SCIAG I don't think you can really compare attacking midfielders to centre backs that easily! Didn't Taylor win a penalty or set up a goal or something in that match he got sent off in?
You're right that he's an absolute unit, and that's his biggest strength. He's pretty good on the ball for a centre back, he's quick, and he's left footed, so he should be a decent left back, but he's not really looked comfortable there whenever I've seen him there. Which in fairness is only about twice. If you've got good centre backs and no left back then it would certainly seem like that's where you've signed him for, but I don't think he's all that comfortable with the duties of a left back.
Don't expect wonders on the overlap, but he'll toughen you up and maybe provide some stability and balance. I'd certainly be surprised if he turns out to be good enough to displace McManus but maybe he could displace Heneghan, who I know nothing about. He also might be able to fill in as a defensive midfielder or emergency striker.
Cheers for the reply. Nah, Taylor got sent off for diving to try and win a penalty in that match (2nd booking). He offered absolutely nothing in his time at Fir Park. In fairness to him I've a feeling he was brought in last minute as we had lost Stephen Pearson to injury and Taylor wasn't even close to being a replacement, if the hope was that we were bringing in like for like then it was a really unfortunate misjudgement.
The short time he was here and the few games he played just seemed to pass him by, as soon as Baraclough (who had signed him) was emptied he was out the side and was rarely seen again. We cut his loan short and sent him back down to you guys IIRC and he went straight back out to Exeter. On first impressions Jules seems like he's viewed as having more to offer our first team though. So that's nice.
As a couple have mentioned he played on Saturday. He started on the left side of a back 3 and ended up shifted to left back when we went down to 10 men (it was still 0-0 at that point). He also came on at left back in the 2-1 win at Ross County last week so it'd seem like we're looking at giving him games at both centre half and left back where needed. He looked quite assured on the ball certainly he made a few mistakes which you'd expect on a first start and got caught out for Hearts 3rd goal but the game was gone by then. His athleticism should stand him in good stead up here and if he can iron out the mistakes by getting regular games up here then hopefully you'll get an improved player back.