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.