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Another defender or two in January?


enigma
Eton Blue at the Chelsea Megastore

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How many defenders will we need if we go into the market in January? Christensen and Rudiger are arguably our best defenders. Luiz is great on the ball and has good leadership, but defensively he worries me. Cahill has experience and is a good backup to have, but in my opinion, we definitely need another one, if not two defenders. I am not sure about LB, I would like to think that is covered. However, I would like to see us go in for a more physically imposing, but technical central defender. Koulibaly won't be available. Not sure who else is out there.

How do you think we should go about the January transfer market? 

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Largely what happened yesterday was systematic rather than down to individuals. When a guy like Dave is being exposed you know that is a problem. 

We will probably need a new CB at some stage to replace Luiz, but if I'm honest there aren't many players out there who fit the bill of a physical defender who is good on the ball.

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1 hour ago, just said:

A world class centre half is an absolute must have.

I totally agree with this, but who is world class and gettable? Bonucci, seen as one of the premier defenders in the world when he was at Juve, looked like Luiz at Milan. Koulibaly was a meme before Sarri came in. Alderweireld didn't look very good in Atletico. Godin was seen as a mistake prone defender prior to Simeone. The list is pretty long on players who have succeeded in certain systems, and failed in others.

Some defenders have it, they are clear cut champions. I just don't see anyone presenting themselves at the market both in terms of current production, potential and availabilty. At this point, in this current market, I reckon we'd be better off taking our chances with Christensen, who was very good before the whole team stunk it up last year.

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13 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

Largely what happened yesterday was systematic rather than down to individuals. When a guy like Dave is being exposed you know that is a problem. 

We will probably need a new CB at some stage to replace Luiz, but if I'm honest there aren't many players out there who fit the bill of a physical defender who is good on the ball.

Having just seen the highlights again, the lack of pressure we put on the ball in that spell was worse than any individual error. We need to press as team, and show more positional awareness, which we did the second half.

I'm confident sarri will rectify it on the training ground. I think the cries for kante to play in front of the back 4, and for us to be looking at defensive reinforments, is extremely premature after 2 games, which we won. 

It was always going to be a rocky start, new manager, new players, vastly different style and system, players arriving back late. 

Surely there's been enough promise in these opening 2 games to allow sarri some patience.

 

 

 

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6 minutes ago, big blue said:

Having just seen the highlights again, the lack of pressure we put on the ball in that spell was worse than any individual error. We need to press as team, and show more positional awareness, which we did the second half.

I'm confident sarri will rectify it on the training ground. I think the cries for kante to play in front of the back 4, and for us to be looking at defensive reinforments, is extremely premature after 2 games, which we won. 

It was always going to be a rocky start, new manager, new players, vastly different style and system, players arriving back late. 

Surely there's been enough promise in these opening 2 games to allow sarri some patience.

Of course and to clarify I wasn't suggesting otherwise. I'll admit Sarri wasn't my first choice as I prefer managers who are solid at the back. That said of course his system deserves time and he largely worked out the kinks in the second half. (I imagine Wilian and Barkley were also given a kick up the backside for not working hard enough at halftime)

I think there may be an argument at some stage for Kante to play deeper. We'll see how it works out. I'm not convinced this system is playing to his strengths, I'm also not convinced that Jorginho does much of anything without the ball, which is an issue in my view.

But as you say we are two from two and have scored 6 goals, so we have a very positive base to build on. Time will certainly tell. 

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2 hours ago, opinionsarelike said:

I totally agree with this, but who is world class and gettable? Bonucci, seen as one of the premier defenders in the world when he was at Juve, looked like Luiz at Milan. Koulibaly was a meme before Sarri came in. Alderweireld didn't look very good in Atletico. Godin was seen as a mistake prone defender prior to Simeone. The list is pretty long on players who have succeeded in certain systems, and failed in others.

Some defenders have it, they are clear cut champions. I just don't see anyone presenting themselves at the market both in terms of current production, potential and availabilty. At this point, in this current market, I reckon we'd be better off taking our chances with Christensen, who was very good before the whole team stunk it up last year.

Simone has been at Athletico for 7 years, so not sure what your point is. Godin is a top defender but is 32 and just signed a new contract anyway.

Alderwiereld left Atheltico in 2015, he is world class, at 25m next summer he is an absolute bargain and will be wanted by a host of clubs.

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6 hours ago, JMaher94 said:

Koulibaly was very average before Sarri changed him into a class defender. I think Rudiger may end up the same.

I'm not sure on Luiz, though.

Honestly think we should have kept Zouma in the squad. He offers something different, that physicality. 

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Changing from back 3 to a standard 4 and press high is going to take time, I reckon the last thing we need is a couple of expensive defenders to learn how to play with this system. As we get into the cup games, I expect other defenders to get a chance to show what they could offer. Rudiger is first pick, the other spot is anyone's. Luiz is not great in a back 4, he was signed because Conte was going back 3. I expect another defender challenges his spot after the International break.

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8 hours ago, Ernie_blue said:

Simone has been at Athletico for 7 years, so not sure what your point is. Godin is a top defender but is 32 and just signed a new contract anyway.

Alderwiereld left Atheltico in 2015, he is world class, at 25m next summer he is an absolute bargain and will be wanted by a host of clubs.

My point seems to have wooshed over your head.

Godin is a top, top defender. Now. He wasn't prior to getting a defensive mastermind as a coach.

Alderwiereld had the same tactical mastermind as a coach, and wasn't outstanding at all. He is now, in a different system.

So, back to my point. Sarri's brand of football obviously requires a specific type of defender. Who is that player? We can only say Koulibaly for certain, but he would be a world record centre back signing. And like I pointed out, he was seen as an erratic but athletic defender, who turned good after Sarri worked with him for years. Given that we have Christensen, a highly touted prospect, and Ampadu waiting, I'd be willing to take a chance on them, rather than spunking out a bucket load of cash on someone who might or might not (see: my original point) turn out good.

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We need to nurture Christensen, he can get to the standard where he can be first choice for a top club.

Now is the time to do it as well, there is little pressure and we aren't expected to win the league. As for backups we have Cahill and Luiz.

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22 hours ago, sonic90 said:

We need to nurture Christensen, he can get to the standard where he can be first choice for a top club.

Now is the time to do it as well, there is little pressure and we aren't expected to win the league. As for backups we have Cahill and Luiz.

Don't think we will play him much unless one of the others is injured or perhaps cup games. Sarri is trying to get us to his desired level so he will likely focus just on that initial core of 11.

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Funnily enough, i think the opposite in terms of Centre Backs, as we seem to be pretty well sorted. Playing 2 CB's means we have to pick from Rudiger, Christensen, Cahill and Luiz. Its a shame we sent Zouma out on loan because he could have been a good backup to have as well. I'd say we are sorted on CB's unless we sell 1 or 2 of them. LB im not sure because Emerson seems to be promising and Alonso is obviously good going forward, but defensively hes a bit of a worry. RB we have Azpi who's basically not being usurped anytime soon, and in the case of injury or a different competition we have both Moses and Zappacosta to cover.

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3 hours ago, chiefBlueCFC said:

I think we should give Sarri a tad bit more time than 2 prem matches before we start going crazy on how many players we should sign in January. The defense was exposed against Arsenal and growing pains are expected. Let's wait and see how the first half of the season goes before we start clamoring for multiple signings.

Agree totally. I am also not convinced that our defensive frailties were totally down to our defenders on Saturday either

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