When all fit, who should be our starting CB pair?

[Guinness Boy]

If all four are fit then it's a very nice problem to have and one I'd find difficult to sort out as a manager. I would go along with the theory that Dunk and Goldson should keep possession of the shirt until they lose it. Goldson has been a revelation and also very patient, biding his time professionally earlier in the season.

Each has a weakness however which you may want to take in to account when assessing who our opposition are. I'm not at all convinced by Uwe in the air so against anyone with a couple of big lads he might miss out. Similarly Greer is only going to get slower so may not be ideal against a pacy side. Dunk seems to thrive on the big games. Often his errors are against the lesser sides (e.g. the penalty that never was against MK, losing Heskey for Bolton's first on Saturday). Goldson is just a bit unproven at this level, but otherwise looks the complete CB. So it could well be Goldson + 1 for the rest of the season.

 

[beefypigeon]

I've taken a look at the number of goals conceded per minutes played, the stats make "interesting" reading.

As a team we've played 6670 minutes and conceded 64 goals

Team average is therefore 104 minutes 13 seconds per goal

So how do individuals rank against the team average?

Dunk played 2524 minutes and conceded 24 goals
Goldson played 820 minutes and conceded 7 goals
Greer played 1923 minutes and conceded 21 goals
Hunemeir played 1212 and conceded 10 goals

So individually, for minutes per goal conceded, the players involved ranked:

1st Goldson = 117 mins 8 secs (12 minutes 55 seconds better than average)
2nd Hunemier = 113 mins 48 secs (9 minutes 35 seconds better than average)
3rd Dunk = 105 mins 10 secs (0 minutes 57 seconds better than average)
4th Greer = 91 mins 24 secs (12 minutes 49 seconds worse than average)

And what about partnerships?

Dunk / Goldson played together for 786 minutes and conceded 6 goals
Dunk / Greer played together for 1099 minutes and conceded 12 goals
Dunk / Hunemier played together for 531 minutes and conceded 3 goals
Goldson / Greer played together for 34 minutes and conceded 1 goal
Greer / Hunemier played together for 681 minutes and conceded 7 goals
Goldson / Hunemier have not played together

So as partnerships, for minutes per goal conceded, they ranked:

1st Dunk / Hunemier = 177 minutes 0 seconds (72 minutes 47 seconds better than average)
2nd Dunk / Goldson = 131 minutes 0 seconds (26 minutes 47 seconds better than average)
3rd Greer / Hunemier = 97 minutes 17 seconds (6 minutes 56 seconds worse than average)
4th Dunk / Greer = 91 minutes 35 seconds (12 minutes 38 seconds worse than average)

So there you have it, Dunk and Hunemier are statistically our best partnership.

Obviously this is very subjective, Greer may have played in tougher matches, but on paper it looks like he is the weak link.

This is fantastic. Analyzing goals conceded makes more sense than points earned imo.

 

[biddles911]

If all four are fit then it's a very nice problem to have and one I'd find difficult to sort out as a manager. I would go along with the theory that Dunk and Goldson should keep possession of the shirt until they lose it. Goldson has been a revelation and also very patient, biding his time professionally earlier in the season.

Each has a weakness however which you may want to take in to account when assessing who our opposition are. I'm not at all convinced by Uwe in the air so against anyone with a couple of big lads he might miss out. Similarly Greer is only going to get slower so may not be ideal against a pacy side. Dunk seems to thrive on the big games. Often his errors are against the lesser sides (e.g. the penalty that never was against MK, losing Heskey for Bolton's first on Saturday). Goldson is just a bit unproven at this level, but otherwise looks the complete CB. So it could well be Goldson + 1 for the rest of the season.

Absolutely agree with the first paragraph. It would be crazy to change a pair who are both playing well without a good reason e.g. Injury or loss of form.

Weak link for me is still Dunk, who's very prone to making at least one major mistake per game though he seems to be cutting that rate down in recent games so maybe it was lack of game time that was the cause?

His physical presence and good control the rest of the time probably compensate though.

He was probably our best player last season and, given the pressure our defence was always under then due to lack of goals, that's quite an accolade so clearly he's got it in him.

Greer is clearly getting slower and, given his layoff due to injury, I can't see any reason to bring him back in at this point.

