What is our best XI ?

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 1,735]

With players gradually coming back from injury/covid and with one or two playing their way out of contention at Charlton today,

What are people's views on what our best XI currently looks like and what we are aiming to get players back for?..

My thoughts..

                Krul

Aarons  Hanley Gibson Williams

          Rupp   Normann  Gilmour

       Rashica     Pukki   Cantwell

...a couple of points here, Rupp surprisingly has been one of our better midfielders this season and if fit warrants a start.

...I know McLean seems an undroppable peremenant fixture and in all probability a starter in Smith's eyes...but he shouldnt be. Gilmour maybe struggling but as we saw today, the alternatives without him are worse.

I've included Cantwell as if fit and willing ,still gets into our best XI.

    I don't however expect him to play for us again and cant bring myself to type any of the alternatives

[CDMullins 436]

Breaks my heart thinking about it when you think of how much money we have spent 

[All the Germans 1,075]

Personally, I'd replace: Hanley -  Andy O, Williams - Dimi, Gilmour - McLean (or a random member of the crowd), Cantwell - A new signing (depressingly, nobody is any good).

[Dean Coneys boots 1,398]

We don’t have one - we have three or four decent players and the rest are interchangeably bad 

[Making Plans 936]

Suggesting our Best X1 is as futile as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

 

 

Edited January 10, 2022 by Making Plans

[hepphep 175]

I think we have so many players that are so close to each other on overall quality that it best XI would change game by game.
There are few players who are clearly ahead of others in their position though, who should be starting whenever available:
Krul, Aarons, Normann, Rashica, Pukki

So there would be backbone of our starting eleven and other pieces should vary by daily form and opponent.

[Green Canary 21]

This thread is pretty depressing isn't it. I have a bit of a soft spot for Kabak - his forward charges do look a bit gung ho but he was one of the few to slide a pass through to Sargent yesterday (admittedly resulting in the usual Sargent outcome). And I still think Hanley is important - probably a leadership thing as we just seem even more fragile without him. As others say, central midfield is a painful choice at premier level. With Normann out and Sorensen not looking like an upgrade, I can't see beyond three from Rupp, Lees Melou, Gilmour and Mclean. Up front, Rashica and Sargent behind Pukki might be best we have with Cantwell off/out and Dowell and Tzolis both looking in poor form/shape at the moment. Am I really having to say that Sargent is one of our three best attackers?!

[Green Canary 21]

But of course, several of these players will look better if Smith can get them playing as a team. Get a decent system/style of play drilled into them. Then we see players slotting in, knowing what is expected, and thriving. It's the lack of a team that is making so many players look as poor as they do.

[cambridgeshire canary 6,675]

[Green Canary 21]

Yes, pretty much that!

[Thumbbass 318]

I think we need 5 across the back. Sargent and Placheta interchangeable, Gibson and Omo, Kabak and Sorenson too. Rashica is the only player we have capable of properly supporting Pukki. It manages out our poor choice of centre mids. Plenty of pace on the turnover and a solid core when tucked in and under pressure.

[Capt. Pants 4,195]

It's a case of who is the least ****. I'm struggling tbh.

Krul, Max, Rashica, Normann, Pukki. The rest are toilet and wouldn't get in any EPL first XI and several Championship teams.

[cambridgeshire canary 6,675]

3 minutes ago, Thumbbass said:

I think we need 5 across the back. Sargent and Placheta interchangeable, Gibson and Omo, Kabak and Sorenson too. Rashica is the only player we have capable of properly supporting Pukki. It manages out our poor choice of centre mids. Plenty of pace on the turnover and a solid core when tucked in and under pressure.

Ah yes 5 at the back which has never worked for us, still let's us leak goals and makes Pukki invisible

[Thumbbass 318]

11 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Ah yes 5 at the back which has never worked for us, still let's us leak goals and makes Pukki invisible

I think we can point that accusation at any formation attempted this season. Just because we have had results in a 433, we've played it more and conceded more in that shape. 

We have the playing staff that we have. Unlikely anything will change in Jan. Repeating what we've done for the first half of the season with the same players is only going to have 1 outcome.

[rock bus 850]

 

One of the things we desperately need to do is play the same defense for at least 4 games. And this may sound stupid but this is even regardless of individual or Team performance and results.

I cant remember the Stats but we've nearly had a different back 4/5 every game this season. I think this is one of the reasons the defense looks so disjointed and vulnerable. Unlike our midfield I think we have some decent players who are capable of at least putting up a fight in the premier league. They need time to settle again and play as a cohesive unit. 

It will take Smith to be brave to do this but that's what I'd expect from him as a manager.

[spencer 1970 207]

Not our best 11 by any stretch, but in terms of "how far we've come" This was our first XI for Bornemouth away 10 years today, a championship game which we won 1-2. How many would you swap out with the current 11? We do seem to have "core" issues. I'd like to see the average age of each...i do feel we have too many kids.

 John Ruddy

Michael Turner

Russell Martin

Martin Olsson

Alex Tettey

Steven Whittaker

Jonny Howson

Bradley Johnson

Nathan Redmond

Gary Hooper (1)

Cameron Jerome (1)

 

[Ulfotto 623]

I would agree that is our best 11. Does that suggest the criticism of some of our signing is ott. Given Josh, plm, tzolis gunn and kayak are essentially squad player who might contribute in the 2rd half of the season.

[Danke bitte 965]

14 minutes ago, spencer 1970 said:

Not our best 11 by any stretch, but in terms of "how far we've come" This was our first XI for Bornemouth away 10 years today, a championship game which we won 1-2. How many would you swap out with the current 11? We do seem to have "core" issues. I'd like to see the average age of each...i do feel we have too many kids.

