Unpopular opinion maybe, but thought last night showed why the EFL Trophy could work in its present format.
I mean the competition is never going to be popular, its never going to get high attendances until Wembley in what guise - But for the U21 teams, the games last night will be valuable experience for them, and was quite interesting seeing the technical ability on display from one of the best Academies in the country.
Its clear for those youngsters to advance in the game, that they need exposure against the likes of Miles Leaburn, as the majority will no doubt end up at this level, playing against the Hylton's of the EFL with their ability to perform the dark arts... For those who want to play for Chelsea, or at a higher level, well there is the example to be better than that.
Be interesting if the EFL released some stat which showed the number of U21s who have played in this competition (as its been surprisingly in this format since 2016 now), and have gone on to be regulars in their Premier League team, always going to be difficult of course, but am sure there are some.
Remember James Ward-Prowse saying in an interview once, that he secretly went and trained with Havant & Waterlooville to toughen himself up, ahead of playing First Team Football at a higher level... One day, we might get a England World Cup winner saying that the turning point of his career, was when Danny Hylton pinched his pocket money.
This is just a guess but my hunch would be they're more likely to be playing in the Championship than the PL. Academy players who "make it" in the PL often join the first team early. I'm thinking of TAA, Saka, Foden etc. Curtis Jones would've been my guess but he only played in 1 game.
Most of us slag off this "Nothing" competition (myself included), but it's point is to give lower league teams a realistic chance of winning a trophy at Wembley. We can keep trying to kid ourselves that we're too big for this and being in L1 is just a blip, but the stats don't lie. If all history was erased up until 15 years ago, it will show us to be a L1 club that every now & then punches above it's weight and manages to briefly stick it's head above the water, into the championship, before falling back down to it's rightful place. Unless we have an upsurge in fortune, this trophy is the best we can hope for. I still think it's shit though
Unpopular opinion maybe, but thought last night showed why the EFL Trophy could work in its present format.
I mean the competition is never going to be popular, its never going to get high attendances until Wembley in what guise - But for the U21 teams, the games last night will be valuable experience for them, and was quite interesting seeing the technical ability on display from one of the best Academies in the country.
Its clear for those youngsters to advance in the game, that they need exposure against the likes of Miles Leaburn, as the majority will no doubt end up at this level, playing against the Hylton's of the EFL with their ability to perform the dark arts... For those who want to play for Chelsea, or at a higher level, well there is the example to be better than that.
Be interesting if the EFL released some stat which showed the number of U21s who have played in this competition (as its been surprisingly in this format since 2016 now), and have gone on to be regulars in their Premier League team, always going to be difficult of course, but am sure there are some.
Remember James Ward-Prowse saying in an interview once, that he secretly went and trained with Havant & Waterlooville to toughen himself up, ahead of playing First Team Football at a higher level... One day, we might get a England World Cup winner saying that the turning point of his career, was when Danny Hylton pinched his pocket money.
This is just a guess but my hunch would be they're more likely to be playing in the Championship than the PL. Academy players who "make it" in the PL often join the first team early. I'm thinking of TAA, Saka, Foden etc. Curtis Jones would've been my guess but he only played in 1 game.
Yeah I know Mason Burstow will be amongst those names, as remember him playing for Chelsea U21s
Evan Ferguson and Cameron Archer are two others we've come across, who play in the Premier League now
Bur yeah as we saw last night, I didnt really recognise any names who've been tipped as someone to potentially be knocking on the door for the Chelsea First-Team anytime soon - Maybe Dyer who appeared from the bench, as the Sky Commentator mentioned that he's been involved on the bench in Europa League games
Positive from last night. Was though he scored from two headers Miles showed he not ready for a move to a prem u21 side. He looked slow and his ability to turn sharply not what it was, first touch was good , his passing a bit hit and miss did well defending for us.
Most of us slag off this "Nothing" competition (myself included), but it's point is to give lower league teams a realistic chance of winning a trophy at Wembley. We can keep trying to kid ourselves that we're too big for this and being in L1 is just a blip, but the stats don't lie. If all history was erased up until 15 years ago, it will show us to be a L1 club that every now & then punches above it's weight and manages to briefly stick it's head above the water, into the championship, before falling back down to it's rightful place. Unless we have an upsurge in fortune, this trophy is the best we can hope for. I still think it's shit though
It's not for me, and I can wait for a Wembley game that really means something (having been lucky enough to have already seen us play there). This tournament is a dismal reminder of our lowly status, and I have enough of those already.
