Best Starting Eleven 2018/19 Season

[Bigdoggsteel]

15 hours ago, dinglebasher said:

TM’s first team selection, at Burton, drew 1-1:

Steele

Nyambe - Lenihan - Mulgrew - Williams

Conway - Guthrie - Lowe - Feeney

Graham - Emnes

Subs: Gallagher, Joao, Stokes, Tomlinson, Brown, Mahoney, Raya. 

Interesting that the defence is almost the same. Midfield now unrecognisable and filled with so much more quality. 

The other thing to enjoy is how much more TM is getting from the players he kept. Graham, Mulgrew, Lenihan have all improved under him. Even Conway, who gets stick but takes the pressure off the defence coming in towards the end of a tight game, does his job well.

Oh, and hands up who misses Conor Mahoney?

 

That midfield offends me, makes me sad and hurts my eyes. 

[SBlue]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

And the goalkeeper, put Raya and Dack in that team and we would have stayed up I reckon.

Raya for Steele and Smallwood for Lowe would even have done it - was only goal difference. Maybe even just Raya!

Amazing that TM so very nearly pulled it off though.

Edited August 30, 2018 by S8 & Blue

[Bigdoggsteel]

21 minutes ago, OnePhilT said:

Conway and Guthrie were two of our better players at that point in time. Feeney wasn't great, but nor was he as bad as some made out. Worth noting that Warnock took him on last season and made some use of him in their promotion campaign. Lowe isn't worth mentioning, although I just did.

Come on now, you are being too nice. Conway was good, Guthrie was ok but he was injured far too much. Feeney was indeed used a bit last year, but now he is in League 1 with Blackpool, which tells its own story. 

One thing I have noticed about Mowbray is that even though he is a real gent, when his judgement tells him a player won't work for us, he can be very, very ruthless. Feeney is a prime example, he took one look and was like "no thanks pal". He has done it with a few players. Even Whittingham this summer. Many managers would have stuck with him after giving him a 2 year deal and him not playing much, as releasing him may reflect badly on the manager. Mowbray doesn't care. When he has to cull, he culls with the absolute best of them. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Next game is when Mowbray drops the loyalty to those who did well last year and just plays our best 11

                          Raya

Nyambe  Lenihan  Mulgrew  Williams

                  Rothwell Evans 

           Bennett  Dack  Palmer

                     Armstrong 

 

Actually, its hard to pick our best team, isn't it? Mostly because the balance of our squad means we will need to paly at least 2 players out of their best/favoured position 

 

I actually notice yesterday City played a variation of the formation with only Fernandinho holding and 2 upfront. So something like this 

 

                          Raya

Nyambe  Lenihan  Mulgrew  Williams

                         Evans 

           Bennett  Dack  Palmer

              Graham  Armstrong

 

 

[blueboy3333]

On ‎30‎/‎08‎/‎2018 at 16:06, Bigdoggsteel said:

Even Whittingham this summer. Many managers would have stuck with him after giving him a 2 year deal and him not playing much, as releasing him may reflect badly on the manager. Mowbray doesn't care. When he has to cull, he culls with the absolute best of them. 

Deary me. He offered Whittingham a deal to leave. Whittingham said yes. If Whittingham had said 'no' Mowbray wouldn't have been 'culling' anyone. He's Tony Mowbray, not Tony Soprano.

[davulsukur]

41 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

                          Raya

Nyambe  Lenihan  Mulgrew  Williams

                         Evans 

           Bennett  Dack  Palmer

              Graham  Armstrong

I know you're not saying we are as good as City but we'd get murdered playing that, surely?

 

[skous18]

7 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

I know you're not saying we are as good as City but we'd get murdered playing that, surely?

 

isnt that how we pretty much play anyways?

