[Albion] Starting Centre Backs is we have leavers?

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Putting sources to one side, it seems possible that we could lose Duffy & Dunk in this window. What would our starting CB line up be, particularly if we were going for three at the back?

Webster, White and Veltman? Clarke? Burn? Ostigard and Roberts in the mix too. Pretty inexperienced in the Prem as a group. Would we have to use some of the Dunk money to replace him? If so, what's the point?

And if some "more money than sense club" also punted £55m on White would we even let him go for that much?

EDIT: Maybe all this Dunk chat is bull$1t, in which case, as you were!!

 

[el punal]

Phone Uncle Tony, he’ll probably have a good idea. If you don’t, just relax and see what occurs. I’m sure everything will be hunky-dory.

 

[dazzer6666]

Something like White/Veltmann/Webster as 3 starting CBs with Lamptey and Burn as WBs doesn’t sound too shabby to me, especially if we use incoming money to beef up goalscoring/creating options.

 

[macbeth]

we will need to buy another centre back if Lewis leaves. not spending big to replace the departure of our best player is absolutely suicidal

 

[Whitechapel]

Lamptey - Webster - White - Burn

Lamptey - Webster - Veltman - White - NewLWB

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Phone Uncle Tony, he’ll probably have a good idea. If you don’t, just relax and see what occurs. I’m sure everything will be hunky-dory.

I'm with you. But it does make for an interesting discussion I think. Potter is capable of anything!!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Lamptey - Webster - White - Burn

Lamptey - Webster - Veltman - White - NewLWB

Sad to say, without either Dunk or Duffy, or preferably both, we'll be naively ripped to shreds. IMHO, like. Obviously. Where's the protection for Ryan coming from while they're all gormlessly galloping forward?

 

[Swansman]

No idea but a replacement wouldnt be needed if Dunk leaves. Even if one or even two of White/Clarke/Veltman would fail we could just go for the "safe but not very fun" option of a BDB-Webster duo.

 

[The Fits]

We don't know if Veltman, Clarke or even White are better than BDB at the moment- he currently has more Premier League experience.
Don't just assume Veltman is going to come in and be a world beater.

We would miss Dunk greatly.

 

[Swansman]

We don't know if Veltman, Clarke or even White are better than BDB at the moment- he currently has more Premier League experience.
Don't just assume Veltman is going to come in and be a world beater.

We would miss Dunk greatly.

Of course he would be missed but as long as one of the new players turn out to be good and Webster keeps improving, the difference doesnt necessarily need to be gargantuan.

 

[The Fits]

Of course he would be missed but as long as one of the new players turn out to be good and Webster keeps improving, the difference doesnt necessarily need to be gargantuan.

No, agreed. And I agree that Webster and BDB in a two would absolutely not let us down.
My one concern would be who plays as the middle defender in a 3- it's a very different role and it seems all of our defenders would suit playing the 'wider' positions. In fact, you could argue Duffy might do well there with two more gifted players to either side.

 

[The Fits]

Ultimately we have loads of bloody quality there!
Three players who have starred for second division clubs (if you include Leo who is often overlooked). And O'Hora is clearly hugely rated not just by us but the Irish.

 

[macbeth]

No idea but a replacement wouldnt be needed if Dunk leaves. Even if one or even two of White/Clarke/Veltman would fail we could just go for the "safe but not very fun" option of a BDB-Webster duo.

A replacement absolutely would be needed. You've got Webster, who was shaky at times last season, has nowhere near Dunk's experience and is still developing in the Premier League, you've got Dan Burn who remains virtually untested as a CB in the Premier League. Veltman has played mostly right back for the last few years and brought in as a smart addition to add to the squad, not to become our main man in defence, and then you've got White and Clarke, who've had one good season at a decent level. And that's before you factor in that Dunk was our best player by an absolute mile last season.

Now, it may be the case that those other CBs could step in and take his place. But in all likelihood not replacing Dunk would leave a gaping hole in our defence. The Webster Dunk combo kept us up with room to spare last season, but to remove Dunk from that and then not replace him is verging on insanity.

