The hypothetical eleven to hang your hat on

[jdrobbo]

Brought up at the West Yorkshire Clarets meeting last night, but didn’t really have time to discuss….

A hypothetical question and one that’s not specifically saying, ‘What’s your best eleven?’

Taking into account the games that have been played already, the partnerships that have been formed, etc…

If you could click your fingers and make every single player in the squad fully fit and be fit for at least the first sixty minutes of every one of the last 29 games of the season, which eleven would you pick to START those games?

Would you go for players growing into form and very much settled in the side (based on evidence already gathered) or would you gamble on players who have been out long-term and who we’ve not really seen under the new manager.

Remember, impact subs can be made after an hour, if you’d rather be more pragmatic in your selections.

[CrosspoolClarets]

————-Trafford—————
Roberts ———-Beyer———-Esteve———-Pires (upgrade in January)
——Cullen———Flemming
Anthony———Tresor———-Koleosho
—————-Foster (upgrade in January)——————-


My logic - the framework gives us the defensive solidity, so there is room for more forward thinking players. I like 4 attackers, Flemming is the new Brownhill, a midfielder who likes to burst into the box and is physical. We are in desperate need of someone to pull the strings, so I would say Tresor, if we can magically make him someone who isn’t either a) someone who doesn’t want to play, or b) someone who has been so ill and cannot play so that the club keep it quiet to maximise any possible value we get later (I suspect it is one of those two things). I would have Ramsey as the alternative to Tresor.

There are problems with that side, e.g. inability to hold the ball up, and defensive weakness at left back, so I have noted those for a January upgrade.

The bench - Brownhill / Laurent / Hannibal to help see a game out (we have too many of that type), Sarmiento / Redmond to change a game (we don’t have enough of that type), Ramsay to play if Tresor doesn’t or tires.

[Goliath]

It's impossible to give a single best 11, it depends on the scenario really but something along these lines. Obviously it can be moved about pretty easily with Tresor moving wide, and Fleming/Foster coming in to make a front 2 etc.

I don't rate Egan Riley as highly as most, I think we protect his weaknesses really well but the other centre backs are of a higher calibre



...............Trafford

Roberts..Beyer/Ekdal...Esteve..Pires

.............Cullen......Brownhill

Anthony..........Tresor.......Sarmiento/Koleosho

...................Rodriguez

[jdrobbo]

————-Trafford—————
Roberts ———-Beyer———-Esteve———-Pires (upgrade in January)
——Cullen———Flemming
Anthony———Tresor———-Koleosho
—————-Foster (upgrade in January)——————-


My logic - the framework gives us the defensive solidity, so there is room for more forward thinking players. I like 4 attackers, Flemming is the new Brownhill, a midfielder who likes to burst into the box and is physical. We are in desperate need of someone to pull the strings, so I would say Tresor, if we can magically make him someone who isn’t either a) someone who doesn’t want to play, or b) someone who has been so ill and cannot play so that the club keep it quiet to maximise any possible value we get later (I suspect it is one of those two things). I would have Ramsey as the alternative to Tresor.

There are problems with that side, e.g. inability to hold the ball up, and defensive weakness at left back, so I have noted those for a January upgrade.

The bench - Brownhill / Laurent / Hannibal to help see a game out (we have too many of that type), Sarmiento / Redmond to change a game (we don’t have enough of that type), Ramsay to play if Tresor doesn’t or tires.

Exactly what conversation we’re looking for and a huge call here straight up in taking CJ Egan Riley out of your starting eleven for ALL Of the remaining games despite him arguably being our most in-form player right now.

[jdrobbo]

If you’re putting Foster in your eleven, he HAS to play EVERY single game of the season remaining, for the first hour at least each time.

[jdrobbo]

Trafford

Roberts
Egan Riley
Esteve
Humphreys

Anthony
Cullen
Ramsey
Sarmiento

Flemming

Foster

[PaintYorkClaretnBlue]

Egan Riley has to stay in for me, he is better at pinging a ball around than Esteve and has done so well recently that he is impossible to drop.

