The Best Centre-Back Pairing

[Mikhail Chigorin]

Please define, in this context, "weird".

You have mentioned him more times than anyone else has mentioned another player in the whole time I've been a member on this board.

Everytime I see your name I expect to see Subotic mentioned at this stage. I thought of that as weird.

No offence pal!

Thanks for your reply - and no offence taken whatsoever.

Unfortunately, I just happen to think Neven Subotic is the best centre back in Europe and I'm aching to see him in a City shirt. However, if this enthusiasm oversteps the bounds of acceptability, I can only apologise although, in all fairness, the Poll did provide for other, non-specified, options to be offered and asked for clarification of these in the posts submitted. This I duly did.

If I have actually "mentioned him more times than anyone else has mentioned any other player" (Palus and Edin Dzeko included ??), I'll certainly have to be more wary in my relevant posts in the future, as I wouldn't want to be categorised as weird.

Given that he's already tagged you, that might be a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Or, as you might put it, proceeding to rectify the aperture of the stable's front entrance in spite of the very fact that one's hiterto domesticised equine companion has long since made its opportunistic departure.

Not seen much of Subotic, but wikipedia tells me he was raised in the US. Maybe he'd fancy it then. Serbia knock out some decent defenders.

Absolutely spot on....now you're talking my language completely (apart from spelling hitherto incorrectly).

As some of the youngsters today might say; "Respect".

[Cocacolajojo1]

Please define, in this context, "weird".

You have mentioned him more times than anyone else has mentioned another player in the whole time I've been a member on this board.

Everytime I see your name I expect to see Subotic mentioned at this stage. I thought of that as weird.

No offence pal!

Thanks for your reply - and no offence taken whatsoever.

Unfortunately, I just happen to think Neven Subotic is the best centre back in Europe and I'm aching to see him in a City shirt. However, if this enthusiasm oversteps the bounds of acceptability, I can only apologise although, in all fairness, the Poll did provide for other, non-specified, options to be offered and asked for clarification of these in the posts submitted. This I duly did.

If I have actually "mentioned him more times than anyone else has mentioned any other player" (Palus and Edin Dzeko included ??), I'll certainly have to be more wary in my relevant posts in the future, as I wouldn't want to be categorised as weird.

Given that he's already tagged you, that might be a case of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Or, as you might put it, proceeding to rectify the aperture of the stable's front entrance in spite of the very fact that one's hiterto domesticised equine companion has long since made its opportunistic departure.

Not seen much of Subotic, but wikipedia tells me he was raised in the US. Maybe he'd fancy it then. Serbia knock out some decent defenders.

Absolutely spot on....now you're talking my language completely (apart from spelling hitherto incorrectly).

As some of the youngsters today might say; "Respect".

:)

[Alioune DVToure]

I like the L/R balance of both the Komps-Lezzer and Komps-Nasti partnerships, but I just feel as though between Kompany and Lescott they cover all bases too. It's a lot like the Ferdinand-Terry partnership which (regardless of the fact they're twats) worked so well for England for years. Komps with the composure and technical ability and Lezzer with the physicality and aerial dominance. And both are very good positionally.

Kompany-Nastasic would be a great partnership if we could work on,
(A) restricting the opposition to very little possession, and
(B) not giving away set pieces in our third.

But personally I always like to have at least one CB who's a bit of a brute (Puyol, Terry, Vidic, Carragher, Dunne etc.). Comes in handy when you're under the cosh.

[Ted Hughes]

I like the L/R balance of both the Komps-Lezzer and Komps-Nasti partnerships, but I just feel as though between Kompany and Lescott they cover all bases too. It's a lot like the Ferdinand-Terry partnership which (regardless of the fact they're twats) worked so well for England for years. Komps with the composure and technical ability and Lezzer with the physicality and aerial dominance. And both are very good positionally.

Kompany-Nastasic would be a great partnership if we could work on,
(A) restricting the opposition to very little possession, and
(B) not giving away set pieces in our third.

