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Squad Assessment - 2011/2012 - The Defence

Rob

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Jun 8, 2003
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As the new season is soon due to get under way I thought I'd give my assessment of the current squad, who should be starting and who should be sold.

First up is the defence. Although there could be some argument depending on how strongly you feel about the need for consistency at the back, the majority of this writes itself so should be fairly uncontroversial.

=== Goalkeepers ===

Our goal-keeping situation is a strange one. We have one error-prone keeper who can cost us matches just as easily as he wins them for us. As backup we have a more experienced keeper who back in his day was one of the best (if not the best) in the Premiership. You’d think that it’d make perfect sense to sign a strong up and coming keeper to push Gomes for a place. Someone along the lines of Courtois (who we did track this summer but lost out to Chelsea) would have been perfect. Instead we sign another experienced keeper who back in his day was one of the best (if not the best) in the Premiership. Déjà vu.

For those crying out that I’ve forgotten someone, Alnwick unfortunately has more chance making a go of his home movie career than he does of ever being a serious option for us between the sticks.

That leaves us with Gomes as a clear first choice in my eyes but when he loses a bit of confidence (or breaks a fingernail and needs a few weeks out) we have the experienced, albeit near-arthritic, hands of Friedel. If Carlo's happy to stay as 3rd choice then great, if not move him on.

Rob’s Verdict: Unless we can sign a young keeper with the potential to be first-choice in a few years, our goal-keeping situation is solid.

(For an easy to use colour code, I've come up with: first choice, sub, loaned out for experienced, surplus to requirements)

Heurelho Gomes
Brad Friedel

Carlo Cudicini
Ben Alnwick



=== Central Defenders ===

Although on the face of it the decision for central defence is straightforward enough, you pick our best two defenders (King and Gallas), unfortunately injuries make this far more complicated and instead they have to be considered bit-part players. Woodgate, incidentally, would have fallen into the same category but we’ve finally done the right thing there and let him move on. When fit, he should walk (or hobble) into the Stoke back four.

To build a successful team we need consistency at the back, especially in front of a keeper whose decision making can be suspect at times (normally when he’s 20 yards from the ball doing a poor impersonation of a flailing salmon).

Considering the above, there’s no question that Dawson is the first name down for central defence. While it’s tempting to play whoever happens to be fit alongside him, King and Gallas can surely not have many more seasons left in them now and we need to start planning for the future. Bassong could have been the answer but he’s never really impressed for us in a consistent manner as he did for Newcastle. Maybe giving him games is all it’d take but with rumours that he wants out it looks like that ship may have sailed. That leaves Kaboul as our other option. While undoubtedly a talent and rapidly gaining plaudits as a solid defender, he still looks shaky at times in his positioning and reading of the play. We’ve been spoilt with Ledley at the back and Kaboul is certainly no Ledley but given time, the Dawson/Kaboul partnership could flourish. However, given his aggressive style of play (I just wanted to use the “Kaboul in a china shop” pun :wink:), there will inevitably be bookings and suspensions so having two players in King/Gallas who can easily slot in alongside Dawson is a bonus.

Ideally, I’d prefer one “classy” central defender who’s composed on the ball alongside one more suited to the “bloody and guts” style of defending. I believe both Dawson and Kaboul fall into the latter category but with the right coaching Kaboul could develop well, just like he progressed significantly between leaving us and rejoining from Pompey.

Finally, whilst not officially in the first team squad yet, Steven Caulker looks like a real talent and deserves an honourable mention.

Rob’s Verdict: Consistency is the key so it has to be Dawson/Kaboul with King/Gallas filling in when needed.

Younes Kaboul
Michael Dawson
William Gallas

Ledley King
Bongani Khumalo
Steven Caulker
Sebastien Bassong


=== Right Back ===

With the hopefully imminent departure of our favourite dad-bashing Scot and having sent Naughton out on loan to gain valuable experience, we’re finally down to a sensible number of right-backs. For me Corluka is the solid option with Walker as the more exciting but raw option. I’d like to see us utilise both, with Charlie as first choice and Walker the impact player when Lennon’s flagging or unavailable on the right wing.

