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The Centre Back thread

Re: Central defenders

CelticSpur said:
John O Shea at 3m ?? yes please !!
International CH that can play rb if needed..... At the very least he would be great cover over the winter
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Being an International for Ireland really doesn't say much (I'm from Norway so I know all too well how awful "internationals" can be.

Had Dawson or Caulker been Irish I'm sure they would have clocked up a lot more caps than they have for England.

I'm not sure we should look for cover myself, we should be looking for leadership and organizational skills along with ability of course.

camspur said:
Nor did signing a 34yo Moroccan CB from Deportivo La Coruna but it worked out fine as cover.
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Sure, but the question is if he has the same qualities as Naybet had...
 
Re: Central defenders

camspur said:
Nor did signing a 34yo Moroccan CB from Deportivo La Coruna but it worked out fine as cover.
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The obvious retort. The absolutely zero link though between the success of Naybet and whether O'Shea will be a success. Its like saying that we once signed a young player with potential (Bale) who did rather well and therefore all other young players which we sign will also be a success
 
Re: Central defenders

camspur said:
Nor did signing a 34yo Moroccan CB from Deportivo La Coruna but it worked out fine as cover.
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Back then it was fine because a good season for us was finishing in the top half of the table and we didn't need Champions League football to pay for a 400m stadium.
 
Re: Central defenders

braineclipse said:
Being an International for Ireland really doesn't say much (I'm from Norway so I know all too well how awful "internationals" can be.

Had Dawson or Caulker been Irish I'm sure they would have clocked up a lot more caps than they have for England.

I'm not sure we should look for cover myself, we should be looking for leadership and organizational skills along with ability of course.



Sure, but the question is if he has the same qualities as Naybet had...
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O'Shea is clever and fit.... the fact that he spent most of his time on the bench at utd should stand to him as he nears the end of his career...He will be 100% be one of the centre halves for ROI in their next campaign.
Dawson is better than him imo but caulker isn't yet..... 3m is fuk all these days... I would take him as cover for that money and see how he goes...we could do a lot worse
 
Re: Central defenders

John O'Shea wouldn't be a bad option as a back up CB i guess. He's made a career out of that role so you would assume that he is the type who can slot in when called upon.
 
Re: Central defenders

The thing with O'Shea was that at Utd he was slotting in with decent players who helped make him look good. He was decent but the players around him helped.

At Sunderland as a main man, the fans want shot of him. If he was back up and Verts got injured for him to come on, is he decent enough to hold the back together with Naughton, Rose and Dawson? i don't think so. Even at 3m I'm not sure he offers great value.
 
Re: Central defenders

billyiddo said:
John O'Shea wouldn't be a bad option as a back up CB i guess. He's made a career out of that role so you would assume that he is the type who can slot in when called upon.
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ok squad player, can play in a lot of positions, i'd be worried if he was starting regularly though
 
Re: Central defenders

billyiddo said:
John O'Shea wouldn't be a bad option as a back up CB i guess. He's made a career out of that role so you would assume that he is the type who can slot in when called upon.
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We have enough back up centre backs, we need a(nother) first choice centre back imo.
 
Re: Central defenders

Craig_J said:
Back then it was fine because a good season for us was finishing in the top half of the table and we didn't need Champions League football to pay for a 400m stadium.
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We don't actually need CL to fund the stadium you do know that right?
 
Re: Central defenders

billyiddo said:
John O'Shea wouldn't be a bad option as a back up CB i guess. He's made a career out of that role so you would assume that he is the type who can slot in when called upon.
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Complete non-starter. He's not as good as any of the CBs we already have, we'd have to have a injury crisis before you resorted to playing him.
 
Re: Central defenders

Returning to the idea of Ron Vlaar...

Only a year left on his contract according to the internet: (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2107493-aston-villa-must-prioritize-keeping-dutch-star-ron-vlaar-at-all-costs) So although he's 29 and PL proven he wouldn't be ridiculously expensive. That article is suggesting a £5m fee, that might be optimistic with his World Cup appearances most likely increasing interest and inflating his potential fee, but we wouldn't have to break the bank for him.

Would most likely jump at the idea of signing for us from Villa as long as bigger clubs don't come in for him.

To some extent a confirmation that he's a good organizer and leader of a defensive unit with him being really the only experienced defender in that Netherlands side that has looked decent at the World Cup. The same looked likely based on Villa's performances with and without him. It's a tricky thing to judge from the outside, perhaps particularly based on TV games, but he seems to have that.
 
