We miss him when the backup doesnt perform well enough.
You keep alluding to him being the best defender we have, theres no evidence for it. Hes valuable obviously.
There's enough evidence for me, we were conceding a fair few goals without him in the team. He returned against Sheff Utd and we kept a clean sheet. Even .com recognized that he was the difference in that game.
And again, the second he's out of the team the goals start coming back in, it's no coincidence, as much as you'd love it to be.