Maya Then, from the little I've seen, Vestergaard Then the rest are all OK with someone decent next to them and average without. I note that people are still saying Maya is error prone. That was several seasons ago. Look with fresh eyes. Vin
I also thought Hoedt was excellent vs Burnley. Never watched the highlights after getting home, so not sure if I missed some howler to justify the bashing he keeps getting. I guess his big flaw is he clearly is not a leader - and neither is McCarthy, which is something we lost in the goalkeeper transition. I always felt Forster was a dominant speaker in defence....
For me its: Maya Vestegaard Bednarek Stephens Hoedt However to be honest there isn't a huge amount between them, thats the real problem
Didn’t he make a bit of a mess with a simple clearance v Brighton? Maybe it was someone else as video wasn’t great.
Yep, but people say stuff about Jack being young... he isn't. He's older than Wesley. Both aren't up to much but youth isn't an excuse for one and not the other.
I can’t judge Vestergaard yet as I haven’t seen him live and then I’d need to judge him over a handful of games. Taking him out, I’d certainly have Maya number one. The others are at a similar level to each other, but possibly different potential. Jack seems to get positionally lost. Wes always seems to dive in when he should hold up a player Beddy seems ponderous at times. Difficult one.
As SIS says, "are CBs really that important?"....once we get our attacking shizzle together we will be outscoring the oppo in every match!... *tongue superglued to the inside of my cheek
Jack and Wes are the ones that have disappointed me the most, the former is not developing quickly enough (at CB) and the latter is prone to rushes of blood to his head. I'd be happy to see us go forward with Maya and Vestergaard as the starting pair with Bednarek first change.
I'd be starting Vestergaard Yoshi and Bednarek in a 3, Vestergaard and Maya in a 2. Would be perfectly happy though if Hoedt got the nod ahead of Maya or Bednarek.
I think part of the trouble with Hoedt is where he would put himself in this ranking. imo there is a bit of over confidence with the football and he has given away so many chances & goals to opponents from overplaying in possession or sloppy passing. Vestergaard would be my number one and Yoshida a more dependable partner for the current moment. I was pleasantly surprised by Bednarek last season. Think he reads the game very well and I saw why we made the investment on a relatively inexperienced player
All this thread proves is that we have to focus on attacking football and outscoring the opposition. Our defence is dodgy at best. Fwiw Vest Maya Bedn Hoedt Stephens
And makes no attempt to regain position. Watch the highlights below, and in particular the bit from about 1:45 on...two gilt-edged scoring chances that both come because Stephens is just slowly wandering around, oblivious to the development of play: https://t.co/ELdlkdUCss
Maya Vestegaard Bednarek Stephens Hoedt When I read the title of the post 'Rate our centre backs' I was just going to answer NO.
I will not enter this debate as I refuse to denigrate our players. What I will say is that I am reminded of what Ted Bate used to say: "You play to your strength son, The rest of us will look after your weakness". You can't look at a player in isolation of the others around him. Footballers have to be mutually supportive and compliment each others play.