Positive from last night. Was though he scored from two headers Miles showed he not ready for a move to a prem u21 side. He looked slow and his ability to turn sharply not what it was, first touch was good , his passing a bit hit and miss did well defending for us.
Not sure Miles inability can be seen as a positive. I suspect the sale of Miles will fund a transfer window in the not too distant future so we need him to be attractive to buyers
Unpopular opinion maybe, but thought last night showed why the EFL Trophy could work in its present format.
I mean the competition is never going to be popular, its never going to get high attendances until Wembley in what guise - But for the U21 teams, the games last night will be valuable experience for them, and was quite interesting seeing the technical ability on display from one of the best Academies in the country.
Its clear for those youngsters to advance in the game, that they need exposure against the likes of Miles Leaburn, as the majority will no doubt end up at this level, playing against the Hylton's of the EFL with their ability to perform the dark arts... For those who want to play for Chelsea, or at a higher level, well there is the example to be better than that.
Be interesting if the EFL released some stat which showed the number of U21s who have played in this competition (as its been surprisingly in this format since 2016 now), and have gone on to be regulars in their Premier League team, always going to be difficult of course, but am sure there are some.
Remember James Ward-Prowse saying in an interview once, that he secretly went and trained with Havant & Waterlooville to toughen himself up, ahead of playing First Team Football at a higher level... One day, we might get a England World Cup winner saying that the turning point of his career, was when Danny Hylton pinched his pocket money.
The problem with that stance imo, is it encourages the current practice of the big teams hoarding youngsters.
Loans to lower leagues are great if we want young players to advance in the game, or alternatively the big clubs can stop stealing every prospect from the smaller academies and then stunting their careers through lack of game time.
I would guess the only negative would be that Miles, if he wasn’t already, is now very firmly on the list of young guns Chelsea will be looking to sign up for their football sausage factory.
They released him at 16. That’s when he came to us
Positives- a win-Leaburn and TC scoring- another good performance from TT, my first sight of Zach M.-impressed. Will we see (South)Eastenders Mitchell bros play together in the 1st team? Minor negative- Leaburn lying down with cramp 2nd half?
I've enjoyed the last two banter cup games. For all people talk about us lacking depth it's been a while since we could put out a second lineup for games like this that is full of first team squad players rather than kids who clearly aren't ready to be there or players who wouldn't get in the league side unless we had absolutely no other choice. There's a big difference between giving Docherty a chance to build some confidence, Taylor some more minutes in his legs and players like REG, Mitchell and Edun a chance to try to stake a claim, and playing Kirk, Roddy, Henry and Clayden just to fill the space on the pitch and rest the others. It's a waste of time cup sure, but it's quite nice watching the team in a pretty much stress-free competition on TV. I've definitely enjoyed our two games in it far more than most of the league games this season
If you only watch these highlights you will see 2 mistakes from Zach Mitchell; having watched the whole game he made 3 defensive mistakes that could've led to goals. Despite this he still has a lot of talent and did several good tackles, passing and covering.
The Chelsea youngsters were comfortable on the ball but out of possession they didn't seem that organised and despite a great corner from the impressive Terry Taylor ( bar one poor pass that he took a yellow to stop a potential goal) Leaburn was unmarked at the back post after a CAFC player assisted with a partial block. How a 6ft 5in striker has oceans of space when there are so many Chelsea players in the box is a mystery but I don't care that's Steve Brown's worry !
Nathan Asiimwe went from playing against Journeymen in National league to young Chelsea ballers earning half a million a year. (Washington's 7 year contract goes up every year and could be off the scale) Asiimwe did fine after initially getting used to the contrast and against a team which passes in patterns which can make you dizzy to defend against.
A strong performance by Maynard-Brewer with at least 3 excellent saves compared to his opponent number in the Chelsea goal who played like a rush goalie and one poor pass led to the 1st goal with excellent work by Small who can cross on the left and looked like he was trying to impress with nifty footwork.
A good Cameo by Hylton who left his mark on the Chelsea keeper when 40 yards from goal and the lad decided to stay on his line after that and was discombobulated by the time he was beaten by T. Campbell fine goal with a strong assist from the much derided forward coach of CAFC.
