Our Best Starting Eleven
I think few would argue with the following, if all were fit, as our best starting eleven:
Brown
Harriman **
Stewart *
El-Abd
Jacobson
Eze
Bean
Saunders
CMS
Akinfenwa
Tyson **
The bench is another matter!
Ma-Kalambay
Jombati *
O’Nien
PCH
Freeman
Kashket **
Omerah *
- injured
** long term injury
Dan Scarr might well feel aggrieved but I selected Sido ahead of him purely because of his versatility and experience, not to mention entertainment value.
Three from the last four would be a scary triple substitution! I can dream.
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Comments
Oops - my single asterisk became an upper case full stop.
I'd agree with your best XI, @micra.
I make it eight out of a squad of 24 (not counting Muller and Richardson) unavailable for selection yesterday, including five out of eight defenders. Doing quite well to produce performances like yesterday's in the circumstances. I'll take 3-3 from 3-1 over the miserable 0-1's of a couple of seasons ago, which is what this game might well have been after half-time yesterday.
PS. Isn't Freeman playing well!
Kashket in my opinion should be an automatic starter instead of Tyson. Also, I would put Gape on the bench instead of Omerah as I think your bench is a bit overloaded with attacking players.
Good point @mooneyman. And apologies to Dom Gape. Probably because he’s played a couple of games at right back and was arguably partly culpable for Cheltenham’s third goal where Sido’s extra height and experience just might have saved the day, he completely slipped my mind.
@HCblue: completely agree about Nick Freeman. I feel thoroughly vindicated in having remarked with boring frequency last season about what I saw as considerable potential. There’s more than a touch of Steve Guppy about him.
Yes, I thought it was eight. Apart from Dan Scarr, who have I missed from my asterisked players?
Got it. Jack Williams.
@micra, agree with plenty of that, but I don't see anything in the slightest of Gupp in Freeman!
Guppy was pacey and direct, and a phenomenal crosser.
Freeman is a bit more of a thinker, lacking the pace to make him a classic winger. He can dig out a decent cross at times, but nowhere near Guppy's style of play.
ps, how on earth can you not fit Gape in to even the 18!
I think while Bean is doing well at the moment, Gape or O Nien for me are starters
O'Nien ahead of Bean and Gape; Muller ahead of El-Abd (call it intuition), PCH probably just ahead of Tyson. I think your most controversial inclusion though @Micra is the statement "few would argue with...". You've been a regular enough contributor to this board over the years to know that will never be the case!
Muller is certainly not in our best eleven.
Mullers not in our best 18.
Got to be looking at Stewart as first name, El Abd, as Gaz has blundered making him captain and dishing a 2 year deal, then Scarr, then Sido out of position, then a toss us between Muller and WDH, both not up to it if we're honest
O'Nien for Bean. and Gape for Umerah... then a toss up between Freeman and Bean for last sub place, probably will depend on who we are playing and whether home or away. Otherwise as is for me.
As we'll never have all of the squad available at one time, we'll never have this super awkward decision on who to leave out of the 18.
Imagine leaving someone like Gape or Umerah out completely!
I'd go kashket ahead of Tyson and this may be contravertial but I would drop cms to the bench play eze further forward and bring o'nien into the midfield as eze proved yesterday he can mug defenders for fun so I'd rather he not waste his time defending o'nien for me is one of our best players so has to start
@aloysius: you are right. I was conscious when I wrote it that there would be a fair amount of disagreement and that is what it’s all about. The eleven I listed had been having plenty of success and I suppose what I had in mind was that few would want to change it at that time.
@Malone: as I said above, I surprised myself by totally overlooking Dominic Gape but my eleven was the one that had been performing so well. The subs bench presented a quandary because of the wealth of talent in this new and most welcome attacking era.
@na104: it is a long time since we had a goal scoring attacking midfielder; he gets forward a lot from midfield, does his fair share of defending (when not being attacked from behind) and I would keep him there.
I don’t think Guppy had great pace and I do think Freeman crosses the ball well. He also packs a venomous shot. Early days but he is improving very quickly.
Unless O’Nien is completely incapacitated he has to start before Bean! and yes I obviously underrate his ability to run into people and slice the ball out of play.
Bean has been one of the players of the season. How anyone could countenance dropping him beggars belief
Bean would be second on my list behind the Beast.
Bean does what he does very well. Will he hit a 50 yard cross field pass? No. Can he win a ball and lay it off if other players find space close to him? Yes. Does this work well for Saunders and Eze? Yes. That's good enough.
Bean, Saunders, Eze is the best midfield we've had in years
No Bean comes across as a really personable guy and I’m sure he’s good to his mother but as far as the game involving a round ball and 22 players that some of us watch and enjoy he’s clueless
Bean is in a good run of form at the moment, but he might not keep this level up, while O Nien/Gape may hit their top form.
Their top form is higher for me than Bean's top form, but it's good to even have these conversations!
Most likely, Saunders won't be able to repeatedly turn out week after week, especially when we have midweekers, so there's plenty of room for everyone to get involved.
Ma-Kalambay
Gape/Jombati
WDH/Jombati
El-Abd
Williams/Jacobson/Jombati
PCH
Bloomfield
O’Nien
Southwell
CMS
Freeman
Substitutes:
Brown
Saunders
Eze
Akinfenwa
Bean
plus anyone recovered from injury.
Just a stab at tomorrow’s line-up. I’ve probably forgotten at least on
Imagine knowing that little about football but being that confident to share your opinion
If I had a choice of a fully fit and on top form Bean and a similar O'Nien I would take O'Nien in every circumstance. I also really rate Gape in central midfield too. Having all three available is a great position isn't it?
it is indeed. but to describe a player who's had a long professional career at a decent level and who is having a very good season as "clueless" at football is ignorant to the point of stupid, wouldn't you say?
maybe it's another example of the binary thinking you often point out, where you're either brilliant or shit, with nothing in between
Of course it is @eric_plant . I'm not responding to his post as it was so ludicrous. The black and white thinking is very much in evidence and is such a lazy way of rating a player or a performance.
Bean has been great this season so far and has had a couple of good runs in previous years too. With a risk of incurring your wrath though I still think we are missing a little bit of extra energy and passing ability without O'Nien.
Shame we haven't got a few more "clueless" players in the squad!!!
I thought the Gasroom was a internet meeting place where different views on the players and their style of play could be aired even if controversial. so I posted it expecting to be challenged “ignorant to the point of stupid” @eric_plant