 

[Swansman]

A replacement absolutely would be needed. You've got Webster, who was shaky at times last season, has nowhere near Dunk's experience and is still developing in the Premier League, you've got Dan Burn who remains virtually untested as a CB in the Premier League. Veltman has played mostly right back for the last few years and brought in as a smart addition to add to the squad, not to become our main man in defence, and then you've got White and Clarke, who've had one good season at a decent level. And that's before you factor in that Dunk was our best player by an absolute mile last season.

Now, it may be the case that those other CBs could step in and take his place. But in all likelihood not replacing Dunk would leave a gaping hole in our defence. The Webster Dunk combo kept us up with room to spare last season, but to remove Dunk from that and then not replace him is verging on insanity.

Disagree with nearly everything.

True there is not a lot of PL experience but as long as the player is good enough it really doesnt matter much. How much PL experience did the CB:s have in the first season up? Clarke, White etc. can only get PL experience by playing the PL. Sure they wont be flawless but they might still be good enough just like hundreds of non-PL experience centre backs proved to be.

 

[casbom]

If Dunk stays I would like to see:

Lamptey --- Webster --- White --- Dunk -- New LWB/LB

If Dunk goes:

Lamptey -- Veltman --- White --- Webster --- New LWB/LB

This back 5 allows White to step into midfield if required during the game.

I don't want to se BDB at LB or LWB again, we need some quicker in that role.

 

[The Fits]

If Dunk stays I would like to see:

Lamptey --- Webster --- White --- Dunk -- New LWB/LB

If Dunk goes:

Lamptey -- Veltman --- White --- Webster --- New LWB/LB

This back 5 allows White to step into midfield if required during the game.

I don't want to se BDB at LB or LWB again, we need some quicker in that role.

Clarke has a chance on the left of a three...

 

[macbeth]

Disagree with nearly everything.

True there is not a lot of PL experience but as long as the player is good enough it really doesnt matter much. How much PL experience did the CB:s have in the first season up? Clarke, White etc. can only get PL experience by playing the PL. Sure they wont be flawless but they might still be good enough just like hundreds of non-PL experience centre backs proved to be.

I'm not questioning their quality as individual players. They are all very good, or they wouldn't be in contention. My point is that bringing them, and them alone, in to replace someone who was by far and away our best player last season (and our captain) is, in my opinion, asking for trouble. Particularly when we'll have a 40 million windfall or thereabouts from the Dunk sale, it makes no sense not to replace him. Yeah we could probably make do and mend with the other player we have, it'd be a bit touch and go, it MAY work, but isn't the whole point that we're meant to be moving forward and improving as a squad? Now, I'm not saying we go out and buy a player who's as good as Dunk right now, just that we maybe spend 20-30 million on a player of very good pedigree to sit alongside Webster. Webster and BDB are both very good now, but are either of them on par with Dunk? No. Webster will be (and probably better) in a couple of seasons, but not right now.
We have to keep our squad competitive, if we get complacent then we'll be down in the blink of an eye. Not replacing our best player when we've just made a massive wodge of cash from selling him seems a bit counter-intuitive to me.

 

[vagabond]

Firstly let’s remind ourselves, that this is GP.

He ain’t picking the same back line all season game to game! Lewis being the sole exception.

As a guess you’d assume:

Dunk - Webster/White


Now the wildcard to all this I feel is Matt Clarke. He has gone massively under the radar with all the Ben White hype. Will be very intriguing to see what we do with him, if he comes into the fold or goes on loan again.

 

[The Fits]

White - Clarke - Webster or a combination thereof is mouth watering if you ask me. They're all clearly 100% Potterballers and all have huge potential.
I'd put up with a few mistakes. No way are we going down with that back three plus Lamptey and a LWB.
We would be weaker without Dunk though. But what price our younger players fulfilling their potential?

 

[peterward]

Putting sources to one side, it seems possible that we could lose Duffy & Dunk in this window. What would our starting CB line up be, particularly if we were going for three at the back?

Webster, White and Veltman? Clarke? Burn? Ostigard and Roberts in the mix too. Pretty inexperienced in the Prem as a group. Would we have to use some of the Dunk money to replace him? If so, what's the point?

And if some "more money than sense club" also punted £55m on White would we even let him go for that much?

EDIT: Maybe all this Dunk chat is bull$1t, in which case, as you were!!

Whoever is left will go into Potters new random team selector prototype..... looks a lot like the national lottery machine