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Which CB partnership do you think is/was our best in the last 30 years?

Which CB partnership do you think is/was our best in the last 30 years?

  • Perryman and Price

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Perryman and Miller

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Mabbut and Gough

    Votes: 13 17.8%

  • Mabbut and Sedgley

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Mabbut and Calderwood

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • King and Dawson

    Votes: 6 8.2%

  • King and Woodgate

    Votes: 50 68.5%

  • King and Kaboul

    Votes: 2 2.7%

  • Dawson and Vertonghen

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Alderweireld and Vertonghen

    Votes: 2 2.7%
  • Total voters
    73
  • Poll closed .
glorygloryeze

glorygloryeze

Ian Walker
Been randomly thinking about the best CB partnerships we've had in the PL (not many imo) and then thought about which were the best CB partnerships in last 30 years.

One of two might be slightly awry (my time of supporting Spurs only really goes back to 1986 really - and i've tried random Wiki searches for one or two of the earlier ones), but which of the above would you vote as being our best in the last 30 years for balnace, stability and the 'art of defending'?

Please also mention partnerships that should have been listed given the timeline.
 
King and Woodgate were the best I have clear memories of (prior to that is tough to say I can recall positioning/speed/decision making). A young King/Woodgate pairing pre injuries would have been something truly brilliant.
 
K.D.D.D.D.Soc said:
Gough was a fantastic player, I don't think Mabbutt was a natural centreback but he did a good job, they did make a good pair.
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Agree, in fact I have said before that Mabbut had his best season as a CB alongside Gough.

I do think that Jan and Toby have the makings of a very good pairing but its to early to say for sure. Mabbut and Gough for me at this time.
 
Mabbsy was the best tackler I've seen, won the ball and stayed on his feet, he had a terrific engine and in my opinion was a much better midfield player.
 
K.D.D.D.D.Soc said:
Mabbsy was the best tackler I've seen, won the ball and stayed on his feet, he had a terrific engine and in my opinion was a much better midfield player.
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I can't dance with that, to be honest that was Mabbut's problem he could play everywhere ( he was a FB when we bought him) but I think that season ( 87) was his best for us and like I say Gough was a major part of that.
 
I'm not old enough to remember Mabbutt and Gough, which is the usual winner

So for me it has to be King and Dawson

I think King and Dawson had a great understanding and were completely complementary as a pairing. I don't think either ever looked as good alongside any other partner.

Yes Woodgate was a better player than Dawson, but (LC final aside) the King-Woodgate partnership never got established in the way King-Dawson was our bedrock for about 7 years (2005-12).
 
K.D.D.D.D.Soc said:
Gough was a fantastic player, I don't think Mabbutt was a natural centreback but he did a good job, they did make a good pair.
Click to expand...

I don't know about that. I only saw the second half of his career (1989-98), but King's the only player I would put ahead of him in terms of outstanding defenders we've had in the past 25 years.

Mabbutt's tackling and positioning were superb. And while he wasn't the tallest, but he was never dominated in the air
 
King and someone. Kaboul did well enough with him. Woodgate and King is the best combination of individuals by a mile, but Dawson was a much better player beside King. They had the right combinations - left and right footer, stopper and stroller, etc - and played a lot more games together. They were a true partnership.
 
King and woodgate was the best I've seen, however I've heard Mabbutt and gough was great as well, my memory goes back to 88 at a push so just missed that partnership.
 
Gutter Boy said:
I don't know about that. I only saw the second half of his career (1989-98), but King's the only player I would put ahead of him in terms of outstanding defenders we've had in the past 25 years.

Mabbutt's tackling and positioning were superb. And while he wasn't the tallest, but he was never dominated in the air
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Completely agree, I thought Mabbutt was a superb centre back.
 
Could be an age thing but to me it was Mabbs and Gough. Tragedy that Gough departed so soon after forming such a sterling partnership with GB oh what could have been.....
 
I've gone for Dawson and King for the points raised above.

One really good partnership we had was Kaboul and Gallas; they also complimented each other very well and were a big reason why we managed to shut out AC Milan over 2 legs in the Champs League.

Whenever I think about our best XI's, teams and centre defence partnerships I find it alarming just how poor our full backs have generally been. Definitely our weakest link in last 30 years - there have been the odd decent one for a limited period of time (Ziege, Walker, Corluka, Benny) but we've rarely had a decent pairing either side of a good central pairing.
 
I think you can extend that. We've had plenty of decent parts - forwards (Berbatov & Keane/Defoe), wingers (Anderton, Ginola, Lennon) or even central midfield (Carrick-Davids) - but rarely for long or while other parts were strong.
 
milo said:
Mabbutt and Gough. It is such a shame that we only got the single season out of them.
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Two outstanding leaders in a vital position

We really should have won the league that year rather than fudge all in the end

I appreciate that plenty haven seen this pairing but neither player was blessed with pace in the king mould by both were very mobile but could read a game like King and take charge of the situation

We haven't had a pairing like that in my time imo

IIRC Fergie wanted to sign Mabbs as his new captain early in his United spell and Gough was arguably the best centre back in Britain for a few seasons
 
Pre-King-Dawson era is before my time.

King and Woodgate were great, but Kaboul was an absolute monster for one season when playing alongside King. That was my favourite pairing.
 
King and anyone, really. He didn't play with Woodgate that much, but boy when they did play together... Also, as above mentioned, Gallas and Kaboul are worth a shot.
 
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