[EastLondonTerrier]

Great town defenders in my albeit still young town career were (on his day) efe sodje, although prone to stupidity now and then, he was an athlete and an animal for us when we got promotion. Anyone who watched the play-off final when he made an unreal interception against junio r mendes will testify. Kevin Gray was also a rock but probably would get mullered by modern day standards now. We haven't had a genuinely good fullback at all in my town lifetime although my old man always regales me of allegories about how we used to produce top class fullbacks at the drop of a hat. Tom Cowan being the standout.

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and in answer to the original post, Jamie Carragher and Gary Nevilled pointed out a very good point when analysing premier league defending this season. There just isn't enough time dedictated to defending from coaches now anymore where before the majority of training sessions would be on defending and small portions to attacking whereas now it is the opposite. Defensive solidity is sacrificed for attacking flair where now there is a paucity of top-level centre backs now. Apart from Kompany, Chiellini, vintage John Terry and a couple others, how many could you name in an elite bracket?