Although we can expect some rotations during the run-in, who would you like to see form the our first choice CB pair? Ekong has been solid enough but distribution poor at times. Wilmot is young but perhaps the future and the best with the ball at this feet. Cathcart looked assured on his return and offers consistency and the experience of a promotion in 14/15, whilst many consider Kaba our best CB at times and although he's been injured, is only a few weeks away from returning. I'd say most will agree Sierralta has cemented his spot so I will just throw up options including him.
Nice problem for xisco to have, I think Wilmot is one of if not our most promising player at the moment with his versatility ball control and understanding he’s only going to get better but with the lack of depth in the midfield and with the other 4 cb’s fit I think he should play as a DM. Not to sure about Cathcart alongside WTE either one alongside the other 2 in Siri and kaba. Be nice for a pair to cement a place together. Maybe try kaba with WTE and Cathcart with Siri. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Being comfortable with ball to feet and playing out from the back is vital in this formation (only a lone striker if we go long). So for me it’s between Kabba, Sierralta and Wilmot. Either S+K and S+W is fine for me.
I'm not sure what are the best partnership, I'm pretty happy with all of them, as all are capable of having great games, even if all are susceptible to making mistakes and I don't think there is a massive difference between any pairing. Players go in and out of form, and as we know Ekong was deemed by many on here to be a by far our best CB early on, and Sierralta was similarly deemed by many to be by far our worst, such is the inclination to make rush judgements on the forum. I certainly don't think players should be dropped on the basis of having a poor game, just because someone else can slot in. Foster says that goalkeepers like having a settled back line in front of them, so it is a worthwhile exercise to try and find the best pairing, but on the other hand with two games a week we need to rotate, to prepare for injuries. So my preference is that we continue to rotate a bit, ensuring we retain a degree of match fitness with all the players, including Wilmot in a defending midfield role, but as the poll is suggesting I think that Sierralta probably should be our main CB at the moment.
Wilmot I think is better in a three than a two! But getting better, I would play Sierralta and Kaba/Cath/Ekong/Wilmot depending upon fitness of course but if push came to shove any two from five would be ok!
Sierralta and Kabasele when fit, for sure. After that, though I'm surprised to be saying it, on recent performances it should be Sierralta and Cathcart. It's hilarious how Wilmot is getting so many votes. It reminds me of the CB fallacy I pinpointed amongst our fans last season where our supposed best CB was always whichever one wasn't playing because some people have short memories and so they weren't able to be reminded of how erratic and error-prone they can be when sitting on the sidelines. Whenever Wilmot has played at CB this season he has looked the shakiest one on the pitch.
The error by TE at the weekend is the first and only serious one I can recall in 400 more minutes of playing time. I just said that I'd pick Kabs and Cathcart ahead of TE anyway. The biggest issue with TE has been his terrible passing, with his weekend error just an additional worry. Athough, between TE and Wilmot I'd still prob pick TE for his pace. Norwich also had their best opportunity from Wilmot losing Pukki, just before Masina made his fantastic last ditch sliding tackle.
Again, as ever, this is entirely in your own opinion, and not every opinion that others have is actually because of some crazy psychological anomaly that solely you in your genius have managed to identify and expertly sidestep.
Why do you find it "hilarious" that so many others disagree with you on Wilmot? Maybe they don't concentrate on "shakeyness" but maybe they have looked and identified qualities in the player that has completely passed you by, and knowing that being only 21 yrs old, is likely to improve with game time. Personally, I don't think he is any more shaky than Kabesele, and has shown extra qualities with the ball than Kabesele has. But it it is all about opinions, not necessarily "hilarious" just because they disagree with yours.
Serrialta - Kabaselle with Cathcart next in line for me. So if Serrialta gets a ban I hope Kabaselle will be fit before that happens, otherwise it will have to be Cathcart with either Wilmot or Troost-Ekong.
I can't believe that after all these hours the thread has been up that I'm the only one still to have chosen Sierralta + Cathcart. Cathcart may not be the most mobile of defenders these days, but he usually puts in a solid performance. Also having been part of the 2015 promotion squad I would expect a player of that experience will keep a level head more so than Wilmot would. And he's an international player.
Ah yes, Wilmot's mythological ball-playing ability, which mostly involves him calmly carrying the ball out of defence, before pinging it out for an opposition goal kick. When has he actually demonstrated this supposed ability this season? The only top quality pass from a CB that sticks out this season was Cathcart's leading up to our goal vs Bournemouth.
