El Guepardo
Rafael Van Der Vaart
The perfect balance with Vertonghen. I'd offer him a new contract now. Don't want to risk losing him on a free when he starts to really impress people.
We looked anything but solid at the back last night, it's the right partnership, but neither looks fully match fit yet. They were good but not great. Only a brilliant performance from Lloris kept them out.
Good to get a game under their belts, hopefully this partnership will continue and in time become the solid basis the team needs.
errrm , he had a good game...a very good one in fact.
dawson has been consistently part of a strong defense for how many seasons now?
maybe if Kaboul has that level of performance for more than a few games..then hey....we can say dawson should get benched
Needed to get him a full 90 minutes to work up match fitness, and on the other hand give Dawson a rest. I don't think this means Dawson has moved down the pecking order (just yet).
Dawson has been a consistent part of an inconsistent defense more or less whenever he's been playing regularly for us.
Didn't Dawson already get benched against Saudi Sportswashing Machine, was a pretty clear signal in my mind at least that Vertonghen and Kaboul is the preferred partnership when both are fit (ignoring Chiriches for now).
cant disagree with that first statement more.
i think that over the years , of which dawson has started at the back a lions share, we have been a pretty strong defensively , so much so that it was always on offense that we focused our purchases on
i cant even begin to imagine why anyone would think our defensive displays have been inconsistent outside of the periods when the entire team suffered crisis of confidence under various managers
and an isolated event of dawson getting dropped in favour of kaboul after we played a game the sunday previously doesnt prove or show me anything that concrete or clear. Of course you CAN look at it like that as a clear signal but i wouldnt....i think i'd need more selections of that calibre when everyone is fit and not playing 2 games in the space of 84 hours odd.....for the next 5 games or so
Woodgate, Kaboul, Bassong, Gallas, Vertonghen and Chiriches off the top of my head. Other than Chiriches (so far) most have made themselves first choice players as well (in Bassong's case before later being dropped), I know someone in another thread pointed out that it's a squad game and all that. Manager after manager has looked for Dawson replacements/upgrades and several have been found. Dawson has remained as he (like Defoe) has found his ceiling and only smaller clubs were after him. He's been happy to be a squad player most of the time and he's been a good servant for the club stepping in when we've had injuries.
84 hours now... Sorry, but our fixture list has been fairly standard in recent week and has in no way necessitated centre back rotation. If anything Dawson should have been favoured for consistency and with Kaboul returning from injury I was a bit surprised to see him start. I'm guessing he's done well in training and he looked a level above Dawson against Saudi Sportswashing Machine. Good decision by Sherwood I say.
Like I said, could be that Dawson was feeling an injury or feeling unwell. It's possible. I think Kaboul's been preferred to Dawson just about whenever fit since he returned from Portmouth because he's the better player, but we'll just have to wait an see what Sherwood thinks about it I suppose.
Do you think it would be a good decision by Sherwood to drop Kaboul and start Dawson against Norwich if both are fit? Looks like a pretty bad decision to me.
All those defenders that came off the top of your head either
played with King...,
Partnered Dawson,
Lost their spot to dawson
all under various managers
all those defenders were also bought as a necessity to make sure we have FOUR capable Cbs ready to play....,
Can you explain how you can be sure they were bought to replace dawson? and also can you explain how many replacements have been found seeing as how dawson ended up being first choice most of the time
As you said, this being a squad game the liklehood of us going out there and purchasing all these players may just be infact to bolster our squad due to
chronic injuries to naybet,
a woodgate insurance
Dodgy knee King
kaboul bought for the squad and possibly to replace king...came in and ended up at RB for a while...if he was here to replace dawson he would have and we would never have seen hide nor hair of dawson
Gallas bought for the squad and a utility player
Chiriches bought for the squad
woody bought to play with King..yes woodgate is better than dawson
bassong bought for the squad
verts bought for the first team and despite dawsons limitations for raw speed we ended up with a dawson and vertonghen partnership
but despite what looked from outside as us padding out the squad with Cbs and almost always eventually ending up with dawson plus 1...aside from the king / wooddate era....what you know is that manager after manager have been desperately trying to find someone to replace dawson, who doesnt get replaced by the way when the dust settles, and have successfully found these players who end up on the bench or get moved along
i dont agree with that
Disagree that dawson comes in primarily for injuries, infact dawson before lost his place cause HE got injured and his replacement played well. which is the way it should be.
we played on sunday and then we had another game on wednesday......capoue came in, dembele got moved, we dropped soldado, naughton played (was rose injured?)..that wasnt his usual starting 11 and chances are that he made changes for a reason and utilised the squad he had. In an isolated incident...one of which is not enough to say whether or not dawson has been dropped...i personally need more than one game that came in 3 and half days...you by all means can make do with just the one and hit the assumption - conclusion button that Kaboul aced it in training....which at least should always validate the players selected in your eyes cause each one of them must have done the same to get selected irrespective of rest or how many games they have played this season ...by all means each to his own
and kaboul has not been ahead of dawson whenever fit...kaboul has played next to dawson sure and initially it was kaboul and verts but i am pretty sure there were prolonged periods of the season when kaboul was infact fit and dawson was still ahead....can someone confirm or dispute this either way? i actually wouldnt mind knowing if dawson has just been living on borrowed time
tim sherwood can do what he likes, there is a merit in both choices, i personally like to reward a performance so i would play kaboul, i do not though agree with the notion that potentially resting your captain and then playing him the game after in place of his back up is a poor or bad decision.
All those defenders lost their place to Dawson? I almost stopped reading at that point...
Woodgate, Gallas and Kaboul only lost their place because of injuries or because of getting too old. Gallas walked into the side when we signed him on a free.
Vertonghen obviously hasn't lost his place to Dawson and it's too soon to tell with Chiriches. The only one who out and out lost his place because he was found not good enough was Bassong.
Kaboul played right back in a couple of games because of injuries.
I'm quite sure the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game was the first league game Kaboul and Vertonghen started together. It wasn't "Kaboul and Vertonghen initially", Kaboul got injured in his first game last season and stayed out for the rest of the season. Ask others if you want, but I would be very surprised if you or anyone could point me towards any "prolonged periods" where Kaboul was fit and not used because of Dawson last season (or previous seasons for that matter).
We had a game Sunday then Wednesday. Before that our previous game was a week earlier. Do you really think it's commonplace to rotate or rest centre backs because of that kind of fixture list? I don't.