[RVclaret]

Trafford

Roberts
Egan Riley
Esteve
Humphries

Anthony
Cullen
Ramsey
Sarmiento

Flemming

Rodriguez

For someone very critical of the clubs lack of spell checking, it’s a shame to see you spell one of our players names wrong

[LincsWoldsClaret]

I’d go for -

Trafford
Roberts Worrall Beyer Humphries
Anthony Cullen Brownhill Koleosho
Fleming
Foster

[summitclaret]

Starting against all except SU and DL:-

Trafford
Roberts CJER Esteve Pires
Cullen Brownhill
Anthony Flemming Koleosho
Foster

Replace Humps for Pires starting against SU and DL and unless winning bring on Pires mid second half. If we need more creativity bring on Ramsey and possibly Benson and a bigger cb if under the cosh in last 10 minutes when winning.

[RVclaret]

Depends on the game. For example I’d rather have Humphreys at left back against Ben Doak next Friday evening than Pires. Then you’d want Hannibal in for the derby etc. But for the fun of it…

Trafford

Roberts
Egan-Riley
Esteve
Pires

Cullen
Brownhill
Ramsey

Anthony
Koleosho

Foster

[jdrobbo]

For someone very critical of the clubs lack of spell checking, it’s a shame to see you spell one of our players names wrong

You’re absolutely right and thanks for pointing it out. If I were being paid a wage to provide such content, then I would take the time to check and edit my messageboard views more carefully. I edited it when changing Rodriguez to Foster. Hopefully I won’t make the same mistake twice, thrice or even four times.

[jdrobbo]

Depends on the game. For example I’d rather have Humphreys at left back against Ben Doak next Friday evening than Pires. Then you’d want Hannibal in for the derby etc. But for the fun of it…

Trafford

Roberts
Egan-Riley
Esteve
Pires

Cullen
Brownhill
Ramsey

Anthony
Koleosho

Foster

Exactly the point though: you can’t consider the opposition. It has to be just one group of 11 to start the next 29 consecutive games. Tough, isn’t it?

[SirBob]

Ramsey really is going to be a superstar for us once he gets back up to speed, it’s a shame Villa have a buy back clause.

[Hipper]

Using all your provisos:

+ what we have seen in games already played
+ click of the finger fitness

Trafford (there's no choice here!)
Roberts, Egan-Riley, Esteve, Humphreys.
Brownhill, Cullen, Laurent.
Anthony, Rodriguez, Sarmiento.

Humphreys is the better defender and I think will progress more then Pires from playing.
Rodriguez because of your 'click of a finger' fitness but of course in reality he is not up to playing loads of matches.
Roberts is OK and can a good attacker but he is also an occasional idiot so I'd like a better defender with more pace.

Esteve and Egan-Riley. They have of course progressed well. I'd rather pass judgement on them after all the tough December fixtures.
Worall. I've not been over impressed with him but he's done OK. He brings his experience but doesn't have the pace for the high line we play.
Koleosho doesn't deliver enough.
Hannibal is too much of an idiot.
Foster has too many issues and even then we don't really know how consistently good he could be.
Flemming doesn't seem to be what we need. I've not seen anything of them this season so have no idea what they can bring.
Benson - he can go from what little we've seen of him this season.
People like Beyer, EkdaL, Tresor, Ramsey, Redmond etc.

[Hipper]

Run out of edit time!

RE the last line, add - I've not seen anything of them this season so I've no idea what they can bring.

[dougcollins]

Run out of edit time!

RE the last line, add - I've not seen anything of them this season so I've no idea what they can bring.

I think you have some idea what Beyer and Ekdal can bring?

How easily we forget!

[Stonehouse]

It's impossible to give a single best 11, it depends on the scenario really but something along these lines. Obviously it can be moved about pretty easily with Tresor moving wide, and Fleming/Foster coming in to make a front 2 etc.

