Your first choice centre back pairing?

[Harry Holmesdale]

Lets wait and see after the next few 'tough' fixtures

[mcmean]

Cahill and Kelly for me. Tomkins to push Kelly for this position.

I strongly believe that the club thought they were going to offload Dann (to Burnley was the rumour) in the summer, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Sakho go in January.

Whilst Sakho gives you the ability to break lines and drive the ball forward, I'd rather a solid (and better) defender such as Kelly or Tomkins next to Cahill, rather than witnessing Cruyff turns on the 18 yard lines that make my arsehole twitch twice a game.

[Martin H]

Originally Posted by andyocpfc

It is interesting that the two best individual players don't necessarily make the best defensive partnership.

It's hard to look beyond Sakho and Tomkins, yet would anyone seriously bench Cahill now?

Also, it's interesting that not one voter has chosen Scott Dann to even play a game now. At one stage he was our best defender by a country mile and popped up with many a goal too, which none of our central defenders seem to do these days.

The only unknown now is what Cahill would be like next to Tomkins. On paper it sounds amazing, yet still seems to lack the creativity that Sakho can bring.

It seems whatever combo you come up with sounds good and solid, which can only be a positive. I just hope we can keep this 5 together all season as I'm sure we'll need all of them at some stage.

I agree and it will be interesting to see what happens. 'Seniority' would fall to Cahill and Sakho, and when the latter is fit, maybe that will prove to be the best too but I think it's tough to call it from 'here'. The great news is that there is no reason to risk the returning players by playing them before they are fully fit.

[Martin H]

Originally Posted by mcmean

Cahill and Kelly for me. Tomkins to push Kelly for this position.

I strongly believe that the club thought they were going to offload Dann (to Burnley was the rumour) in the summer, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Sakho go in January.

Whilst Sakho gives you the ability to break lines and drive the ball forward, I'd rather a solid (and better) defender such as Kelly or Tomkins next to Cahill, rather than witnessing Cruyff turns on the 18 yard lines that make my arsehole twitch twice a game.

There were rumours in the Summer that Sakho was keen on a move back to France weren't there?

[alanlee11]

why is Jach not in the options?!?

[kolinkins]

Fully fit, it is Cahill and Sakho and I do not even know how this thread has got beyond a second post.

[El Aguila]

I get the feeling it's easy to play in front of Guaita, as well.

[eastend eagle]

I know I keep banging on about this but the statistics generally show that Sakho is a less error-prone defender than any of the others. What I see backs that up too. They all make mistakes, his just look a lot uglier because he plays in such a weird manner.

Cahill and Sakho for me, but it's amazing that we are now blessed with four high-quality CB's. I hope we can keep them all happy and at the club.

As for Dann, he has been an outstanding CB in his time also, but form seems to have completely deserted him. Be great if he can return to his former sharpness, but I have only doubts unfortunately.

[El Aguila]

Originally Posted by eastend eagle

I know I keep banging on about this but the statistics generally show that Sakho is a less error-prone defender than any of the others. What I see backs that up too. They all make mistakes, his just look a lot uglier because he plays in such a weird manner.

Cahill and Sakho for me, but it's amazing that we are now blessed with four high-quality CB's. I hope we can keep them all happy and at the club.

As for Dann, he has been an outstanding CB in his time also, but form seems to have completely deserted him. Be great if he can return to his former sharpness, but I have only doubts unfortunately.

Did you see that stat someone posted up yesterday with our points per game when Kelly plays at centre back? It was impressive - though I would always pick Sakho, when fit, as well.

[addicted_eagle]

I hope we sell Sakho. Too much of a liability and let someone else deal with his ‘injuries’. Did great for us when he came here on loan and i thank him for that but his mentality is all wrong

[orp pisshead1]

Kelly then one of the others

[eastend eagle]

Originally Posted by addicted_eagle

I hope we sell Sakho. Too much of a liability and let someone else deal with his ‘injuries’. Did great for us when he came here on loan and i thank him for that but his mentality is all wrong

Reading between the lines it seems you suspect he keeps himself out of action longer than he should following injury. This is probably based on Roy showing some frustration with this in pressers (sorry).
However - each time he has come back from an injury, including his recent one, he has looked like he was genuinely struggling on the pitch and out of sorts for a few games. I think he possibly knows his body better than the fans and even the management team.