Despite the Opprobrium towards this tournament, it does give game time to fringe players and players like Leaburn who are still getting back to full fitness.
Thought Edun was actually pretty solid yesterday. Was again a bit underwhelmed by A Campbell and Docherty, we desperately need a proper attacking midfielder in Jan. Some nice irony in that a former Chelsea youth player scored 2 against them.
Tyreece Campbell looks really sharp at the moment, Jones needs to find a way to utilise his strengths. I wouldn't be surprised if he edges to leave the club in Jan so he can play in a team that will play him on the wing. Although the stats don't look great for him, he's had some really good spells this season and often looks our biggest threat. Wouldn't be surprised if there's championship interest in him.
Chelsea having a £17m player on a 7 year contract, that looked no better than our younger players playing the same game shows how crazy the disparity in financial wealth is these days. They've taken a punt on a player for 7 years for the same amount we've probably spent in the last 15
Most of us slag off this "Nothing" competition (myself included), but its point is to give lower league teams a realistic chance of winning a trophy at Wembley. We can keep trying to kid ourselves that we're too big for this and being in L1 is just a blip, but the stats don't lie. If all history was erased up until 15 years ago, it will show us to be a L1 club that every now & then punches above it's weight and manages to briefly stick it's head above the water, into the championship, before falling back down to it's rightful place. Unless we have an upsurge in fortune, this trophy is the best we can hope for. I still think it's shit though
That post is equally depressing as it is very true.
Thought Edun was actually pretty solid yesterday. Was again a bit underwhelmed by A Campbell and Docherty, we desperately need a proper attacking midfielder in Jan. Some nice irony in that a former Chelsea youth player scored 2 against them.
Tyreece Campbell looks really sharp at the moment, Jones needs to find a way to utilise his strengths. I wouldn't be surprised if he edges to leave the club in Jan so he can play in a team that will play him on the wing. Although the stats don't look great for him, he's had some really good spells this season and often looks our biggest threat. Wouldn't be surprised if there's championship interest in him.
Chelsea having a £17m player on a 7 year contract, that looked no better than our younger players playing the same game shows how crazy the disparity in financial wealth is these days. They've taken a punt on a player for 7 years for the same amount we've probably spent in the last 15
Cannot see any way that TC leaves in January even on loan, just signed a new 2-3 years deal when he was due to be out of contract and has started the majority of our games.
The real positive with TC is he seems to be improving in that forward role with every game, looks a lot stronger without having lost his pace.
Thought Edun was actually pretty solid yesterday. Was again a bit underwhelmed by A Campbell and Docherty, we desperately need a proper attacking midfielder in Jan. Some nice irony in that a former Chelsea youth player scored 2 against them.
Tyreece Campbell looks really sharp at the moment, Jones needs to find a way to utilise his strengths. I wouldn't be surprised if he edges to leave the club in Jan so he can play in a team that will play him on the wing. Although the stats don't look great for him, he's had some really good spells this season and often looks our biggest threat. Wouldn't be surprised if there's championship interest in him.
Chelsea having a £17m player on a 7 year contract, that looked no better than our younger players playing the same game shows how crazy the disparity in financial wealth is these days. They've taken a punt on a player for 7 years for the same amount we've probably spent in the last 15
He's contracted until 2026 + 1 yr club option sho we hold all the cards on that front. Plus Jones has put a lot of faith in him. Think he learned under MA how important the right coach can be, can't see him moving personally
I've enjoyed the last two banter cup games. For all people talk about us lacking depth it's been a while since we could put out a second lineup for games like this that is full of first team squad players rather than kids who clearly aren't ready to be there or players who wouldn't get in the league side unless we had absolutely no other choice. There's a big difference between giving Docherty a chance to build some confidence, Taylor some more minutes in his legs and players like REG, Mitchell and Edun a chance to try to stake a claim, and playing Kirk, Roddy, Henry and Clayden just to fill the space on the pitch and rest the others. It's a waste of time cup sure, but it's quite nice watching the team in a pretty much stress-free competition on TV. I've definitely enjoyed our two games in it far more than most of the league games this season
Wonder how much of that is equally down to the Manager... What has impressed me about Taylor and Edun especially, even REG with these games, is that they're playing in them with the attitude that if they do well, there is the chance that they'll get more game time as Jones will trust them in the League - In seasons gone by, the likes of Kirk etc. havent used it as an opportunity to impress, and have just gone through the motions seeing it as a token gesture in terms of game time... Maybe I'm wrong and other Managers did treat this competition like Jones has done with performances.
