Faye Impresses At Bolton

Last updated : 22 September 2005 By Matt Bottom

Midfielder-cum-defender, Abdoulaye Diagne-Faye on a season-long loan from Lens has already recieved praise from Sam Allardyce who has warned Ivan Campo he could face stiff competition from the Senegal international for the defensive midfield role.

"He has massive attributes for the Premiership," the manager said.

"His size, physical presence, aerial ability and playing ability look a lot better than I expected when I first signed him.

"He has a massive presence and he shows a nice understanding of the position."

"His defensive work in the first half meant Manchester City found it hugely difficult and then he used the ball nice and quickly, very rarely giving it away," Allardyce added.

"And, if I have to point some criticism at Ivan, that's the area he falls down in sometimes. He does the sweeping in front of the back four well, he does the heading out well, but he overspends time on the ball on too many occasions and people know that throughout the Premiership now, and they start nicking a ball or two off him and that puts the oppostition in the ascendancy."

"Abdoulaye Faye didn't do that in the first half on Sunday. Manchester City players couldn't get near to him and he kept the flow of our attack going exceptionally well - and his defensive side of the game is very good."

Gary Speed, who captained Wanderers at City in the absence of the injured Jay Jay Okocha also only had good things to say about his fellow midfielder.

"I can't speak too highly of Abdoulaye Faye," he said. "Every time he's come in he's looked superb.

"He just got a bit of a groin twinge on Sunday so the gaffer took no chances. But the way he's performed in pre-season and already this season, he's going to be a big player for us."

There is more pressure on Faye to recover from his groin injury before Wanderers next match with the news of Ivan Campo being out for 2 months with a broken foot.

Campo suffered the injury in training on Monday and subsequent X-rays showed that he had fractured a metatarsal.

"He could be out for six to eight weeks,"Allardyce said.

"He ran into a tackle in training, got caught and broke his foot - and that's something we could well have done without at this stage.