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Canary Poirot

Name our best defender in last 30 years

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[quote user="Move Klose"]What about selling malky mackay and replacing him with Simon Charlton. One of the strangest decisions by one of managers. That back 5 of Green Edworthy Mackay Fleming Drury was pretty decent. Haven''t have a decent centre back pairing since those 2.[/quote]

I feel certain that group would have held firm last night, of course we would also have lost something going forwards so may not have ever gained the lead. I think what is obvious in British football at the momment is te lack of decent commanding centre backs something the home nations have always been known for.

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as individuals Bruce and Watson were probably the best, Bruce just shading it.

but oddly as a pairing perhaps not so, they only played alongside each other for 2 seasons, in 84/85 when we were relegated and in the following season ,when we won Div 2, both of these together with Chris Woods behind them were blatantly playing a standard too low for them and strolled through most games without breaking sweat.

As a defensive pairing I''d say Linighan and Butterworrth were for a couple of seasons as good as we''ve ever had?.....flanked of course by Culverhouse and and Bowen

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[quote user="Move Klose"]What about selling malky mackay and replacing him with Simon Charlton. One of the strangest decisions by one of managers. That back 5 of Green Edworthy Mackay Fleming Drury was pretty decent. Haven''t have a decent centre back pairing since those 2.[/quote]

Bassong and Turner. If only for a season.

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Patrik Andersson. Oh no, Chase didn’t spend the extra 50k on a guy that was winning the Champions League nearly a decade later, so he went to Blackburn. The centre back pairing was the only weakness in 92/93 team, so you wonder what could have been here.

Of the players that actually played for us, Watson, Bruce and Linighan as centre backs, but then this was in the days when all centre forwards smoked so maybe we need to look more recently. Seb Bassong was immense in 12/13 and the only thing that stood between us and relegation that year. And now Klose is excellent. This is really the position where we’ve struggled over the last 25 years or so. Many good full-backs.

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@GJP

Yeah they were really good for that first season under Hughton. I remember Turner looked terrible in his first couple of games but when we paired him with Bassong they seemed to compliment each other. Real shame it didn''t last.

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Polston, Butterworth, Linighan, Bruce, Watson, Newsome Culverhouse were all exceptional for the club and performed at just the very top level and amongst the best we have ever seen, ahead of those since - including Bassong and Turner.

Helveg remains a much derided player but oozed quality once he had adapted to the pace of the prem and his second half of that season was very good.

But for me the clear winner is Taff, Bowen was the best defending left back I can recall and olsson could do learn a lot about quality fb attacking from his time & delivery as well as his scoring contributions.

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[quote user="GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary"]as individuals Bruce and Watson were probably the best, Bruce just shading it.

but oddly as a pairing perhaps not so, they only played alongside each other for 2 seasons, in 84/85 when we were relegated and in the following season ,when we won Div 2, both of these together with Chris Woods behind them were blatantly playing a standard too low for them and strolled through most games without breaking sweat.

As a defensive pairing I''d say Linighan and Butterworrth were for a couple of seasons as good as we''ve ever had?.....flanked of course by Culverhouse and and Bowen[/quote]I was at the game at the Odsal stadium when we clinched promotion. We scored in the first minute of each half and then never looked conceding. To use a Parma word about another player, it was imperious. Leaving them aside, though, as they only just squeeze into the 30-year period, as a defender who excelled purely at defending I would say Culverhouse, and as a defender who was much more than just a defender, Bowen. As for central defenders, going by the same criteria, probably Linighan for outright defence, and perhaps Butterworth as someone who had a little bit more to his game. Too early to say about Klose.

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[quote user="king canary"]I loved Adam Drury. My favourite player when I first got a season ticket.

Cult hero nomination for Steen Nedergaard too.[/quote]^^^This.Drury was solid, season after season. Maybe selective memory, but I don''t ever recall seeing him have a bad game.

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@Morty

He was the definition of reliability. When I had some spare time I wrote a blog about him but never bothered posting it anywhere. Might be a bit James Kent to put it here though....

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I was there also Purple. A grey day I recall and yes, we were imperious indeed. Bruce and Watson played the offside trap so well and we were a league apart in most of our play.

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[quote user="sonyc"]I was there also Purple. A grey day I recall and yes, we were imperious indeed. Bruce and Watson played the offside trap so well and we were a league apart in most of our play.[/quote]

Me too, went through the children''s turnstile for £1.50 or something like that. Then it was a temporary stand as I recall and we packed it out.

Bruce and Watson were brilliant together, but I''d agree with Drury, who Huckerby describes as the best 1v1 defender he''s ever played with or against.

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Of the players I''ve seen, it''s got to be Bowen. Remember watching him in my first ever game at Carrow Road and seeing him powering forward and linking up with Crook, just brilliant. I think Klose has the potential to join the greats if we find him a quality partner in the middle. Very much hope we''re already working on targets for January.

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still not completely overly convinced by Klose....I suspect he looks good when compared to the poor defenders we had here before he came.

.

wouldnt think he''s as good as the likes of Bruce,Watson...or maybe not even Linighan,Butterworth or Newsome?

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Drury for me. People forget how good he actually was to enable Hucks to have a free role ahead of him. Not only that his link up play was great and he wasn''t bad at getting forward either. Was constantly touted as being the best left back outside the Prem and stayed loyal to us as well.

But a very close second has to be MacKay. A leader through and through who gave his all and popped up with vital goals as well. Him and Fleming were a good unit. I still think we should have given Malky a chance after promotion, even if just for his leadership qualities

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Tin hat on, but for me Bassong the first.

When Bassong first came to the club he was immense. Alert, commanding, pacey. Sheer class. The best centre-back I have ever personally seen in a Norwich shirt.

His partnership with Turner was immense and they complemented each other superbly. During the (in)famous unbeaten run those two looked unbeatable. Possibly the only time I''ve ever felt Norwich were not on the cusp of conceding a soft goal from nowhere and had total faith in our ability to defend a lead.

Consider the Arsenal game, when we were in total command and Arsenal were out of ideas and had given up until the ref intervened for them.

Bassong post season one though has been an absolute shambles.

Bassong frustratingly is perhaps the best and worst defender we have ever had. To this day I cannot understand how a player can be so good, yet become so bad.

Its been a long time since we saw a commanding performance from Seb or even a glimpse of his former self :(

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