But personally I always like to have at least one CB who's a bit of a brute (Puyol, Terry, Vidic, Carragher, Dunne etc.). Comes in handy when you're under the cosh.

In all the years I've watched City I have only ever seen a very few absolutely top defensive partnerships. Doyle Watson as title challengers/League Cup winners, Dunne Distin as firefighters (for one season) & Lescott Kompany as Champions.

I didn't rate the previous title winning defence as highly as some & imo Tommy Booth was too slow to be top class in that position.

Most cb pairings I've seen at City have just been two blokes playing together, not partnerships & rarely champions.

If we played Lescott & Vinny together for this season & they failed to get their shit together, then you bring in a replacement. You don't do it after a couple of bad or average performances.

I remember Hansen Gillespie Lawro etc looking dodgy as fuck at various times & people thinking it's all coming to an end. Next thing, they're 20 games unbeaten, top of the league & European champions.

You don't just discard a title winning partnership like we have done. You presevere & work on it.

I will be surprised if we don't pay for it again next season. Imo, we have just wasted a whole season where we should have been building that defensive unit into a brick wall.

We will be effectively starting from scratch next season.

[Alioune DVToure]

In all the years I've watched City I have only ever seen a very few absolutely top defensive partnerships. Doyle Watson as title challengers/League Cup winners, Dunne Distin as firefighters (for one season) & Lescott Kompany as Champions.

I didn't rate the previous title winning defence as highly as some & imo Tommy Booth was too slow to be top class in that position.

Most cb pairings I've seen at City have just been two blokes playing together, not partnerships & rarely champions.

If we played Lescott & Vinny together for this season & they failed to get their shit together, then you bring in a replacement. You don't do it after a couple of bad or average performances.

I remember Hansen Gillespie Lawro etc looking dodgy as fuck at various times & people thinking it's all coming to an end. Next thing, they're 20 games unbeaten, top of the league & European champions.

You don't just discard a title winning partnership like we have done. You presevere & work on it.

I will be surprised if we don't pay for it again next season. Imo, we have just wasted a whole season where we should have been building that defensive unit into a brick wall.

We will be effectively starting from scratch next season.

I'd understand it more if Lezzer was 33 but he was 29 at the start of the season. Centre-halves are at the top of their game between the ages of 29-33. And it's not like there's any rush to get Nasty bedded in either, given that he's only 19.

The kid has done well but I don't think he should've displaced Lezzer just like that. You could see it coming, though. Mancini has never fancied him in my opinion and that wobble against QPR might have been the final straw.

At least Nasty is decent though, as are Kolo and Micah as cover options.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

I like the L/R balance of both the Komps-Lezzer and Komps-Nasti partnerships, but I just feel as though between Kompany and Lescott they cover all bases too. It's a lot like the Ferdinand-Terry partnership which (regardless of the fact they're twats) worked so well for England for years. Komps with the composure and technical ability and Lezzer with the physicality and aerial dominance. And both are very good positionally.

Kompany-Nastasic would be a great partnership if we could work on,
(A) restricting the opposition to very little possession, and
(B) not giving away set pieces in our third.

But personally I always like to have at least one CB who's a bit of a brute (Puyol, Terry, Vidic, Carragher, Dunne etc.). Comes in handy when you're under the cosh.

In all the years I've watched City I have only ever seen a very few absolutely top defensive partnerships. Doyle Watson as title challengers/League Cup winners, Dunne Distin as firefighters (for one season) & Lescott Kompany as Champions.

I didn't rate the previous title winning defence as highly as some & imo Tommy Booth was too slow to be top class in that position.

Most cb pairings I've seen at City have just been two blokes playing together, not partnerships & rarely champions.

If we played Lescott & Vinny together for this season & they failed to get their shit together, then you bring in a replacement. You don't do it after a couple of bad or average performances.

I remember Hansen Gillespie Lawro etc looking dodgy as fuck at various times & people thinking it's all coming to an end. Next thing, they're 20 games unbeaten, top of the league & European champions.

