PeteReDevil
iPete
Yea, those clearances with his "other/wrong foot"He hardly played and was dropped by the end of the season because he was incredibly shaky when he came back from his injury.
Yea, those clearances with his "other/wrong foot"He hardly played and was dropped by the end of the season because he was incredibly shaky when he came back from his injury.
Agreed. I like him, but he is overrated, and I think that's why Jose went with Smalling a lot of the time last season over Bailly.Bailly is seriously overrated on this forum. I don't think he had period of half season where he was our best defender, let alone league's best.
Saw Mustafi on that second list and knew the rest wasn't worth reading.In no particular order:
Virgil Van Dijk
Jan Vertonghen
Nicolas Otamendi
Toby Alderweireld
Chris Smalling
According to whoscored.com; however, the top 10 centre backs were in order of ratings were:
Shkodran Mustafi
James Tomkins
Jan Vertonghen
Chris Smalling
James Tarkowski
Phil Jones
Cesar Azpilicueta
Shane Duffy
Nicolas Otamendi
Kurt Zouma
CB is one of the positions whoscored's rating system struggles to quantify. The other are goalkeeper and playmaking holding midfielder like Xabi Alonso and Carrick.In no particular order:
Virgil Van Dijk
Jan Vertonghen
Nicolas Otamendi
Toby Alderweireld
Chris Smalling
According to whoscored.com; however, the top 10 centre backs were in order of ratings were:
Shkodran Mustafi
James Tomkins
Jan Vertonghen
Chris Smalling
James Tarkowski
Phil Jones
Cesar Azpilicueta
Shane Duffy
Nicolas Otamendi
Kurt Zouma
Kompany plays as much as Bailly. Why not him?Yeah, probably this. A few can take Bailly's place but I like it as it is
Let's put it this way — why him? He's good, so is Bally, so are a few others without any stand out. It's not a peak KompanyKompany plays as much as Bailly. Why not him?
Yeah that's nonsense. With City's extremely high line, you have to be good at snuffing out threats before they materialize, and also be available for the outlet pass.Otamendi FFS.
Stick any half decent defender in instead of him into the City team of last season and it make little to no difference to them.
He's like the Ringo Starr of defenders, lucky to be part of something great.
100% agree with your list. Bailly for me is underrated primarily because Mourinho dropped him with very little justification and caftards have internalised that. But like so many in our squad he's not a Mourinho type player. Mou thinks football matches are won by the team who make the fewest mistakes, and that if you make no mistakes you will win every match. This is patently untrue - you must take risks to win most football games. Bailly does have the odd mistake in him, but these are massively outweighed by the number of very proactive interventions he will successfully make when other very good CBs would not have got involved at all.There's been some discussion about Van Dijk over the last day or so with Neville comparing him to Jaap Staam (too many a's).
So who would you currently pick as your top five defenders in the league? Full-backs who play as the third CB in a back three are fine.
I'll go for (in no particular order):
Alderweireld
Vertonghen
Van Dijk
Bailly (I rate him very highly)
Azpilicueta
Okay, stick anybody with half decent pace and technical skills in there. If he stayed fit, Phil Jones would probably do just as well and half the Caf wants rid of him.Yeah that's nonsense. With City's extremely high line, you have to be good at snuffing out threats before they materialize, and also be available for the outlet pass.
Are you nuts, Azpi has been one of the best defenders in the league last 4 yearsAll flavors of the season, no one really good
Rudiger is an absolute monster physically - I think he was logged as the 8th fastest player in the league last year? He's also extremely good in the air and a huge threat on set plays. On top of that, his range of passing is superb and he's generally very comfortable on the ball - he really has all the tools you'd look for in a modern CB.I’m surprised to see people naming Rudiger in this thread. Granted, I don’t watch Chelsea often, but he never really stood out when I did. I rate Christensen higher, tbh. Maybe one of the Chelsea fans can help me out?
And Maguire in top 5? I’m not saying he isn’t good or anything, but have you really watched Leicester more than a handful of times last season?
I’d say Verthongen, Alderweireld, Vvd, Otamendi are thereabouts. Kompany too, obviously, but he’s more injured than not these days. Bailly could get there, but he needs to stay fit.
He's top 5, easily. He's comfortably better than the three you listed.No chance is Van Dijk top 5. He is terrible, seems to get over rated by pundits for a few reasons. 1 he plays for Liverpool, 2 he is good with the ball, 3 his £75m price tag.
He always has a mistake in him and because Liverpool are always attacking and mainly in the opponents half they rarely have to defend. Put him in this United team and he would be no better than Lindelof Bailly or Smalling.
That’s a fantastic summary, mate. Thanks.Rudiger is an absolute monster physically - I think he was logged as the 8th fastest player in the league last year? He's also extremely good in the air and a huge threat on set plays. On top of that, his range of passing is superb and he's generally very comfortable on the ball - he really has all the tools you'd look for in a modern CB.
Christensen is more refined overall and is perhaps a better short passer - his positional sense may also be slightly better, but Rudiger can overcome missteps due to his ridiculous athleticism. I also think that last year it was easier for Christensen to stand out a bit more - as the central CB, he did a very good job of being a vocal presence / organizer, and I'm not sure Rudiger could have played that role as well. In a 4 man backline though, I think Rudiger has the higher upside overall and is a good shout for top 5 in the league (shows how far standards have fallen tbf).
He turns to shite under the slightest of pressure though. As he has been for years.Cheers.
On the shortlist for the best defender in the league last season. No coincidence City finished with the best defensive record.
He really isn’t. It seems to be the cliche that everyone is sticking with at the moment.He's top 5, easily. He's comfortably better than the three you listed.
No problem - fully expect an absolute clanger from him now that I've jinxed it, mind!That’s a fantastic summary, mate. Thanks.
I’ll keep an eye out for him on saturday.
Still think Christensen will become one of the best in the league, though.
You can't be shit under pressure and play in a high line.He turns to shite under the slightest of pressure though. As he has been for years.
Smalling. If he could pass he would be the best in the league. Even with his downfalls there id still put him top 5.Which of our CBs would you have over him?
City wouldnt concede more with smalling. They wouldnt score as many thoughNoticing it's getting harder to compare centre backs than it used to. It's hard to say which is the better CM between Kante and Pogba, or who's the best striker between Crouch and Defoe, because they have vastly different roles despite playing the same position. Now it's the same with CBs. Put Smalling into City for Otamendi and they concede a lot more. Put Otamendi in for Smalling for us, and we concede a lot more. So, how do you tell which is better?