I AM… A DEFENDER

As I said in the introduction, this is by no means an exact science. There are always players who wear a different boot than the perceived norm. That is the same in this case!

First off, what traits do good defenders need? Well, it must be said that there are at least three different kinds of defenders. I will use Manchester United to illustrate this point (partly because they went so long without conceding last year, so they must be decent).

I believe a good centre pairing needs two types of defenders; a destroyer and a styler.

United have a very good “destroyer” in Vidic. This kind will break you in half and laugh about it as they walk away. Fearless warriors really. Think the likes of Terry, Cannavaro, Carragher… the list goes on.

Once you’ve won the ball you need to play it out and counter attack. That’s where a “styler” comes in. In this case it’s Ferdinand. Others in this mold are Carvalho, Agger, etc.

Add to that two fast (very important) and attack minded full backs and you have a potent back four.

United can field a back four with boots from Nike, Puma and Adidas. The most common one however would be the Nike Laser – a ‘power’ boot. Vidic wears Puma’s v-Konstrukt – also a power boot. Another boot used often is the Predator which is Adidas’ power boot. Now Gallas would go and use Vapors which are speed boots… but I did say this isn’t a science.

A picture of United’s first choice back four looks like this.

My deduction: If you are defender you should probably be looking at power boots.

For something different maybe have a look at the new Concave PT+ boots.