Our defence 23 games into the season

davek · February 3, 2016

Keep those four in place and the GK for the next few games.

Baines should never have been a shoo-in as soon as he was fit. The best CB pairing at the club are Jagielka and Funes Mori. Coleman is comfortable with Lennon ahead of him (use Deulofeu as an impact sub for now...he needs a rest anyway).

Toffe3m4n · February 3, 2016

It's a minor miracle that our GD is still healthy despite this. One of the pros of having a £28m striker justifying his price tag!

paulbefc · February 3, 2016

I'd put Stones and Baines back in all day, as long as they're fit. I'm not a fan of Mori's passing and Stones is far better alongside Jagielka than he is alongside Mori, who isn't defensively great (lost Mitrovic for what should have been an equaliser tonight).

davek · February 3, 2016

paulbefc said:
I'd put Stones and Baines back in all day, as long as they're fit. I'm not a fan of Mori's passing and Stones is far better alongside Jagielka than he is alongside Mori, who isn't defensively great (lost Mitrovic for what should have been an equaliser tonight).

I think Mori and Jagielka are the two more no-nonsense CBs we need at this stage. For me, Oviedo showed how compact he is tonight and plays that LB berth the way we need it played.

Ihaters · February 3, 2016

Seriously, how many goals are Stones fault compared to the other defenders we have, he is absolutely mint, take away the running the ball out, the attacking play, the ability to start an attack, twists and turns, the first touch etc, and look at the actual defending he does... its brilliant.
He stops runners, tracks them, forces them out of play, intercepts the ball constantly, he heads, tackles and fights for 90 minutes+.

Just because two or three times his arrogance on the ball (that I personally love) is directly responsible for a goal, doesn't make him the villain behind the other how ever many hundred we will of conceded come the end of the season.

He has done some wrong, but Moris failed air shot clearances could prove just as costly as Stones quality attempts to keep the ball with us.

I have no issues with Stones performances.

Oh and we closed down (mostly) today which was great to see.