Kortney Hause (on loan at Watford)

[cdbearsfan]

Someone said he had the mumps?

[adrenachrome]

A bit worrying that Hause didn't even make the bench today given so many injuries. Hause was excellent against Wolves in the cup. Why does Smith continue to put the inferior Taylor ahead of him on the bench? Hause is a much better defender - and can play Left back or CB.

DS clearly rates Taylor a great deal higher than most of the fans, including me.

I started going to VP in 1966, and thee have been many instances of his phenomenon. Bradley, Poutney, and Bobby Park were early examples.

[Luke8]

Has there been any word on his non selection today?

I sort of understood when we were going with two defenders on the bench and he went with Konsa and then Taylor as a specialist full back (and also to be fair to Taylor he hadn’t been too bad up to the point that Targett came in). It was certainly strange to see Chester ahead of him today though.

[Villafirst]

Maybe as Chester is right-footed so a like-for-like for Engels/Konsa. But for me, Hause is a much better Full back than Taylor, bigger, stronger and faster. What's not to like?
The Burnley goal for Rodriguez is a case in point: Taylor was easily out-muscled for the header.

[TheMalandro]

I'd rather have Downing at left back than Taylor.
He's bloody awful.

[ROBBO]

It's a mystery.

[eamonn]

He must be thinking why he swapped Wolves bench for not even getting on ours. More money and time to dedicate to his passion for music sure, but I'm sure he'd like to play a bit of footy now and then too.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I'd rather have Downing at left back than Taylor.
He's bloody awful.

Yet he's still by a million miles a better defender than Targett. Taylor can defend but adds little to our attack. Targett adds to our attack but can't defend. Hause can do both. I'd consider giving him a go against Newcastle.

[wittonwarrior]

Targett let go by Southampton says a lot.  Taylor is a better defender but the fact that Hause appears to be inspired by Tyrone you can  guess where my vote lies.

[Luke8]

I'd rather have Downing at left back than Taylor.
He's bloody awful.

Yet he's still by a million miles a better defender than Targett. Taylor can defend but adds little to our attack. Targett adds to our attack but can't defend. Hause can do both. I'd consider giving him a go against Newcastle.

I understand peoples reservations about both Targett and Taylor but where exactly is the evidence to suggest that Hause is our best left back? He played, what, four games there for us last season and has been exclusively used at centre back since.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I'd rather have Downing at left back than Taylor.
He's bloody awful.

Yet he's still by a million miles a better defender than Targett. Taylor can defend but adds little to our attack. Targett adds to our attack but can't defend. Hause can do both. I'd consider giving him a go against Newcastle.

I understand peoples reservations about both Targett and Taylor but where exactly is the evidence to suggest that Hause is our best left back? He played, what, four games there for us last season and has been exclusively used at centre back since.

The evidence is he couldn't be any worse and even if it was just 4 appearances, three of them were excellent. Realistically, I can see us signing a new left back but we'll have to wait until the summer.

[Luke8]

I'd rather have Downing at left back than Taylor.
He's bloody awful.

Yet he's still by a million miles a better defender than Targett. Taylor can defend but adds little to our attack. Targett adds to our attack but can't defend. Hause can do both. I'd consider giving him a go against Newcastle.

I understand peoples reservations about both Targett and Taylor but where exactly is the evidence to suggest that Hause is our best left back? He played, what, four games there for us last season and has been exclusively used at centre back since.

The evidence is he couldn't be any worse and even if it was just 4 appearances, three of them were excellent. Realistically, I can see us signing a new left back but we'll have to wait until the summer.

Fair enough. I actually think Targett is reasonably enough for the level that we are currently at (Matt Lowton is a mid table right back for comparison). Like you say, he has added an different element to our attack since coming into the team and I think he had done ok defensively, he certainly played his part in decent performances against Liverpool and Man City.

He was poor on Sunday, but I think that was also largely down to our system leaving him isolated against Traore, who, to be fair, with better decision making/end product would be playing for a very good team.

[Risso]

I'd rather have Downing at left back than Taylor.
He's bloody awful.

Yet he's still by a million miles a better defender than Targett. Taylor can defend but adds little to our attack. Targett adds to our attack but can't defend. Hause can do both. I'd consider giving him a go against Newcastle.

I understand peoples reservations about both Targett and Taylor but where exactly is the evidence to suggest that Hause is our best left back? He played, what, four games there for us last season and has been exclusively used at centre back since.

The evidence is he couldn't be any worse and even if it was just 4 appearances, three of them were excellent. Realistically, I can see us signing a new left back but we'll have to wait until the summer.

I'm with you Mark, I'd be giving Hause a start.  Taylor has been OK defensively but is poor going forward, with the exact opposite being true for Targett.  I don't think we can afford players who are so limited at either aspect of the full back role.

[AVH87]

I'm not even convinced Targett is that good going forward, he never follows his pass and looks forward or wants to beat a man, and looks overweight and a bit slow to me for a modern fullback, did we scout him because £11-14m looks a hell of a lot for him right now.

[eamonn]

He won us two points against Brighton so I think he's still in credit.