This season though, and players are seeing the impact that Taylor has had from EFL Trophy game time, seeing that he's getting the chance in the League, so know these games aren't completely worthless, so are trying with the aim to follow suit - Still dont know if the players are that bothered by the competition as a whole, as still makes me laugh when Nicky Ajose on commentary said that Konsa (?) had done everyone a favour by missing a penalty against Colchester which saw us exit the competition one year... But at least now they appear to be trying with greater aim and potential reward.
I think Edun is too weak which is less evident against a team of youngsters. It is a good competition to blood players in and I enjoyed watching the match. The player I liked the look of most from them was George who looked quite tricky. I thought it was a good opportunity to give Dixon more minutes but I think it helped Leaburn as he needs to get up to speed and Saturday should aid in that too. T Campbell has made a massive jump and I was pleased he got a goal. I'm sure he can bring goals to his game then we have a bit of a player on our hands.
If Gillesphey had made the errors Mitchell made last night some of you lot would be absolutely pelting him.
But because he's 'one of ours' and 'learning his trade' its fine and you focus on the positives.
What I saw last night of him is that he's no where near ready, and those errors would cost us in a league 1 game. But there will still be the clammer for him to start soon
Thought Edun was actually pretty solid yesterday. Was again a bit underwhelmed by A Campbell and Docherty, we desperately need a proper attacking midfielder in Jan. Some nice irony in that a former Chelsea youth player scored 2 against them.
Tyreece Campbell looks really sharp at the moment, Jones needs to find a way to utilise his strengths. I wouldn't be surprised if he edges to leave the club in Jan so he can play in a team that will play him on the wing. Although the stats don't look great for him, he's had some really good spells this season and often looks our biggest threat. Wouldn't be surprised if there's championship interest in him.
Chelsea having a £17m player on a 7 year contract, that looked no better than our younger players playing the same game shows how crazy the disparity in financial wealth is these days. They've taken a punt on a player for 7 years for the same amount we've probably spent in the last 15
To be honest, I think a lot of it has to come from Tyreece as well. Yesterday was a good reminder of how dangerous he can be but also as pointed out earlier in this thread how he can benefit from very specific coaching. Hylton mapped that goal out for him and he made the most of the opportunity but he needs to get himself to a point where he recognises opportunities like that for himself. I think he can be an effective striker but at the moment he takes up the wrong positions a lot of the time. He's too far from the big striker when the high ball comes over but doesn't stretch play wide enough when we break with the ball on the floor. In the box formation, with two advanced midfielders behind him he can have a lot of joy out on the wing if he recognises the times to pull wide, the times to run off his striker partner and the times to come short and turn into the space when he receives the ball. All stuff that will come with time and work, I don't see why he would be looking to go elsewhere just to not have to learn this stuff. He strikes me as a really hard worker so hopefully we'll start to see the effects of him picking it up
I would guess the only negative would be that Miles, if he wasn’t already, is now very firmly on the list of young guns Chelsea will be looking to sign up for their football sausage factory.
They released him at 16. That’s when he came to us
I doubt that will deter them from wanting him if they think they can make money out of it.
For Leaburn's second there is a clever block by another Charlton player to give him the free header at the far post.
AMB wasn't wearing a mask and made a lot of saves. Are these two facts related?
When TC scores, Super Coach Danny Hylton was in his ear imparting valuable information and motivation.
Hylton could be a useful coach. I hope he spends a lot of time with our young forwards. Not sure what isn't to like about this arrangement.
Hopefully Leaburn will be a lot fitter come the Bromley game, or the 2nd Round so we can consider starting Hylton.
I dont mind him playing in these games, think his experience could be very beneficial for any Striker he's alongside, especially as someone pointed out that he apparently spoke with Campbell before the goal, telling him where he wanted him to be or something?
Even his header which was so unlucky not to end up as a goal, that wasnt as the result of it being Chelsea U21s (Maybe he would have been blocked, beaten to the header by a more experienced player), but that was damned good movement and connection with the ball, doesnt matter who the opposition is really for an effort like that.
