IMO - FWIW - Joel Ward if he plays all season the player ratings would likely be lowest 5 / highest 8 - (not getting into how many performances were 5 / how many were 6 etc etc) this then that would indicate that his reasonable season average performance would likely be around 6.5 - 7 - which isnt bad for a club our size / place in the league.
So to replace him & bring in a specialist defender who would likely return an average score of say 7.5 would cost ?
For a position where we are not crying out for an upgrade ( other than for injuries which pretty much applies to the whole defensive lineup - i.e we have more pressing needs / places to spend our transfer budget)

Refreshing this one. Was wondering how he would look last night after a period out. Thought he was decent. Perhaps we do need to improve in that position, but I'm thinking on balance him over Clyne. He's stronger than Clyne and I'm surprised to say better going forward.
Keep Clyne 'till end of season-if he'll stay-hopefully by then Ferguson will have found the exit door to the treatment room.

Yep !

did ok last night, so no worries at right back.

Bit concerned at PVA's positioning on the other side - often gets drawn into middle and is slow to get out to his winger, allowing crosses to come in unchallenged.

Both the goal last night and also the WBA were due to him being out of position.

I loved it when he shoulder barged Benrahma and looked at him as if to say, “what do you expect at this level”.

For a mid table top flight side like us, Ward is fine. A good pro, good servant, and good value for money. Always has been, probably will be for some time to come.

If we unearth an outstanding prospect or land an amazing free transfer at right back then Ward can sit on the bench as cover, like he did when AWB broke through, and as he may do when (if?) Ferguson proves his fitness and quality. Otherwise, leave Ward in the side and certainly don't spend any money on a new right back when we need it spending elsewhere first.

If I was going to worry about either full back it would be PVA, who will never learn to defend competently, let alone well. I appreciate that he offsets defensive shoddiness with attacking impetus, but even after four years I'm still not convinced that the latter justifies the former, though he is great fun to watch so I'll let him off!

On that subject, you could argue that a defensive minded full back like Ward becomes even more essential if we do keep PVA beyond his current contract. Big clubs can have two attacking full backs flying forward at the same time, but not us. We need one full back to compensate for the other, and if we are to have another two or three years of PVA defying logic, risk, and probably his managers instructions to pop up at inside left/centre forward/christ only knows where, we will continue to need a right back who is comfortable tucking in and making a back three. Ward can do that, and we need someone like him to hold the fort whilst waiting for the Wandering Dutchman to return to port.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (17 Dec 2020 1.44pm)