Hughes or Hangeland

[White Noise]

A year ago or so some of the longest standing of our supporters were venturing the opinion that Hangeland was probably the best CB they had seen in Fulham shirt for 30 or 40 years - one or two even asked whether he was in a field of one.
After this season his stock has fallen a little after a number of less than faultless performances. Despite that he was central to another outstanding Fulham season and is supposedly wanted by Wenger and Ferguson.
In the time that Hughes and Hangeland have been playing together a few voices favouring Hughes over Hangeland has turned into a bit of a clamour.
So which of the two do you think is the better player and why?

[Lighthouse]

I have always said that Hughes makes other players around him look better than they are because of the work he does. But Brede is outstanding in the air and in the tackle and.... that is where we hit the problems. He has shown poor positional sense and has really been poor in some games at trying to block attackers runs. He seems to go walkabout and offer a target leaving a rather shocked Keeper facing a shot he didn't expect. Brede must learn to do a Roger Brown and actually try and tackle players and block shots before they become a danger. His passing has also been poor.

Hughes covers well and sees problems early. He is the brains of the defence. He covers his full back and Brede, often forcing him to move out of position. Hughes is the better player but needs a big powerful player alongside him. But if we had to see one player go. We would miss them both. But if we had to lose one I would think we could recover easier by bringing in a player to replace Brede rather than Hughes.

Hughes was my player of the season.

[finnster01]

Hangeland is clearly the most valuable one because Aaron Hughes never has to head a single ball anymore. The Norwegian giraffe wins everything in the air, which is why Arsehole Whiner and Sir Red Nose wants him.

Aaron Hughes is probably more consistent, but if you never have to worry about anything in the air, the CB job spec just got a lot easier. Best example to prove my point is when Smalling replaced Hangeland a few times, our back four became very dodgy, especially in the air (ignoring Smalling's stupid mistakes for a second).

Aaron deserves much more credit than what he has gotten, but I will argue that Hangeland has made him a better player and if I had to lose one (and I hope I don't) I rather let go of Hughes. He is simpler to replace in my book.

[Dugliss]

I wouldn`t want to lose either because on their own they are both decent players but together they are a very rare thing which is a near perfect partnership as they seem to compliment each other.
I think I`m trying to say I`m gonna sit on the fence!!

[Vinnieffc]

They both remind me of my playing days. I was half of a centre back pairing. I was sh*t in the air but could read the game. My partner was 6'4" but lacked confidence. Once he realised that, if he missed anything in the air I was there to cover for him, he blossomed. Some of the best games I was in defensively I hardly touched the ball as my mate was winning everything as there was no pressure. I think the Hangeland/Hughes pairing is very similar in that they complement each other perfectly. If I had to make a choice though, I'd plump for Hughes as the brains as long as we got a tall, great in the air partner for him.

[LBNo11]

...Hughes - clear, cool head, gives confidence to those around him to know he will mop up after them if necessary...

[WhiteJC]

its a bit like saying do you prefer to loose your left or right testicle, neither would be my reply 

[Oakeshott]

Like everyone else, I hope that both remain for the long term as they are an excellent pairing. But rather to my surprise, if we had to lose one I now think I'd rather see Hughsie stay. He gives me the impression of reading the game better than Brede, and if it is primarily a question of finding someone else able to head away the crosses, I think someone would be found able to do that. Indeed, we may already have that someone in Chris Baird.

[Tom]

From last season it is Hughes and it wasn't even close. He played well all season and you didn't have to worry about him at all. Hangeland was on and off and I didn't think he had that good of a season. To me he needs to have a bounce back season coming up.

[LRCN]

Hangeland makes Hughes and I don't think it's vice versa. They compliment each other well but out of the two Hangeland is the better player.

[Crede15]

Hughes easily. Watching Brede was a bit nerve racking at times last year.