Best Centre-Back Pairing?

[Ollie 4,400]

Yes, that one.

[Blue Armour 4,158]

The problem with Cahill and Luiz is that the two of them are push-overs...Luiz when it comes to aerial balls, and Cahill when it comes to attackers who try and run at him with the ball..

You pair either one of them with Ivanovic or Terry, you would get better results....But with Ivanovic, you have a defender who goes brain-dead at certain stages of the match (not acceptable for a CB) and in Terry you have a defender who is past his prime, and thus a bit slower and more prone to making errors.

Hopefully Ivanovic's recent spell on the bench would have given him enough time to recollect and realize where he went wrong, but until then my first choice CB pairing would be : Terry/Luiz , with Terry/Cahill as backup.

[English Freak 456]

Even with his bit of decline, Terry is our best centre back. I hope most agree. I also think/hope most agree that our poorest centre-back is Cahill.

So currently, I'd have to put Luiz - Terry. Ivanovic - Terry is decent in some games too.

Anyway - You know what pairing I want to see one day? Ivanovic - Kalas. Yep. I honestly think that would be rock solid after Kalas developes a bit more. Their styles would compliment eachother's.

I don't see how Ivanovic -- Kalas would work..because Ivanovic is a better RB than CB...and Kalas is starting to feel comfortable at RB for Vitesse...

[Leif 6,006]

Kalas is starting to feel comfortable at RB for Vitesse...

Bertrand feels comfortable on the left wing but it doesn't mean he should play there. Kalas plays at right back because Vitesse lack options. He's a centre back. Always has been, and most likely always will be.

I think some would argue that Ivanovic is actually better at CB than RB. He's a good option for the RB position but Azpi has that spot nailed down. Ivan is better than Cahill at CB, less erratic and more solid than Luiz in general, and then there's only Terry left for a comparison.

[Strike 6,958]

22mek22, on 23 Mar 2013 - 21:04, said:

Terry + Iva?

Ollie, on 24 Mar 2013 - 02:16, said:

Funny, my preferred partnership is the only one not on the list.

Kieran., on 24 Mar 2013 - 02:19, said:

Terry + Ivanovic

been used only twice this season. could be good but i think David Luiz is first-choice ahead of them

edit: even in one of those 2 games, Terry got injured early - (liverpool)

[Strike 6,958]

Excellent, excellent article. Couldn't disagree less, however as said above my number 1 partnership would be Terry - Luiz. If you could update the article and include how many goals each partnership has conceded that'd be wonderful too. It'd give us a clearer picture.

Updated. Heaps further misery on the Cahill-Luiz partnership. 29 goals conceded in 17 games

[Rmpr 8,977]

Terry + Iva are way too slow!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I guess the only sure conclusion we can draw from all this is that all of our CBs have been consistently inconsistent this season. Which forces me more to believe that we will need a CB if not in this summer then in Jan or the summer after at most.

[Ollie 4,400]

Terry + Iva are way too slow!

This ain't FIFA Arsenal's best CB this season has been Mertesacker lol, try using him on FIFA.

I only said JT and Ivanovic because i want Luiz with Ramires in CDM, for the future anyway. We have good options, that's what matters.

[Rmpr 8,977]

This ain't FIFA Arsenal's best CB this season has been Mertesacker lol, try using him on FIFA.

I only said JT and Ivanovic because i want Luiz with Ramires in CDM, for the future anyway. We have good options, that's what matters.

What does FIFA has to do with it?

JT and Iva are a very slow pair, they will get run over a lot of times. Also, I hate Iva as CB because he loves to give gifts to the opposition. Luiz behaves with JT at least, maybe he scares him. LOL!

I strongly believe we need a top CB, but I have no idea whom...

[different level 1,056]

Very interesting article and analysis. Not sure which is the best CB duo as of this moment, but I am surprised so many people are acting like JT should be laid off sooner rather than later. He struggled with his injury and fitness this season, but I still don't think he's done and he'll be back to his best next season. (Some wishful thinking was applied in the last part of the sentence)

[Peace. 4,352]

I won't talk about our best CB pairing, but I wanted to talk about our CB situation and I didn't know where to talk about it.

Well, the situation of the central defense becomes worrisome. Terry isn't what he used to be. And considering the state in which his body is, next season he won't be able to play and performe that much. What's sure, it's that we will have to find a replacement in summer 2014. On the other hand, we have Ivanovic. True that's true that he has been consistent ever since the start of the season... But consistent in average-ness. At this rate, we're likely bound to also find a replacement for him in the summer 2014.

There's only Luiz and Cahill who are ok. Though, they are both mistake-prone, and the englishman isn't that good, at the end of the day. Furthermore, the two just cannot play together.

So the question is, should we look for a defender this summer ? Or wait the other season while wishing that Terry and Ivanovic will do it for one more year ? I don't really know whether we should call-back one of our loanees, or look in the transfert market. But there's one thing that I know, and that's we need a man ready to start right away — not another youngster who we will have to nurture for X months. Because our central defense is not healthy enough to allow that. Considering the current situation, we could sell money while he still has resale value, and get a quite good CB, I don't know, something along the line of Hummels (I am not saying that it has to be him, it's just to illustrate what caliber we need). Or, if Mourinho comes, maybe he could bring Varane in his luggage.

All in all, we need to start looking at this area, sooner than later.

P.S. Though I can say that our best pairing definitely does not include Ivanovic !

[OneMoSalah 8,611]

Ivanovic = bullshit this year.

Terry = falling to pieces, surprised hes in one piece still.

Luiz = crazy, can play good for 89 minutes then shoot himself in the foot in the 90th minute. His random long passes to nobody are very annoying too.

Cahill = average CB, gives his all at least, dependable but not a top quality defender.

Best partnership probably is Luiz and Terry.

Need to get a quality center back in soon though. Either this summer or next.

[The Skipper 20,593]

I've said this from the beginning of the season, our best CB partnership (by far IMO) is Luiz and Terry - they compliment each other well. IMO we would've had a far sturdier defence had both been fit for the majority of the season and paired for the majority of the season.

Only defenders that can come out and say they've had a decent and quite consistent season this year IMO are Luiz and Azpilicueta (and maybe A. Cole to a certain extent) which is a big reason as to why we've been bad defensively this season. I can't really blame them though, I think individually we have one of the best defensive set in the PL but the team's defensive cohesion this season hasn't been good enough (that's from attack to midfield to defence).

Whoever's our coach next season will have a serious look into that hopefully.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

So the question remains, who in particular should we go after that can complement Luiz?

Hummels would be perfect!

[Santiago. 1,500]

Hummels would be perfect!

How? What about the language barrier between him and Luiz? Both of them like to push forward and make reckless challenges. Would they really complement one another?

[The only place to be 11,313]

How? What about the language barrier between him and Luiz? Both of them like to push forward and make reckless challenges. Would they really complement one another?

A good point. Hummels is a great player but he does like to bring the ball out when we need someone who's a bit more utilitarian and basic.

[Ollie 4,400]

Ivanovic was at fault for the first goal yesterday by completely ignoring Rodriguez's run in behind him but all in all they did ok. There was obviously nothing they could do about the FK, Cech practically gave Lambert the whole goal to aim for. Rubbish goalkeeping. I do feel a lot more comfortable when Luiz plays, wherever he plays and i never thought i'd say that. We missed Luiz yesterday, i love the way he drives the team. Future captain imo.