         Raya

Nyambe  Lenihan  Mulgrew  Williams

             Bennett         Evans 

Armstrong        Dack       Palmer

                    Graham 

With just Bennett for Richie here

Edited September 3, 2018 by skous18

[K-Hod]

53 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Next game is when Mowbray drops the loyalty to those who did well last year and just plays our best 11

                          Raya

Nyambe  Lenihan  Mulgrew  Williams

                  Rothwell Evans 

           Bennett  Dack  Palmer

                     Armstrong 

 

Actually, its hard to pick our best team, isn't it? Mostly because the balance of our squad means we will need to paly at least 2 players out of their best/favoured position 

 

I actually notice yesterday City played a variation of the formation with only Fernandinho holding and 2 upfront. So something like this 

 

                          Raya

Nyambe  Lenihan  Mulgrew  Williams

                         Evans 

           Bennett  Dack  Palmer

              Graham  Armstrong

 

 

That highlighted formation looks like one I used to play on Pro Evo back in the day. I never cared much for defending.....

 

[davulsukur]

2 minutes ago, skous18 said:

isnt that how we pretty much play anyways?

         Raya

Nyambe  Lenihan  Mulgrew  Williams

             Bennett         Evans 

Armstrong        Dack       Palmer

                    Graham 

With just Bennett for Richie here

No, we play the formation you've posted?

2 holding midfielders and 1 striker, not 1 holding midfielder and 2 strikers.

[Bigdoggsteel]

37 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Deary me. He offered Whittingham a deal to leave. Whittingham said yes. If Whittingham had said 'no' Mowbray wouldn't have been 'culling' anyone. He's Tony Mowbray, not Tony Soprano.

Deary you indeed 

[Bigdoggsteel]

15 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

I know you're not saying we are as good as City but we'd get murdered playing that, surely?

 

Attack is the best form of offense ah no, I would be cautious of playing it in the league. 

[blueboy3333]

6 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Deary you indeed 

Your argument lacks substance. Saying Mowbray 'culls with the best of them' is meaningless. Whittingham was under contract. If he didn't want to leave he wouldn't have done. 

Edited September 3, 2018 by blueboy3333

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, blueboy3333 said:

Your arguments lack substance. Saying Mowbray 'culls with the best of them' is meaningless. Whittingham was under contract. If he didn't want to leave he wouldn't have done. 

Go away lady boy will you? 

I wasn't arguing anything. I was commending Mowbray for getting rid of players who won't feature. Quite simple really.

You are looking for something that isn't there. Everything OK hun? 

[blueboy3333]

5 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Go away lady boy will you? 

I wasn't arguing anything. I was commending Mowbray for getting rid of players who won't feature. Quite simple really.

You are looking for something that isn't there. Everything OK hun? 

Well, no, you were saying he was ruthless and capable of great feats of 'culling'. I was just pointing out you can't cull someone with a contract unless you pay them off. Essentially you were talking out of your anus, especially as Whittingham was not going to play anyway. How ruthless!!

Everything is fine, thanks for asking. I like to help those who get confused easily. It makes me happy. The more I engage with you the happier I get. For that, and that alone, I thank you. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

20 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Well, no, you were saying he was ruthless and capable of great feats of 'culling'. I was just pointing out you can't cull someone with a contract unless you pay them off. Essentially you were talking out of your anus, especially as Whittingham was not going to play anyway. How ruthless!!

Everything is fine, thanks for asking. I like to help those who get confused easily. It makes me happy. The more I engage with you the happier I get. For that, and that alone, I thank you. 

Well you are my unofficial spokesperson

[skous18]

2 hours ago, davulsukur said:

No, we play the formation you've posted?

2 holding midfielders and 1 striker, not 1 holding midfielder and 2 strikers.

yeah but the formations dont stay the same all the time, players change positions througout the games.
With those players we can easily(okay not really) defend with 2 holding midfielders and then switch to the other formation when in attack.
 