Re: Central defenders

Personally I think people are underestimating O'Shea's quality when he was in his prime. But we don't need to get into an argument about that because we're not talking about O'Shea at 24, we're talking about O'Shea at 34. And at 34 I think we can all agree he's not good enough to play a major role for us.

That said, I can see a scenario where it does make sense...

Let's say Pochettino had a word with Dawson and said "look, we'd love you to stay as club captain and an experienced back-up in defence, but you probably won't get much premiership action if we stay free of major injuries". Dawson says, "look I love the club but I've only got a handful of years left as a premiership footballer and I'd prefer to be first name on the sheet at Hull than smiling from the bench every week at Spurs".

Pochettino says "ah ****, that's a shame, but I understand your professional ambition and don't grudge you the move."

He then goes to Levy and says "I had that chat with Dawson about being back-up and he wants to move on. I said I respected his decision. Trouble is, it's good to have an experienced central defender at the club. Someone who provides stability and a calm attitude under pressure; who does as much for the team on the training ground and from the bench as he does on the pitch. In Argentina we call it "the Naybet philosophy" but I don't know where the term originates".

Levy says, "don't worry son, I'll get you a champions league winning, premiership winning, cup winning central defender who has almost 100 caps for his country and is still going strong. He's past his prime, but he has a winner's mentality and a reputation for not flapping under pressure. He's not going to pass muster against the top attacking sides in the premiership, but that's not what you want him for, right?"

Pochettino nods.

"Besides", says Levy, "I'll end up getting O'Shea for a million quid plus Adam Richman's autograph - Gus Poyet is a huge fan of Man Vs Food. And Hull will pay £10m for Dawson by the time I'm finished with them. Everyone's a winner!"
 
Re: Central defenders

Like everyone though, I think we need to strengthen in defence. But not just at left back.

Right now we have...

Vertonghen: maybe he wants to stay, or maybe the WC will attract a bid from Barca and he'll force a move. It wouldn't surprise me if several Champions League teams came in for him and frankly he didn't seem too interested in being a Spurs player by the end of last season (maybe that was disillusionment with the management situation - in which case he still could have been a bit more bloody professional about it). I certainly wouldn't be 100% certain he'll still be with us come September.

Kaboul: maybe his injuries are behind him, or maybe they ain't. At the very best - doubtful.

Dawson: maybe off to Hull if you believe what you read. Even if not, he's hardly who want we want as our first choice defender when playing against Emirates Marketing Project.

Pretty much our only central defender guaranteed to be here (in my view) is:

Chiriches: hasn't set the world on fire yet as a Spurs player. But worth persevering with - there's potential there I think.


We all know we need to strengthen at left back. But if Vertonghen forces a move (and I seriously think that might be on the cards), we are looking at an entirely new defence aside from Walker and Chiriches (with Rose and Naughton as back-ups - assuming they want to play that role).

That's some serious defensive restructuring going on right there. Could be tricky for Pochettino. First major challenge for the new manager - convince Vertonghen to stay when he gets back from Brazil.
 
Re: Central defenders

DublinSpur said:
Like everyone though, I think we need to strengthen in defence. But not just at left back.

Right now we have...

Vertonghen: maybe he wants to stay, or maybe the WC will attract a bid from Barca and he'll force a move. It wouldn't surprise me if several Champions League teams came in for him and frankly he didn't seem too interested in being a Spurs player by the end of last season (maybe that was disillusionment with the management situation - in which case he still could have been a bit more bloody professional about it). I certainly wouldn't be 100% certain he'll still be with us come September.

Kaboul: maybe his injuries are behind him, or maybe they ain't. At the very best - doubtful.

Dawson: maybe off to Hull if you believe what you read. Even if not, he's hardly who want we want as our first choice defender when playing against Emirates Marketing Project.

Pretty much our only central defender guaranteed to be here (in my view) is:

Chiriches: hasn't set the world on fire yet as a Spurs player. But worth persevering with - there's potential there I think.


We all know we need to strengthen at left back. But if Vertonghen forces a move (and I seriously think that might be on the cards), we are looking at an entirely new defence aside from Walker and Chiriches (with Rose and Naughton as back-ups - assuming they want to play that role).

That's some serious defensive restructuring going on right there. Could be tricky for Pochettino. First major challenge for the new manager - convince Vertonghen to stay when he gets back from Brazil.
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Well summed up and that's why I would prefer someone with PL experience that's shown the needed organizational skills to lead a back 4. I realize those are few and far between, but I really think someone like Vlaar could be great for us.
 
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