Position Group: Centre Backs

[David C.]

Hey folks. There are an increasing amount of side-discussions appearing in individual threads, about the state of our CB's, that I figured it was worth having a dedicated topic added. I know there was an old one which is buried somewhere (that I wanted to bump) but the search function is haywire for me today.

Anyway - by my calculations (which could always have errors), the players available are getting regular season minutes as follows:

Last Winter Leagues:

1. Straith = 2865 mins (German B3)

2. M. James = 2260 mins (Hungary, some of which were at DM)

3.. Cornelius = 1855 mins (Serbia)

4. Stanese = 1839 mins (German B3, some - maybe most - of which were at DM)

5. Gasparotto = 1197 mins (Scotland 2nd tier, currently unattached)

6. Vitoria = 1182 mins (Poland)

7. Hainault = 1074 mins (German B3, most were at end of season, after a long injury)

Current Summer League Season:

1. M. Kapor = 1041 mins (Belarus)

2. Jakovic = 603 mins (MLS, most of which were early in season)

3. D. Henry = 540 mins (MLS, current run of starts, after an early season loan to Ottawa)

Unattached:

1. David Edgar (presumably looking for work in Europe, after short contract in USL)

2. Luca Gasparotto

 

EDIT:  M. Kapor added, per Bison44's post below. Note that I didn't list any of the USL players, since they are too numerous and the level overall is a bit low for current CMNT consideration, although it is great that some have suggested a few top candidates to watch below. Cheers!

[Guest Tg11]

The only ones even worth talking about at least right now any way as far as depth goes are Straith, James, Cornelius, Stanese and Gasparotto as far as having at least a top 5. Well because they are getting the most minutes right now and are the most battle-tested however it is so close to call right now because it is almost like you have a whole slew of defenders that you can slot into that position.

Then again how many can you take as far as the Final 23 man squad goes for the 2019 Gold Cup?

[Dominic94]

What about Dunn Johnson ?

[Guest Tg11]

10 minutes ago, Dominic94 said:

What about Dunn Johnson ?

Julian Dunn-Johnson is another but then again he hasn't been capped at senior level and he still can play for Jamaica since he is a dual national

[BrennanFan]

USL

Karl Ouimette 1425

Thomas Meilleur-Giguere 1139

Nana Attakora 630

 

[Bison44]

Kapor has been starting for Gomel.  And how about  Attakora??  I know its USL level but not long ago he was in NASL and MLS before that.  

[Grandbloke]

36 minutes ago, BrennanFan said:

USL

Karl Ouimette 1425

Thomas Meilleur-Giguere 1139

Nana Attakora 630

 

Thomas Meilleur-Giguère is only 20, whereas Attakora is 29 and Ouimette 26. And TMG has become a regular starter for the Fury. I have to admit I'm a little biased in his favour, though, because I'm a Montreal Impact fan.

[shorty]

On the younger/fringier side: Didic, Sadiki, Thomas, Roberts, Romeo, Roubos... sure there's more. Does Farmer still play in Alberta? I know we're getting way down the list here, but if we want a thread to discuss the position depth, we might as well go deep. 

[shorty]

Oh and Lefevre if he comes out of retirement. 

[Bison44]

I think David was trying to get a list of who is actually getting minutes.  Skyler Thomas has 1411 in USL for a pretty good Battery side.  Not sure what happened to Mallan Roberts, he played a ton for RIchmond last year and had a NASL pedigree.  Is he injured?

[Keegan]

We had such high hopes for many of these guys at the start of WCQ 2018.  Now it seems like most of the guys have stagnated at that USL/B3 level of play.

Our options aren’t horrible and we have depth but depth would be better if we had two guys on the caliber of our starting mids/strikers that these guys could back up.  I guess the positive is we never lose too much by having center backs out.

Ranking top center backs (when healthy):

1. Henry

2. Vitoria

3. Edgar

4. Hainault

5. Jakovic

6. James 

7. Straith

8. Cornelius

9. Ouimette

10. Stanese

11. Attakora 

All of those guys are easily interchangeable.

And then guys like Meilleur-Giguere, Gasparotto, Thomas etc. Who I haven’t seen in a while but could easily fit anywhere  on my list.

[Guest Tg11]

To think many of these guys we can actually use for the 2022 WCQ cycle but the ones I would go with are Henry (25), James (24), Straith (27), Cornelius (20), Ouimette (26), Stanese (24), TMG (20), Gasparotto (23) and Thomas (28) because in the next 4 years they will be 29, 28, 31, 24, 30, 28, 24, 27 and 32. I tend to go with youth and right now these guys are young while the more senior players would be getting right up there in age.

[Guest Tg11]

Hell at this point I am like forget CB and focus on strikers because that is what Canada should be investing itself in because after Larin and Cavallini who do they have as strikers as far as depth goes? I mean there's Ricketts but he isn't getting any younger and then there's Jackson-Hamel but other than that Canada have no other striking options

[harrycoyster]

28 minutes ago, Tg11 said:

Hell at this point I am like forget CB and focus on strikers because that is what Canada should be investing itself in because after Larin and Cavallini who do they have as strikers as far as depth goes? I mean there's Ricketts but he isn't getting any younger and then there's Jackson-Hamel but other than that Canada have no other striking options

Striker is way deeper than CB. We have a top 3 striker group in CONCACAF. We probably aren’t top 8 at centreback. 

Tesho Akindele is like 7th choice for us up top, if we had a player of his quality at CB he’d likely start.

