Who is our best central defender? Vote now.

Newcastle seem to be fairly well equppied in central defence these days, which is an odd statement to make considering we are a team that has become synonymous with shambolic defending over the years.

Could we do better than our current crop of defenders at this moment in time? Possibly, but overall I am fairly happy with what we have at the back for the moment.

It does make you wonder just who our best central defender is though doesn't it? I mean none of them are perfect and they all have areas where they could improve, but who would you put at the top of the list at this current moment in time? First off, let's look at the candidates.

Steven Taylor - The academy product has recently signed a new deal with Newcastle, which is good news to be fair. Taylor has a tendancy to drop a clanger at any point, and his acting skills are immense, but on his day he is a damn good defender.

In fairness, he has probably suffered from never having had anyone next to him to learn from. The likes of Jean-Alain Boumsong, Titus Bramble and David Rozenhal are hardly the solid defenders you would like to show a young lad the ropes.

He has suffered an injury plagued last ten months or so aswell, which has seen him only play a handful of games since the start of 2010. He has got his place back in the team now though, and he is doing ok, so hopefully his injury problems are behind him and he can continue to improve.

Fabricio Coloccini - The £10.3 million man has looked like a player reborn after his debut season in the Premier League. It wasn't easy for him to settle into a new country and a turbulent team, and when the unthinkable relegation happened you would have expected that he would be off and for him to be consigned to history as yet another expensive foreign flop.

Just 18 months on and 'Colo' has become a bit of a cult hero with the St James' Park faithful. His performances last season as we marched to promotion were excellent and he looks to have regained his confidence. He has carried that form into the Premier League this season, although he does have an alarming tendancy to mess around with the ball when he really should be clearing it. Easily one of the best footballing central defenders I have seen in a black and white shirt, although not as good as Philippe Albert mind.

Mike Williamson - Mike Williamson has only been at Newcastle for a year having arrived last January from Portsmouth. The former Torquay, Wycombe and Watford defender came with a pretty cheap price-tag and was a relatively unknown quantity.

Still, he settled in nicely and replaced Steven Taylor admirably whilst he was out injured in the second half of last season. Williamson is a pretty solid defender who has a knack of being in the right place at the right time, which is handy considering that he isn't the fastest.

Sol Campbell - I've put Sol in more out of politeness to be fair, as I don't think he will get many votes. Campbell has looked off the pace ever since he arrived at Newcastle and looks every inch a player that is approaching the end of his career.

I know he played well at Arsenal last season, but we aren't Arsenal and we won't have as much of the ball as they do. It's easy to look good when you have a team like Arsenal in front of you and there isn't much to do, but when things get a bit busier he looks a little lost these days.

I haven't put Tamas Kadar in as he hasn't really had much of a chance to prove his worth and is only a young'un who will hopefully be one for the future.

So go on then, get voting!

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