3 | Ruben Dias - 2025/26

The Light Was Yellow Sir said:
Stones just makes every centre half he plays with better and he’s a huge loss.
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Eh, Stones and Otamendi were a disaster and John was almost out the door before Dias signed. A lot of revisionism in here about Dias. Has his flaws and hasn't been at his best for a long stretch, but the idea he was always shit and Stones and Walker "held his hand" is very silly

We won four straight league titles, the Treble, and went to two Champions League Finals with Dias as our main man at the back. His signing was the catalyst for us taking the title back from the Dippers. That simply isn't possible if he's a bad player. He isn't and wasn't. He has limitations and his form has been choppy, like everyone else at the back over the last 18 months

That said: if we're going to play a very high line, with no pacy defenders, and put zero pressure on the opposition when they pass the ball long - we're going to have a very bad time
 
FromPollockToSilva said:
Eh, Stones and Otamendi were a disaster and John was almost out the door before Dias signed. A lot of revisionism in here about Dias. Has his flaws and hasn't been at his best for a long stretch, but the idea he was always shit and Stones and Walker "held his hand" is very silly

We won four straight league titles, the Treble, and went to two Champions League Finals with Dias as our main man at the back. His signing was the catalyst for us taking the title back from the Dippers. That simply isn't possible if he's a bad player. He isn't and wasn't. He has limitations and his form has been choppy, like everyone else at the back over the last 18 months

That said: if we're going to play a very high line, with no pacy defenders, and put zero pressure on the opposition when they pass the ball long - we're going to have a very bad time
Click to expand...
Not sure how you’ve read, ‘Stones makes every centre half he plays with better’ as ‘Dias is shit’, but each to their own, I suppose.
That notwithstanding, I think you’ve sort of endorsed the point I was making. Dias was excellent and was, mostly, alongside, one John Stones…
 
FromPollockToSilva said:
Eh, Stones and Otamendi were a disaster and John was almost out the door before Dias signed. A lot of revisionism in here about Dias. Has his flaws and hasn't been at his best for a long stretch, but the idea he was always shit and Stones and Walker "held his hand" is very silly

We won four straight league titles, the Treble, and went to two Champions League Finals with Dias as our main man at the back. His signing was the catalyst for us taking the title back from the Dippers. That simply isn't possible if he's a bad player. He isn't and wasn't. He has limitations and his form has been choppy, like everyone else at the back over the last 18 months

That said: if we're going to play a very high line, with no pacy defenders, and put zero pressure on the opposition when they pass the ball long - we're going to have a very bad time
Click to expand...
This is it.
Any defender in world football will suffer if the rest of the defence is high up the pitch while pacy runners shift beyond them. This is not down to one player. We know Dias' strengths, and blistering pace is not on that list.
 
oldius said:
This is it.
Any defender in world football will suffer if the rest of the defence is high up the pitch while pacy runners shift beyond them. This is not down to one player. We know Dias' strengths, and blistering pace is not on that list.
Click to expand...
Ineffective press adds to the problem as team can now pick the ball over the top as opposed to it previously just being a hopeful clearance.

Looked to be better in the group games but back to normal line up and formation last night and it was shit again.
 
oldius said:
This is it.
Any defender in world football will suffer if the rest of the defence is high up the pitch while pacy runners shift beyond them. This is not down to one player. We know Dias' strengths, and blistering pace is not on that list.
Click to expand...
And yet we keep playing this way or without pacy defenders to counter it in the first place,we have a few pacy defenders but pep doesn’t want to play them ..
 
I think he is simply overplayed. Perfect example that the Games Are too much. Came in, had a fresh CB look for the team, dream of a defender, but was getting worse and worse every season.
 
super_city_si said:
Ineffective press adds to the problem as team can now pick the ball over the top as opposed to it previously just being a hopeful clearance.

Looked to be better in the group games but back to normal line up and formation last night and it was shit again.
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Yes. It's a whole team thing. Pressing from the front, not giving away possession, backing up the creative players who are likely to lose it more, as well as having some pace at the back.
 
