Ginger Gnome
Active Member
The system is fixed, changing that is absolutely forbidden, but within this shower of shite, what would our strongest team actually be based on performances this season?
Goalkeeper: Ramsdale, that's an easy one.
Right wing back: Baldock's attacking play is poor and his defending mostly involves backing off. Bogle offers more attacking threat, but is a bit Bambi on ice defending against good players. It's about 50/50 between them.
Right centre back: Basham hasn't been up to his usual standards, but Baldock isn't a centre back and Ampadu looks hopeless on the right of defence.
Centre centre back: Egan obviously nails this, but the few games Jags played there he seemed to have a calming influence on those around him, like Jake Wright used to.
Left centre back: Robinson looked like a full back played out of position, Stevens looked like a drunk full back played out of position, Bryan looks like someone who's trying his best but out of his depth, Bash and Jags looked a bit lost over there, Ampadu was probably the most assured on that side and better than he is on the right or in midfield. O'Connell on crutches would probably be better than the rest.
Left wing back: Stevens has been consistently the second worst player all season, just lazy and awful, but never dropped. Lowe looked out of his depth early in the season but never got another chance despite how awful Enda is. Bryan looked more comfortable on the odd game he was out there than he does in the middle and has better delivery on crosses. Osborn rarely plays badly there, but for some reason rarely plays there.
The midfield three: Options are limited, so it's almost like picking the three least-bad options. Lundstram is obviously out with his half-arsed can't be bothered to tackle attitude and only passing backwards to keep his percentage up. Ampadu was piss-poor every time he played midfield and made Norwood look like Fernandinho when it came to shielding the defence. Norwood was like a chocolate fireguard when it came to shielding the defence and is a liability when pressed (with time on the ball he's still passable but that rarely happens). Fleck has had a few decent games but far too often just doesn't move or look for the ball, leaving no passes on for teammates who just lauch Hollywood diagonals as there's no option to play through midfield. Osborn runs a lot and is about the only midfielder that actually attempts to press the rest of his game isn't up to much as a midfielder he's like a less talented Monty. Berge doesn't look comfortable deep but doesn't look comfortable playing box-to-box either despite the way he sometimes elegantly glides past players.
Strikers: McGoldrick. Then it's a battle of least shit for his partner, which immediately rules out Mousset and Burke. McBurnie gets slated by most on here, but has actually been OK when he've not been using him as a target man, which isn't very often. Sharp has spent a lot of his games running the channels instead of being the lead striker, which was more Wilder losing the plot tactically than Billy's fault, he's probably been the best crosser of the ball too. Both young lads looked decent, they'll probably never get another go. Almost forgot about Brewster entirely, he'll hopefully come good next year, but other than his price tag and injuries there's nothing to justify him being in the side based on this season's performances.
So taking the least bad in each position I've ended up with:
Ramsdale, Bogle, Basham, Egan, Ampadu, Osborn, Berge, Norwood, Osborn, McGoldrick, Sharp.
When you're best XI requires cloning Ben Osborn and still includes Norwood, that's probably a sign of a not very good team. Obviously I'd swap out the midfield Osborn for Fleck even though Fleck has never played well in the same side as Berge.
So what is our best XI? 3-5-2/5-3-2 only, no tactical changes permitted.
Goalkeeper: Ramsdale, that's an easy one.
Right wing back: Baldock's attacking play is poor and his defending mostly involves backing off. Bogle offers more attacking threat, but is a bit Bambi on ice defending against good players. It's about 50/50 between them.
Right centre back: Basham hasn't been up to his usual standards, but Baldock isn't a centre back and Ampadu looks hopeless on the right of defence.
Centre centre back: Egan obviously nails this, but the few games Jags played there he seemed to have a calming influence on those around him, like Jake Wright used to.
Left centre back: Robinson looked like a full back played out of position, Stevens looked like a drunk full back played out of position, Bryan looks like someone who's trying his best but out of his depth, Bash and Jags looked a bit lost over there, Ampadu was probably the most assured on that side and better than he is on the right or in midfield. O'Connell on crutches would probably be better than the rest.
Left wing back: Stevens has been consistently the second worst player all season, just lazy and awful, but never dropped. Lowe looked out of his depth early in the season but never got another chance despite how awful Enda is. Bryan looked more comfortable on the odd game he was out there than he does in the middle and has better delivery on crosses. Osborn rarely plays badly there, but for some reason rarely plays there.
The midfield three: Options are limited, so it's almost like picking the three least-bad options. Lundstram is obviously out with his half-arsed can't be bothered to tackle attitude and only passing backwards to keep his percentage up. Ampadu was piss-poor every time he played midfield and made Norwood look like Fernandinho when it came to shielding the defence. Norwood was like a chocolate fireguard when it came to shielding the defence and is a liability when pressed (with time on the ball he's still passable but that rarely happens). Fleck has had a few decent games but far too often just doesn't move or look for the ball, leaving no passes on for teammates who just lauch Hollywood diagonals as there's no option to play through midfield. Osborn runs a lot and is about the only midfielder that actually attempts to press the rest of his game isn't up to much as a midfielder he's like a less talented Monty. Berge doesn't look comfortable deep but doesn't look comfortable playing box-to-box either despite the way he sometimes elegantly glides past players.
Strikers: McGoldrick. Then it's a battle of least shit for his partner, which immediately rules out Mousset and Burke. McBurnie gets slated by most on here, but has actually been OK when he've not been using him as a target man, which isn't very often. Sharp has spent a lot of his games running the channels instead of being the lead striker, which was more Wilder losing the plot tactically than Billy's fault, he's probably been the best crosser of the ball too. Both young lads looked decent, they'll probably never get another go. Almost forgot about Brewster entirely, he'll hopefully come good next year, but other than his price tag and injuries there's nothing to justify him being in the side based on this season's performances.
So taking the least bad in each position I've ended up with:
Ramsdale, Bogle, Basham, Egan, Ampadu, Osborn, Berge, Norwood, Osborn, McGoldrick, Sharp.
When you're best XI requires cloning Ben Osborn and still includes Norwood, that's probably a sign of a not very good team. Obviously I'd swap out the midfield Osborn for Fleck even though Fleck has never played well in the same side as Berge.
So what is our best XI? 3-5-2/5-3-2 only, no tactical changes permitted.
