Dedryck Boyata

He's still the best defender we have at the club. We're not going to go out this summer and get 3-4 CBs that are better than Boyata and obviously we need at least four. I'm not saying he would be my first choice at the present moment because I still feel he's not back to his dominant best and still has issues with concentration but he's well worth a place in the squad at the very least (and worth a starting place imo if he can iron his problems out. And I agree, it's a big if)

It's only because his mistakes are so glaring that people have such a poor opinion of him. Likes of Ajer and Jozo make mistakes that aren't as obvious while Boyata quite obviously sells goals at times and that's what naturally sticks in your memory when you think of him. He's a much better player than people make out.

 

Not only are we not going to get 3-4, realistically we aren't going to get any. We may get another Ajer, Simunovic, Mulgrew, Valgaeren type who is a decent defender and decent on the ball but almost certainly will be a worse defender than Boyata who will weaken the defence but make less invidivual mistakes.

My entire time supporting Celtic i'd say we've only actually had 7 naturally good defensive centre-backs. Mjallby, Balde, Varga, Majstorovic, Wilson, Van Dijk and Boyata.

They've all had their + and -'s as well with Van Dijk the only real exception as he excelled at everything. If anything it may have been too easy for him playing for us that he was never really fully switched on.

 

Hey does my * in at time's, really */needless thing's that have me in the punt camp, but....

He is 1 of our best, if not our current best centre back right now. Has a lot going for him and is quick, can be a beast in the air/defending and attacking and strong..

Just needs to cut out the mistakes with ropey first touches and passes..

New first choice quality centre back/Ajer/Boyata and Hendry etc..isn't too bad..

 

Yeah I'd agree with that. I'm no expert by any means, but less obvious mistakes made by guys like Jozo and Ajer that lead to goals are easily forgotten or missed completely by the average fan. But everyone remembers Efe as basically a joke figure now and it's going that way for Boyata too because their kind of mistakes stick in the memory and heavily influence people's opinions on players.

Brendan knows he has a mistake in him, but he also knows he's by far the best defender the club in pure defending terms. He may give away a couple goals a season, but we'd probably concede a lot more without him in there.

 

Same, I think too many people are too happy to want rid of him but it will actually weaken us as a team to lose him.

Ideally the way we play we need 2 centre-backs(since we play a back 3 a lot) who are solid in the air, quick and good at mopping up out on the wings because they often have to go out there if they are left open which is natural in a back 3.

Currently we only have Boyata who is good at that.

Jozo is too rash, when he is dragged wide he usually brazenly flies into a slide tackle without thinking half the time committing a foul or missing. Ajer is too slow off the mark and when turned that he's not ideal or suited. Ideally we want Ajer as the middle man bringing the ball forward and using his passing and dribbling and ball carrying and he's quite solid in the air. But on the sides of him we need Boyata/Van Dijk/Wilson/Denayer types who aren't going to get done for pace and are good in the tackle that they 9 times out of 10 will be able to catch guys or slide in and win the ball. Lustig, Jozo, Sviatchenko, Bitton and Ajer are all weak in the wide centre-back positions.

 

* had to check the date on the newspaper today thought it was april the first and want this bombscare out the door and would like to see two good quality centre halfs brought in as we can afford it .

 

Quite noticeable he gets alot more praise when were not playing any European games.

Press him or cut off his pasing options like decent teams do and hes still the same * donkey of a bombscare we signed.

 

What European games has he really been done in though? pretty much all his mistakes have been domestically.

 

Bayern was unforgiveable. The uncomfort you feel with him on the ball domestically just increases 10 fold in europe aswell.

 

If he'd stop passing the ball he'd be fine.

 

Thing is, put him in a defensive minded team and he is a star ,even man city defence have players who make a c#nt of it and they have spent 30 times as much on any defender, so its not always down to just the player .

 

Boyata gets far too much abuse. He’s a very good defender. He’s our best centre back. When you see him live, he’s the leader in the back four. Ajer is best with the ball. Simunovic has probably got a decent balance between the two. Only reason he not got back in the side is because Ajer has been really good and not deserved to lose his place. The style Rodgers plays highlights Boyatas weaknesses. If he got an injury free season he’d prove how good he is overall. He won’t be sold and wouldn’t be surprised if he signs a 2-3year extension.

 

The problem is he gets games,that tells us there is no one to take over that is better...and i doubt we are going to buy better any time soon.

 

Terrible player.i couldn't give a * if he runs like a racehorse in training it's the games that count and hes pish in most of them .id be apprehensive about offering him a new contract if he was 18 or 19 and couldn't pass a ball but at 27 he s as good as he s gonna get and that's nowhere near good enough.offering him a new contract is just throwing good money after bad

 

Player of the season.

 

Finished the season strong.

 

Man * mountain I love the Big Belgian *