Sorry if already been covered. Just was wondering what peoples opinion is when it comes to which you would rather see at the back if you only got to pick one.

On a side note, I must say that this is the most excited i've been for a game for a long time. Maybe since Blackpool away! UTM  :)

Collins all day long

Personally, this may be a bit controversial but I don’t think that Clarke is that bad, he doesn’t have any pace and he’s not a footballer but he’s a decent enough defender, I’d pick both of them.

Quoted from Mariner_09

Personally, this may be a bit controversial but I don’t think that Clarke is that bad, he doesn’t have any pace and he’s not a footballer but he’s a decent enough defender, I’d pick both of them.

i'd pick none of them if we could

The thing is I don't think K.Osbourne has massively impressed lately when he's been in the team, and none of us have ever seen Suliman play.

So even if you don't rate either one of them,  it's difficult to give an alternative to either.

Suliman and Collins for me. Find Clarke slow and based on the penalty given in the last home game, extremely rash.

Collins, when in form, can be one of the strongest defenders in the league and if Suliman comes in hitting the ground running and showing the form that got him his England under 19 caps then we should start to be a lot tighter at the back, adding to the fact that Davies is ready to return, who I felt was our player of the first half of the season.

Aren't we supposed to be supporting our lads? Obviously not on here,  I cannot believe as supporters anyone would post this poll. UTFM.

Clarke get a solitary vote.

Our problem isn't or hasn't been with one individual player ie Clarke or Dixon, like some would like to think...it's been our whole team. Let's hope this changes tomorrow.

Quoted from Ruston AT

Aren't we supposed to be supporting our lads? Obviously not on here,  I cannot believe as supporters anyone would post this poll. UTFM.

Not the intention of this post. Just asked people to share their opinion on which they would rather see if we had to pick between the two.

About the most uneven poll we have ever had  72 --1 at the moment.

Collins any day of the week.

Danny Collins definitely has a lot more about him. Clarke doesn’t look good enough for this team from what I’ve seen of him. Way too slow and an easy target for strikers.

Disagree, Collins the weaker, far slower, loses his man at set pieces and spends a lot of time ball watching falling on his bum, look back at highlights and see how many goals come around from him losing his player because he is stood still watching the guy with the ball too long letting players ghost in behind him. I dont rate Clarke either, but he was always going to get it in the neck more becaiuse he replaced Pearson.

Neither, both are a liability.

Quoted from Madeleymariner

Disagree, Collins the weaker, far slower, loses his man at set pieces and spends a lot of time ball watching falling on his bum, look back at highlights and see how many goals come around from him losing his player because he is stood still watching the guy with the ball too long letting players ghost in behind him. I dont rate Clarke either, but he was always going to get it in the neck more becaiuse he replaced Pearson.

Slade discarded Pearson with the sole intention of bringing Clarke in. If Coventry hadn't released Clarke then Pearson would still be here. If Clarke had been all that good then Coventry wouldn't have released him, especially as they wanted to get promoted from our level.
Considering all Clarke's experience at a much higher level he never seems commanding enough for me and certainly doesn't play a captain's role especially in defence. Pearson did more organising in our defence and he wasn't even captain!
It's also worth noting that Collins covers the left side and who is his normal left-back?

You can see that they were both good defenders in their day. The problem is that their day has gone and if it's straight forward defending with the game in front of them, they are fine. When the play gets behind them, they are not quick enough, or agile enough to recover. Neither would be at this level if they were still the defenders they once were. Collins looked really good last season, but age has caught up with him this season i think. Neither of them are terrible, but they just haven't got the mobility they once had.

I think Clarke is OK. Collins a better defender in his day but he's getting on a bit now and I don't think there is a great deal to choose between the two though Clarke is stronger in the air.

The problem has been that, however the defence has played this season, there's always a moment where they switch off and this has cost us over and over again. The number of times teams have scored with their first chance this season is ridiculous.

