Stephens Or Caceres That Is The Question Friday, 24th Feb 2017 10:23 Claude Puel may not know too much about William Shakespeare but the quotes of the Bard will be brought to mind this weekend as he makes his team selection in the centre of defence. Hopefully the question that Puel won't be asking on Sunday is "Romeu, Romeu, where for art thou Romeu" but it will be a pun on 2b or not 2b that is the question, as he picks up his pencil and drafts his starting XI for the game at Wembley when he asks "Jack Stephens CB or not CB" It is a hard decision and not an easy one, not least because neither is going to be a known quantity. Of course Stephens has been at the club a long time, but it should also be noted that in the six seasons he has been here he has not been within a whisker of a game in the Premier League at any time, he is not one of our promising youngsters, he is 23 years old and without this crisis in the back four the likelihood is that at the end of the season he would have left the club, at best for a lower half Championship side. I don't wish to run Stephens down, I'm sure he is lovely lad and will try his heart out, but that is not always enough. Against that we have the experience of Caceres, I would hope that he has a high level of fitness, he will have been training for at least two months prior to joining Saints and you would hope that he will have upped that a little in the past fortnight. Of course there is the question of match sharpness, he hasn't played in a year, however Stephens has little more of that than Caceres, a couple of games in the League cup plus a run in the FA Cup and after that he has only 3 Premier starts plus 2 as sub to his name. Yes he does have a little more advantage, but to be blunt in those Premier League fixtures he did not in the main cover himself in glory. So from a match sharpness point of view although Jack has the edge, I don't feel that it is that much of an edge to make a big difference and that the experience of Caceres would more than compensate for that. The big factor for me though will be quality, I am sorry but in this area there is no competition, at 23 Stephens has not shown much to force his way into the plans of four managers in his time here, there is a good reason for that and that is he is not up to the task, I hate to write this and run down one of our players, but have to tell it how it is. If he has what it takes at this level then he would have forced his way into the team long ago, he is the virtually the same age now as Virgil Van Dyke and Dejan Lovren where when he joined us, Toby Alderweireld was a year older, all three already had considerable experience at a high level, sadly Jack has not. This all ads up to the fact that when you are taking on United's experience and guile you need to have a lot of that yourself. Also there is the question of leadership, sadly Yoshida is not a leader of men, he needs someone alongside him to take command of the situation and guide him through a game, Stephens being so inexperienced needs that even more than Yoshida and playing them would be a case of the blind leading the blind, yet again another reason why Caceres experience might be a plus, it would allow Yoshida to concentrate on his own game. All this adds up to the fact that sentimentality should not be a factor, Claude Puel will have to do what is best for the team, he has the advantage over me that he has seen Caceres in training, he knows his fitness levels etc, he will know what is best to do. Having said all this though, Jack Stephens if selected will give it his all, the difference between a truly Premier League player and a Championship one is consistency, the ability to do it week in week out and not lose concentration or make mistakes. Indeed we have seen that with Yoshida who has the ability and has put in some great games for this club, however they have been tempered by his lapses in concentration in virtually every game that mean that he has never been considered first choice at this club. But Stephens like Yoshida has the ability to put in a big game, if he plays he could pull out all the stops and surprise a few people, he has the skill, he has the desire, sometimes they can be enough in one off games, they won't carry you through a League season, but sometimes it inspires a player to great things, that sometimes they have never achieved before and never achieve again, Stephens will know that his chance is there and will not let us down,. But overall the decision for Puel is about probabilities and the probable answer to his dilemma in the centre of defence is that all things being taken into account Martin Caceres is the man for the job. However perhaps the most apt William Shakespeare quote for this situation is perhaps not one of his best known to those who are not readers of his work. "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." This is very much going to be the case on Sunday. 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