 John Ruddy

Michael Turner

Russell Martin

Martin Olsson

Alex Tettey

Steven Whittaker

Jonny Howson

Bradley Johnson

Nathan Redmond

Gary Hooper (1)

Cameron Jerome (1)

 

That wasn’t 10 years today. That was the 2015 line up. Alex Neil’s first game in charge where Howson got sent off and we managed to win it. 

[spencer 1970 207]

19 minutes ago, Danke bitte said:

That wasn’t 10 years today. That was the 2015 line up. Alex Neil’s first game in charge where Howson got sent off and we managed to win it. 

Sorry, 7 years ago today. 10.01.2015...so, how many would you swap out? Pukki and Max?

[tricky974 61]

Krul, Max and Pukki and that's probably it. This is sad.

[spencer 1970 207]

37 minutes ago, tricky974 said:

Krul, Max and Pukki and that's probably it. This is sad.

Indeed, I was quite shocked. you'd maybe squeeze Rashica in there but for who? or maybe Turner'round out for Hanley...the rest, no chance. Plus to think 

 John Ruddy - Krul (I'm 50/50 on this one)

Michael Turner - Hanley?

Steven Whittaker - Max 👍

Gary Hooper (1) - Pukki 👍

To add to the woe - this was our bench that night...

Declan Rudd
Ryan Bennett 
Wes Hoolahan
Gary O'Neil
Lewis Grabban
Kyle Lafferty
Josh Murphy
 

Some would walk into our currect team IMO.

Edited January 10, 2022 by spencer 1970

[Making Plans 936]

I think after the last no show in the PL two years ago, and the widespread criticism that followed it, Webber thought he had better make some signings and spend, what was for us "big money", to justify his reputation and position.

Clearly he got it all wrong by spending money on unproven stabs in the dark at grossly inflated prices.

Unfortunately, this is where "the model" falls down because you blow all your money on transfers and high wages with no hope of ever getting that money back. And, you still end up being relegated.

It's happened before when we've been relegated when we bought the likes of Mulumbu, Dorrans, Naismith etc

No matter how often we get relegated, or who is in charge of player recruitment, we never learn anything.

 

 

[AJ 1,218]

The problem is we don't really have a best XI as we didn't invest well enough in our areas of weakness. To survive in this league it is very possible we would need to buy of premier League quality;

A left back

A defensive midfielder

A backup defensive midfielder

A central midfield

A right winger

A striker

 

 

There's no way we can fund all that, which is why we will be going down

[GodlyOtsemobor 2,248]

                                Krul 

            Hanley sorensen omobamidele

Aarons                                                       giannoulis 

                     Normann        Rupp 

Placheta.                                                Rachica 

                               Pukki

[beanoncfc 9]

The under 23’s

[chicken 2,604]

We don't have the quality to play 5 across the back. Your DM's need to be really at it for it to work, otherwise you end up surrendering width or watch one of the CB's pulled wide as teams find space on the counter attack. We also seem to think that both flanks have to push up at the same time which normally leaves us with the three at the back Vs more attackers and getting pulled out of shape.

I still think we are probably better off with a 4-2-3-1. Who you put where is debatable. Despite my own doubts about McLean, anyone that doesn't see him as one of the best three CM's we have needs to come up with a very good reason as to why. He's arguably our 2nd best all round midfielder after Normann. He has strength and can head a ball. A player I think we'll miss and realise his contribution more when he eventually moves on. The only thing I think he suffers from is that he isn't a particular specialist - something the systems we play seem to favour a bit more. Eg; he's not Tettey and he's not a Howson who can carry the ball long distances.

[shefcanary 2,385]

FWIW; I just think players have not yet been played in their right positions yet!

[hertfordyellow 460]

11 hours ago, CDMullins said:

Breaks my heart thinking about it when you think of how much money we have spent 

We have a net spend of 25 million. Most of our rivals have signed a single player for around 20 million in recent seasons. It's not a lot of money in this league

[Danke bitte 965]

1 hour ago, spencer 1970 said:

Indeed, I was quite shocked. you'd maybe squeeze Rashica in there but for who? or maybe Turner'round out for Hanley...the rest, no chance. Plus to think 

 John Ruddy - Krul (I'm 50/50 on this one)

Michael Turner - Hanley?

Steven Whittaker - Max 👍

Gary Hooper (1) - Pukki 👍

To add to the woe - this was our bench that night...

Declan Rudd
Ryan Bennett 
Wes Hoolahan
Gary O'Neil
Lewis Grabban
Kyle Lafferty
Josh Murphy
 

Some would walk into our currect team IMO.

I never understood the grief O’Neil got. Was a streetwise player. Could do with him now back in his pomp. 

Looking at this has depressed me! So many of our starting 11 are dreadful compared to even the subs bench of that 2015 team.
 

Thinking back to 2015/16 season poor Alex Neil, far too inexperienced to manage in the Prem, plus we badly needed a better striker than Jerome. I’d take Mbokani then as back up to Pukki now though!

[spencer 1970 207]

1 hour ago, Danke bitte said:

I never understood the grief O’Neil got. Was a streetwise player. Could do with him now back in his pomp. 

Looking at this has depressed me! So many of our starting 11 are dreadful compared to even the subs bench of that 2015 team.
 

Thinking back to 2015/16 season poor Alex Neil, far too inexperienced to manage in the Prem, plus we badly needed a better striker than Jerome. I’d take Mbokani then as back up to Pukki now though!

Dispriting. I rated O'Neil too, the allrounder/Foil that Kenny is at times, but simply not enough.