Who starts at CB?

Who starts at centre back?

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Who starts at CB?

I really think SVDB is now fourth choice. I don't think he's noticably better on defence than the others, and until he can prove he can actually put a header on target, why play him. He underperformed his XG by over 4. So many open headers missed. It really hurt us.

As others have noted, Collins is strong in moving the ball forward with his passing. Schuster showing he can do that as well, plus he's been excellent on set plays. Ajer playing the best football of his life.
 

Who starts at CB?

stevendamico said:
I really think SVDB is now fourth choice. I don't think he's noticably better on defence than the others, and until he can prove he can actually put a header on target, why play him. He underperformed his XG by over 4. So many open headers missed. It really hurt us.

As others have noted, Collins is strong in moving the ball forward with his passing. Schuster showing he can do that as well, plus he's been excellent on set plays. Ajer playing the best football of his life.
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This massively under rates Sepp. He's an excellent defender (which is his job) and brings a calmness to the defence. He also has created more goals from headers than any of the other defenders (commented without stats to back it up).
 

Who starts at CB?

Les Beeavinu said:
This massively under rates Sepp. He's an excellent defender (which is his job) and brings a calmness to the defence. He also has created more goals from headers than any of the other defenders (commented without stats to back it up).
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Agreed. Our best CB IMO.
 

Who starts at CB?

Les Beeavinu said:
This massively under rates Sepp. He's an excellent defender (which is his job) and brings a calmness to the defence. He also has created more goals from headers than any of the other defenders (commented without stats to back it up).
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In EPL, he's never scored a goal for us, and Collins edges him on assists. We're just going to have to agree to disagree on this.
 

Who starts at CB?

stevendamico said:
In EPL, he's never scored a goal for us, and Collins edges him on assists. We're just going to have to agree to disagree on this.
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If you don't think that Sepp is a quality defender then you're absolutely right, we're disagreeing.
 

Who starts at CB?

Ultimately we are splitting hairs, all 4 CBs are very good, but tbh there is not much between them. For me as long as 2 out of the 4 are playing then i am more than happy. You can make a case for any permutation, but Ajer and Schuster have been very good, why would we drop one or both of them, for a player or players just coming back from injury. I am afraid Collins and SVDB will have to wait their turn, like any other player in the squad.
 

Who starts at CB?

Bumbling fool said:
Am I the only one who still thinks it's Collins and vdB? Ajer has been immense but I do think the limitations of his passing game hamper us in buildup. Schuster has hit the ground running very commendably and is clearly prodigious in the art of defending, but he's very young and doesn't have the on the ball quality of Collins and vdB.

I'll caveat that I think when you've played as well as Ajer and Schuster have you shouldn't be dropped automatically just because the 'starters' are fit again, we need to reward performance and Collins and vdB both will need to win back their spots same as anyone. But when everyone's fit and in form I think Collins and vdB is our best pairing.
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I agree with your choices... but, to the part in bold, I think that team selection should be the best (fully fit) available for the style of play Keith wants for the game. There's no room for sentiment, it's a squad game and we're playing to win.
 

Who starts at CB?

Bumbling fool said:
Am I the only one who still thinks it's Collins and vdB? Ajer has been immense but I do think the limitations of his passing game hamper us in buildup. Schuster has hit the ground running very commendably and is clearly prodigious in the art of defending, but he's very young and doesn't have the on the ball quality of Collins and vdB.

I'll caveat that I think when you've played as well as Ajer and Schuster have you shouldn't be dropped automatically just because the 'starters' are fit again, we need to reward performance and Collins and vdB both will need to win back their spots same as anyone. But when everyone's fit and in form I think Collins and vdB is our best pairing.
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Is VDB's passing really any better than Ajer's?
 

Who starts at CB?

I feel VdB gets unfairly judged because he makes it look so easy. Very rare he's doing any last ditch slide tackles, mainly because he's already calmly nipped in and made a "simple" interception or tackle
 

Who starts at CB?

aslan said:
I feel VdB gets unfairly judged because he makes it look so easy. Very rare he's doing any last ditch slide tackles, mainly because he's already calmly nipped in and made a "simple" interception or tackle
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Also would have had at least two goals but for them being ruled out following somem alleged misdemeanour by another team.mate.
 

Who starts at CB?

If all four were available the manager would probably have to go with squad seniority so Collins and Ajer ,also get the nod in terms of height,but Ive really no idea who is the best player.Ethan only really started being a club legend through injury to Jenvier so will probably come down making yourself undroppaable when you get your chance. I'm hoping one of the Benji's , Stephenson or even Ji Soo have the sort of pace the others lack that would take them with tackling ,passing,game reading ability to the next level.Do like the athletisism Shuster has shown so far.
 

Who starts at CB?

Some of the stuff Schuster has been doing in recent games is better than I’ve seen from any of our defenders and I don’t believe in this “managing players” stuff. There is absolutely nothing better for an up and coming player than playing every week.

IMO the shirt should be his until he does anything to deserve losing it.

So him and one of Ajer/Collins for me. Not sure which! Feels safer to go with Collins but Ajer has different attributes.

SVDB is 4th choice for me, even tho he’s probably a better footballer than Ajer/Collins, his concentration/carefulness with it is lacking.