[Guest Tg11]

Yeah even then it doesn't hurt to have more strikers on stand by because you never really know what could happen in 4 years

[SkuseisLoose]

54 minutes ago, Tg11 said:

Hell at this point I am like forget CB and focus on strikers because that is what Canada should be investing itself in because after Larin and Cavallini who do they have as strikers as far as depth goes? I mean there's Ricketts but he isn't getting any younger and then there's Jackson-Hamel but other than that Canada have no other striking options

Are attacking depth is decent right now but if you want to know about potential Canadian strikers start a thread about it similar to this one. Don’t get off topic and start talking about forwards in a thread about CB.

[Guest Tg11]

Fine then if you want me to talk about CB then I will but in fact I even talked about the CBs that I would definitely use especially now by going with youth especially at that position by using the CBs that I talked about before but out of those the best ones that stand out would be Henry, James, Ouimette, Stanese, TMG and Gasparotto

[hamiltonfan]

2 hours ago, Keegan said:

We had such high hopes for many of these guys at the start of WCQ 2018.  Now it seems like most of the guys have stagnated at that USL/B3 level of play.

Our options aren’t horrible and we have depth but depth would be better if we had two guys on the caliber of our starting mids/strikers that these guys could back up.  I guess the positive is we never lose too much by having center backs out.

Ranking top center backs (when healthy):

1. Henry

2. Vitoria

3. Edgar

4. Hainault

5. Jakovic

6. James 

7. Straith

8. Cornelius

9. Ouimette

10. Stanese

11. Attakora 

All of those guys are easily interchangeable.

And then guys like Meilleur-Giguere, Gasparotto, Thomas etc. Who I haven’t seen in a while but could easily fit anywhere  on my list.

I like this list.

IMHO - Consider Edgar is coming off a serious injury, followed by not playing this season...he drops down to #7 behind Adam or #8. I truely hope he have reverse course 

[Keegan]

And here’s the problem with our CMNT.. with that many centerbacks and no clear cut choices how do we evaluate them if we don’t play matches?  Get a 40 man camp or something - let’s see who rises to the top we may have a diamond in the rough that we never find, one of those guys who is lights out for country even if he’s an average club player.

[Stryker911]

I am hopeful that a guy like Thomas or Roberts could make a Kaye like jump to the MLS. I haven't seen Thomas play, but he was in the team of the week a few weeks ago, is gettin good minutes and has good size. If someone like him could get a chance in MLS and run with it that would help immensely. He is also only 24, so only a year older than Kaye playing a position that takes a bit longer to learn.

[Bison44]

1 hour ago, Stryker911 said:

I am hopeful that a guy like Thomas or Roberts could make a Kaye like jump to the MLS. I haven't seen Thomas play, but he was in the team of the week a few weeks ago, is gettin good minutes and has good size. If someone like him could get a chance in MLS and run with it that would help immensely. He is also only 24, so only a year older than Kaye playing a position that takes a bit longer to learn.

USL games are all free on youtube.  Plus Thomas was with TFC2 for 2 years...you must have watched some of those games....maybe??  Just kidding, but he was a surprise pick in the draft for TFC (drafted just ahead of tim parker and Sjoberg), very high, but MLS teams to go gaga over big tall rangy CB these days.  He didnt stand out for TFC2 as far as I remember, he didnt seem to be on his way to a contract like other kids (Edwards,Hundal).  He has scored 4 goals so far (in 3+ seasons), a nice big target on set pieces.  2nd time this season on USL team of the week, and the battery are a good team with one of the better defenses in USL.  Its good to see some of these guys keep plugging away (Murrell, Kadem, Dover), like stryker said defenders can take a bit longer to find their way.  

[Club Linesman]

6 hours ago, Keegan said:

We had 

Ranking top center backs (when healthy):

1. Henry

2. Vitoria

3. Edgar

4. Hainault

5. Jakovic

6. James 

7. Straith

8. Cornelius

9. Ouimette

10. Stanese

11. Attakora 

No way James is 6th.  How can Edgar who is off a major injury and unattached ahead of him?  I love Henry bu he has what played 6 games in 2 years? Not a fan of Jakovic but he did play this year at the start.  Was happy when Vitoria joined but he hasn’t played.  Probably need to start playing Cornelius with James and Henry and hope the three stay healthy.

[Ivan]

1. Henry 2. James IMHO  

[Keegan]

1 hour ago, Club Linesman said:

No way James is 6th.  How can Edgar who is off a major injury and unattached ahead of him?  I love Henry bu he has what played 6 games in 2 years? Not a fan of Jakovic but he did play this year at the start.  Was happy when Vitoria joined but he hasn’t played.  Probably need to start playing Cornelius with James and Henry and hope the three stay healthy.

Just personal preference, I've always rated Edgar as our best defender when healthy and he's only 31.  Henry, like Edgar, was at one point attached to a Premier League club and there's a reason for that - I think both have the highest ceiling in terms of performances they can deliver.  Vitoria isn't far behind, I think he's delivered really solid performances in his few caps plus he plays at arguably the highest level.  Jakovic is okay but also 33 and was never a "stud" for us - also isn't playing ATM.  

James is okay but at the same time - guy was on a relegated Hungarian team and is now in the Danish 2nd division, that's USL level at best.  I've liked him but can also see why he's been played at DM for his club.  

[nolando]

Sad to say but I strongly suspect Edgar is done and the likes of Jakovic can't be far behind.