HAVE THE SWINDON FANS TAKEN TO HIS DEPARTURE AND WOULD THEY HAVE LIKED TO KEEP HIM?
Simply because Garner seems to be raiding Town for his best players, there is a real feeling of anger and frustration. He’s perfectly entitled to do it, of course, but the number and importance of the people taken so far has rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way, and the continual poaching is doing Garner’s ever-decreasing popularity no favours.
Egbo was the one player (so far) that I’ve been really disappointed to see go. With Wollacott, you felt the natural progression of his career would see him leave anyway, but I thought Egbo might stick around for one full season. I think most fans would have been delighted with Rob Hunt and Egbo as our full-back options, so the main feeling is disappointment.
WHAT ARE HIS BEST ATTRIBUTES?
Egbo’s best attributes are speed and a desire to attack. He’s strong too, and has quick feet to go with his composure on the ball.
CAN HE PLAY IN A FIVE AT THE BACK AND OPERATE AS A WING-BACK AS PLAYING IN A BACK FOUR?
I think wing-back would be his perfect position as it allows him to creep forward and join in attacks while giving him some breathing room on the defensive side of the ball. He played in a four during the majority of his time at Swindon, so he’s comfortable doing that as well.
ANY WEAKNESSES?
As I previously mentioned, defensively I do worry about him a little bit. His positioning was sometimes a little naive and he didn’t always anticipate the opposition’s decisions. But he’s a smart guy and some more coaching could definitely see him improve that area.
WHAT CAN CHARLTON FANS EXPECT FROM EGBO?
Charlton fans can expect him to bomb forward at every opportunity and whip in crosses for the club’s strikers. He is a classy player overall who is more suited to a wing-back role, so he could well play a crucial role in that all-out attacking football that the fans there love.