A lot of people on this board want us to sign a top centre half who could slot straight into the side, however who is out there that could do this?
There is a real lack of top drawer CB's at the minute. People have mentioned Hummels and yes he is a good player but he has made a fair few errors already this season. Shawcross has also been mentioned and he is decent but nothing more. The simple fact is there aren't any defenders of the Ferdinand/Vidic/ ilk around no matter how much money we have to spend.
This leads me on to my next point. If you look at Chelsea's back line, last weekend was the first time in the PL it had to be changed (Luis for Azpi). This means that the goali knows what's going on in front of him and they can improve their organisation week to week. Chelsea's defence isn't as good as it was in the first Jose era, but that doesn't mean they can't play well.
In summary I dont think we necessarily need new top class defenders, just ones that can stay fit. If the ones we have can then great (unlikely) otherwise we need to have a look around Europe.
Thoughts?
Top class CB's and organisation
posted on 1/11/14
comment by Patriarch (U11015)
posted 20 minutes ago
Arab
You will be a very successful sports journalist. Like the rest of them, you know sweet F all about football.
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Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
posted on 1/11/14
Which is what sports journalists write. Their opinion.
posted on 1/11/14
I've always rated Smalling, he's our best centre back IMO. Evans isn't a youngster anymore, he's 26, he's always injured and maybe time for him to move on, Jones is rash, still, but he has time to improve.
I don't rate Rojo, i'm no sure why we brought him, he isn't a commanding cenre back and his distribution isn't that good either, but we'll see how he progresses.
I don't think Hummels is the back four savour that he's been made out to be, and the link with Shawcross is interesting, he could be one of these who excels around better players or comes in and looks very average, he is a "stopper" though which is what we could do with.
posted on 1/11/14
See I think Rojo has been progressing well in the games I've seen him.There are still things in his game he can iron out but overall theres a obvious progression in his play from game to game.
posted on 1/11/14
comment by Wing_Genius_John_Aston (U19099)
posted 37 seconds ago
See I think Rojo has been progressing well in the games I've seen him.There are still things in his game he can iron out but overall theres a obvious progression in his play from game to game.
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Has there? I thought he was horrendous against WBA. It's just strange that of all he centre backs out there we went for Rojo, but it is his first few months of his first season so there is of course plenty of room for improvement.
posted on 1/11/14
I don't think any single defender makes that much difference to a side. It's all about partnerships. Terry (of now) and Cahill aren't the best individual defenders in the world but as a partnership they are up there with the best.
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I disagree with your example. Turns out that JT is far more important. He is the one who organises our back line, regardless of who is in it. A JT and Ivanovic partnership would fare hugely better than a Cahill Ivanovic partnership.
posted on 1/11/14
Our defence also benefits from protection from the rest of the team. When you attack you lose men from the shield and when we are broken against our defence looks no better than any other.
posted on 1/11/14
John Stones
posted on 1/11/14
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
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I'm calmer than you are, Dude.
posted on 1/11/14
For me, Evans isn't good enough to start for us.
Rojo has looked ok and won't be going anywhere soon. Jones and smalling have the ability to be a very good CB pairing if they can get over their fitness issues.
Looking at how the Season is going so far I am confident We can achieve a top 4 finish with the current squad. This should mean smalling jones and Evans get plenty of opportunity to prove themselves ahead of next summers window.