Now this got me thinking this morning, if everybody in our team was on their top form and we wanted to play the best eleven players we had what would be our best team and or formation? I would go for this: Nelson Fish Legge Barrett Martin Payne Whelpdale Lee Weston Kedwell Burton. That is in my opinion our best team however Im quite attracted to the 4-2-2-2 system we have been playing in the last two games and would perhaps replace Burton with Gregory and moving Weston up top. Anyway I want people's opinions so get head scratching
Burton and Kedwell are not good together the best team is Kedwell at home with either Weston or Birchall and away is best as Burton and Birchall.
Hoadie I did state in the thread about everyone playing on top form and they did show that they can play together earlier in the season
Waste of time, no such thing as a best XI that was Hessys way of managing. It entirely depends on who you are playing and how they play. Tactics boys, tactics....
We sort of done this the other week before Gregory and Legge joined where we all picked one player each to make the starting XI, I think it is hard to pick an XI as I would play a different team at home compared to away as we see that we play differently when we are away due to our set up. I will give you my home and away teams. Home Nelson Fish Barrett Legge Martin Payne Jackman Whelpdale Weston Kedwell Birchall Away Nelson Fish Barrett Legge Martin Payne Davies Whelpdale Weston Burton Birchall Sadly at the moment with his drop in form their is not a place for Lee as he is not the same player as he was at the start of the season or last season, hopefully he will get it back as he could be massively important in us getting promoted as like Whelpdale he has good experience with promotion. However I would change this a lot of the time depending on form as we have a team of players who are all good enough which means we can rotate easily.
"Best" can mean many things. At first sight people are inclined to think that the best "best" is the XI players capable of producing the best chance of a win on any given day. It could be the team most likely to produce the best series of results over a season and therefore offering the most flexibility in terms of tactics (usually your best XI offers the maximum flexibility in terms of tactics rather than selecting different players for different tactical situations). Finally the best XI might be expected to be the XI that offers the highest sustainable league position over say the next 3 or 4 seasons in other words short term results might be compromised just a little to make sure that younger improving players get enough first team experience to become senior players in later years. Frankly, with a number of new players nobody knows the best XI that might deliver the best balance between the various attributes mentioned above. The concern has to be that the longer term needs in the club are being put at risk by the recruitment of older players. Sure, they might improve the chances of promotion marginally but they also increase the probability of a swift return to the bottom of the league a couple of years later. In the second half of last season there were more than half a dozen under 25s developing; Gazza produced a financial windfall, Fish became the best fullback in the league, Evans and Essam fell by the wayside, Payne stood still as did Montrose, Lee and Whelpdale just matured. What will we have in the second half of this season under 25? Fish fortunately, Payne if he does not move on and Davies maybe. We all want promotion, but the wider consequences of selecting a "best" XI are not being recognised.
I see what you mean there Bristol, my take on this is that you could have either the best 11 players who may not be best as a team but they are seen as the best players at the club. The second is the best team to pick on a weekly basis and the third way it can be taken is the best team that we have played together this season that has played well as a team.
I would be inclined to go with your home team Hoadie if I was selecting for a single match but it will be interesting to see what Gregory is like before Payne is handed the shirt. Payne is good enough but can he sustain form for any length of time these days? Whatever team is selected, some priority should be given to enabling Davies to make some appearances even if only as sub.
Nelson Fish Barrett Legge Martin Payne Gregory Whelpdale Weston Burton Birchall I like the look of Burton and Birchall together, when playing two strikers they need to work as a unit passing, drawing the defender, if you have one that keeps drifting onto the wing it leaves the box a little empty.
The only problem I have with Burton is when we play at home he does not play anything like he does on away days.
Yeah I know but overall Burton is the one who plays totally different, away from home he is amazing at home he has only played well once or twice.
