We made 5 changes and lost to a side that were very unlucky not to have won away at Man United last time out ... no need for panic. Benny had a poor game without question but he was being flanked by 2 non-regular full backs(at first team level) plus not having the increasingly impressive covering the back four in front of him (Kingy is not going to give you what you need in that department). Wes was bloody awful earlier in the season but when on his A game is a stalwart - let's not write Benny off for something that might be a blip - nor forget that his time in Italy was spent doing rather well against very good continental forwards. We also have Daniel Amartey who was in the ACON team of the tournament as a centre-back - and I suspect may be played there in future. Wedneday can't come soon enough. Bring it on
But that is exactly why I would have changed the whole team - what did we gain by changing some but not all?
I've no idea how well Benalouane performed in Italy. There are 2 central defenders and he might have had a very good partner. All I know is that I've seen him get pulled out of position too easily, including for the Millwall goal that beat us. He didn't compete for either the Jagielka or the Lukaku goals. Amartey probably has a little more steel than him, but I'll be surprised if Shakey drops him if Wes is definitely out.