Apart from Matt Connolly's appearance at Huddersfield on the last day of the 2016/17 season, Sean Morrison, Sol Bamba and Bruno Ecuele Manga have been the three centre backs of choice for Neil Warnock. It's a riddle that has seen Manga utilised at right back and Bamba employed as a defensive midfielder in order for Warnock to play all three.

I'm trusting Transfermarkt on this, which might be a mistake, though whenever Manga and Bamba have played RB and DM, they are on the money with this.

Here's the stats for our centre back partnerships from Bristol City (home) in 2016 - Warnock's first game:

Morrison/Bamba
Played 64
Clean Sheets 20
Clean Sheet% 31.3%
Goals Conceded 78
Average per game 1.22

Morrison/Manga
Played 18
Clean Sheets 5
Clean Sheet% 27.8%
Goals Conceded 25
Average per game 1.39

Bamba/Manga
Played 11
Clean Sheets 3
Clean Sheet% 27.3%
Goals Conceded 16
Average per game 1.45

All 3 as a back 3/5
Played 12
Clean Sheets 7
Clean Sheet% 58.3%
Goals Conceded 11
Average per game 0.92

This suggests that, if we have a flat back 4, Morrison and Bamba should be our preferred pairing. 3 centre backs looks even more solid.

Here's a comparison of Morrison and Bamba together - Championship vs Premier League:

Championship
Played 47
Clean Sheets 16
Clean Sheet% 34.0%
Goals Conceded 45
Average per game 0.96

Premier League
Played 18
Clean Sheets 5
Clean Sheet% 27.8%
Goals Conceded 33
Average per game 1.83

Yes, there's the step up to the Premier League to consider, plus some thrashings this season, but that suggests there's been a bit of a struggle to adapt to playing in a higher division. The pairing of Bamba and Manga, albeit having only played 4 games together, have a better record.

I think I now understand why Morrison was included last night. Statistically, a back 3 has been far more miserly (6 conceded in 11 games where there's been 3 centre backs). Last night that back 3 nearly conceded as many in 90 minutes as they had in 11 games previously.

All of this proves that there's probably no conclusive proof to what our best centre back partnership is. Last season we had a dismal run of form when Morrison was out injured (losing to Fulham, Preston and QPR). They were also our partnership in a shitshow at Newcastle. It could also be argued that the whole team on those occasions didn't perform and it would be unfair to blame that on the centre backs. We conceded 5 last night but much of that was down to runners not being picked up in midfield and a Watford attacking game that we, as a team, couldn't handle. Statistically, we shouldn't have had the nightmare we had with 3 centre backs.