As I said, it seems to have passed you by. No probs, we all probably look for different things in a player, I'm just wondering why you find the opinions of so hilarious, as if you are the only one that has an opinion worth considering, that's all.
Not that he did much against Derby, but there was one incident where Wilmot played the ball straight out of play that stuck out to me. In an ideal world, we'd be ******* all over this league and we could develop Sierralta and Wilmot together who could be the future of the club, however in the real world, he's no better than everyone else but is needed off the bench to play in midfield occasionally with the lack of options there. To answer the question...pffft, I don't know, next to Sierralta I suppose it's a horses for courses thing, Cathcart probably the best with the ball at his feet, Kabasele the fastest, WTE probably the best on the ground
WTE makes me nervous. He was perhaps at fault for the goal at Man Utd. He did start well but seems to be regressing.
WTE has been pretty disappointing so far. Kabasele was poor running up to his injury despite a good start. Wilmot isn't perfect yet but he's more likely to be PL quality in the future than Kabasele/Cathcart. I'd go with Sierralta and Cathcart for now. Cathcart usually delivers a 7/10 performance whereas Kabasele can have a 9/10 one week and a 3/10 the following.
Cathcart is great. Rarely puts in a bad performance, no fuss and a great servant to the club. Not a Club Legend but in that tier below, let's call him a Club Icon. My ideal pairing would be Sierralta and Angella.
Sierralta - excellent defender, alright on the ball. Wilmot - good defender, good on the ball. Troost-Ekong - good defender, awful on the ball. Kabasele - good defender, awful on the ball. Cathcart - good defender, alright on the ball. The way we're playing I'd like to see Sierralta and Wilmot given a go. That probably won't be possible for every game though, so we need to find a way of getting the ball off the centre backs and up the pitch without Troost-Ekong panicking and launching it 60 yards. This is all just my opinion before lowerrous screams at me for thinking Wilmot is a good player.
Wilmot is a good player and defender in most aspects of his play, but his failing currently is winning headers under pressure. Sierralta is the stalwart CB for me, with Wilmot and Kabasele brought in to suit the opposition. If we aren't playing a crossing dependent team, I would have Sierralta and Wilmot play whilst if we're under heavy crossing pressure then either Kabasele preferably then Cathcart if not available to partner him.
In all honesty I'd stick to WTE and FS. it has been working well as a partnership. Neither the best on the ball but we have Hughes picking the ball up deeper now so that helps. They have no need as a CB pairing to have to play longer balls forward. Just want them fully concentrating on their roles as defenders.
I’m not sure what is included in “good defender”. Presumably things like anticipation, strong in the air/tackle? You also need to consider speed, which is important in recovering from a tricky situation, e.g. chasing back with an attacker. Kabasele, for example has this.
All our CB's are of similar enough quality, there's no standout really for good or bad amongst them, and that's including Sierallta, he's in great form at the minute but I don't look at him as been vastly superior to the others. Surprised Cathcart has such a low backing, was close call between him and Kabasele for me. Cathcart knows what it takes to win promotion, has plenty of experience of playing in pressure games and offers consistency. Wilmot is most likely the future, but I think the brute physicality teams posses and their direct style of play in this league causes him some issues at times.
I agree with this. Chalobah spent most early games playing deep to the left of the MF to give Wilmot some protection, at the start of the season No doubt his going to be a very very good player but his still very young and inexperienced at all levels of professional football, about 60 games, which shows at times.
Sierralta and your mum because he’s that damn good. And yes I meant that as a defensive partnership and as someone who’ll do your mum. Sorry, I meant Sierralta and Cathcart. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Couldn't be bothered to go into specifics but I just generally mean they're good at this level and don't have any blindingly obvious flaws, except the technical ability of a couple. I think we have a very good group of centre backs for the Championship but the recent change in style has exposed Troost-Ekong's passing and I think it would be the same for Kabasele.
What he also offers is that incredibly stupid blooter he hit straight out for a corner for no reason at all right at the end of the Derby game when we were already under aerial bombardment. Even he knew what he'd done the moment he did it, but it's far from an isolated incident - he's often careless in possession, and the chief culprit of the insanely stupid 'if I see a ball coming towards me, I'm gonna head it straight back' Watford school of defenders, in which we voluntarily cede possession and start up a game of pinball constantly, rather than doing something as crazy as bringing the ball down and under control and building from there. I'm not slating Cathcart, he has all those attributes and experience that you mentioned, but this is probably the reason why he gets so few votes. Oh yeah, and he's also very slow - almost certainly the slowest, and if whoever it is is next to Sierralta, which in ideal world it clearly will be, then that's a bit detrimental.