United Post Ferguson CB Rank Off

[tomaldinho1]

I think the best pairing randomly was Jones/Rojo under Jose until Jones got another injury.

Martinez de ligt I think will be very good.

 

[CannibalSpectre]

Well, it was under Mourinho's very defensive football, and with a God De Gea behind the center-backs.

Mourinho was pragmatic but defense wasnt his first go to. LVG was even more pragmatic during his time at united with his possession approach, especially after that early 5-3 loss to Liecester.

We still conceded more goals in LVGs first two seasons than we did under Mourinho's first two.

 

[MadDogg]

Thanks for the replies so far!

So based on this on paper where do you think De Ligt + Martinez will end up? Or Yoro + Martinez and De Ligt and Yoro?

I tend to think (or hope) that De Ligt-Martinez will be the #1 within a year or two as long as they can stay fit.

Then hopefully Yoro plus one of them will take over as the best in the next few years after that.

 

[MadDogg]

I'm pretty sure Smalling and Blind started more than the 16 PL matches Varane and Martinez did according to the stats presented by @A-man

In 2015-16 Blind was a nailed on starter at CB. It's the position he played the most during his time at united, and he played his most minutes for united during that season.

I have to check, but to my recollection both Blind and Smalling made over 50 appearances in all competitions that season. I can't see Varane and Martinez numbers together at CB coming close

Edit: Smalling appeared 35 times in the league in 2015-16, playing 3150 mins in the PL and 810 in Europe

Blind also had 35 appearances in the league, with 3117 mins there and 837 in Europe

Oh yes they certainly played together more than Martinez-Varane, but my guess would be that only about half of the 103 matches and 8256 minutes that you first mentioned were as a central defensive partnership. Which does seem accurate based on your figures there, unless they played together in central defence more than I remember in other seasons. My recollection is that it was basically only 15/16 that it happened, then Mourinho came in and dropped both of them down the pecking order (Smalling fought his way back to first choice the following season though).

 

[A-man]

Yeah fair enough I didn't realise that Martinez and Varane played so few games season before last. Thanks for the info. May actually move them slightly down on my list.

Martinez-Varane have an actually never played more than 4 PL matches in a row together, and that has happened only once. They had 7-8 really good games in the autumn 2022, but overall their partnership had little significance, at least in the PL. I would say they had more impact individually 2022/23, especially Varane who was good whomever he played with.

 

[Bogga]

Wasn't Rojo and Blind quite ok when they played together?