[bodger]

Wait to see how Cahill and Sakho play together.

[CharlieCPFC]

Cahill and Sakho, absurd people would think any different. When fit they're the best centre half partnership outside the top 6, if not one or two in the top 6 - Arsenal springs to mind. But the issue we have is Sakho's injury record, for a club like us it's not viable to pay his wages for him to play no more than 70% of the season. Zaha, Benteke and Sakho all off the wage bill gives us massive scope to rebuild something a bit more long term and sustainable.

[sherstonpalace]

Cahill & Tomkins generate a much more formidable goal threat at set pieces. Let's face it, we've scored precious few goals from corners over the last year or two.

[Mr Palace]

Cahill and Sakho but I'm running out of patience with Sakho and his relentless injuries. He's a superb defender but not reliable due to his awful injury record.

[chrisophiex]

Originally Posted by alanlee11

why is Jach not in the options?!?

Or Jedinak?

[glaziers fan]

Originally Posted by GreatGonzo

We have an imbalanced squad with a large number of CBs (5 of them) and CMs (7 of them), so i would play 3 at the back and 3 in midfield.

Guaita
Tomkins - Cahill - Sakho
Townsend ----------------- Van Aanholt
McArthur - Luka - Meyer
Ayew - Zaha

Or away at the big boys

Guaita
Ward - Tomkins- Cahill - Sakho - PVA
McArthur - Luka - McCarthy
Ayew
Zaha

Obviously it won't happen under Roy Hodgson but we should seriously consider the 3-5-2 if Hodgson retires at the end of the season because it would lead to the minimum possible disruption.

Kelly has been better than Sakho so far this season, but when fully fit Sakho is probably the better player. However that's not to say that Martin Kelly hasn't improved because he has. He's definitely good enough to be a starter for a mid-table Premier League club now, which wasn't always the case. (I like the way he has become more dominant in terms of interceptions, presumably as a result of increased confidence.) Tomkins is also excellent, and Joel Ward would be more than adequate as a centre back in a 3. Cahill, Sakho, Kelly, Ward, Tomkins is a central defence full of quality and strength in depth.

On top of that PVA and Schlupp are decent attacking left back options. I dare say Townsend could do a job as a right wing back, and I think Camarasa played there once or twice for Cardiff, but ideally we'd sign a new right back. But then we are well stocked with solid midfielders too: Kouyate, McArthur, Milivojevic, McCarthy plus Meyer and Camarasa.

It's probably the way we should go once Zaha has been sold.

[aj4england]

Originally Posted by glaziers fan

Obviously it won't happen under Roy Hodgson but we should seriously consider the 3-5-2 if Hodgson retires at the end of the season because it would lead to the minimum possible disruption.

Kelly has been better than Sakho so far this season, but when fully fit Sakho is probably the better player. However that's not to say that Martin Kelly hasn't improved because he has. He's definitely good enough to be a starter for a mid-table Premier League club now, which wasn't always the case. (I like the way he has become more dominant in terms of interceptions, presumably as a result of increased confidence.) Tomkins is also excellent, and Joel Ward would be more than adequate as a centre back in a 3. Cahill, Sakho, Kelly, Ward, Tomkins is a central defence full of quality and strength in depth.

On top of that PVA and Schlupp are decent attacking left back options. I dare say Townsend could do a job as a right wing back, and I think Camarasa played there once or twice for Cardiff, but ideally we'd sign a new right back. But then we are well stocked with solid midfielders too: Kouyate, McArthur, Milivojevic, McCarthy plus Meyer and Camarasa.

It's probably the way we should go once Zaha has been sold.

Agreed

[Martin H]

The 3 at the back is an obvious option with so many CBs to choose from but I am not sure that makes it the right one. With overlapping fullbacks we would retain width but there would be less space for Wilf/Jordan to get wide. So it should be an option but I just doubt it's the right one every week.

Re GF's comments re Roy, didn't he play 3 at the back with England?