The New Arrivals - Craig Alcock

This week on A United View we will be hearing about each of United's new arrivals from the fans who watched them last season. Each day we will be hearing the reaction to losing a player and getting an idea of what we can expect in the coming months.

Today we hear the views of Peterborough United fan and sports journalist John Verrall. From being one of the driving forces behind Standing On The Glebe (a Posh blog and podcast), to writing for Here is the City, Give Me Sport and UEFA.com, John's unbiased viewpoints are the antithesis to other Peterborough views United fans may have been exposed to last season. 

You can follow John on twitter @JohnVerrall and here is his view on incoming defender Craig Alcock.

Craig Alcock

Craig Alcock’s Peterborough United career will always be remembered fondly, but there is a feeling that he never quite achieved his potential at London Road.

Alcock remains one of the best defensive full-backs I have seen in my time supporting Posh, but that was largely the problem for him.

He became second-choice in his favoured right-back position, because Posh demand their defenders to attack.

It meant that Mark Little was often chosen over him and Alcock became criminally underused. He found it difficult to displace Little in the team because of his attacking prowess, but he was a far superior player in every defensive aspect of the game.

In the one season where Alcock regularly played at right-back, the 2012/13 campaign, he was a star and very few Championship players enjoyed facing off against him.

In-truth, after that campaign the former Yeovil man’s formed tailed off slightly – he simply isn’t as capable at centre-back, due to a lack of height, or at left-back, although he is still competent in either position.

Alcock rarely gets beaten by skill – he is tenacious in the tackle, reasonably quick and reads the game expertly.

But, in the end, he paid for his versatility. Worryingly Nigel Clough has already stated that 

he sees his reliability in a number of positions as his strength, but he must be utilised in his preferred one to get the best out of him.

If he is, there is no doubt he’s good enough to play at this level and potentially the level above. On a free-transfer, he could well turn out to be one of the signings of the summer, even if he doesn’t take as much acclaim as others do.