Eros Pisano......

[Spike]

7 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

Same here. Perhaps even more solid than Flint and Wright. Obviously just miss the aerial presence but better at cutting out passes and such. Also think we’d actually become less predictable at set pieces. Sure the big man scores loads of goals but we rarely aim for anyone else making it somewhat easier to defend imo. It is a tough call when the squad is fully fit

I wouldn't go that far, Flint offers so much more, he's one of our top scorers, he leads the team, he shows passion which drives the other players and the fans and he's far more physically intimidating for opposing strikers. I  know if I was a striker I'd rather be up against Wright rather than Flint any day off the week. 

[Robbored]

2 minutes ago, Spike said:

 I  know if I was a striker I'd rather be up against Wright rather than Flint any day off the week. 

If I were a striker up against Flint I'd run at him. He's bang average against quick and nippy strikers.

No so with Wright who is obviously less intimidating size wise than Flint but a better defender against nippy strikers.

[Spike]

3 minutes ago, Robbored said:

If I were a striker up against Flint I'd run at him. He's bang average against quick and nippy strikers.

No so with Wright who is obviously less intimidating size wise than Flint but a better defender against nippy strikers.

Flint  is not as good in a 1 vs 1 but how often do strikers find themselves in a position to run at him 1 vs 1 with him as the last man.... rarely. That's part of working as a team. Wright would do better in a team struggling but would I give up 7 goals that Flint has supplied and his team driving mentality for Wright? Not a chance. If you look at any statistics site Flint is rated 2nd highest in our entire squad and that's without even including his strongest attributes which are his mentality. 

[Son of Fred]

5 hours ago, JamesBCFC said:

Surely you realise a player can carry out an attacking threat without providing the direct assist?

 

Precisely this...what Eros carries is a bit of aggression(controlled)with a clear determination/strong will,and for sure sends out a message.."I'm not to be messed with"....an attacking threat in its very essence!

 

[Guest]

59 minutes ago, Robbored said:

If I were a striker up against Flint I'd run at him. He's bang average against quick and nippy strikers.

No so with Wright who is obviously less intimidating size wise than Flint but a better defender against nippy strikers.

He used to be bang average, I think that's very unfair now though. In fact, its been a long time since I've noticed a fast striker giving Aden the run around, including recent games against the likes of Aguero. He's become quite adept and better than competent at dealing with pace and I would say it's where he has most improved.

[Robbored]

6 minutes ago, 29AR said:

He used to be bang average, I think that's very unfair now though. In fact, its been a long time since I've noticed a fast striker giving Aden the run around, including recent games against the likes of Aguero. He's become quite adept and better than competent at dealing with pace and I would say it's where he has most improved.

The fact that Flint is not exposed to quick strikers is down to the defensive set up employed by LJ.

Every team knows the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition players and it’s common knowledge that Flint has the turning circle of an articulated lorry so LJ sets up accordingly. Good management that.

[Major Isewater]

16 hours ago, spudski said:

I don't understand this reference to Bailey Wright not being a Right back. He's played that position many times over his career...yet it was his first time with this Club when Eros got injured.

He even said it in a recent interview.

https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/wright-happy-to-be-on-the-right/

 

Korey Smith said he was happy to play at right back when asked .

If you watched the interview you would have noticed that he hoped he wouldn't be asked and didn't want to play there as his best position is in midfield.

Few players would refuse , outright , to play where the coach asks them to play 

[WhistleHappy]

On ‎17‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 19:37, BS3City said:

"A hen steaming yer tits off"?

How does that work then? 

Sounds horrific but curiously eggciting .. 

[Robbored]

2 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

Korey Smith said he was happy to play at right back when asked .

If you watched the interview you would have noticed that he hoped he wouldn't be asked and didn't want to play there as his best position is in midfield.

Few players would refuse , outright , to play where the coach asks them to play 

The problem with Smith at RB wasn't down to him not being able to play there . It was his absence in the middle which weakened the team.

Much as I like LJ and his football acumen, he definitely got that one wrong.

[Jack Dawe]

29 minutes ago, Robbored said:

The fact that Flint is not exposed to quick strikers is down to the defensive set up employed by LJ.

Every team knows the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition players and it’s common knowledge that Flint has the turning circle of an articulated lorry so LJ sets up accordingly. Good management that.