[Trinidad Rover]

Yesterday was a wake up call following the good start to the season. The international break should give players time to 'bed in' and therefore I expect a some changes:

                           Raya 

Nyambe Mulgrew Lenihan Williams

                      Reed  Evans 

          Armstrong Dack Rothwell

                         Graham

Smallwood: days must be numbered now. Good option to have on the bench to defend a lead

Palmer: I don't think Tony is going to play two 'creative' players so Palmer will drop out. Another good bench option

Bell: he has been solid but struggled defensively against Bristol. Williams offers a bit more in that respect and I think having just been pumped 4-1 he will come back in

Rodwell: Still believe long term he will become a mainstay in the team

[Bigdoggsteel]

46 minutes ago, Trinidad Rover said:

Yesterday was a wake up call following the good start to the season. The international break should give players time to 'bed in' and therefore I expect a some changes:

                           Raya 

Nyambe Mulgrew Lenihan Williams

                      Reed  Evans 

          Armstrong Dack Rothwell

                         Graham

Smallwood: days must be numbered now. Good option to have on the bench to defend a lead

Palmer: I don't think Tony is going to play two 'creative' players so Palmer will drop out. Another good bench option

Bell: he has been solid but struggled defensively against Bristol. Williams offers a bit more in that respect and I think having just been pumped 4-1 he will come back in

Rodwell: Still believe long term he will become a mainstay in the team

Bennett? 

[davulsukur]

1 hour ago, skous18 said:

yeah but the formations dont stay the same all the time, players change positions througout the games.
With those players we can easily(okay not really) defend with 2 holding midfielders and then switch to the other formation when in attack.
 

Yer formations need to be fluid but if you're switching between those 2 formations it's going to be tricky with those players.

You'd want Bennett in alongside Evans, which means someone has to go over to the right and one of the strikers needs to drop back. Any team that goes forward at pace would have either tons of space down the right or straight through the middle to overrun us before we got players back in time.

Surely its just better to keep the shape of the team and allow one of the holding mids to roam forward if we are on the front foot?

City can play that formation because they have 80% possession and the vast majority of the game is played in the opponents half.

[Oldgregg86]

                         Raya

Nyambe     Mulgrew. Lenihan. Bell

               Bennett.   Rothwell

   Palmer.           Dack.           Armstrong

                       Graham

Be interesting to see brereton play more. He could play instead of Palmer then bring Palmer on and push him up front for Graham. Can't judge until I've seen him play more but that would be my team for villa. Whilst Evans and Smallwood can offer the defensive side they offer no attacking threat or creativity. I think Bennett would tackle everything that moves and win the ball back. Rothwell equally puts a shift in but they are both capable of pinging long balls something you rarely see Evans or Smallwood do. Also it would allow Bennett to sit and rothwell to help in the attack. Bennett is wasted out wide.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Oldgregg86

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, Oldgregg86 said:

                         Raya

Nyambe     Mulgrew. Lenihan. Bell

               Bennett.   Rothwell

   Palmer.           Dack.           Armstrong

                       Graham

Be interesting to see brereton play more. He could play instead of Palmer then bring Palmer on and push him up front for Graham. Can't judge until I've seen him play more but that would be my team for villa

Evans has probably been our best player this season though 

[Oldgregg86]

1 minute ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Evans has probably been our best player this season though 

See above I edited it

[tomphil]

TM will largely go with what he had last season from the off I think his comments and signings reflect that and it will probably take him a while to land upon the best selection, formation and tactics.  He's a tinkerman at the best of times so he'll shuffle the pack constantly and keep tweaking tactics etc so we'd better get used to it as last seasons formula won't work this time around.

[Stuart]

6 hours ago, blueboy3333 said:

Deary me. He offered Whittingham a deal to leave. Whittingham said yes. If Whittingham had said 'no' Mowbray wouldn't have been 'culling' anyone. He's Tony Mowbray, not Tony Soprano.

[J*B]

One thing is for sure, TM will go back to his "2 and a half" strikers.

Dack will be back. DG will start. So we only have one left. Palmer or Armstrong? Bennett I assume on the other wing. 

For me it would be Arma - it must have been the TV viewing, because I finished the game on the same wave length as Chaddy (!!!), Palmer seemed to do more bad than good on my screen. Saying that, people at the game said he played well, so would be interested to hear from people at the game as to whether they'd start Palmer over Arma.