The Exeter game was a case in point - Clarke gave away the stupid penalty to let them score but didn't put a foot wrong apart from that. The way we're playing, we need all of the defence to cut out such stupid errors.

Quoted from rancido

[/b]

Slade discarded Pearson with the sole intention of bringing Clarke in. If Coventry hadn't released Clarke then Pearson would still be here. If Clarke had been all that good then Coventry wouldn't have released him, especially as they wanted to get promoted from our level.
Considering all Clarke's experience at a much higher level he never seems commanding enough for me and certainly doesn't play a captain's role especially in defence. Pearson did more organising in our defence and he wasn't even captain!
It's also worth noting that Collins covers the left side and who is his normal left-back?

That view is often pedalled on here  but the truth is that Pearson would have been offered a deal but Slade had to get Boyce out the door first. Boyce initially refused to drop to the Conference and that was the real reason why Shaun didn't stay as an offer from Wrexham wa son the table

Quoted from Cloudy

That view is often pedalled on here  but the truth is that Pearson would have been offered a deal but Slade had to get Boyce out the door first. Boyce initially refused to drop to the Conference and that was the real reason why Shaun didn't stay as an offer from Wrexham wa son the table

I cannot for the life of me get my head round Slade thinking it would be great idea to sign two centre halves the wrong side of 35 and only have Karleigh Osburne who had injury problems over the preceding two seasons as a back up. Then he flogs the two older centre halves to death for the whole of the first half of the season, not giving KO any game time at all, leaving him undercooked match-fit wise so deep into the season.. On top of that, I also can't get my head round that he thought only three centre halves was enough cover or provided enough versatility in tactical formations, especially when he built a squad of over thirty players. And I can't believe there weren't alarm bells over this kind of recruitment policy from the boardroom. We were screwed before we even kicked off this season. Looking forward to the day when I no longer see the immortal phrases "both centre halves are slow" and "no pace at the back" on this forum unless we're describing the opposition..

Time definitely catching up with him compared to last season but it’s still Collins

Quoted from Ruston AT

Aren't we supposed to be supporting our lads? Obviously not on here,  I cannot believe as supporters anyone would post this poll. UTFM.

Clarke doesn't deserve to be supported. Worst captain since..............................god knows when

Quoted from Cloudy

That view is often pedalled on here  but the truth is that Pearson would have been offered a deal but Slade had to get Boyce out the door first. Boyce initially refused to drop to the Conference and that was the real reason why Shaun didn't stay as an offer from Wrexham wa son the table

That doesn't stack up for me. Regardless of whether Boyce wanted to leave or not we could have still kept the partnership of Collins and Pearson. We had three recognised centre-halves ( two had developed a good working partnership ) for a reasonably successful first season back into the Football League and Slade decided to break it up. It was obvious that Slade didn't want Pearson otherwise he would have offered him a new contract sooner. I don't normally submit to " conspiracy theories" but I'm convinced that Pearson was " sacrificed " to bring Slade's mate Clarke in.

Quoted from rancido

That doesn't stack up for me. Regardless of whether Boyce wanted to leave or not we could have still kept the partnership of Collins and Pearson. We had three recognised centre-halves ( two had developed a good working partnership ) for a reasonably successful first season back into the Football League and Slade decided to break it up. It was obvious that Slade didn't want Pearson otherwise he would have offered him a new contract sooner. I don't normally submit to " conspiracy theories" but I'm convinced that Pearson was " sacrificed " to bring Slade's mate Clarke in.

It might not stack up for you but I am telling you the truth!
Clarke was coming in regardless. Slade wanted Pearson over Boyce BUT Boyce was under contract. He had to get him out the door but he wouldn't go

Quoted from Cloudy

It might not stack up for you but I am telling you the truth!
Clarke was coming in regardless. Slade wanted Pearson over Boyce BUT Boyce was under contract. He had to get him out the door but he wouldn't go

So you agree that Clarke was coming in regardless and  however you dress it up Pearson was eventually sacrificed as Boyce did go. Those are the facts.