You have been, and continue to be, the one that's "exposed," when it comes to Flint. Your "L1 head it and kick it merchant" assessment from a couple of years ago has been shown to be flawed and plain wrong. 

Your attempt latterly to explain his tremendous improvement as being solely due to the excellent work of the coaches is a desperate and transparent reputational salvage attempt on behalf of "the sage" who is anything but.

But don't worry too much, Allan, we all get it horribly wrong about players all the time!

[Jacky Boy]

20 minutes ago, Robbored said:

The problem with Smith at RB wasn't down to him not being able to play there . It was his absence in the middle which weakened the team.

Much as I like LJ and his football acumen, he definitely got that one wrong.

Completely agree, the midfield suffered with no proper fullback.

Playing Korey and Josh (once) at RB was obviously not right plus when Bailey was playing at fullback I believe it effected Josh's performances which unbalanced the midfield.

 

[Robbored]

8 minutes ago, Jack Dawe said:

You have been, and continue to be, the one that's "exposed," when it comes to Flint. Your "L1 head it and kick it merchant" assessment from a couple of years ago has been shown to be flawed and plain wrong. 

Your attempt latterly to explain his tremendous improvement as being solely due to the excellent work of the coaches is a desperate and transparent reputational salvage attempt on behalf of "the sage" who is anything but.

But don't worry too much, Allan, we all get it horribly wrong about players all the time!

I'm as delighted as all City fans to witness the improvement that Flint has made over the past couple of seasons. Imv that's down to top quality coaching he's been getting.

These days he keeps his passes as simple and easy as possible with midfielders making themselves more available. Thankfully the aimless punts up the pitch are a thing of the past because of it.

Because of his size he's a serious threat from set plays and bags a fair number of goals as we all know.

That said despite being the third quickest in the squad he's vulnerable to direct strikers with quick feet and other teams know that. They also know that he's a collussus in the box and as we saw on Saturday teams are reluctant to put crosses  in, particularly when Baker is alongside.

So......no doubt Flint is a very decent CB and if he does move on he'd be hard to replace.

[JoeAman08]

2 hours ago, Spike said:

I wouldn't go that far, Flint offers so much more, he's one of our top scorers, he leads the team, he shows passion which drives the other players and the fans and he's far more physically intimidating for opposing strikers. I  know if I was a striker I'd rather be up against Wright rather than Flint any day off the week. 

I think the things you mentioned are overstated. Again the goals are good but he is our main target and think it makes it easier to defend our set pieces. Stop him and there is hardly danger. Does he lead the team? Korey and Bailey are both as vocal and contribute to organisation. I’d say Pack and Baker similar if less outspoken. Then how do we account for passion? Is Flint better than Baker because he shows more emotion?

He is a big and physical but to get the best from him I think we let him roam and be a ball winner. That is why the partnership with Baker works so well. Flint goes to win balls in the air while Baker drops to cover if it doesn’t go right. He also doesn’t mark in the box instead looking to head everything away. He misses slightly and we are in danger. Also Flint every once in awhile will run in to put a striker off with a ball to feet but his accelerations lets him down at times and it leads to a massive hole in the defence. 

I like him and he is a good championship CB but his mentality and goals protect him imo from fairer judgement. He is a good not great defender who makes up for it with the passion and goals. Our defensive record still is not great and imo would improve with Wright at RCB next to Baker though I think we could find a better partner for Baker with funds from a Flint sale. Maybe I am wrong in my assessment but think it why we haven’t seen him leave yet sign a new deal. Possible interest but not from much higher up than we are now. 

[Chivs]

23 minutes ago, Robbored said:

I'm as delighted as all City fans to witness the improvement that Flint has made over the past couple of seasons. Imv that's down to top quality coaching he's been getting.

These days he keeps his passes as simple and easy as possible with midfielders making themselves more available. Thankfully the aimless punts up the pitch are a thing of the past because of it.

Because of his size he's a serious threat from set plays and bags a fair number of goals as we all know.

That said despite being the third quickest in the squad he's vulnerable to direct strikers with quick feet and other teams know that. They also know that he's a collussus in the box and as we saw on Saturday teams are reluctant to put crosses  in, particularly when Baker is alongside.