You don't just discard a title winning partnership like we have done. You presevere & work on it.

I will be surprised if we don't pay for it again next season. Imo, we have just wasted a whole season where we should have been building that defensive unit into a brick wall.

We will be effectively starting from scratch next season.

Apologies if I'm misconstruing the point you're making Ted but, from memory, Tommy Booth didn't break into the team until the 68/69 Cup winning season (scoring in the semi-final against Everton ??)and the main centre-back in 67/68 was George Heslop.

I'm sure John68 (in addition to yourself) will be more than happy to correct me if my memory is now failing me in this.

[Slim]

The problem with Lescott has always been the same. He is great in the air, not too shabby in the pace department and a decent defender, however his biggest shortcoming is his ability to randomly cockup out of nowhere. A title winning defence it may be, but if you recall it was almost thrown away last season, the main culprit was Lescott.

[Ted Hughes]

I like the L/R balance of both the Komps-Lezzer and Komps-Nasti partnerships, but I just feel as though between Kompany and Lescott they cover all bases too. It's a lot like the Ferdinand-Terry partnership which (regardless of the fact they're twats) worked so well for England for years. Komps with the composure and technical ability and Lezzer with the physicality and aerial dominance. And both are very good positionally.

Kompany-Nastasic would be a great partnership if we could work on,
(A) restricting the opposition to very little possession, and
(B) not giving away set pieces in our third.

But personally I always like to have at least one CB who's a bit of a brute (Puyol, Terry, Vidic, Carragher, Dunne etc.). Comes in handy when you're under the cosh.

In all the years I've watched City I have only ever seen a very few absolutely top defensive partnerships. Doyle Watson as title challengers/League Cup winners, Dunne Distin as firefighters (for one season) & Lescott Kompany as Champions.

I didn't rate the previous title winning defence as highly as some & imo Tommy Booth was too slow to be top class in that position.

Most cb pairings I've seen at City have just been two blokes playing together, not partnerships & rarely champions.

If we played Lescott & Vinny together for this season & they failed to get their shit together, then you bring in a replacement. You don't do it after a couple of bad or average performances.

I remember Hansen Gillespie Lawro etc looking dodgy as fuck at various times & people thinking it's all coming to an end. Next thing, they're 20 games unbeaten, top of the league & European champions.

You don't just discard a title winning partnership like we have done. You presevere & work on it.

I will be surprised if we don't pay for it again next season. Imo, we have just wasted a whole season where we should have been building that defensive unit into a brick wall.

We will be effectively starting from scratch next season.

Apologies if I'm misconstruing the point you're making Ted but, from memory, Tommy Booth didn't break into the team until the 68/69 Cup winning season (scoring in the semi-final against Everton ??)and the main centre-back in 67/68 was George Heslop.

I'm sure John68 (in addition to yourself) will be more than happy to correct me if my memory is now failing me in this.

You're probably correct, I know Heslop was the main figure for sure, & I can't remember when Booth started, but he tends to be the player most mention on here as the example of Doyle's partner from that era as opposed to Heslop so I should probably of mentioned the era rather than the trophy. The comment still stands for both though. I don't see either pairing as good as Doyle/Watson & when they were available, Booth played mainly midfield.

[Nige]

I like Nasti and appreciate Mancini trying to make Lescott play like Bobby Moore has highlighted a few errors. but, Nasti is not as good as Lescott right now. End of. Especially with the physical side of things.

The wasted pre-season dicking about with a random 3 at the back was the writing on the wall for Lescott. He is a steady left sided cb in a back 4 and if Mancini wants us to end up with 3 at the back I can understand why he favours Nasti.

If Lescott goes in the summer I think it will be a massive loss, especially if we continue with useless kolo or sign a Savic-esq young wannabe as a replacement.