Quoted from rancido

So you agree that Clarke was coming in regardless and  however you dress it up Pearson was eventually sacrificed as Boyce did go. Those are the facts.

Pearson went some time ( 2 months) before Boyce finally agreed to leave!

My view? Pearson!!!

Quoted from ginnywings

You can see that they were both good defenders in their day. The problem is that their day has gone and if it's straight forward defending with the game in front of them, they are fine. When the play gets behind them, they are not quick enough, or agile enough to recover. Neither would be at this level if they were still the defenders they once were. Collins looked really good last season, but age has caught up with him this season i think. Neither of them are terrible, but they just haven't got the mobility they once had.

He's right...

Stupidest thing is that Slade replaced Pearson with Clarke and gave him the arm band???

Not only did we lose a good player we lost the captain in waiting behind Dis.

Collins, this is probably his last season, its starting to show, but CLarke looks like last season should of been his last.

Our problem is more not making/scoring goals more than one player being targeted.

Quoted from sonofmadeleymariner

Collins, this is probably his last season, its starting to show, but CLarke looks like last season should of been his last.

I said last summer we shouldn't have signed Collins as he was showing signs of wear and tear this time last year. Clarke is showing a little less wear and tear physically than DC but mentally he seems a lot weaker which shows in his positioning and decision making in plenty of the goals we concede. I've been in both of their positions playing centre half while slowing up and there becomes a time when the team has to make far too many compromises. I'd much rather us have younger quicker centre halves next season, MJ coach them and create a quicker back four, three or five that is well drilled. There's one thing you cannot do and that's coach pace, decision making and working as a unit, yes, but pace no. SP would have been a much better option than DC and NC, and I also think we'd have got a lot more than we are doing out of KO if he'd have been given game time earlier in the season. If we'd have had SP, KO and two other younger quicker centre halves, we'd definitely have had a stronger base to work from, more options tactically, a higher back line which pushes our midfield closer to support our forward line and far less compromises for the whole team to make. All of this isn't based on hindsight either, I had written plenty of times that I didn't want DC or NC last summer, I wanted SP and us to invest in a different profile of defender to create a quicker centre half pairing. You could see the trouble we have got ourselves in a mile off. Add in the York pairing and only signing one left back, it's been a really tough season to take for the fans and on top of that the same suffering fans have constantly been berated from all and sundry at the club when their decisions fell flat on their face. Starting from today, lets get the eight or nine points we need and hope we can put this nightmare behind us once and for all..

Wow, I hope our club captain doesn't get wind of this poll. He'll really want to go out and play for the supporters today! Proper motivated knowing the fans are right behind him and believe in his abilities.

I think this thread is best deleted, personally.

Quoted from immariner

Wow, I hope our club captain doesn't get wind of this poll. He'll really want to go out and play for the supporters today! Proper motivated knowing the fans are right behind him and believe in his abilities.

I think this thread is best deleted, personally.

That depends on your character. You can either adopt the attitude of proving your critics wrong or admit your sh*t and you know you are!

Start of a new era this sort of Poll helps no one.

Sad really 😔

Neither for me , both too old and slow.
Can't think of many teams that would play 2 central defenders in their mid-30s
They were dragged all over the place in the first half

Thought both were ok today tbh

Collins will not get another year with us,

Clarke will not get another contract with us,

Having an experienced player in defence is good,

Having two does not work you need a younger player with legs to cover for you

Quoted from Cloudy

Thought both were ok today tbh

I’d agree. Definitely more comfortable in a 4 and also since Macca has come back.

Port Vale played a higher line for most of the game knowing they were not facing pace. This meant their midfield and attack could press our midfield who opted to pass back or sideways. All other managers know we drop off and concede midfield space. Get Mills and Hall Johnson back in.
Yes, they had an o.k. game as a pair but I thought Suliman had a promising start. Was he injured?