So......no doubt Flint is a very decent CB and if he does move on he'd be hard to replace.

You'd think Ipswich would have noticed on Saturday that Baker wasn't playing alongside Flint. 

[Robbored]

15 minutes ago, Chivs said:

You'd think Ipswich would have noticed on Saturday that Baker wasn't playing alongside Flint. 

They did notice Flint/Baker weren't there they still didn't get crosses in, probably because they were pretty lightweight up front.

 

[Davefevs]

7 minutes ago, Chivs said:

You'd think Ipswich would have noticed on Saturday that Baker wasn't playing alongside Flint. 

Nor Flint 

Nice post @JoeAman08 too!

I think Aden has improved on the ball in the last 12 months. That’s partly down to him, but also other players realising the importance of coming short / finding angles for an easy / easier pass. 

I also think we’ve been better as a defensive unit (our back 8). We’ve played slightly higher and therefore countered the weakness of Flint to the striker who turns and runs at you. They can of course go in behind, but Flint is quick once he gets going, so can often get back in to make a challenge. 

Generally he’s improved his game, but I think others have helped make that happen too. Top 6  Team CB at this level. That may be good enough for the Prem. who knows. 

[Cowshed]

21 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

I think the things you mentioned are overstated. Again the goals are good but he is our main target and think it makes it easier to defend our set pieces. Stop him and there is hardly danger. Does he lead the team? Korey and Bailey are both as vocal and contribute to organisation. I’d say Pack and Baker similar if less outspoken. Then how do we account for passion? Is Flint better than Baker because he shows more emotion?

He is a big and physical but to get the best from him I think we let him roam and be a ball winner. That is why the partnership with Baker works so well. Flint goes to win balls in the air while Baker drops to cover if it doesn’t go right. He also doesn’t mark in the box instead looking to head everything away. He misses slightly and we are in danger. Also Flint every once in awhile will run in to put a striker off with a ball to feet but his accelerations lets him down at times and it leads to a massive hole in the defence. 

I like him and he is a good championship CB but his mentality and goals protect him imo from fairer judgement. He is a good not great defender who makes up for it with the passion and goals. Our defensive record still is not great and imo would improve with Wright at RCB next to Baker though I think we could find a better partner for Baker with funds from a Flint sale. Maybe I am wrong in my assessment but think it why we haven’t seen him leave yet sign a new deal. Possible interest but not from much higher up than we are now. 

Your first line is a little uneven. When assessing an individuals ability and worth to the team it is fair to look at outstanding attributes. Aden Flint is an outlier. His goal scoring ability which is a constant over seasons makes him a phenom. It has to be a consideration.

If you are looking at ability Baker is not great or outstanding at any element of his game v Flint. And this is again true of Bailey Wright. If you want a player to win the first ball  ... Flint will be first v other options. 1 V 1 aerial duels ... Flint outperforms other CB options.  

He also doesn’t mark in the box instead looking to head everything away. He misses slightly and we are in danger ... He is not expected to mark at all times ... He is expected to position himself in zones and head it, kick it ... He does this very well. 

Looking at the above maybe a fairer assessment is who plays with Flint!

[Spike]

28 minutes ago, JoeAman08 said:

I think the things you mentioned are overstated. Again the goals are good but he is our main target and think it makes it easier to defend our set pieces. Stop him and there is hardly danger. Does he lead the team? Korey and Bailey are both as vocal and contribute to organisation. I’d say Pack and Baker similar if less outspoken. Then how do we account for passion? Is Flint better than Baker because he shows more emotion?

He is a big and physical but to get the best from him I think we let him roam and be a ball winner. That is why the partnership with Baker works so well. Flint goes to win balls in the air while Baker drops to cover if it doesn’t go right. He also doesn’t mark in the box instead looking to head everything away. He misses slightly and we are in danger. Also Flint every once in awhile will run in to put a striker off with a ball to feet but his accelerations lets him down at times and it leads to a massive hole in the defence. 

I like him and he is a good championship CB but his mentality and goals protect him imo from fairer judgement. He is a good not great defender who makes up for it with the passion and goals. Our defensive record still is not great and imo would improve with Wright at RCB next to Baker though I think we could find a better partner for Baker with funds from a Flint sale. Maybe I am wrong in my assessment but think it why we haven’t seen him leave yet sign a new deal. Possible interest but not from much higher up than we are now. 