Nige

[Ted Hughes]

The problem with Lescott has always been the same. He is great in the air, not too shabby in the pace department and a decent defender, however his biggest shortcoming is his ability to randomly cockup out of nowhere. A title winning defence it may be, but if you recall it was almost thrown away last season, the main culprit was Lescott.

That's fair comment.

But it's also fair comment for VK & moreso now for Nastasic.

Lescott drops some proper bollocks, did v QPR & v this season Ajax. Vinny & Nastasic have dropped more but for some reason people remember Lescott's & not theirs. I have no idea why this is, but it's true. The mistake Lescott made v Ajax is the usual positioning for Nastasic but people keep missing free headers. People also tend to remember the ones Lescott dropped & got away with like that, but never ever refer to it when it's someone else. I started pointing it out with Nastasic & got accused of hating him, & have since stopped as I can't be arsed, but I've clocked them up & there have been quite a lot. Nobody cares.

If the two fuck up equally on Sunday, Lescott will get the shit for it & it will be remembered. If only Lescott fucks up, people will site it as proof he shouldn't play, even if someone else does it twice the following week.

[Slim]

The problem with Lescott has always been the same. He is great in the air, not too shabby in the pace department and a decent defender, however his biggest shortcoming is his ability to randomly cockup out of nowhere. A title winning defence it may be, but if you recall it was almost thrown away last season, the main culprit was Lescott.

That's fair comment.

But it's also fair comment for VK & moreso now for Nastasic.

Lescott drops some proper bollocks, did v QPR & v this season Ajax. Vinny & Nastasic have dropped more but for some reason people remember Lescott's & not theirs. I have no idea why this is, but it's true. The mistake Lescott made v Ajax is the usual positioning for Nastasic but people keep missing free headers. People also tend to remember the ones Lescott dropped & got away with like that, but never ever refer to it when it's someone else. I started pointing it out with Nastasic & got accused of hating him, & have since stopped as I can't be arsed, but I've clocked them up & there have been quite a lot. Nobody cares.

If the two fuck up equally on Sunday, Lescott will get the shit for it & it will be remembered. If only Lescott fucks up, people will site it as proof he shouldn't play, even if someone else does it twice the following week.

I think it's more forgivable from a 19yo defender who is learning his craft, than a 29yo who should have worked to eliminate this from his game(if you remember, he was the same at Wolves), but I do not agree that Kompany is just as guilty, I believe when he cocks it up, people do remember because it's so out of character for him.

However, this could all be a bit unfair on Lescott who takes a prominent role in meeting the incoming balls through the middle, so maybe it's just that he has more opportunity to cock up.

[Ted Hughes]

The problem with Lescott has always been the same. He is great in the air, not too shabby in the pace department and a decent defender, however his biggest shortcoming is his ability to randomly cockup out of nowhere. A title winning defence it may be, but if you recall it was almost thrown away last season, the main culprit was Lescott.

That's fair comment.

But it's also fair comment for VK & moreso now for Nastasic.

Lescott drops some proper bollocks, did v QPR & v this season Ajax. Vinny & Nastasic have dropped more but for some reason people remember Lescott's & not theirs. I have no idea why this is, but it's true. The mistake Lescott made v Ajax is the usual positioning for Nastasic but people keep missing free headers. People also tend to remember the ones Lescott dropped & got away with like that, but never ever refer to it when it's someone else. I started pointing it out with Nastasic & got accused of hating him, & have since stopped as I can't be arsed, but I've clocked them up & there have been quite a lot. Nobody cares.

If the two fuck up equally on Sunday, Lescott will get the shit for it & it will be remembered. If only Lescott fucks up, people will site it as proof he shouldn't play, even if someone else does it twice the following week.

I think it's more forgivable from a 19yo defender who is learning his craft, than a 29yo who should have worked to eliminate this from his game(if you remember, he was the same at Wolves), but I do not agree that Kompany is just as guilty, I believe when he cocks it up, people do remember because it's so out of character for him.

However, this could all be a bit unfair on Lescott who takes a prominent role in meeting the incoming balls through the middle, so maybe it's just that he has more opportunity to cock up.