I don't rate Egan Riley as highly as most, I think we protect his weaknesses really well but the other centre backs are of a higher calibre



...............Trafford

Roberts..Beyer/Ekdal...Esteve..Pires

.............Cullen......Brownhill

Anthony..........Tresor.......Sarmiento/Koleosho

...................Rodriguez

Said it before that the less Tresor plays the better he gets .Has anyone seen him play a full game for us and can say hand on heart that he’s any good.

[Colburn_Claret]

Trafford

Roberts
Egan Riley
Esteve
Humphreys/Pires

Anthony
Cullen
Brownhill
Sarmiento

Flemming

Foster


I'd like to pick a team that includes Laurent but it's difficult.
Koleosho is exciting but still learning, will make a good impact sub.
Fosters strength and speed give him the nod ahead of Jay.I think Houtondji will grow into a good player but needs this season to adapt.

[Anonymous Claret]

Trafford

Roberts
Beyer
Esteve
Pires

Cullen
Brownhill

Benson
Redmond
Koleosho

Foster

I can't believe I haven't seen Redmond hardly mentioned. This guy is only 30 years old and has spent most of his career in the Premier league. I remember him causing problems most games he played against us.

I was a bit unsure about including 2 left footed central defenders but imo they are a cut above the others.

I was tempted to go for Anthony instead of Benson but from a wide position he regularly scored or created goals out of nothing. I think his goals scored and assists created to minutes on the pitch were exceptional in the promotion season a couple of years ago. I can't remember the stats but I think they were very good.

[Goliath]

Said it before that the less Tresor plays the better he gets .Has anyone seen him play a full game for us and can say hand on heart that he’s any good.

He couldnt cope with the physicality needed in the wide roles in the PL, he was basically playing wide in a 442 which needs a lot of work up and down.
He clearly wasn't suited to that but technically he showed real ability even in the limited game time. He was also brilliant in Belgium and shone a lot more than Benson or Zaroury did in the same league.

I think he'd be basically unplayable at his best in this league tbh and it's a real shame that we aren't being allowed to see that.

[Goliath]

Trafford

Roberts
Beyer
Esteve
Pires

Cullen
Brownhill

Benson
Redmond
Koleosho

Foster

I can't believe I haven't seen Redmond hardly mentioned. This guy is only 30 years old and has spent most of his career in the Premier league. I remember him causing problems most games he played against us.

I was a bit unsure about including 2 left footed central defenders but imo they are a cut above the others.

I was tempted to go for Anthony instead of Benson but from a wide position he regularly scored or created goals out of nothing. I think his goals scored and assists created to minutes on the pitch were exceptional in the promotion season a couple of years ago. I can't remember the stats but I think they were very good.

Redmond has been out for a year and I think most are presuming he will struggle to get back to his best now. He was past his peak before the injury and had a mixed time in Turkey.
I do think he could be really useful but I have my doubts about him as a consistent option

[Anonymous Claret]

Redmond has been out for a year and I think most are presuming he will struggle to get back to his best now. He was past his peak before the injury and had a mixed time in Turkey.
I do think he could be really useful but I have my doubts about him as a consistent option

You could well be right. I suppose I am judging him on a few years ago before he went to Turkey.
Some people are also judging Tresor from a couple of seasons ago in Belgium where the standard is nowhere near the Premier League.
I would love Tresor to come good for us as he was the signing I was most excited about at the beginning of last season.

[BleedingClaret]

-------------------------- Trafford* ----------------------

---------- CJER --------- Esteve ----- Humphreys ----

--------------------------- Cullen ------------------------

Anthony ------ Laurent ------- Brownhill - Koleosho

------------------------ Sarmiento ----------------------

------------------------ Houtondji ----------------------

Subs
Hladky - Can't believe I've gone for Trafford! Great understudy
Roberts - Not in A 3 - I want to Switch it up
Dodgson - like to see more
Pires - New Vitinho - Not that good a defender especially in a 3 - Frustrated winger but we have better - Utility Sub
Hannibal - Hardest to leave out
Massengo - Great energy as a Sub after the hour mark
Flemming - Sub due to fitness Concerns
Jay Rod - Sub due to how we Play
Foster - When will I see you again.... la la la...

