What is the best centre-back pairing at Spurs?

With an international break upon us, it is time to investigate a constant complaint among Tottenham Hotspur supporters. The Lilywhite defence and the fact that they tend to leak goals more than most other sides of Spurs caliber.

The two players who receive most of the attention for this are the centre-backs of course. Now this might be a narrow and perhaps naïve way to view things because the lack of defence does not fall squarely on the backline or on the centre-backs specifically. The midfield must take up some of the defending load and the central midfield pairing of Mason and Bentaleb haven’t done enough at times. Yet, the facts are the centre-backs are supposed to be the rock of the defense at the core of everything.

With this in mind I will focus on Tottenham’s centre-back pairings used in the league so far to answer the question, what is Tottenham’s best centre-back pairing?

In order to determine what is the optimal pairing for Mauricio Pochettinto to employ so his side stops shipping in needless goals the analysis can be done in one of two ways.

First, you can use the “eye test” that every longtime football supporter has built into them after watching years of football. The eye test of a seasoned supporter certainly passes mustard as most supporters can tell the difference between a good centre-back partnership and one what is absolute rubbish.

Secondly, you can crunch the actual numbers to see what partnership has allowed the least amount of goals and then compare those numbers to your eye test to see if perception matches reality. This is the path I have chosen for this analysis. The statistical numbers are presented below followed by a comment or two on each centre-back pairing used by Spurs so far this league season.

Kaboul and Dier:

Not much to say here, this was the opening pairing of the season mostly due to injury. Even though they were part of a clean-sheet in their only game together this partnership never stood a chance to grow nor did it deserve too with the other talent available in the squad.

Kaboul and Chiriches:

This partnership was even more doomed than the one above as both players have now fallen out of favour. These two did not pass the eye test as they were all over the shop but the results 3 goals in 2 games wasn’t terrible.

Kaboul and Fazio:

This was the ultimate nightmare duo. Two slow defenders who aren’t mobile or pass particularly well in a high tempo pressing side. This partnership was DOA. The 6 goals in 2 games number was boosted by a Fazio sending off against Manchester City.

Kaboul and Vertonghen:

This partnership had some success and statistically is the second best partnership to date this season allowing just 1.17 goals per match. It fell apart shortly after the Newcastle match though with rumors of locker-room bust ups with Adebayor and Kaboul at the heart of those rumors. These stories may not be completely true but must have some truth in them based on both players lack of playing time since.

Dier and Vertonghen:

This is the partnership that has been featured most recently getting a run of 7 games in a row. It certainly hasn’t passed the eye test with the two players clearly not on the same page perhaps to a lack of communication or a lack of experience on Dier’s part. Statistically it is the second worse paring allowing 2.13 goals per game and is the worst pairing of any partnership that has played more than 6 games together. It’s clearly time to move on from this pairing as they do not mesh well.

Fazio and Vertonghen:

This partnership received an extended run of 11 games in a row between November and January. It passes the eye test for most supporters with both players complimenting each other’s skills well and statistically is the best partnership used all season (with more than 1 game) allowing just 1.09 goals per match.

Fazio has made a few noticeable blunders in his debut season resulting in penalties and red cards. This along with his lack of speed is probably the main reason Pochettino has since turned to Dier to replace him. The stats don’t lie though and this partnership is Spurs best goal wise and the eye test confirms that. Fazio might be a step or two slow against pacey attacking players but he is better in the air than Dier and reads the game well due to a higher level of experience. His occasional blunders although frustrating still lead to a much lower goal total than the Dier and Vertonghen partnership.

Pochettino would be wise to reinstall Fazio into the starting XI with Vertonghen if Spurs want to finish the last 8 matches strong and stop leaking goals. They may not be the long-term answer but they are the clear answer to the question ‘what is Tottenham’s best Centre-back Pairing?’ as of now.