Of course it's more forgiveable; you hope that one day he will learn, but if he's being picked for a fist team job because the bloke he's replacing allegedly makes mistakes, then he actually makes twice as many, it becomes nonsense.

Lescott's crime this season is not picking up a bloke for Ajax' goal. A mistake for sure, but the way it was highlighted by Mancini ? Totally out of order. He has made very few others of that level.

Nastasic has done that 4 or 5 times since.

Vinny got Milner sent off due to an horrendous fuck up v West Brom. Most people ignored Vinny's part afterwards & instead slated Lescott after that game becuse he was beaten for pace on one occasion, after he'd just run back the length of the pitch, by a geezer who will beat all our defenders for pace 100% of the time. But the reasoning is 'ah yes but Vinny's class though' so basically, it's ok for him to fuck up.

VK has dropped some absolute stinkers this season, rags' 1st goal being another one (Nasti was also hopeless in the same move).

Nobody cares, but they care if it happens to Lescott & they never forget it.

I find it bizarre.

[Slim]

The problem with Lescott has always been the same. He is great in the air, not too shabby in the pace department and a decent defender, however his biggest shortcoming is his ability to randomly cockup out of nowhere. A title winning defence it may be, but if you recall it was almost thrown away last season, the main culprit was Lescott.

That's fair comment.

But it's also fair comment for VK & moreso now for Nastasic.

Lescott drops some proper bollocks, did v QPR & v this season Ajax. Vinny & Nastasic have dropped more but for some reason people remember Lescott's & not theirs. I have no idea why this is, but it's true. The mistake Lescott made v Ajax is the usual positioning for Nastasic but people keep missing free headers. People also tend to remember the ones Lescott dropped & got away with like that, but never ever refer to it when it's someone else. I started pointing it out with Nastasic & got accused of hating him, & have since stopped as I can't be arsed, but I've clocked them up & there have been quite a lot. Nobody cares.

If the two fuck up equally on Sunday, Lescott will get the shit for it & it will be remembered. If only Lescott fucks up, people will site it as proof he shouldn't play, even if someone else does it twice the following week.

I think it's more forgivable from a 19yo defender who is learning his craft, than a 29yo who should have worked to eliminate this from his game(if you remember, he was the same at Wolves), but I do not agree that Kompany is just as guilty, I believe when he cocks it up, people do remember because it's so out of character for him.

However, this could all be a bit unfair on Lescott who takes a prominent role in meeting the incoming balls through the middle, so maybe it's just that he has more opportunity to cock up.

Of course it's more forgiveable; you hope that one day he will learn, but if he's being picked for a fist team job because the bloke he's replacing allegedly makes mistakes, then he actually makes twice as many, it becomes nonsense.

Lescott's crime this season is not picking up a bloke for Ajax' goal. A mistake for sure, but the way it was highlighted by Mancini ? Totally out of order. He has made very few others of that level.

Nastasic has done that 4 or 5 times since.

Vinny got Milner sent off due to an horrendous fuck up v West Brom. Most people ignored Vinny's part afterwards & instead slated Lescott after that game becuse he was beaten for pace on one occasion, after he'd just run back the length of the pitch, by a geezer who will beat all our defenders for pace 100% of the time. But the reasoning is 'ah yes but Vinny's class though' so basically, it's ok for him to fuck up.

VK has dropped some absolute stinkers this season, rags' 1st goal being another one (Nasti was also hopeless in the same move).

Nobody cares, but they care if it happens to Lescott & they never forget it.

I find it bizarre.

Well it does seem as if you have every other centrebacks errors fully documented, so thankfully we only have to remember Lescott's.

[Moonchesteri]

Of course it's more forgiveable; you hope that one day he will learn, but if he's being picked for a fist team job because the bloke he's replacing allegedly makes mistakes, then he actually makes twice as many, it becomes nonsense.

Lescott's crime this season is not picking up a bloke for Ajax' goal. A mistake for sure, but the way it was highlighted by Mancini ? Totally out of order. He has made very few others of that level.