I suspect we revert to Ajer/Collins for squad harmony even if they’re not the best two!
 

Who starts at CB?

Is 5 at the back no longer a thing then? Or saving that for Brighton away?
 

Who starts at CB?

Anyone thinking of dropping Ajer is mad,he was our best CB last season aswel,as for his partner whoever is best suited to player against our next opponent villa who I’m guessing will play Jackson who likes to play on the last man a lot even tho I see him face up the Dutch spurs fella a few times, I’d go back in with schuster.
This will only be a temporary problem for Keith it won’t be often all 4 will be fully fit.
 

Who starts at CB?

aslan said:
Yes. Much more comfortable off both feet too.
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Not convinced, but in any case it has to be balanced alongside Ajer's ability to carry the ball.
 

Who starts at CB?

I have a whole lot of issues not putting Schuster in with how he's played. But Collins is the captain and Ajer has been excellent. Somehow VDB is falling by the wayside.

Good to have depth, at least. A fresh CB pairing for the Cup matches once everyone is healthy. Who knows how far along either Collins and VDB are.
 

Who starts at CB?

PGH_Bee said:
I have a whole lot of issues not putting Schuster in with how he's played. But Collins is the captain and Ajer has been excellent. Somehow VDB is falling by the wayside.

Good to have depth, at least. A fresh CB pairing for the Cup matches once everyone is healthy. Who knows how far along either Collins and VDB are.
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Sepp is injured but will be fit soon. It's only some supporters who are writing him off (for now), I'm certain the club rates him very highly indeed.
 
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Who starts at CB?

Les Beeavinu said:
Sepp is injured but will he fit soon. It's only some supporters who are writing him off (for now), I'm certain the club rates him very highly indeed.
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He was our highest-rated central defender (OK, by WhoScored: 6.84 in 30+2 games) last season.

There's some recency perception going on, I think.
 

Who starts at CB?

We’re in a privileged position. Collins is the cornerstone for me, and the other three can be selected based on who complements him best for the specific opponent, while also taking form and fitness into account.
 

Who starts at CB?

I love we have this conundrum. Stick with your current winning and MOM performers . Schuster and Ajer. We can ease Collins back in. Like if its going Pete Tong get him on.
 

Who starts at CB?

Well Ajer's played the most competitive football over the last 3 weeks, Schuster will be the last one back from international duty, and we don't know how fit Collins and Van den Berg are.

But if we're playing a guessing game, I'll go for Collins and Ajer to start at Villa, Van den Berg to come in against Liverpool, KLP to play there against Hull, and a game of spoof to select the Sunderland pairing.
 

Who starts at CB?

Wouldbee said:
I love we have this conundrum. Stick with your current winning and MOM performers . Schuster and Ajer. We can ease Collins back in. Like if its going Pete Tong get him on.
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There's a bit of a challenge for us uninformed observers in that we've got two players who may've played 4 games in 2-3 weeks and two players who've been out with injuries and have, if passed fit, not played for many weeks. We have no clue about their condition to play.

It'll be a selection of the fittest and Keith is, almost certainly, not it a position to pick his favourites, unlike us fans.
 

Who starts at CB?

Although I have Collins in my top 2 (for Villa at least), I don’t think being club captain guarantees him a starting spot.
 

Who starts at CB?

Les Beeavinu said:
Sepp is injured but will be fit soon. It's only some supporters who are writing him off (for now), I'm certain the club rates him very highly indeed.
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No one is writing him off. There are good reasons for putting him fourth out of four after he missed pre-season and hasn't been involved in a very good start to the season, both in attack and defence.
 

Who starts at CB?

cliffbee said:
No one is writing him off. There are good reasons for putting him fourth out of four after he missed pre-season and hasn't been involved in a very good start to the season, both in attack and defence.
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I was responding to a poster who said that he was falling by the wayside. I also responded in another post to someone who was placing him firmly as 4th choice on ability.
 
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Who starts at CB?

jlove said:
There's a bit of a challenge for us uninformed observers in that we've got two players who may've played 4 games in 2-3 weeks and two players who've been out with injuries and have, if passed fit, not played for many weeks. We have no clue about their condition to play.

It'll be a selection of the fittest and Keith is, almost certainly, not it a position to pick his favourites, unlike us fans.
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We only have 2 players avaliable for selection.

So this thread was a little bit premature.
 

Who starts at CB?

Banana said:
We only have 2 players avaliable for selection.

So this thread was a little bit premature.
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Your usually reliable injury tracker suggests otherwise ...
 

Who starts at CB?

Very difficult question to answer

Ajer and VdB pretty hard to drop right now

Schuster was POTM in September

Collins is captain

Greatest of respects to them all but our depth now is a massive step up compared to the Zanka-Mee-Sorensen days
 

Who starts at CB?

BFC1997 said:
Very difficult question to answer

Ajer and VdB pretty hard to drop right now

Schuster was POTM in September

Collins is captain

Greatest of respects to them all but our depth now is a massive step up compared to the Zanka-Mee-Sorensen days
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True, but our current centre backs cost around £70M, the 3 you listed cost bugger all in transfer fees.
 

Who starts at CB?

I think you only drop centre-backs based on lack of fitness or form. The difference between this afternoon and Sunderland was like night and day so, barring injuries, I really don’t see any changes at least overt he next few games.
 
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