Also rans
Worrall - Not better than what we have - could play in a 4
Egan - No idea - In a 4 maybe
Redmond ..... Could feature maybe should be in Fosters Place if fully fit
Agyei - Not sure

I can't see Ramsey, Sambo or Tresor featuring for different reasons

I can't see Beyer, Ekdal or Delcroix being match fit enough quick enough to replace what we have

Benson - Great whilst it lasted - busted flush now

It's getting difficult to get all the players that you want on the pitch in the starting 11, that has to be good
Not 1 of the 9 subs listed is a makeweight in a team, that said Pires is hard to slot and Dodgson a bit unknown but still it's looking a strong bench

[hoosier-daddy]

-------------------------- Trafford* ----------------------

---------- CJER --------- Esteve ----- Humphreys ----

--------------------------- Cullen ------------------------

Anthony ------ Laurent ------- Brownhill - Koleosho

------------------------ Sarmiento ----------------------

------------------------ Houtondji ----------------------

Out of interest, why would you change the formation from playing 4 defenders, that has resulted in conceding 6 goals in 17 league games?

Or is the formation more about being able to fit the players in, and it wouldn't actually line up like that?

[Goliath]

Out of interest, why would you change the formation from playing 4 defenders, that has resulted in conceding 6 goals in 17 league games?

Or is the formation more about being able to fit the players in, and it wouldn't actually line up like that?

To be fair. We have a squad that could easily produce a very good 3 at the back system with the player profiles we have along with the number of good centre halves.

I'm convinced that a wing back role would be Koleosho's best position eventually if given the necessary time and coaching and Pires/Roberts would also fit the wing back role quite nicely

[hoosier-daddy]

To be fair. We have a squad that could easily produce a very good 3 at the back system

I'm sure we could, but IMO that's something for pre-season not to change to after the defensive run we are having.

[Burnley1989]

Said it before that the less Tresor plays the better he gets .Has anyone seen him play a full game for us and can say hand on heart that he’s any good.

It just shows how mental message boards are doesn't it, sod the lads that have got us 3rd for a player that's done absolutely nothing whilst here

[Anonymous Claret]

Hypothetically speaking if fans were asked at the start of last season, do you think most fans would have preferred Anthony or Sarmiento over Benson?
We all know Benson can be very injury prone but if he was fully fit for the first 60 minutes of each game until the end of the season as the OP initially stated he would have to start every game for me. He's a match winner.

[ClaretPete001]

There are some interesting opinions on here ranging from picking players who have not played in this team to replacing Jay Rod with Hountondji based on how we play. I mean Jay Rod has led the line in our two most convincing performances and Hountondji has had one good run and shot.

Not to mention going to a back 3 etc. when we've never actually played like that and have the best defence in the Universe.

Playing Tresor when he has never looked fit, interested or a resident of this planet?

Keep them coming it's interesting reading and I'm looking for insights...

[Goliath]

It just shows how mental message boards are doesn't it, sod the lads that have got us 3rd for a player that's done absolutely nothing whilst here

I'd prefer to be top than 3rd personally!

[daveisaclaret]

Maybe recency bias but for me I'd pick Tuesday's team. Other than Luton it was the best performance we've had and embodied exactly what Parker is about.

Can kind of understand Foster ahead of Jay but it's not like you're excited about either at this point.

[Mattster]

Trafford

Beyer - CJER - Esteve - Pires

Cullen - Hannibal

Sarmiento - Flemming - Koleosho

Foster

Can't drop Egan-Riley but a fit Beyer can't be left out either. Beyer and Egan-Riley have played right back before but chose to keep the partnership together in CB, think Beyer's driving runs could be good from there and he's quicker than Roberts. Could always swap them.

Brownhill won't be here next season so I would prefer to give Hannibal the game time this season. And I prefer Sarmiento to Anthony. Flemming in the 10, haven't seen enough of Ramsey or Tresor to put them in there.

