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Great to see him back in the team and look like he had never been away!

Will be interesting to see if he stays in the team when Gibson is back to 100%. On that performance you would have to think Zimbo would get the nod.

 

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Indeed I still think he’s the best central defender we’ve got, but big shout out to Hanley yesterday was outstanding, his blocks and heading was excellent. If they carry on like that Gibson will have to be happy warming the bench. 👍

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He did well overall but got his body shape wrong for one of the Swans attacks and ended up miles away from the lad running through who luckily shot straight at Krul. I think Gibson and Hanley is our first choice partnership at the moment although probably not a huge amount of difference between Hanley and Zimbo. 

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Though Zimbo & Gibson combo would be very good, both big units with good footballing brains.

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Zimmermann, Hanley, and Gibson, with Aarons and Mumba as wing-backs (or mebbe Placheta or Quintilla) sounds like the way forward to me. If Bushiri or Omobamidele are coming on, get one of those with Famewo in January, and start three at the back with two reserve centre-halves.

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29 minutes ago, Indy said:

Though Zimbo & Gibson combo would be very good, both big units with good footballing brains.

Hanley is quicker than both of them so, although he has a mistake in him most games, I'd pick him first and one of the other two on current form. 

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Just now, Fuzzar said:

Hanley is quicker than both of them so, although he has a mistake in him most games, I'd pick him first and one of the other two on current form. 

The problem is sometimes Hanley takes three seconds to react to the situation, by which time he I made to look like an old cart horse, additionally, Zimmermann and Gibson have a good pass in them.

But can’t argue at present, Hanley was superb yesterday.

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Gibson will be straight back in for Zimbo when fit. We're not paying him to warm the bench, and a left foot right foot combo at centre back always works better.

Agree Hanley has been immense this season.

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1 hour ago, TheGunnShow said:

Zimmermann, Hanley, and Gibson, with Aarons and Mumba as wing-backs (or mebbe Placheta or Quintilla) sounds like the way forward to me. If Bushiri or Omobamidele are coming on, get one of those with Famewo in January, and start three at the back with two reserve centre-halves.

I like the sound of that until I try to fit in the forward players! Pukki, Stiepermann, Rupp, Skipp, Buendia, Cantwell, Vrancic, Placheta. Who do you leave out?

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6 minutes ago, All the Germans said:

I like the sound of that until I try to fit in the forward players! Pukki, Stiepermann, Rupp, Skipp, Buendia, Cantwell, Vrancic, Placheta. Who do you leave out?

McClean 😂

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Hanley as far as the defending side is concerned and he is quicker than the other two.Thought both he and Zimmerman played well yesterday.Bit controversial here but we seem to be defending better since two of our defenders left for pasture new.

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44 minutes ago, clever trevor said:

Hanley as far as the defending side is concerned and he is quicker than the other two.Thought both he and Zimmerman played well yesterday.Bit controversial here but we seem to be defending better since two of our defenders left for pasture new.

Perhaps it's because we're playing Championship teams 

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Godfrey was playing at the start of the season and I’m not saying that they are not good players but they still have a lot to learn when it comes to defending.

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I think we will need 3 CB's in the run up to xmas and beyond, hope that this international break can allow 1 or 2 of our lesser injured to get back to 100% fitness. Checked the fixture list and from the next game on Nov. 21st  until Boxing Day  Champs clubs have 10 league  games to play..thats 10 fixtures in just over a month...bonkers indeed.

As things stand right now we sold Godfrey for a very good price and in Hanley, Zimbo and Gibson have 3 Champs CB's plus a GK that few other clubs in this legue can  match, but keeping them all fit thru the coming fixture melee will be crucial.

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On 08/11/2020 at 13:51, All the Germans said:

I like the sound of that until I try to fit in the forward players! Pukki, Stiepermann, Rupp, Skipp, Buendia, Cantwell, Vrancic, Placheta. Who do you leave out?

I never got round to answering this, but off the top of my head going three at the back, this is probably what I'd do. Players in brackets are likely replacements / subs, etc. Left the brackets only for one of the centre-halves to save repetition.