Dont really care either if he's on the bench in League games, think he could be a decent asset when we're holding out for a win.
Its when we're chasing points in matches that I dont think he'll be very effective... Maybe he just needs a bit of match sharpness
If Gillesphey had made the errors Mitchell made last night some of you lot would be absolutely pelting him.
But because he's 'one of ours' and 'learning his trade' its fine and you focus on the positives.
What I saw last night of him is that he's no where near ready, and those errors would cost us in a league 1 game. But there will still be the clammer for him to start soon
Agree. Hopefully Zak Mitchell has got a great future in front of him but last night showed he is no where near ready to play in a back four in the league atm.
If Gillesphey had made the errors Mitchell made last night some of you lot would be absolutely pelting him.
But because he's 'one of ours' and 'learning his trade' its fine and you focus on the positives.
What I saw last night of him is that he's no where near ready, and those errors would cost us in a league 1 game. But there will still be the clammer for him to start soon
Well yeah one of them is 28 and played nearly 300 professional games and the other is 19 and has played 40 professional games. If the 28 year old is making similar mistakes to an inexperienced 19 yr old it's a problem
Nice little demonstration to Chelsea that they might want to let one or two of those lads have a spell at Charlton come January. It was a game of men against boys for the most part last night, except one of those on the men’s side was only 18. If we hadn’t jumped on them every time they had the ball they would have probably rung rings around us (maybe not their defenders though).
I’m with Nathan on the viewpoint that I’d rather develop our own players than another teams player but that Chelsea side last night has clearly got a couple of real gems in it that Nathan might be able to use.
If Gillesphey had made the errors Mitchell made last night some of you lot would be absolutely pelting him.
But because he's 'one of ours' and 'learning his trade' its fine and you focus on the positives.
What I saw last night of him is that he's no where near ready, and those errors would cost us in a league 1 game. But there will still be the clammer for him to start soon
Well yeah one of them is 28 and played nearly 300 professional games and the other is 19 and has played 40 professional games. If the 28 year old is making similar mistakes to an inexperienced 19 yr old it's a problem
You've missed my point.
The vitriol Gillesphey gets is totally out of proportion to the mistakes.
He's no where near as bad as some people make him out to be. No he's not the best defender we've ever had but he's better than the alternatives
If Gillesphey had made the errors Mitchell made last night some of you lot would be absolutely pelting him.
But because he's 'one of ours' and 'learning his trade' its fine and you focus on the positives.
What I saw last night of him is that he's no where near ready, and those errors would cost us in a league 1 game. But there will still be the clammer for him to start soon
Well yeah one of them is 28 and played nearly 300 professional games and the other is 19 and has played 40 professional games. If the 28 year old is making similar mistakes to an inexperienced 19 yr old it's a problem
You've missed my point.
The vitriol Gillesphey gets is totally out of proportion to the mistakes.
He's no where near as bad as some people make him out to be. No he's not the best defender we've ever had but he's better than the alternatives
I agree he isn't as bad as some say but I don't think he actually is better than the alternatives. He focusses far too much on the man and not the ball and when a striker escapes his grips they're quicker than him so he's left for dead. If he stopped doing that I think he'd be way better
If Gillesphey had made the errors Mitchell made last night some of you lot would be absolutely pelting him.
But because he's 'one of ours' and 'learning his trade' its fine and you focus on the positives.
What I saw last night of him is that he's no where near ready, and those errors would cost us in a league 1 game. But there will still be the clammer for him to start soon
Well yeah one of them is 28 and played nearly 300 professional games and the other is 19 and has played 40 professional games. If the 28 year old is making similar mistakes to an inexperienced 19 yr old it's a problem
You've missed my point.
The vitriol Gillesphey gets is totally out of proportion to the mistakes.
He's no where near as bad as some people make him out to be. No he's not the best defender we've ever had but he's better than the alternatives
Is he though? Because if the argument is that at least he's better than a teenager then it's not really a ringing endorsement.
Even if some criticism is overboard I don't think it can really be argued that he is presently the weakest of the current senior CBs with the possible exception of Potts who we haven't seen enough of to judge.
