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Central Defence

Richie said:
He was most definitely not better than King last year.

And yes Kaboul was consistent, but it's not like he was consistently incredible. He put in good performances, but I really don't remember any stand out performances that had me thinking 'wow, this guy is really good'.

Keep playing him if he continues playing as well as he did last year, but if Vertonghen turns out to be as good as we hope him to be and he plays well with Caulker or Dawson, I don't think Kaboul is so good that he should get back in to the team. That in contrast to Ledley for example, who IMO was at the level where if he was fit he had to play.
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Well I think you're downplaying how well Kaboul did last season but thats just a matter of opinion I guess.

You mention Dawson and Caulker, there is no way either of them is at Kaboul's level although Caulker could well get there or exceed it at some point in the not too distant future....
 
Jordinho said:
Is that why we've played Bassong at LB and Verts in the centre when they've both been on the pitch at the same time?
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I was more wondering why we'd buy a CB to just push him out to the LB position.


Surely if we wanted a LB, we'd just have signed a LB..
 
Richie said:
Im still not sold on Kaboul, I really don't think he was THAT good last year. He played well, but not amazingly IMO.

Hopefully vertongen is in Kings class and the rest can fight for a place next to him
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Agree on Kaboul. The rare few times where we didn't play well in midfield and he actually had a large quantity of defending to do he reverted to type IMO. He has all the equipment to be one of the best in the world, but his poor concentration and positioning (by top six team standards) mark him as a weak link in our side IMHO.
 
Papercut said:
Do we want Caulker to be a back up or go to an EPL and play a full season? I know it's all about squad rotation but then we have a number of CDs - will we be doing him a dis-service?
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We want him to remain at the club for the entire season so that he'll qualify as a club trained player.
 
I have a feeling AVB (unlike Harry) will have a '2-players for every position' philosophy... and rather than just sticking with his favourites, if you have a stinker, or someone else does better than you in training, then they're IN! No arguments, tough brick... try harder on Monday.

Hopefully, we'll have FOUR Centre backs of equal ability fighting for TWO places. That's the way it SHOULD be.

Dawson, Vertonghen, Kaboul and one of Gallas/Caulker are gonna have to fudging EARN their place. AND GOOD JOB TOO!

I want the best players in each position to be playing, not the Managers' best mate's 2nd Cousin's Greengrocer's Auntie's son-in-law who was born a stone's 'frow from the Bow Bells!!
 
harr1984 said:
Well I think you're downplaying how well Kaboul did last season but thats just a matter of opinion I guess.

You mention Dawson and Caulker, there is no way either of them is at Kaboul's level although Caulker could well get there or exceed it at some point in the not too distant future....
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I haven't seen enough of Caulker to judge, but IMO Dawson and Kaboul are most definitely on the same level. Daws has had some excellent seasons for us, but again I don't think either of them are in that elite class that players like King belong to. Hopefully Veronghen is.
 
we are weaker in defence this season because of King's retirement. Even if he only played 10-15 games a season sometimes, at least in those 10-15 games we would look very solid and get good results. Now we dont even have that
 
I think Vertonghen will fill the void... and as and when Caulker's ready, he will too evenrually...

until then, Kaboul, Dawson & Gallas are MORE than capable of holding the fort!
 
King was clearly getting less effective and said so himself. The extent to which Vertonghen can replace King remains to be seen but chances are we are better off than we would be with King continuing. That could mean worse that last year, though.

A big plus is if we can get a consistent partnership going, something that we haven't had for several years. Perhaps that's what we need for Kaboul to fulfil his potential, a consistent well matched partner. Remember that Kaboul played alongside a number of partners and was the one who usually switched sides (on the right with King, on the left with Gallas and Dawson).
 
I think people are understating just how poor Ledley was at the end of the season. There is a reason the bloke's retired, his knees are officially past it. No doubt he was class for the first half of the season, but Kaboul was just immense all year. He won about 50% more headers than any other top centre-back in the league IIRC. Thought his athleticism especially marked him apart from Dawson, I remember him outpacing Agbonlahor when we played Villa.. the guy is a tank.
 
To replace Gallas as 4th choice I'd imagine.

He's a better option that Caulker at this point in time after Verts, Kaboul and Dawson.

It might also be a semi-coaching role as well?
 
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