Vedran Corluka
Kyle Walker

Kyle Naughton
Alan Hutton

=== Left Back ===

In a similar situation to right back, we have one solid (and I never expected to be using that adjective to describe BAE!) option with an exciting but raw understudy in Rose. Benoit has quickly developed from a player who’d have you trembling every time he hit a 40 yard pass square across his own goal to one of the best left backs in the league. For that reason he’s clearly our first choice but towards the end of last season Rose showed glimpses of why Arry and co reckon he could be converted into that position.

Rob’s Verdict: Our more experienced players have to be first-choice but we have exciting options on both flanks.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto
Danny Rose

And with that, our defence is sorted and it's pretty much as you were but with good options if we need them.


Code:
                                        Gomes

                Corluka         Dawson         Kaboul              BAE

 

Rob

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I dont think Gallas will agree with you on this one....

Omitting Gallas as a tough choice but I think Kaboul has the potential to be very good for us and we need a consistent pairing. If we did play Gallas and Dawson when both fit and put Kaboul in for the easier games then that would have been an option but I think it undermines the need for consistency at the back, especially give Gomes propensity to make a hash of things and confuse his defence.
 

Locotoro

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Sep 2, 2004
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I believe that the best option for Bassong would be to go out on loan for a season. At the end of this season with the possibility of Gallas and King not being able to compete at this level it leaves us with Kaboul, Dawson, Khumalo and Caulker. We dont necessarily know how the latter two will perform and develop so I wouldnt be adverse to loaning Bassong out and bringing him back in next summer to re-evaluate.
 

shao

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Jun 20, 2003
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Haven't seen you write anything for ages. Good to see you "back".

Good write up but what about the rest of the line up?
Follow up please!
 

Bobbins

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May 5, 2005
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Yep I'd agree with every single point of that, right down to the details about Kaboul's ability to develop into the ball-playing counterpart to Dawson's face-in-the-boots role.
 

Rob

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I believe that the best option for Bassong would be to go out on loan for a season. At the end of this season with the possibility of Gallas and King not being able to compete at this level it leaves us with Kaboul, Dawson, Khumalo and Caulker. We dont necessarily know how the latter two will perform and develop so I wouldnt be adverse to loaning Bassong out and bringing him back in next summer to re-evaluate.

Losing both Gallas and King at the end of the season would be very unlucky if it was unplanned. Hopefully if it was planned then we'd have a replacement lined up, whether that be Caulker or someone else.

I'd like to keep Bassong but he's made a lot of noises about being unhappy and wanting to leave and see little point in keeping him for what is effectively 5th choice.
 

bigspurs

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Aug 9, 2005
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I pretty much agree with your analysis, but I really don't understand what people see in Corluka?! I've seen him play in loads of games over the last few seasons and all I see is a bit of a liability, a weak link. His brain seems to be a second behind everyone else's, especially when we're building up play. He's flat footed and is usually crap going forward (although he did improve slightly last season by actually putting in a few crosses).

Hutton is crap too, although he is good going forward, albeit a little hap-hazard-like.

I would much rather see Kyle Walker as our number 1 right back. He looks like a genuine class act. He might be a little 'raw', as some have said, but he's still the best we've got.
 

RuskyM

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Jul 9, 2011
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Whenever Ledley's fit he's the first name on the teamsheet to me.
 

ssamme

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Dec 24, 2010
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You also need to consider Bale as left back, Harry keeps on hinting on this
 

gloryglory

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Oct 19, 2004
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I also agree with all of this, in terms of who we should keep, loan out or shift.