Comments
Evan Ferguson and Cameron Archer are two others we've come across, who play in the Premier League now
Bur yeah as we saw last night, I didnt really recognise any names who've been tipped as someone to potentially be knocking on the door for the Chelsea First-Team anytime soon - Maybe Dyer who appeared from the bench, as the Sky Commentator mentioned that he's been involved on the bench in Europa League games
Loans to lower leagues are great if we want young players to advance in the game, or alternatively the big clubs can stop stealing every prospect from the smaller academies and then stunting their careers through lack of game time.
The Chelsea youngsters were comfortable on the ball but out of possession they didn't seem that organised and despite a great corner from the impressive Terry Taylor ( bar one poor pass that he took a yellow to stop a potential goal) Leaburn was unmarked at the back post after a CAFC player assisted with a partial block.
How a 6ft 5in striker has oceans of space when there are so many Chelsea players in the box is a mystery but I don't care that's Steve Brown's worry !
Nathan Asiimwe went from playing against Journeymen in National league to young Chelsea ballers earning half a million a year. (Washington's 7 year contract goes up every year and could be off the scale)
Asiimwe did fine after initially getting used to the contrast and against a team which passes in patterns which can make you dizzy to defend against.
A strong performance by Maynard-Brewer with at least 3 excellent saves compared to his opponent number in the Chelsea goal who played like a rush goalie and one poor pass led to the 1st goal with excellent work by Small who can cross on the left and looked like he was trying to impress with nifty footwork.
A good Cameo by Hylton who left his mark on the Chelsea keeper when 40 yards from goal and the lad decided to stay on his line after that and was discombobulated by the time he was beaten by T. Campbell fine goal with a strong assist from the much derided forward coach of CAFC.
Despite the Opprobrium towards this tournament, it does give game time to fringe players and players like Leaburn who are still getting back to full fitness.
Tyreece Campbell looks really sharp at the moment, Jones needs to find a way to utilise his strengths. I wouldn't be surprised if he edges to leave the club in Jan so he can play in a team that will play him on the wing. Although the stats don't look great for him, he's had some really good spells this season and often looks our biggest threat. Wouldn't be surprised if there's championship interest in him.
Chelsea having a £17m player on a 7 year contract, that looked no better than our younger players playing the same game shows how crazy the disparity in financial wealth is these days. They've taken a punt on a player for 7 years for the same amount we've probably spent in the last 15
The real positive with TC is he seems to be improving in that forward role with every game, looks a lot stronger without having lost his pace.
This season though, and players are seeing the impact that Taylor has had from EFL Trophy game time, seeing that he's getting the chance in the League, so know these games aren't completely worthless, so are trying with the aim to follow suit - Still dont know if the players are that bothered by the competition as a whole, as still makes me laugh when Nicky Ajose on commentary said that Konsa (?) had done everyone a favour by missing a penalty against Colchester which saw us exit the competition one year... But at least now they appear to be trying with greater aim and potential reward.
But because he's 'one of ours' and 'learning his trade' its fine and you focus on the positives.
What I saw last night of him is that he's no where near ready, and those errors would cost us in a league 1 game. But there will still be the clammer for him to start soon
For Leaburn's second there is a clever block by another Charlton player to give him the free header at the far post.
AMB wasn't wearing a mask and made a lot of saves. Are these two facts related?
When TC scores, Super Coach Danny Hylton was in his ear imparting valuable information and motivation.
I dont mind him playing in these games, think his experience could be very beneficial for any Striker he's alongside, especially as someone pointed out that he apparently spoke with Campbell before the goal, telling him where he wanted him to be or something?
Even his header which was so unlucky not to end up as a goal, that wasnt as the result of it being Chelsea U21s (Maybe he would have been blocked, beaten to the header by a more experienced player), but that was damned good movement and connection with the ball, doesnt matter who the opposition is really for an effort like that.
Dont really care either if he's on the bench in League games, think he could be a decent asset when we're holding out for a win.
Its when we're chasing points in matches that I dont think he'll be very effective... Maybe he just needs a bit of match sharpness
I’m with Nathan on the viewpoint that I’d rather develop our own players than another teams player but that Chelsea side last night has clearly got a couple of real gems in it that Nathan might be able to use.
chill out you old minge
The vitriol Gillesphey gets is totally out of proportion to the mistakes.
He's no where near as bad as some people make him out to be. No he's not the best defender we've ever had but he's better than the alternatives
Even if some criticism is overboard I don't think it can really be argued that he is presently the weakest of the current senior CBs with the possible exception of Potts who we haven't seen enough of to judge.