The Light Was Yellow Sir said:
Not sure how you’ve read, ‘Stones makes every centre half he plays with better’ as ‘Dias is shit’, but each to their own, I suppose.
That notwithstanding, I think you’ve sort of endorsed the point I was making. Dias was excellent and was, mostly, alongside, one John Stones…
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Not sure how you’ve skipped over my first point about Stones being basically out the door before Dias signed. Great partnership but all available evidence suggests John’s career was rejuvenated by Ruben rather than the other way around
 
Marks out of 10 for Dias as a centre half

Ariel ability - 5
Passing - 5
Tackling - 7
Pace - 4
Positional awareness - 6

Conclusion - not fucking good enough.

Laporte is superior in every aspect.
 
Dias is good with stability and consistency. Feel as though we change our back 3/4 too much which means we lack cohesion. Don’t think we should write him off
 
FromPollockToSilva said:
Eh, Stones and Otamendi were a disaster and John was almost out the door before Dias signed. A lot of revisionism in here about Dias. Has his flaws and hasn't been at his best for a long stretch, but the idea he was always shit and Stones and Walker "held his hand" is very silly

We won four straight league titles, the Treble, and went to two Champions League Finals with Dias as our main man at the back. His signing was the catalyst for us taking the title back from the Dippers. That simply isn't possible if he's a bad player. He isn't and wasn't. He has limitations and his form has been choppy, like everyone else at the back over the last 18 months

That said: if we're going to play a very high line, with no pacy defenders, and put zero pressure on the opposition when they pass the ball long - we're going to have a very bad time
Click to expand...
He’s deffo not always shit. He just hasn’t been in great form for a long time. His debut season was the best. He replicated it in the treble season but it didn’t last long.

IMO he did rely heavily on Walkers pace. But I don’t think it’s the worst thing cuz I feel like our whole system and plan to defend depended on Walker to bail us out.

I honestly think he should be taken out the side for a while. We obviously can’t sell him. I just can’t stand his flaws anymore. Which is what this competition would’ve been great for. We could’ve tested the level of Khusonov Reis with Gvardiol.
 
FromPollockToSilva said:
Eh, Stones and Otamendi were a disaster and John was almost out the door before Dias signed. A lot of revisionism in here about Dias. Has his flaws and hasn't been at his best for a long stretch, but the idea he was always shit and Stones and Walker "held his hand" is very silly

We won four straight league titles, the Treble, and went to two Champions League Finals with Dias as our main man at the back. His signing was the catalyst for us taking the title back from the Dippers. That simply isn't possible if he's a bad player. He isn't and wasn't. He has limitations and his form has been choppy, like everyone else at the back over the last 18 months

That said: if we're going to play a very high line, with no pacy defenders, and put zero pressure on the opposition when they pass the ball long - we're going to have a very bad time
Click to expand...

There once was a season where a team got 100 points....

Otamendi played 34 PL games, Stones 18. Some must have been together, and can't have gone too badly. Pretty much agree with the rest though.
 
mattcity5 said:
There once was a season where a team got 100 points....

Otamendi played 34 PL games, Stones 18. Some must have been together, and can't have gone too badly. Pretty much agree with the rest though.
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Go back and watch Norwich 3-2 City haha

I don’t disagree with the broader point though. I rated Ota higher than most. I fucking love Stones. And Dias has been great for us too
 
dave_blue12 said:
Marks out of 10 for Dias as a centre half

Ariel ability - 5
Passing - 5
Tackling - 7
Pace - 4
Positional awareness - 6

Conclusion - not fucking good enough.

Laporte is superior in every aspect.
Click to expand...
Partner - 10

Doesn’t help us too much on the pitch mind…
 
jaiguruKun said:
They played most games together in the Centurions season and then then the next season when we won a domestic clean sweep. Otamendi was pretty good during that period (PFA TOTS at least once) - certainly better than Dias is now.
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Otamendi was the mainstay in 2017/18, John played fewer than half our PL games. Laporte was the main man in 18/19, with VK playing that steak of games at the business end where we really shut up shop
 
Don’t watch Liverpool very often but when l
do Van Dyke makes a mistake. But he plays in a settled side with a mobile midfield. (And a keeper that makes saves).

Any centre half would struggle in our team at the moment. Not saying Dias is perfect but a high line plus slow midfield is asking for trouble.
 
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