Whilst I understand what you're saying the main target issue of stop him and you stop us is down to LJ, not Flint. If anything LJ should be looking to add variety, having Flint in the box makes defences focus on him, that allows us more space elsewhere but we never take advantage of that and that is down to LJ. The simpler way to look at it is without him in there what do we aim for if the other lads are marked up well and what would Wright offer us in comparison? Look at it form whichever angle you want but having him in the box is better than not having him in the box and being as so much threat comes from our set pieces it shows he's adding something to our options.

I concede about his acceleration but as I said before, that's why you have a pairing. I still fail to see where Wright gives us more as a whole than Flint with maybe the exception that if we are caught light he's a little quicker to fix that issue but the whole point is as a defence you don't want to get caught out and if you do you always want someone to cover your back. I think Wright is decent, don't get me wrong, I don't want him to leave but I'd much rather have Flint in the team because he's passionate, he causes problems and in the big games he never gives up.

I also dispute our record being down to Wright no being RCB with Baker, Wright has shown time after time this season that he can be caught out with pace too whilst playing RB and the only reason we've not seen so much of it in the middle is because of how little he plays there atm. We may very well find a better CB if we sell Flint but realistically if you look at our past 10 years the seasons we've struggled the most are when we didn't have that leader at the back and we were screaming out for one. I think Flint is massively undervalued and if/when we lose him I think we'll look back and think "I wish we'd have kept hold of him".

[JamesBCFC]

26 minutes ago, Cowshed said:

Your first line is a little uneven. When assessing an individuals ability and worth to the team it is fair to look at outstanding attributes. Aden Flint is an outlier. His goal scoring ability which is a constant over seasons makes him a phenom. It has to be a consideration.

If you are looking at ability Baker is not great or outstanding at any element of his game v Flint. And this is again true of Bailey Wright. If you want a player to win the first ball  ... Flint will be first v other options. 1 V 1 aerial duels ... Flint outperforms other CB options.  

He also doesn’t mark in the box instead looking to head everything away. He misses slightly and we are in danger ... He is not expected to mark at all times ... He is expected to position himself in zones and head it, kick it ... He does this very well. 

Looking at the above maybe a fairer assessment is who plays with Flint!

His goal scoring isn't a constant though.

3 seasons at Swindon- 0, 3 and 3.

While with us- 3, 16, 6, 5 and 7 so far this season.

 

The League 1 title season sticks out like a sore thumb there. 3-5 goals in a season, by a CB who plays almost every game isn't that uncommon.

Not the norm granted, but not particularly unusual, especially seeing as we specifically target him from set pieces.

As an example, Koscielny at Arsenal over the same time frame

3, 3, 4, 3, 3, 4, 2, 2.

That is a constant. You know over the course of the season you are likely to get about 3 goals from him.

Otamendi over the same time

6, 2, 1, 1, 7, 1, 1, 5.

Not a constant.

 

We know it is likely Flint will get some goals, but the number people expect is inflated by the League 1 season.

28 minutes ago, Spike said:

 I think Flint is massively undervalued and if/when we lose him I think we'll look back and think "I wish we'd have kept hold of him".

If you think Flint is undervalued then I'm not sure you have been reading OTIB.

He is by far the most overvalued player we currently have by people on here.

[Cowshed]

11 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said:

His goal scoring isn't a constant though.

3 seasons at Swindon- 0, 3 and 3.

While with us- 3, 16, 6, 5 and 7 so far this season.

 

The League 1 title season sticks out like a sore thumb there. 3-5 goals in a season, by a CB who plays almost every game isn't that uncommon.

Not the norm granted, but not particularly unusual, especially seeing as we specifically target him from set pieces.

As an example, Koscielny at Arsenal over the same time frame

3, 3, 4, 3, 3, 4, 2, 2.

That is a constant. You know over the course of the season you are likely to get about 3 goals from him.

Otamendi over the same time

6, 2, 1, 1, 7, 1, 1, 5.

Not a constant.

 

We know it is likely Flint will get some goals, but the number people expect is inflated by the League 1 season.

If you think Flint is undervalued then I'm not sure you have been reading OTIB.

