It's a similar situation to what we had with the goalkeeping department with Ikeme and Hennessey. If someone is doing well it's a hard decision to make whether to let them keep their place or drop them to accomodate a player returning from injury.
I think that Doherty, like Hennessey, will have to sit it out on the bench until someone in the back row gets an injury. I really like Doherty but if I was KJ I wouldn't mess with the best defensive record in all 4 divisions to bring him back in.

And by the way, have you noticed that we now have the best goal difference in div 1?

Which means that if Orient beat Stevenage on Tuesday we will still stay 2nd with 2 games in hand

Unless they win by more than 1 goal

I agree with Gem, with how Ricketts and Golbourne have been performing it would be wrong to drop either for Doherty.

---------------------------Ikeme

Doherty-------Stearman------Batth--------Ricketts

------------------McDonald-----Price
----Jacobs------------------------------------Sako
----------------------------Clarke

----------------------------Dicko

Doherty will get his chance next month when we have 7 games and there will be a need for a slight rotation

I think that is our strongest back four Pundit but think also Doherty might after wait for his chance. KJ hasn’t been quick to drop any of his signings and the back four haven’t performed badly without Doherty so it might be an injury or suspension that give him his chance to get back in.
Clarke coming straight back in is more likely as he hasn’t been afraid to tinker with the midfield and forward line and Henry’s been below par recently.

JA606 fans in agreement shocker!!

I do think rickets has been the weakest of our defence and he is prone to errors much more than any of the others. but that said, we've the best defensive record in English football right now with a hatful of clean sheets, so changing the team would be foolish. especially when you add in that ricketts is KJ's captain and first signing.

there were calls earlier in the year for ricketts to switch to LB and for goldy to be the man to make way but for me, goldbourne has improved no end in the latest run and has now started getting some decent crosses in, thanks in a large part to sako's quality passing. goldy has more assists and goals than ricketts and has looked fine at the back.

longer term, I expect us to line up as:

doherty batth stearman goldy

but only when doherty gets a chance.

even further ahead we might see:

doherty batth ebanks-landell new LB

when we are pushing for the championship title the year after next.

Think Hause is ahead of Ebanks at centre back now, with Ebanks an option at full back

I was pleased to see Jackett bring back Ikeme yesterday instead of going with the 'can't change a winning team' cop out.

Good that our manager knows our strongest team and the players do too.

Spot on pundit,its going to be very hard for Doherty to get his place back, but saying that KJ did bring Ikeme back yesterday.

I think he finally knows his strongest eleven and with the recent departures he has stopped the tinkering.

Goldbourne had a good game yesterday probably his best in a Wolves shirt so far.

The captain issue has to be Batth,or even McDonald.

To suggest he is the weak link at the back is a bit harsh, but someone has to be, before yesterday I would have said it was Goulbourne.

Mind you to have only conceded 20 goals so far this season suggests that who ever plays in defence is good enough for this league,next season will be the test in the championship.

Dances I cant comment on your article

I don't think that Ricketts is in KJ's long term plans as he is only contracted to the end of next season. He's also the oldest player in our squad at 32. For me I'd have Doherty back, but as Ricketts is captain it'll be strange for him to be dropped. However, with the tough fixture list looming he may alternate them.

That back four of Pundits would have been my choice a month or two ago as well, but Golbourne has become very consistant it seems.

I guess for now it is a waiting game for Doherty, which is a shame as he was on track to be one of the players of the season.

I'm not sure that hause - who none of us have seen play yet - has leapfrogged ebanks-landell who we've seen a few times and who looks a real quality footballer. just because E-L has played at full back to fill in when needed does not mean he has been converted to that position on a permanent basis.

we currently have only batth and stears as fully fledged and experienced CBs, with the option of ricketts (not a good choice for me), elokobi (a bit better as an occasional filler in div 3), and then the kids. E-L, hause, ihiekwe all players for the future but one of them has already shown in a gold shirt that he is ready now.

danny batth has to be captain in waiting and I think we'll see ricketts used more sparingly over the next 15 months. he might well get an extra year extension if he's still fulfilling a useful squad role next season but it is our crop of young talent that looks like the way forward for our club.

Yeah I don't see Hause being ahead of Ebanks-Landell either, i think he is just a solid edition to the development squad and he has only got 20 pro games under his belt in a division we would send our development players to on loan anyway.

No idea how good Hause is but it would be no surprise to me if Ebanks Landell overtook Ricketts and Doherty in the pecking order next season

It would be a massive disappointment to see Doherty missing out, the guy looks destined for top flight footy and i hope we see him starting again very soon.

depending on versatility we might see Doherty or E-L end up at LB. or E-L might get in at CB which is his 'proper' position. or even a three man central defence with DB, E-L and stears.

I think the most likely defensive decision will be rickets making way for one of our man talented youth.

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