In terms of what you say, I think you are a little negative about Kaboul, who I thought was terrific last season, very much the composed type of defender you talk about. I really like his ability to bring the ball forward out of defence. And on the flipside, I'm much more concerned than you are about Dawson. I think he's the shakier and more error-prone of the two, and his attempts at long balls drive me crazy - he should be simply laying the ball off for Modric, Huddlestone or a full back.
 

Rob

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Jun 8, 2003
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I also agree with all of this, in terms of who we should keep, loan out or shift.

In terms of what you say, I think you are a little negative about Kaboul, who I thought was terrific last season, very much the composed type of defender you talk about. I really like his ability to bring the ball forward out of defence. And on the flipside, I'm much more concerned than you are about Dawson. I think he's the shakier and more error-prone of the two, and his attempts at long balls drive me crazy - he should be simply laying the ball off for Modric, Huddlestone or a full back.

Kaboul's composed going forward but defensively I still think he's suspect. How many times did you see Ledley needing to pull handfulls of shirt or having his arms all over strikers because he's got himself out of position and can't recover quickly enough? That part of Kaboul's game still worries me but BAE has shown with coaching and game time it can be improved.
 

read

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Mar 11, 2005
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Bassong could have been the answer but he’s never really impressed for us in a consistent manner as he did for Newcastle. Maybe giving him games is all it’d take but with rumours that he wants out it looks like that ship may have sailed.

seb started 25 league games for us when we qualified for the CL. we have all seen that he has it in him, but he's been pushed away from the first 11 by introducing gallas and then the return of kaboul.

with Khumalo and Caulker already on loan, selling seb would leave us with just 4 centre backs at the club, something we are bound to regret.

we can assume that king and gallas are likely to miss a fair amount of games between them this term. with 38 league games and perhaps 15 cup ties, how are we going to cope?

either bassong stays and we play him regularly in the cup games or we send him on loan to give us an option next summer. chances are, we might even bring someone in, as Harry must realise that just the four will leave us short.
 

yid-down-under

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Sep 21, 2003
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The thing with Bassong is that he's our only left footed CB. The only one of our right footers that can effectively play on the left of centre is King. Should we sell Bassong, we need to replace him with another left footer.

With regards to Kaboul, i see him as a bit of a John O'shea typer defender, where is has the ability to do a good job in a number of postions (RB, CB & CM).
 

JimmyG2

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Dec 7, 2006
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Corluka is versatile and can, and has, played reasonably well at centre back.
If Bassong goes he may be a useful standby,
and with Walker available at full back it wouldn't leave us short.

Huddlestone has also played reasonably well at centre half when required.
I don't feel we need to buy another.
which is an aspect you don't cover in this section.

Looking forward to your 'striker' analysis.
 

Spurs1960

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Jul 26, 2011
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The thing with Bassong is that he's our only left footed CB. The only one of our right footers that can effectively play on the left of centre is King. Should we sell Bassong, we need to replace him with another left footer.

With regards to Kaboul, i see him as a bit of a John O'shea typer defender, where is has the ability to do a good job in a number of postions (RB, CB & CM).

And Gallas, he didn't do badly playing there last term.
 

Spurs1960

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Jul 26, 2011
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No way Kaboul should be first choice, he lacks concentration. Rotate King and Gallas next to Dawson, Kaboul back up with Corluka to fall back on if needed.
 

JimmyG2

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Dec 7, 2006
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I might be mistaken but when ever i saw Gallas & Dawson play Dawson was always on the left of Gallas.
Yes I think this is right.

Dawson plays on the right with King and is much the better for it.
Apart from King being a much better player than Gallas
it seems to me that Dawson is better on the right.

Dawson/King is our strongest pairing but I would make Dawson/ Kaboul our second choice because of the above.

Neither Gallas nor King have played pre-season which must be a concern.
 
Sep 22, 2003
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Spot on.

Agree with JimmyG2 - assessing our srikers should be interesting. With anticpated arrivals its difficult to know who will be kept until its known who's joining (assuming someone is)
 
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