He is by far the most overvalued player we currently have by people on here.

 

The defensive players you highlight over five seasons are generally scoring less goals than Aden Flint time at Bristol City. Aden Flint is outperforming your common metric.

I do not know what point you are making there. 

[JamesBCFC]

1 minute ago, Cowshed said:

 

The defensive players you highlight over five seasons are generally scoring less goals than Aden Flint time at Bristol City. Aden Flint is outperforming your common metric.

I do not know what point you are making there. 

I didn't say he wasn't scoring more.

I was pointing out the use of constant.

Flints goal rates are not a constant and are highly variable. Most seasons he scores slightly more than other CBs might, with one noticeable outlier.

Koscielny was an example of a CB who has a fairly consistent rate of goals per season, while Otamendi was an example of another like Flint, but less extreme. With Otamendi it is generally few goals (0-2) with the occasional season where he gets a notable amount more (7).

With Flint it is more 3-6 with the occasional season where he gets more (one season of 16, 7 so far this time)

[JoeAman08]

5 hours ago, Cowshed said:

Your first line is a little uneven. When assessing an individuals ability and worth to the team it is fair to look at outstanding attributes. Aden Flint is an outlier. His goal scoring ability which is a constant over seasons makes him a phenom. It has to be a consideration.

If you are looking at ability Baker is not great or outstanding at any element of his game v Flint. And this is again true of Bailey Wright. If you want a player to win the first ball  ... Flint will be first v other options. 1 V 1 aerial duels ... Flint outperforms other CB options.  

He also doesn’t mark in the box instead looking to head everything away. He misses slightly and we are in danger ... He is not expected to mark at all times ... He is expected to position himself in zones and head it, kick it ... He does this very well. 

Looking at the above maybe a fairer assessment is who plays with Flint!

 

5 hours ago, Spike said:

Whilst I understand what you're saying the main target issue of stop him and you stop us is down to LJ, not Flint. If anything LJ should be looking to add variety, having Flint in the box makes defences focus on him, that allows us more space elsewhere but we never take advantage of that and that is down to LJ. The simpler way to look at it is without him in there what do we aim for if the other lads are marked up well and what would Wright offer us in comparison? Look at it form whichever angle you want but having him in the box is better than not having him in the box and being as so much threat comes from our set pieces it shows he's adding something to our options.

I concede about his acceleration but as I said before, that's why you have a pairing. I still fail to see where Wright gives us more as a whole than Flint with maybe the exception that if we are caught light he's a little quicker to fix that issue but the whole point is as a defence you don't want to get caught out and if you do you always want someone to cover your back. I think Wright is decent, don't get me wrong, I don't want him to leave but I'd much rather have Flint in the team because he's passionate, he causes problems and in the big games he never gives up.

I also dispute our record being down to Wright no being RCB with Baker, Wright has shown time after time this season that he can be caught out with pace too whilst playing RB and the only reason we've not seen so much of it in the middle is because of how little he plays there atm. We may very well find a better CB if we sell Flint but realistically if you look at our past 10 years the seasons we've struggled the most are when we didn't have that leader at the back and we were screaming out for one. I think Flint is massively undervalued and if/when we lose him I think we'll look back and think "I wish we'd have kept hold of him".

Both good posts. Feel we could debate this forever though. It is just me personally feel like we aim for Flint on set pieces 90% of the time so that would inflate goals a bit(I am sure instructed). Also, feel we have to defend differently with Flint in the side to cover him. 

I have possibly overstated that we would be better with BW. I do not have numbers to back that up. Just a gut feeling they are a more safe unit who have better positional awareness. Not sure if that offsets Flint’s strength or not. Maybe it would be simpler for me to say I think NB is our best CB and should find him a better partner overall. I like Flint and if we were a more frugal spending team I would say keep but I am convinced that we could use Flint money to get a better player. At worst I do not think BW makes us worse in the event Flint goes. 

Don’t get me wrong, he is a warrior and you can’t help but like him. Good championship CB with an outstanding trait(better to be great at one thing than ok at everything). It is just my more level side thinking if he were to go we’d still be in a good spot and likely better imo. Just my opinion on him with the way I see the game. 

