Williams got the blocking and crossing the long ball up field down to an art , Chico brings creativity and heart . In a transformational season these two will carry a lot of weight .If there is one thing Im confident about this season its the effect these two guys may have all round after playing a bit together.
Agree that these 2 can be fantastic on their day. We need some big performances from these 2. We were flaky at times last season but this pairs partnership should be going from strength to strength.
Can also see Kyle Bartley being used more next season particularly against teams which have an aerial threat.
I also would like to see Bartley have more game time this coming season, he has great arial ability which Ash and Chico lack.
I'm thinking it could be ashley competing with bartley and chico with amat. ashley and bartley have their more traditional british style, not as elegant as say chico. Maybe they complement each other and on a hard rainy day he could move the likes of amat or chico to play infront of the two defenders and wupti and new midfielder too. Ml did try this didn't he-
A hard rainy day hm.. I think what I mean is a day were Leon, Ki, maybe shelvey are out and need someone who can step in. infact that gary medel would not be a bad target at all would he .
Chico has 57 league games under his belt with us , probably almost all playing with Williams and all Premier league games . Will be a miracle if Bartley , or anyone else for that matter , can dislodge Williams or Chico from theyre earned spots .
That may depend on the Spanish expulsion policy (!!). Have to say i rate Chico as one of our most skilful and hard working players. The theatrics are a bit of a pain but he's no where near the 'liability' some of our more moronic fans seem to think. I hope Bartley makes more appearances but I'd see him as longer term replacement for Ash, as long as he doesn't succumb to injuries.
Where I read a lot on here about our attack being at the ready but most worried about defense, I see our defense as our possible ace in the hole. Williams and Chico are the heart of it , a rejuvinated Taylor playing more of a defensive role than Davies did and before tto long ( I hope ) a well thought out transfer for a right back ready to come through the door .If we do get a good right back , I think we have a chance to score more than we let in which usually means points on the board . We need a fantastic , hard working , expierenced defensive core to see us through difficult times and I believe we have exactly that with a transfer .The Williams , Chico and Britton triangle is like the 4 middle squares of a chess board , the most important . Oh how I hope Britton can give us one more season of play to his standard , he could be the teetering point on where we play next season .just read we are hot on the heels of Stoke's right back Geoff Cameron
On their day (which is quite often) the best center half pairing in the League please log in to view this image
Roof - I like your chess board 4-square analogy. Nice point. Looking at our available defenders and trying to make sense out of the reporting in the daily rag about Monk being interested in the Spurs' left back etc. I come to the following conclusions: a) Chico and Ash are our two main CBs with adequate backup in Bartley and Amat. b) Taylor is not considered our #1 LB .... despite moving Ben (which I don't agree with in hindsight) and because we are now scouting the Spurs' player (who is not going to leave Spurs to be backup here, he would come to us with a view to being #1). c) Rangel is getting older - if Dyer is being replaced or phased out, Rangel's understanding with Dyer is not going to be realized on the field - never a speed merchant, Rangel's aging legs are going to become a liability. d) Kingsley - I'd love think that this kid has the goods, but I saw him get skinned badly a few times in the "highlights" of the Chivas game - one for the future, but I'd be more confident with Jazz at left back if we had injuries. e) Tiendalli - not sure who he's going to be this season. On his best days good enough, on his worst I'd rather the position go to Jazz. f) Amat - technically very good, confident, and super comfortable on ball. I'd like to see a line-up of: Amat .... Chico .... Ash .... A.N.Other (Taylor obviously at the moment) Amat needs to play games to develop. He is good enough for the Prem and versatile enough to be right back. This makes Rangel the backup and Taylor / Tiendalli his back up depending on what happens to Taylor. If we're not confident of Taylor at LB .... why let Ben go?
dont think anyones questioned the cb's, just the lack of depth & perhaps quality on the the lb & rb positions
Thats where I differ to most on here yankee, Im over the moon we got 10 or so million for a player making 400 £ less than two seasons ago and have Taylor( who I think is as good , especially defensively) ready to come back hungry . Ya know, I never heard to many complaints about Taylor before he went down injured , mostly after . I think Ben is in over his head but lets check his and Taylor starts and stats at seasons end.I agree with jonas on right back but not left back , I feel we are strong at left back and we will see soon enough Picking up loose balls will be critical this season imo .
RJ ... I don't have an opinion on Taylor one way or another - he's a quality player. Like you say, before the injury he was well considered by most if not all. I am just trying to understand what our interest in the Spurs' full back says about our assessment of Taylor because Naughton is not going to leave Spurs to become a backup - at least, I would hope he would come here seeing an opportunity to be #1 and go for it.
If we get a better player than Taylor then fine . All Im saying is I dont think we need another regular left back , I feel we have one .Im saying we need to strengthen at right back desperately. If we get a quality right back , were laughing . Rangel will be great against some of the park the bus teams but when we need someone to play both attack and defense , we need someone other than Rangel ...he got caught out of position and was ran past so many times last season , lets just say thank god for Chico and Britton covering his arse .Money spent on a left back isnt money well spent right now , unless a super bargain , we must take those deals no matter the position .