Lest we forget, however, our defensive record has been poor relative to the other leading teams this season and we seem to be very prone to giving away soft goals so clearly all is not rosy in the garden?!

Good problem for CH to have anyway.....

 

[Perkino]

For a number of years ive even a big admirer of Dunk with the feeling that at he will become a very decent centre back, but now I've seen Goldson play i think even higher about his ability than I did Dunks

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Goldson plus 1

He is the MAIN man now. No question.

 

[severnside gull]

Goodson has taken his chance and as long as he performs consistently at this level he should retain the right side CB slot ahead of Greer. I have a feeling that it might be some time before he relinquishes it.
Dunk has regained form and together he and Goldson have the makings of an effective partnership. On that basis he should retain the left side place ahead of Hunnemeier until he (inevitably) succumbs to another bout of lost concentration.

 

[Withdean11]

This is fantastic. Analyzing goals conceded makes more sense than points earned imo.

Not necessarily. Defenders could influence the result of the game not just by not conceding. Simple things like starting counter attacks or playing pin point long balls to send a player through can impact the result.

There is also the possibility of the midfield sitting deeper if they do not trust the defence as much. This can contribute to not conceding, but may impact what happens at the other end.

Results are the one thing that matters at the end of the day.

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

Not necessarily. Defenders could influence the result of the game not just by not conceding. Simple things like starting counter attacks or playing pin point long balls to send a player through can impact the result.

There is also the possibility of the midfield sitting deeper if they do not trust the defence as much. This can contribute to not conceding, but may impact what happens at the other end.

Results are the one thing that matters at the end of the day.

But if you don't concede, you don't lose.

Defenders get bonuses for clean sheets, Its how they rate themselves.

Of course it's not a perfect system, but for statistical purposes, it's as good as anything else.

With regards to your assertion that defenders should be also judged on the other things they do, in addition to defending, both Dunk and Goldson look very comfortable bringing the ball out and driving into the opposition half, as Dunk proved again last night.

My preference is for Dunk and Goldson at this moment, but I also have a feeling that Hunemier has a lot more to offer than that which we have already seen.

 

[Giraffe]

Dunk and Goldson by a mile.

 

[dazzer6666]

Not necessarily. Defenders could influence the result of the game not just by not conceding. Simple things like starting counter attacks or playing pin point long balls to send a player through can impact the result.

There is also the possibility of the midfield sitting deeper if they do not trust the defence as much. This can contribute to not conceding, but may impact what happens at the other end.

Results are the one thing that matters at the end of the day.

Agree with you, but I think this significantly strengthens the Goldson/Dunk case. Both are far better on the ball, driving forward and more incisive with their passing than at least Greer. Goldson's first instinct once he controls the ball seems to be to drive forward (reminds me of Lawro) and Dunk hits at least 2 or 3 excellent long crossfield passes a game.

 

[Johnny RoastBeef]

Stats please. Which partnerships have conceded more goals, what are the win ratio's?

Right now, would have to vote Dunk and Goldson because we've had 4 wins on the spin regardless of who is fit.

So yesterday I looked at our defenders goals conceded per minute figures and came to the conclusion that Dunk and Hunemier were statistically our meanest partnership.

But, how do they rank in other areas?

I've used the Comparison Matrix on sqawka.com to assess them on all aspects of play, not just their defensive contribution. The following graphic is displaying the metrics averaged per 90 minutes played, as each player has played differing amounts.




So what does it tell us?

Well, surprisingly Uwe Hunemeier is our best defender overall, plus his Aerial duels figures are no worse than Lewis Dunk's, so he is not that bad in the air it seems.

Connor Goldson has won 100% of his Aerial duels and is the best passer of the ball. He also commits the fewest fouls of the four.

Lewis Dunk has 3.16 interceptions per 90 mins, and he has the most tackles won, so he probably reads the game best, but the flip side is he makes the most defensive errors and has a higher number of lost tackles than the others. But these only lead to goals 0.04 times per 90 minutes, which I believe is only once this season.

Gordon Greer's overall defensive score is well below that of the others, but he has suffered a couple of injuries mid match, which may have skewed his figures a touch.

 

[Hamilton]

Agree with others, that this is a nice problem to have - which do we want to field?

 

[Marshy]

Dunk and Goldson

The 2 best footballers
The 2 Quickest
The 2 Youngest
The 2 who will improve most

Bit of a no brainer really in my opinion