[claretspice]

This is really tough because in the case of Redmond, Tresor, Beyer, etc they've haven't played much for 18 months and have had what may have been debilitating injuries or illnesses in that time. We don't know if they are now the same player. In some cases their performances before injury were sporadic so we don't know that they were as good as their previous records suggest even then

However, if we go on the quality they'd shown either when an established part of our side ore injury, or suggested by their records pre Burnley, I think you'd end up with something like;


Trafford
Roberts Egan Riley Esteve Pires
----------Cullen Brownhill
---------------Ramsey
Redmond* Foster Tresor*

*or Anthony.

Don't yet see Humphrys as a left back - he looks a centre back who can play out of position to me and our record with Pires starting is outstanding. Jay has done well recently but my view is that in the right system, Foster still suggests more.

[BleedingClaret]

Out of interest, why would you change the formation from playing 4 defenders, that has resulted in conceding 6 goals in 17 league games?

Or is the formation more about being able to fit the players in, and it wouldn't actually line up like that?

I've probably done 2 things, that I'd like to achieve, at the same time, so I wouldn't line up at Stoke like this, but I interpreted this thread as the ultimate team that you want to get to.

For Stoke I'd go 4141 with Roberts still in, I feel that this league is so poor that you don't need 2 holding midfielders

We started with 2 holding Centre Midfielders under VK in the Championship then it became more of a 1 holding and 2 Attacking in CM as we started to dominate games

If you think of our current 4 in defence either Pires or Roberts, sometimes both are up field

So with a 3 you could argue that you have 1 more genuine defender and 1 more attacking player

With 1 Holding mid you also have 1 more Attacking player

To me, we have 6 defensive players and 4 Attacking players at present and yes we're not conceding but we're not free scoring either

I'd like to see 4 defensive players and 6 Attacking players

[Hipper]

I think you have some idea what Beyer and Ekdal can bring?

How easily we forget!

You are right of course, I do have some idea. That edit button panicked me!

I haven't forgotten their contributions two years ago. However even with the magic wand that we are allowed I'm not sure Beyer would fit in next to Egan-Riley as well as Esteve does without changing the way we play.

For Ekdal, like most I was impressed with him but again, unless Egan-Riley gets exposed badly in the next few games he will have to wait his turn.

[CrosspoolClarets]

Exactly what conversation we’re looking for and a huge call here straight up in taking CJ Egan Riley out of your starting eleven for ALL Of the remaining games despite him arguably being our most in-form player right now.

Correct. That was my proposal. Bearing in mind the premise that all players were suddenly to be fully fit. That meant Beyer and Tresor go in, so in that sense the thread is a fantasy one.

Beyer we know well and I feel miss those barnstorming runs. Tresor had more assists than anyone in Europe and that is our achilles heel currently. Plus, in that he got his illness (or whatever) just after Luton in Jan 24, before that he showed enough to me against Chelsea and Liverpool to show me he would excel at this level (he didn’t get many minutes, but those he got were against the huge clubs, from memory, which was harsh).

[colne-claret]

Trafford
Roberts Egan-Riley Esteve Pires
Cullen Brownhill
Anthony Flemming Koleosho
Foster

[MDWat]

Trafford

Roberts
Egan-Riley
Esteve
Pires

Cullen
Hannibal

Anthony
Flemming
Koleosho

Foster

[BigGaz]

Assuming everyone was fit and magically in form my 11 would be:

Trafford
Roberts Beyer Esteve Pires
Brownhill Cullen
Anthony Flemming Foster
J-Rod

Beyer for me has enough credit in the bank to be considered first choice.

As much as I love Benny I always felt he did his best work coming off the bench and he could have a good half an hour without his fitness tailing off so Anthony on the right.

No 10 is a toss up really between Flemming, Tresor and Redmond. We haven't seen any of them in good form or fitness since they arrived so it's impossible to tell who should be there, so Flemming nominally.

Foster on the left as it's pretty much accepted by most that's where we'd prefer to see him. It's only at Burnley he's started being a center forward. We should be managing Kole the same way as Benson, he's just 20 years old and should be getting phased in.

J-Rod up top but that role needs looking at in January.