[Davefevs]

5 hours ago, Cowshed said:

Your first line is a little uneven. When assessing an individuals ability and worth to the team it is fair to look at outstanding attributes. Aden Flint is an outlier. His goal scoring ability which is a constant over seasons makes him a phenom. It has to be a consideration.

If you are looking at ability Baker is not great or outstanding at any element of his game v Flint. And this is again true of Bailey Wright. If you want a player to win the first ball  ... Flint will be first v other options. 1 V 1 aerial duels ... Flint outperforms other CB options.  

He also doesn’t mark in the box instead looking to head everything away. He misses slightly and we are in danger ... He is not expected to mark at all times ... He is expected to position himself in zones and head it, kick it ... He does this very well. 

Looking at the above maybe a fairer assessment is who plays with Flint!

Out of interest, forgetting stats, what does your eye see when you watch a pairing of Flint and Baker.  How important do you think Baker is to that partnership?  Leading question.

My view from both this season and the loan spell is that a Baker is the organiser, but this is an often challenged view, because I think people misinterpret Flint’s "up ‘n at ‘em" fist pumping as being a leader and therefore an organiser.  Typically the player that drops in to allow the other to attack the aerial ball tends to be the organiser (imho).

I think Baker allows Flint to play to his strengths.

I think Flint feels he can’t focus on his own game alone, when Magnússon plays on his left.  I think Flint can when Wright is his partner....but Wright is restricted by being so right footed playing on his left.

I think Flint has had his best season in a City shirt this season, I’ve often been hyper critical of him, but certainly not underestimating his contribution.  But I massively rate Baker’s contribution to the effectiveness of the partnership.  This season I'd have no qualms picking my order of CB partnerships.

1. Flint and Baker
2. Wright and Baker
3. Flint and Magnússon / Flint and Wright / Wright and Hegeler

Number 3 has too many pros and cons to effectively choose one over the other.

If I had the chance to bring in a new CB, I would go for one with pace.  Personally I think / hope he might already be here (Vyner and Moore).

[Lanterne Rouge]

17 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Out of interest, forgetting stats, what does your eye see when you watch a pairing of Flint and Baker.  

I have to own up here and say I rarely notice Bakes during a game. Whether that`s because Flinty is more `visible` and Bakes is just efficiently getting on with his job I don`t know, a bit of both I suspect.

[Cowshed]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Out of interest, forgetting stats, what does your eye see when you watch a pairing of Flint and Baker.  How important do you think Baker is to that partnership?  Leading question.

My view from both this season and the loan spell is that a Baker is the organiser, but this is an often challenged view, because I think people misinterpret Flint’s "up ‘n at ‘em" fist pumping as being a leader and therefore an organiser.  Typically the player that drops in to allow the other to attack the aerial ball tends to be the organiser (imho).

I think Baker allows Flint to play to his strengths.

I think Flint feels he can’t focus on his own game alone, when Magnússon plays on his left.  I think Flint can when Wright is his partner....but Wright is restricted by being so right footed playing on his left.

I think Flint has had his best season in a City shirt this season, I’ve often been hyper critical of him, but certainly not underestimating his contribution.  But I massively rate Baker’s contribution to the effectiveness of the partnership.  This season I'd have no qualms picking my order of CB partnerships.

1. Flint and Baker
2. Wright and Baker
3. Flint and Magnússon / Flint and Wright / Wright and Hegeler

Number 3 has too many pros and cons to effectively choose one over the other.

If I had the chance to bring in a new CB, I would go for one with pace.  Personally I think / hope he might already be here (Vyner and Moore).

What do I see. Players as a unit. Flint is the highly vocal communicator and he organises by his body language .. It screams get with me and work off me . And it is Flint that attempts to win the first ball. Baker drops in.

What I can't see clearly will be (it will) Baker talking to Flint and others.  

If I had the chance to bring in a new CB it would be one with ability on the ball. 

[spudski]

1 hour ago, Davefevs said:

Out of interest, forgetting stats, what does your eye see when you watch a pairing of Flint and Baker.  How important do you think Baker is to that partnership?  Leading question.

My view from both this season and the loan spell is that a Baker is the organiser, but this is an often challenged view, because I think people misinterpret Flint’s "up ‘n at ‘em" fist pumping as being a leader and therefore an organiser.  Typically the player that drops in to allow the other to attack the aerial ball tends to be the organiser (imho).

