Who Is Our Best Centre Back?

[LeJuge 0]

And when was the last time we had trouble deciding? I just can''t bleedin decide. If I have ever had this problem before it was probably when the ONLY centre backs we had were Shackell and Doherty, in that season that they were both f''in awful. Perhaps we can say that we were hard pushed to choose the best out of Fleming and Mackay in the promotion winning season, both were quality, although for me Mackay pipped it for being as hard as f*ck.Whitbread, Barnett and Ward. Well, I''ll ignore Edwards because he isn''t really ours, they are all absolutely class at this level.  For me I have to go with Ward just because he can ping the ball about like David Beckham on his day, although Barnett seems to win absolutely every ball that he goes for, and Whitbread is looking about ten times better than he did in his first few games for the club.I think I''m going to plump for Ward. Who do you rate the highest and why? And, do you think we will be putting a bid in for Rob Edwards at the end of this season?

[Gooders_Army 0]

barnett or whitbread he is quality

[O.T.B.C 1]

I would day on his day Whitbred. I always knew he would come good once he was over those injuries, just took too long for him to get over it.

Ward can be brilliant but at times, he lacks the concentration and/or his brain actually thinks he is better than he is. I like the way he strokes the ball out of defence, but sometimes, he needs to hoof it.

Barnett is prine to more lapses of concentration, but has the all important pace to get him out of trouble. He is more commited in tackles and headers than the other 2.

Zak is probably the best tackler and passer in the back, although not the tallest, he has a great jump. He makes it look easy.

Any of those 3 plus Edwards are a good combo, but the player who has the most for me is Zak.

[Wak Zhitbread 0]

I know they are all fantastic centre halves but I think Ward seems to be a bit less consistent. I love barnett''s pace and everything else but Whitbreads composure wins it for me ;)

[LeJuge 0]

I probably would have gone for Barnett had he not got that stupid red card by throwing the ball at the ref just after we signed him on a perm. That made me realise that he is one of those footballers who are blessed with footballing ability at the detriment of their brain. With Whitbread, I do rate him very very highly, but I want to see him over a full season, because we have seen bad Whitbread before and I would need to be convinced that he isn''t prone to being bad Whitbread in spells (like Shackell used to go through bad form).Talking about Shackell, I bet he would be immense under Lambert, because he was definitely a confidence player.

[Gooders_Army 0]

whitbread and leon as a partnership would be awesome but I do like ward and he likes playing the ball out from the back which starts off attacks

[Lambo 0]

Whitbred.

[The Great Drinkell 51]

Barnett is learning his trade still but has the potential to be very very good but at the moment it''s Whitbread purely for his consistency.

[nutty nigel 7,902]

[quote user="The Great Drinkell"]Barnett is learning his trade still but has the potential to be very very good but at the moment it''s Whitbread purely for his consistency.[/quote]

 

Agreed Drinks[Y] And I reckon he''ll have "The Boy Blunder" Wickham in his back pocket when they meet next month[;)]

 

 

[Gandhis homeboy 0]

A few weeks ago I would have said Barnett. Great commitment and athleticism. However, Whitbread has been immense in the past few weeks. The man knows how to time his jumps and his passing is top notch. Especially the balls down the left early on against Bristol.

[CDMullins 498]

Barnett, closely followed by Whitbread.

Though I do like Ward aswell.

[yellow blood 0]

I bet Ipswich have a youth team player that is better than all of them though [:P]

[Row D Seat 7 0]

Barnett is a great reader of the game. Good player. Followed by Whitbread. Then comes Ward, who I think can be our weak link at times.

[Nexus_Canary 1,206]

Zak Attack

[Bill 1,788]

"because he was definitely a confidence player" what on earth is that ?

Someone who runs the channels while putting in a good shift as an assister

[Brendo 0]

LEOOOOOOON!

[GJP 79]

Very little to choose between the 3 of them. They''ve all been brilliant for us this season.

 

I do think it''s worth pointing out though that Ward started the season playing on the left side of defence alongside Nelson, he then got a new partner in Barnett, since then he''s had another new partner in Whitbread and he''s been asked to switch sides to the right of defence. You don''t see too many players who can switch from left to right with as much comfort as he has shown.

[newyorkcanary 14]

Can you guess who I will choose? C''mon its not like these boards praise Yanks all that often. Lets give it up for Zak!