Nastasic has done that 4 or 5 times since.

Vinny got Milner sent off due to an horrendous fuck up v West Brom. Most people ignored Vinny's part afterwards & instead slated Lescott after that game becuse he was beaten for pace on one occasion, after he'd just run back the length of the pitch, by a geezer who will beat all our defenders for pace 100% of the time. But the reasoning is 'ah yes but Vinny's class though' so basically, it's ok for him to fuck up.

VK has dropped some absolute stinkers this season, rags' 1st goal being another one (Nasti was also hopeless in the same move).

Nobody cares, but they care if it happens to Lescott & they never forget it.

I find it bizarre.

Agreed mate. Bizarre

[Blue Since 76]

The problem with Lescott has always been the same. He is great in the air, not too shabby in the pace department and a decent defender, however his biggest shortcoming is his ability to randomly cockup out of nowhere. A title winning defence it may be, but if you recall it was almost thrown away last season, the main culprit was Lescott.

Of the goals we let in against QPR, one was definitely Lescott's fault. However I seem to recall a much lauded centre half make a complete hash of a challenge on the wing which led to their second. EVERY centre half makes mistakes and, like keepers, their mistakes usually lead to goals or at least very good chances.

As a pairing from the current squad, it has to be Lescott and Kompany. They were better than the sum of the parts, as has been shown this season when they've played without the other one. Unfortunately, Bob has treated Lescott badly for a couple of seasons and I'm not sure he has the confidence anymore.

I think Richards would be a great partner for Kompany going forwards, as he's beings the pace and physicality that Kmpany lacks. Kompany brings the positional sense that Richards has none of. However, I'm not sure Bob would want two right footed players and it'd mean Kompany moving to the left as there's no way Richards could cope there.

I suspect Bob's first choice will be Nasti and Kompany. They looked dodgy as anything early on but were improving as a pairing before Kompany's injury. Hopefully they can finish the season together and be fit and ready for next.

[Beefymcfc]

I like him. Although I don't think he should be starting against the likes of Real, he will be a very good player in our system.

[bobadji]

I voted Nasty and Kompany because I do think that Nastacic is a much better centre back than he looks. He plays it pretty cool most of the time and doesn't do anything dramatic but he gets the job done. In a way he's our new Charlie (which I still miss by the way). WIth the proper management and advice he can definitely turn out to be one of the great centre backs of the league.

That's a big if though. Because at the same time he sometimes seems to be doing much better than he really is. He can become pretty arrogant at times. Sometimes he'll leave a gap, have it exposed by the opposition and will thus have created a pretty bad situation. He more than often gets helped out though, so no worries. But because he didn't really break a sweat trying to fix the problem he first created, he gives the impression that it was all part of his plan. In this aspect he's also our new Charlie.

couldn't agree more with this. Also, think the lack of attention around him is only a positive, he's 19, in a completly new country and he doesn't look out of place in our first team. Think he shits on Lescott, especially in our system, we see so much of the ball in most games we need our centrebacks to be comfortable on the ball and Lescott is just an oaf in that aspect.

[Cocacolajojo1]

I voted Nasty and Kompany because I do think that Nastacic is a much better centre back than he looks. He plays it pretty cool most of the time and doesn't do anything dramatic but he gets the job done. In a way he's our new Charlie (which I still miss by the way). WIth the proper management and advice he can definitely turn out to be one of the great centre backs of the league.

That's a big if though. Because at the same time he sometimes seems to be doing much better than he really is. He can become pretty arrogant at times. Sometimes he'll leave a gap, have it exposed by the opposition and will thus have created a pretty bad situation. He more than often gets helped out though, so no worries. But because he didn't really break a sweat trying to fix the problem he first created, he gives the impression that it was all part of his plan. In this aspect he's also our new Charlie.

couldn't agree more with this. Also, think the lack of attention around him is only a positive, he's 19, in a completly new country and he doesn't look out of place in our first team. Think he shits on Lescott, especially in our system, we see so much of the ball in most games we need our centrebacks to be comfortable on the ball and Lescott is just an oaf in that aspect.

