I'd rather have McShane than Hobbs, but there's no doubt Hobbs is improving, last season he was awful and I still think we over spent on him, but he's a lot better now. Still McShane is a better player, it's a shame people judge him and decided he's had a bad game before he's even played.
Would agree with you on some things but definitely not on others. First; Hobbs is definitely improving after what I'd say could have been a shaky start and Mcshane has been judged harshly. However; did you see him against Burnley?! We missed Rosie SO badly on that day; McShane was going for headers that he had no hope of getting; he couldn't tackle, and he picked up a ridiculously stupid booking; made Daws look brilliant!! Hobbs is one of the best centre backs I've seen in my near 15 years of watching City; along with Chester I think this is the best central defensive partnership I've seen and that includes Brown and Turner in the promotion season. If Hobbs (or Chester) were to go; we'd recieve one hell of a profit for him! In my eyes he shouldn't be captain, that role should be Paul mckenna's every day of the week; but he's one of our better players for sure and a hell of a lot better than McShane - who had a decent game against Liverpool I'll give him that.
I'd normally agree that people judge players in that rigid way. But with McShane they're right. The guy is useless. Being signed by Phil Brown does not make someone a good player, in fact generally it's been the opposite (and that's from someone who liked PB as much as you do).
Admittedly I missed this game, and if he didn't have a game then so be it, but I was comparing them at CB anyway, I think that's McShane's best position. I wasn't comparing Rosenior to McShane, Rosenior is a better right back. See this is too far. Hobbs was utter ****e last season and a bit of this season, to call this current partnership one of the best ever is the sort of thing I dispute and then get called a miserable sod. I didn't wanna bring Brown into it, but as you've done it I'll say that IMO people only slate McShane as much as they do because he was bought by Brown. Nobody thought he was a bad signing when we signed him permanently, he's just all of a sudden got this unfair reputation because Brown has gone and the cool thing to do is "support the current regime no matter what".
I think he's Championship at best but my opinion has nothing to do with Brown. Admittedly I thought he was a great signing at first as he had a fantastic loan spell, but he very quickly deteriorated and been rather error prone ever since. Of course he's had a few good runs of form, all players do, but I certainly don't think he's better than Hobbs.
I thought he did well in his loan spell here and welcomed his signing, but since then he's looked mostly poor imo, and that's from when Brown was here in 2009/10 so my opinion isn't based on prejudice with regards to who's in charge. The game at Turf Moor only reitorated this from what i've heard from people who went to the game.
He's ****, it doesn't matter who signed him, he can't control a ball and his performance at Burnley was one of the worst I've ever seen from a City player. It doesn't matter if he's at right back or centre back, he can't read the game and can't control the ball wherever he's playing. He might be brave and hard working, but not being able to play football is a major drawback for a footballer.
I'd say it's impossible to dispute that it's one of our best ever. It's almost fact. The number of seasons we've spent hanging around 6th or higher in the second tier in our history you can count on your fingers. the number of those seasons we've had a defensive record like the one we've got you can count on a couple of those fingers. I haven't seen a better defensive partnership at City. I'd still have Turner ahead of them both and possibly Jobbo ahead of Hobbs if talking individuals. This is tosh. McShane was brilliant in his loan spell and has been garbage since he signed permanently. For Browny and Pearson. People like him let PB down. How you can defend them, I dunno.
that's what today's merry go round and the transfer window gets you. instead of a bit of patience in nurturing talent we are all looking for the instant win of the transfer. I am incredibly happy we have not splashed the cash in this window. show a bit of faith in the likes of Emerton, Cairney, Cooper and co. Look at the likes of Welbeck, Sturridge and Ramsey being loaned out before coming back to the mothership. That kind of approach can work.
I thought Cooper did well on Sat and looked more assured than our club captain and is the best header of the ball amongst our central defenders.
Never been a fan of McShane-cannot pass for Toffee. When I have been able to watch a game I always cringe when he got the ball because more than likely the ball would be passed to the opposition. His favorite pass was to tee the ball up in the air and then hoof it up thereby almost guaranteeing that it would end up with the opposition. Rant over.
