Walrus
Oppressed White Male
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2008
- Messages
- 11,167
Would this have been a better and more consistent back four for us over the last ~5-10 years than what we have had?
How would they stack up right now (current ages) against our current defensive options?
I remember back in the day thinking that between Evans and the twins, we had 3/4 of our backline sorted for the next decade. I always rated Smalling too, and think his whole "cant pass" memery is very overstated - when he first joined us he looked like the natural successor to Rio as the ball playing defender.
I am of the opinion that a lot of our defensive woes stem from the lack of a DM, and a GK who is glued to their line. I think you could put Van Dijk or any elite defender (eg Varane) into our system and they would struggle. Nonetheless, given the amount of money we have spent on defenders over the last 5-10 years (Rojo, Bailly, Darmian, Blind, Dalot, Telles, Maguire, Varane.. probably others ive forgotten), I cant help but wonder if we would have been better off just sticking with what we had.
How would they stack up right now (current ages) against our current defensive options?
I remember back in the day thinking that between Evans and the twins, we had 3/4 of our backline sorted for the next decade. I always rated Smalling too, and think his whole "cant pass" memery is very overstated - when he first joined us he looked like the natural successor to Rio as the ball playing defender.
I am of the opinion that a lot of our defensive woes stem from the lack of a DM, and a GK who is glued to their line. I think you could put Van Dijk or any elite defender (eg Varane) into our system and they would struggle. Nonetheless, given the amount of money we have spent on defenders over the last 5-10 years (Rojo, Bailly, Darmian, Blind, Dalot, Telles, Maguire, Varane.. probably others ive forgotten), I cant help but wonder if we would have been better off just sticking with what we had.