Yeah. On the other hand that tackle on Ba which left Kolo alone with Ivanovic and Ramires was not his proudest moment. There was also a moment when he got caught with the ball against a Chelsea player close to one of our corner flags and when he attempted to hoof it upwards it bounced awkwardly a couple of meters to the right. If he'd been unlucky it would have landed at Ba (think) who was standing a few yards away. It didn't though, but no thanks to anything but luck.

He does these things. Because he's 19. I support him but I think Ted has a point in that we shouldn't get carried away, although I don't agree with his evaluation of his potential.

[Ted Hughes]

I voted Nasty and Kompany because I do think that Nastacic is a much better centre back than he looks. He plays it pretty cool most of the time and doesn't do anything dramatic but he gets the job done. In a way he's our new Charlie (which I still miss by the way). WIth the proper management and advice he can definitely turn out to be one of the great centre backs of the league.

That's a big if though. Because at the same time he sometimes seems to be doing much better than he really is. He can become pretty arrogant at times. Sometimes he'll leave a gap, have it exposed by the opposition and will thus have created a pretty bad situation. He more than often gets helped out though, so no worries. But because he didn't really break a sweat trying to fix the problem he first created, he gives the impression that it was all part of his plan. In this aspect he's also our new Charlie.

couldn't agree more with this. Also, think the lack of attention around him is only a positive, he's 19, in a completly new country and he doesn't look out of place in our first team. Think he shits on Lescott, especially in our system, we see so much of the ball in most games we need our centrebacks to be comfortable on the ball and Lescott is just an oaf in that aspect.

Yeah. On the other hand that tackle on Ba which left Kolo alone with Ivanovic and Ramires was not his proudest moment. There was also a moment when he got caught with the ball against a Chelsea player close to one of our corner flags and when he attempted to hoof it upwards it bounced awkwardly a couple of meters to the right. If he'd been unlucky it would have landed at Ba (think) who was standing a few yards away. It didn't though, but no thanks to anything but luck.

He does these things. Because he's 19. I support him but I think Ted has a point in that we shouldn't get carried away, although I don't agree with his evaluation of his potential.

I haven't got an evaluation of his potential, I am waiting to find out exactly what he can & can't do. So far he is not as good defensively at cb as Micah was at a younger age. Micah ended up having to move out because he wasn't considered solid enough to play there for a mid table team.

I want to see Nastasic play a game like Kolo Toure did on Sunday.

Standing around occupying space & making an occasional interception may be what Bob is asking Nastasic to do, but SOMEBODY has to do the kind of shit that Kolo did; haring around tackling people & actually preventing the oppo from scoring.

Lescott, Vinny, Micah & now Kolo, ALL do it. Nastasic stands next to them looking unruffled & cleaning up loose balls.

I want to see him fucking ruffled, flying into tackles & headers & yes he will MAKE MISTAKES because of it; he did when he tried it on Sunday.

Lescott would rarely make a mistake if he played like Nastasic, he just wouldn't stop many key attacks either & people would question why it's always the other bloke who is doing the defending.

I have rarely seen Nastasic do any big important defending & until he starts doing it, I can't judge his potential.

I thought he'd started on Sunday, but when I saw the replay, it was Garcia, slotting into Nastasic's place & doing it for him.

Garcia therefore goes way up in my estimation & Nastasic back down.

[london blue 2]

I think you're doing him an injustice Ted, it seems you have a Carl like obsession with Nasty but keep trying to play it down like you dont. If he makes a mistake you seem quick to point it out however when he has a good game it's always his partner doing the hard work and him doing the easy stuff.

I think the fact that he rarely looks ruffled is testament to his ability, going unnoticed in a winning team is not always a bad thing. Especially when you're a 19 yo in the hardest league in the world (arguably).