I think Baker allows Flint to play to his strengths.

I think Flint feels he can’t focus on his own game alone, when Magnússon plays on his left.  I think Flint can when Wright is his partner....but Wright is restricted by being so right footed playing on his left.

I think Flint has had his best season in a City shirt this season, I’ve often been hyper critical of him, but certainly not underestimating his contribution.  But I massively rate Baker’s contribution to the effectiveness of the partnership.  This season I'd have no qualms picking my order of CB partnerships.

1. Flint and Baker
2. Wright and Baker
3. Flint and Magnússon / Flint and Wright / Wright and Hegeler

Number 3 has too many pros and cons to effectively choose one over the other.

If I had the chance to bring in a new CB, I would go for one with pace.  Personally I think / hope he might already be here (Vyner and Moore).

Talking of Partnerships mate, I think we have forgotten due to long term injuries, how many different line ups we could possibly have.

For fun during a boring train journey the other day, I wrote down different line ups that we could possibly have. It's fair to say we have lots of options when everyone is fit.

It will beinteresting to see, especially if we keep many over the summer, what we will do for our defence next season. So many to choose from and some players will be left out of the match day squad.

Moore, Vyner, Pisano, Kelly, Flint, Wright, Baker, Hegeler, Mags, Bryan....some quality in there.

[eardun]

I agree with @Davefevs that Baker’s signing has been key to our defence looking more solid this season. I also agree that Flint has improved since he was ‘dropped’ at the start of the season when ‘his head was turned’. Wright and Baker started the season well and I recall Flint acknowledging that he would find it hard to get back in. Perhaps that competition for places helped.

[Lew-T]

12 hours ago, Robbored said:

If I were a striker up against Flint I'd run at him. He's bang average against quick and nippy strikers.

No so with Wright who is obviously less intimidating size wise than Flint but a better defender against nippy strikers.

Have you seen Wright play? Probably the slowest on the field. Martial literally strolled past him with ease on the left flank! Although he is not a right back.

Flint surprisingly for his size, has a good turn of pace.

[Davefevs]

9 minutes ago, Lew-T said:

Have you seen Wright play? Probably the slowest on the field. Martial literally strolled past him with ease on the left flank! Although he is not a right back.

Flint surprisingly for his size, has a good turn of pace.

He didn’t do it many more times though.  I was worried that first time it happened, thinking he might be in for a torrid night, but he adapted very quickly and kept him at bay for the majority of the rest of the game.

[BobBobSuperBob]

12 hours ago, Robbored said:

If I were a striker up against Flint I'd run at him. He's bang average against quick and nippy strikers.

No so with Wright who is obviously less intimidating size wise than Flint but a better defender against nippy strikers.

 

11 hours ago, Robbored said:

The fact that Flint is not exposed to quick strikers is down to the defensive set up employed by LJ.

Every team knows the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition players and it’s common knowledge that Flint has the turning circle of an articulated lorry so LJ sets up accordingly. Good management that.

 

10 hours ago, Robbored said:

I'm as delighted as all City fans to witness the improvement that Flint has made over the past couple of seasons. Imv that's down to top quality coaching he's been getting.

These days he keeps his passes as simple and easy as possible with midfielders making themselves more available. Thankfully the aimless punts up the pitch are a thing of the past because of it.

Because of his size he's a serious threat from set plays and bags a fair number of goals as we all know.

That said despite being the third quickest in the squad he's vulnerable to direct strikers with quick feet and other teams know that. They also know that he's a collussus in the box and as we saw on Saturday teams are reluctant to put crosses  in, particularly when Baker is alongside.

So......no doubt Flint is a very decent CB and if he does move on he'd be hard to replace.

‘as we saw on Saturday teams are reluctant to put crosses  in, particularly when Baker is alongside.’

10 hours ago, Robbored said:

They did notice Flint/Baker weren't there they still didn't get crosses in, probably because they were pretty lightweight up front.

 

These posts prove that they are either written by a new nonsense spewing  WUM  or a poster who hasn’t the slightest clue what they are on about 

I’m going for a full dose of both

Truly embarrassing O seriously wonder if you ever go to games or bother to watch if you do, let alone understand