GK: Tim KRUL (McGovern, Barden)
LCB: Ben GIBSON
CB: Christoph ZIMMERMANN (Sorensen, Tettey, Famewo if he comes back)
RCB: Grant HANLEY (c)
LWB: Xavi QUINTILLA (Mumba, Placheta, Byram)
RWB: Max AARONS (Mumba, Byram, Rupp)
RDM: Oliver SKIPP (Tettey, Sorensen)
LDM: Lukas RUPP (McLean, Vrancic)
RAM: Emiliano BUENDIA (Stiepermann, Dowell, Hernandez, Placheta, Sinani if he comes back)
LAM: Todd CANTWELL (Martin, Vrancic, Hernandez, Placheta, maybe Mumba, Sinani if he comes back)
CF: Teemu PUKKI (Hugill, Idah)

Mentioning both Placheta and Hernandez in the attacking midfielders is more if we're chasing a game and decide to widen it/open it up. I've said before that Vrancic is probably more of a deep-lying playmaker but would also say he may be better suited if there are three deeper midfielders instead of two. That said, if you've three centre-halves instead of our typical four at the back with two centre-halves, it may work better with the extra man, but that's merely hypothesising at my end.

Not to mention it's not hard to go two up top in this line-up, just take an attacking midfielder off and put Idah or Hugill on.

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DF has tinkered with 3 at the back during games and in a few friendlies if I remember rightly. Obviously his defensive options have regularly been hampered by players being unavailable in recent times. Quite a few on here, myself included, have often thought that the squad personnel might be well suited to a wing-back formation. But DF has never really pushed it. Perhaps he feels we might sacrifice control around the central areas? Or that our attacking midfielders are what makes things tick? 

If Sorensen stakes his claim for a spot, perhaps we might see a bit more of this formation? DF is flexible & isn't afraid to give players a crack in areas other than their perceived ideal positions. There's a fairly high probability of another CB coming in to compete in January too. Interesting times.

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Are we now accepting that Sorensen is a legitimate centre back option? I mean some of us who mentioned it were rather set upon by some preaching he’s not a CB?!

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Not sure if Zimbo will retain his place when BG is back.

I think Gibson is better than Godfrey. There, I said it. 

Godfrey has oodles of potential and will definitely progress, but for what we need NOW, Gibson edges it for me. Really solid defender and can pick a pass. Hope we buy him!

Edited by BobLoz3

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5 minutes ago, Downloads said:

I don't see the point of 3 at the back when most teams aren't coming to beat us

It's not all about what gets us up (we hope), and some of it is about grooving in a style of play that will help us if we do instead of starting completely afresh in a higher division. Not to mention that both Gibson and Zimmermann could both use those longer diagonal balls they have a predilection to hitting.

At the same time, it's also just theoretical. We certainly have played three at the back before, particularly in Farke's first season.

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38 minutes ago, Downloads said:

I don't think your point is without merit, just concerned it may derail what we have...

Fair point, basically if we accept that the likes of Trybull, Leitner, Drmic etc. have been cast aside and new lads have been brought in with the aim of seeing if we can stick around better, then it also makes sense in my eyes that there's an attempt at bringing a different style of play along (dare I say it, a plan B!)

Essentially, I'm just saying due to the squad rebuild, we're in quite the state of flux already.

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1 hour ago, Downloads said:

I don't see the point of 3 at the back when most teams aren't coming to beat us

It's a total myth that three at the back is always a defensive system.

Just look at teams like Dortmund, who have used it more often than not over the last year or so, and Atalanta who have used it exclusively for several years. They both use it in a very attacking way.

Some teams use it defensively, some use it offensively, just like any other formation.

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I didn't say it was, but you have to have the players.

If we had Godfrey, then i could see him stepping out of defence against Birmingham for example, but our current 3 don't have the passing of Godfrey or the athleticism to get about.

Maybe Sorrenson could, but that seems more like hope than fact...

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1 hour ago, Downloads said:

I didn't say it was, but you have to have the players.

If we had Godfrey, then i could see him stepping out of defence against Birmingham for example, but our current 3 don't have the passing of Godfrey or the athleticism to get about.

Maybe Sorrenson could, but that seems more like hope than fact...

I've been impressed with Sorensen since he's been in the team, looks to be composed and can play a killer pass. 

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