Timing of injuries a silver lining.

Bit in bold...no! We play Norwich next and if they started Holt, he would rip them two apart in the air. We need to start Kadar in my opinion.

The bit in italics/underlined...maybe! If he is back I think he could do a job there and it would mean we don't have to drop Guthrie for him. But there is still the worry of a lack of height at the back. It looks to me as though we'll have to beat teams 4-3 if we want maximum points!

 

The more I think about it the more I'm okay with Perch at CB (in the short-term).

In reality Perch is a Championship standard defender. Norwich are the closest thing in the PL to a 'typical' Championship side.

I think Perch will cope fine v Norwich and Swansea. So as long as Colo isn't out for too long we might be alright.

 

I'd rather go 3-5-2 than play Perch, no joke

Santon--Simmo--Raylor
----Tiote----Cabaye--
Ober----Abeid---Jonas
-------Sammy-Ba-----

2 playing CDM to cover.

Or maybe switch Medhi for Guthrie and swap round with Cabaye.

So gutted, not just the result but the impact the injuries will have on our season. Biggest fears come true.

 

I've went from looking forward to January to not looking forward to it and then thinking it can't come round quick enough.

I'm actually getting more excited about bringing some defenders in than getting a new striker, please oh please spend some money fat man.

 

I reckon Simpson and Santon could both do a job at centre back. Personally I wish they'd consider Kadar but something is amiss there. Couldn't play Smith, not at centre back. His tackling is atrocious for a midfielder so god knows what would happen at centre back. We'll just have to muddle through. Hopefully Colo can be sorted quickly, and hopefully Cheik will return soon. My options for centre back currently would be:

Colo (if fit)
Simpson
Santon
Tiote
Kadar
Perch

 

Absolute no to Smith and Tiote. Smith for all the above reasons. Has Tiote ever played at CB before? Just because he is a sound CDM doesn't mean he knows how to play CB. Personally, i would go for Simmo and Perch because they will have both been part of the defensive game plan at training every week and will be less likely to be out of touch with the rest of the backline and how they play.

As for the OP, i agree that we have been lucky not to see an injury from one of our defenders before now! looking at it from a glass-half-full perspective. Also, the more i think about the injury to Saylor the less i worry. So long as Willo has the right mentality and a good head on him he can pick up where Saylor left off. He already has experience playing alongside Colo and the other lads can bring him into what they have been building on this season.

At least we still don't have Boumsong.

 

I think it would be very tough on Santon to make his full debut at centre back, Simpson hasnt got the height but he's fairly quick and I think as an emergency option he's maybe our best bet. Kadar makes so much more sense to me though.

 

Sure I've seen Simpson play centre back before in a Carling Cup game for Man U. He's actually pretty decent in the air for a small lad. I think he is our best option.

 

Agree, he played there in the Championship for us once and we won as well if I remember correctly.