[Albion] Starting Centre Backs is we have leavers?

[Swansman]

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.

White and Clarke are both the kind of players that are "not as good as Dunk right now but could sit alongside Webster".

I agree the money should be invested into the squad to improve it, but I wouldnt splash it on a centre back. Why sign a promising centre back when you already have plenty? From what we've heard its not even likely there is a £20-30m CB guaranteed to be better than White. For £20m we get another Webster and its not even sure Webby is better than White as White arguably performed better in the Championship than Webster did.

I would much prefer to play i.e. White and accept the probable 15% short term drop in CB quality than signing another CB that would make it 10%. Instead, put the money into some other position where there is a more obvious lack of quality. Signing another "pretty good" CB to compete with the consistent DB, the extremely promising White, the Derby player of the year Clarke and CL semi-finalist Veltman just seems like a waste of money to me.

 

[blue-shifted]

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

The trouble with trying to but a centre back to replace Lewis .... is that we can't.

With that in mind we should think about that before we sell him.

Would be a ballsy window, get £70m ish for Dunk, White and Duffy and splurge it on attacking talent.

I don't think it's a good idea though

 

[Swansman]

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

I think you could expect less and less of that as the squad gets increasingly his and less of "Hughtons leftovers". Östersund i.e. didnt rotate nearly as much, yes they played different formations from game to game but the starting elevens were often similar with just one or two players getting swapped between games.

 

[Bakero]

The trouble with trying to but a centre back to replace Lewis .... is that we can't.

With that in mind we should think about that before we sell him.

Would be a ballsy window, get £70m ish for Dunk, White and Duffy and splurge it on attacking talent.

I don't think it's a good idea though

I'd want more than 70m for those 3!

 

[Rogero]

What does Starting Centre Backs is we have leavers mean?

 

[Bakero]

What does Starting Centre Backs is we have leavers mean?

Swap an s for an f and you have your answer.

 

[The Fits]

The trouble with trying to but a centre back to replace Lewis .... is that we can't.

With that in mind we should think about that before we sell him.

Would be a ballsy window, get £70m ish for Dunk, White and Duffy and splurge it on attacking talent.

I don't think it's a good idea though

He is irreplaceable.
If we did sell him the money should spent on other positions, possibly a DM, LWB, striker.

 

[southstandandy]

If we were to lose Dunk and Duffy in this window then as long as most of the money gained goes on improving our attacking options, then hopefully that will counteract a season with less experience in the centre back positions.

It's largely been to this point the defence that has kept us up for 3 years so even by potentially weakening the defence if both D & D were to go, hopefully being more potent at the other end with some new and decent forward options will balance things out.

If D & D do go then I just hope the money spent in the forward areas is well spent and we don't end up with another Locadia. Only time will tell.

 

[The Fits]

One other thing about White and Clarke. People keep on saying 'took Webster ages to get used to the Premier League...therefore will be the same for White and Clarke'. We don't actually know that- Duffy and Dunk strolled it from the get go.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

What does Starting Centre Backs is we have leavers mean?

if - it's a typo!

 

[Justice]

Dunk 95% not to leave I heard earlier with no bid from Chelsea at all.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Talkshit this morning citing “sauces” at Brighton indicating Dunk 95% certain to stay. That’s him off then.

I’m struggling with the Chelsea thing mind you (in relation to Dunk) as they chose to pass on Ake buy back clause with age apparently a factor. Lewis is no spring chicken and ( for me) is about the same quality as the Dutchman...perhaps Dunk gets the slight nod but he’s not miles better.

Chelsea deffo need a decent CB but don’t seem to be seriously addressing it...still. What do I know.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

Personally, IF Dunk does go I would rather see any of those funds reinvested in weaker areas of the squad (left WB and a striker)

Barber mentioned on the Albion Roar that the incomings were not finished if they are sticking to the script.

The fact the captain isn’t in any of the marketing tells me there is more of a chance that he leaves and the club are prepared for this.
I wouldn’t be surprised Dunk has been agreed with Chelsea and they are allowing time for us to find a recognised name for the (LWB or Striker) to cushion the blow, which it is, however I believe the squad is reporting back tomorrow so will be telling on Dunks training (expected light no contact!)

I think we have sufficient cover in central defence and would expect us to see 3-5-2 being the default but interchangeable during a game.

I would see

Veltman/ Webster - White - BDB / Clarke being a rotated 3 with Webster and White featuring more than the others, with White moving slightly more forward when we adapt.


The trial by pre season for White is well off, he’s been monitoring by us all season and was on Potters radar at Newport. White will be playing in the middle with two other CB’s next to him this season would be my hunch

The only concern I have is most of them haven’t played together so it’s key to get that understanding sorted ASAP, I’m not sure if a fortnight is enough

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hugo Rune]

Back 5

Lamptey-Webster—White—Clarke-New LWB

Back 4 (Defensive)

Veltman—Webster—Clarke—Burn

Back 4 (Attacking)

Lamptey—White—Webster—Burn

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

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.

If Dunk goes, Potter might need to rethink that strategy. A completely new CB pairing would need to ‘bed in’, before he got too embroiled in rotation.

I think we’d miss Dunk’s leadership and organisational skills as much as anything.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rogersix]

One other thing about White and Clarke. People keep on saying 'took Webster ages to get used to the Premier League...therefore will be the same for White and Clarke'. We don't actually know that- Duffy and Dunk strolled it from the get go.

webbo played potterball, whereas d & d had 7 other defenders to help out

 

[macbeth]

White and Clarke are both the kind of players that are "not as good as Dunk right now but could sit alongside Webster".

I agree the money should be invested into the squad to improve it, but I wouldnt splash it on a centre back. Why sign a promising centre back when you already have plenty? From what we've heard its not even likely there is a £20-30m CB guaranteed to be better than White. For £20m we get another Webster and its not even sure Webby is better than White as White arguably performed better in the Championship than Webster did.

I would much prefer to play i.e. White and accept the probable 15% short term drop in CB quality than signing another CB that would make it 10%. Instead, put the money into some other position where there is a more obvious lack of quality. Signing another "pretty good" CB to compete with the consistent DB, the extremely promising White, the Derby player of the year Clarke and CL semi-finalist Veltman just seems like a waste of money to me.

It's too much of a risk imo. Centre back is the one area that we're very well covered in and has been the area that has dug us out of many a hole on many occasions. When you start to weaken that, it will only cause issues. White's an interesting one, because he essentially did at championship level what we'd be asking him to do here if dunk left and no replacement was bought, but the PL is a totally different animal, so it would be a massive risk. At the end of the day, if we are no longer able to defend to the standard that saw us keep our PL status last season then we will be relegated. There's areas of gradual improvement around the rest of the squad ("evolution, not revolution"), but that won't be enough to compensate for the drop in quality in CB, or that's what my guess is anyway. If the 5% that you speak of is the difference between staying up or going down (and it very well could be, it'll be a much tougher league next year) then yes, absolutely it would be worth buying a new centre back.

 

[el punal]

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

Ain’t that the truth!

 

[mikeyjh]

I'm not sure Clarke would be up to PL standard, he had a decent season overall but it wasn't without hiccups and some deficiencies. Could be a decent player but I wouldn't want to have him in a PL starting XI...

 

[clockend1983]

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.

Hallelujah the the Burn thing please no more of that carry on next season he’s just not the man for that
We’ve got one who’s sat on the bench nearly all season