Hughes paid the ultimate price for playing three at the back all pre season and abandoning the plan after 45 minutes(even if they were woeful) and then it was various combinations and the occasional return to a three.
I’d be amazed if we have seen the same pairing for more than two games in a row.
Ralph now has a week of training, will he stick with four or go to a three?
And yet people on here were almost universally praising Hughes for ditching the back three during the Burnley game. We went from zero attacking threat, and utter boredom, to looking half decent. Every other comment on here, pretty much, was along the lines of "now lets hope Hughes never returns to a back three". I'm not saying whether he was right or wrong to ditch the back three, just that at the time people were in support of him ditching it.
Meanwhile, seeing as though you're sort of asked the question, our CBs in the league read:
Stephens-Vestergaard-Hoedt (0 goals conceded v Burnley - switch to a back four during the game, with Stephens moved to RB)
Stephens-Hoedt (2 goals conceded v Everton)
Vestergaard-Hoedt (2 goals conceded v Leicester)
Vestergaard-Hoedt (0 goals conceded v Palace)
Vestergaard-Hoedt (2 goals conceded v Brighton)
Vestergaard-Hoedt (3 goals conceded v Liverpool)
Vestergaard-Hoedt (2 goals conceded v Wolves)
Bednarek-Yoshida-Hoedt (3 goals conceded v Chelsea - switch to a back four during the game, with Bednarek subbed off)
Stephens-Hoedt (0 goals conceded v Bmouth)
Stephens-Hoedt (0 goals conceded v Newcastle)
Stephens-Hoedt (6 goals conceded v City)
Yoshida-Hoedt (1 goal conceded v Watford)
Yoshida-Hoedt (3 goals conceded v Fulham)
Stephens-Yoshida-Vestergaard (2 goals conceded v Utd)
Stephens-Yoshida (3 goals conceded v Spurs)
Bednarek-Vestergaard (1 goal conceded v Cardiff)
So we've twice seen the same picks for more than two games in a row. The Vestergaard-Hoedt pick was ended after Vestergaard's awful display away to Wolves. The Stephens-Hoedt pick was ended after the Man City mauling. A total of four clean sheets - all of which Hoedt played in...