[Smudger 0]

I agree with the OP and GJP.Ward is the best for me.  He has been the one who has led our defence all season (try watching for who talks to, organises and positions the rest of their defenders in a match for a change instead of looking at the basics of defending).  Ward is also by far the best centre half we have at bringing the ball out from the back and being a little bit creative with the ball at his feet.I would say that Zak is excellent in the air, great in the tackle with fantastic positional sense and is extremely well organised.Barnett is also a good player but would be my third choice.  He gets caught out of position too often and it is only his pace and last ditch challenges which cover this weakness in his game.  For me he is also far worse than the other two at distributing the ball, which leads to us giving away posession of the ball once the defence has won it far more often.How many are going to laugh at me now when I suggested that we would not miss Barnett when he got injured and that Ward and Zak could potentially be our best centre half partnership?  I think that Barnett will have one hell of a job winning his place back in the team without an injury happening to one of the other two.  Ward and Zak have been excellent for me and maybe playing these two behind fox at the base of the diamond is another reason why Fox has been playing so well recently?

[The ghost of Michael Theoklitos 0]

This is just a question, and not a criticism to the OP, players, or the thread....but...If its so universally regarded that we have our best center backs in ages, why are we not keeping many clean sheets?

[Pabs 0]

Whitbread for me is the best centre back at the club all round. Closely followed by Ward.

For me, Barnett is also a very good player, but needs to learn a lot about positioning. The reason he is so loved for his last minute tackles and blocks is because he is quite often out of position in the first place. This isn''t intended as a criticism, as I think Lambert, Culverhouse and co will get the best out of him in the long run and he has been a good signing.

Why don''t we keep clean sheets ''Norfolk&Chance''? Well, I think it is more to do with our "We''ll score one more than you" attitude. We play such attacking football that we leave ourselves vulnerable at the back - I wouldn''t change that style of play. Of course, we also concede avoidable goals (Donny home, Hull away) but who doesn''t? We defnitely have the best defensive players we have done for years.

[Europe_93 50]

I have only seen a limited amount of games, that especially goes for Whitbread.  Unfairly or not, his big weakness to date, has been injuries.  Physically Barnett is very impressive, man on man (in the Championship anyway) not sure any strikers would get the better of him, but at a higher level he has been exposed at times and is probably still learning in terms of being part of a defensive unit, rather than just a defender.  Ward looks like a man mountain, has a great physical presence, especially in the air, must be re-assuring for players to see him when we concede free kicks and corners, for me  he has been caught "square" at times.

Pre-Lambert any of the 3 would have been certain starters, so illustrates our progression.  In truth I am happy with all 3, if we go up, I would see another defender being brought in to be honest, probably to play alongside Whitbread.

[Fiery Zac 1,066]

[quote user="Smudger"]I agree with the OP and GJP.Ward is the best for me.  He has been the one who has led our defence all season (try watching for who talks to, organises and positions the rest of their defenders in a match for a change instead of looking at the basics of defending).  Ward is also by far the best centre half we have at bringing the ball out from the back and being a little bit creative with the ball at his feet.I would say that Zak is excellent in the air, great in the tackle with fantastic positional sense and is extremely well organised.Barnett is also a good player but would be my third choice.  He gets caught out of position too often and it is only his pace and last ditch challenges which cover this weakness in his game.  For me he is also far worse than the other two at distributing the ball, which leads to us giving away posession of the ball once the defence has won it far more often.How many are going to laugh at me now when I suggested that we would not miss Barnett when he got injured and that Ward and Zak could potentially be our best centre half partnership?  I think that Barnett will have one hell of a job winning his place back in the team without an injury happening to one of the other two.  Ward and Zak have been excellent for me and maybe playing these two behind fox at the base of the diamond is another reason why Fox has been playing so well recently?[/quote]Actually think this where Barnett has the edge of Ward. Before Barnett joined (which admittedly was only after 5 games, 3 in the league) we looked like we lacked leadership at the back, Ruddy was short of confidence, R.Martin hadnt yet taken on the role of v.captain he now seems to bring to the team and Ward/Nelson/Askou were all quietly just getting on with it. Then Barnett came in and i dont know if anyone else noticed the amount of shouting/directing he was giving to the back 4 but for me it was definately noticeable the change in leadership - it seemed as if because he was on loan from the prem he automatically took control from Ward. Not saying this is the sole reason we''ve done so well as we''ve still let in a lot of goals and i actually think Whitbread is an all round better defender than both Ward and Barnett, i just think the effect Barnett had on organisation and his influence over Ward cannot be underestimated.

[???? 0]

Deffo beetween Barnett and USA.... Ward is ok but looks a bit dodgey at times, if we were to go up i would like see us get rid of Ward and perhaps bring in someone like Sean St.Ledger!

[GJP 79]

[quote user="諾維奇城"]Ward is ok but looks a bit dodgey at times, if we were to go up i would like see us get rid of Ward and perhaps bring in someone like Sean St.Ledger![/quote]

So, what you''re saying is that you''d like us to replace our most regular central defender in what has been an excellent season already (and who is only in his first season here) with a defender who has spent most of the season bottom of the league and is likely to be relegated?