The thing is that Hause definitely has the potential to make a decent centre half at this level, at very least (he won't fulfil that potential if he doesn't play). In a best case scenario, Stearman is as good as he's ever going to be, and he's never been part of a particularly good defence in this league. We're probably not even in that luxurious a situation as he's nowhere near as quick now as he was 4-5 years ago and he isn't smart enough to make up for that. A year away as part of a Fulham defence that conceded 79 goals last season hasn't improved him.
Ola John looks a pointless signing given just how many wide options we have, Paul Gladon looks (on the basis of one game) to be a pretty poor signing as he looks short of any of the required attributes to play as a forward in a Zenga team, but Stearman was a truly baffling signing given there are more than enough people at the club who already know what he's all about. Not as bad as us bringing Leon Clarke back when similarly aware of his multiple deficiencies, but in the same category. I don't care if our primary targets (Luisao/Mawson) turned us down, you cannot tell me he was the very best we could find on the kind of budget we have. You can thump your chest in the direction of the South Bank all you like but I'll forego all that for a centre half who doesn't offer up the kind of non-challenge that allowed Hammill to score on Tuesday. I'd have taken Berra back ahead of Stearman.
Not that Batth was much better in midweek, I'll grant you.
As far as decent centre half partnerships go, the most recent genuinely good one I've seen is Lescott and Butler when the latter was behaving himself and not being a massive fat bastard. Since then we've either been sorely deficient (to great cost) in that area, winged it and just about got away with it somehow, or been in League One so cardboard cut outs would have done a passable job. A Batth/Stearman partnership is nowhere near a Lescott/Butler one. Never will be either.
