Let me start with the defence Lloris Rose Vertonghen Kaboul Walker I think the majority would agree on that. With Adebayor clearly our best striker who would you choose as the other 5 to make up the team? I think you have to play Paulinho and Dembele. Which leaves 3 more spaces to fit: Bentaleb Sandro (he would be one of the first choices but he hasn't played for a while) Capoue Chadli Lennon Eriksen Townsend Realistically Lamela, Sigurdsson and Soldado aren't currently at the level of the players above. It's not an easy choice to have but it does give us lots of options. Maybe Lamela can have an end of season cameo, a bit like Kranjcar did a few seasons back? Perhaps different teams for different circumstances i.e home v Cardiff and away v Chelsea/Liverpool?
Sandro is my favourite player but unfortunately he is injury prone and I doubt he will ever complete a full season, much like Wiltshire at the goons, so while I would have him in the team every game regardless, we not going to see him play as often as we hope. But as PNP says, we don't have a best side yet, its not like the days of when we had Modric, VDV, King and co, we all knew who should start, wasn't even up for debate, we just knew what the best team was. Now, because we don't have stand out stars at that level, we have a variety of players at a similar level, we can mix the team up but keep a core of players that will generally play. Them players are for me, Lloris, Verts, Walker, Lennon, Bentaleb, Adebayor and Paulinho and I would have Sandro (if fit). and then depending on the opposition, we can mix up the other players, but I want to see a defensive partnership happen, either Verts and Kaboul or Verts and Dawson. Yet again because Kaboul is injury prone, its difficult to predict if he will play often. I do believe in playing a settled side but until we know what side that will be, we're doing ok mixing it up.
Back four is definitely - walker verts Kaboul rose. Even with the high line last night, Kaboul was in a different league to Dawson last night. Bentaleb was excellent, but I'm not going to get carried away by 1 performance. If he plays like that more often, he'll be one of the first names on the team sheet. But not for me just yet. As others have said, it's hard to pick a " best first 11 ", and that's a great position to be in. (Excuse the pun) If sandro is fit, capoue would likely face the chop and join the bench with chadli, sig, lamela etc. I'd even have Townsend on there. So sandro, Paul, dembele, Lennon and eriksen are the ones we should be looking to first, IMO.
After that performance last night, it's quite hard to say what our strongest XI is, especially the midfield area. Eriksen is a player I greatly admire and since Tim's appointment, has been a key player for the most part yet last night, we didn't need nor miss him. Strongest back 5 is a fairly easy call though: Lloris, Walker, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Rose (though I'd like a new LB in the summer) - though Naughton looked get last night. Midfield, is the toughest, we have so much talent. For me, a fit Sandro is the first name in but then who partners him out of (an on form) Paulinho or Dembele? On the wings, Lennon and Townsend have had the better performances but I'd like to think that when Chadli and Lamela find form, they could take the positions, switching sides throughout the match. The CAM role can depend on who we face, at home and against "easier opposition" I'd definitely play Eriksen but against the tougher sides, I'd play a midfield trio of Sandro plus 2 of Capoue/ Dembele/ Paulinho. The emergence of Bentaleb will also make decisions tougher, I don't think he's at the level of the others yet but if he puts in more performances like last night then you've got one lovely headache on your hands as a manager. Upfront there's only one option at the moment, Adebayor. The Soldado of Valencia would make it the toughest decision to make but while Soldado can't hit a barn door, Ade walks into the team.
As said, don't think there is a first 11, its not as much what side, its where, away from WHL we're a relaxed different side, when the team have to perform at home, its like they feel expectancy, its edgy, and start slowly. TS had that sorted tbf v Toon, lets see what happens at home next.
It's great that we're finally thinking like a real CL contender and rotating our squad. It can't be right that the same eleven should be used against say both Stoke and Arsenal who provide completely different challenges.
I think it depends on the manager and squad as both times we finished top four we never had a big squad and there was a lack of rotation. Now we have a big squad and there are various players with the same attributes like power, strength etc but a lack of natural creators but Sherwood is doing a better job then Avb of rotating as he gives players more freedom and isn't trying to hold back the squad, so while under AVB rotating was counter effective. Under Sherwood it's effective
There are some players who should be picked if fit - Lloris, Walker, Vertonghen definitely - Paulinho, Dembele, Adebayor probably - none of the rest have really established themselves for various reasons. Aside from the pastings by City and Liverpool and the freak result v West Ham, Spurs have looked solid and that is down to a strong spine of Lloris, Vertonghen, Paulinho, Dembele, Adebayor. Spurs have coped with not often playing with great fluency by being able to win games with 1 or 2 goals because of that solidity - which is exactly the opposite of Utd this season; we make 1 or 2 defensive howlers every game, so need at least 1 or 2 goals to even compete.
Impossible to say, we have more than one quality player in every position except full back. Which is a good thing, players are competing for places in the PL team and we can select players that have trained well with a view to playing certain teams. If this squad sticks together, and a few players start to realise their potential, along with two or three quality additions in weaker areas in the summer, then there could be very exciting times ahead.
Players I would play every important game against everyone: Lloris Walker Vertonghen Kaboul (if fully fit) Rose Dembele Paulinho (though his place may be the least clear IMO) Lennon Ade Players I would play against teams that will attack: Bentaleb, Capoue Players I would play against teams that will sit back Eiriksen plus one of Townsend/Chadli Sometimes it will make sense to mix up those five differently. But the five immediately above are my part-time starters, who would share two spots in the lineup with the nine full-time starters farther up. I could just as well have thrown Paulinho and Dembele into the mix and made it seven part-timers for four spots, though with both of them starting maybe 3/4 games each. Paulinho sometimes seems more interested in tricks than in helping us win, and benching him occasionally might serve as a gentle reminder. Dembele loses focus against weaker teams, and also is injury prone, so it may make sense to rest him every four games or so against the weakest teams we face. Finally, I think Chiriches may be too good not to play fairly regularly, but I think he'll get a chance since Vertonghen and Kaboul both have injury histories. As far as I know Lamela, Gylfi and Sandro are unavailable. Chiriches too, maybe. I'd like to recommend more playing time for Dawson and Soldado, but...
Don't think we know our best team yet,probably next season,my favorite player at the moment is Paulinho,seems to be getting better with each game
My favorite player has wavered between Paulinho and Dembele. I'm hoping playing both farther forward may help them become more influential, because they're both so talented in different ways.
If Sandro recovers from injury and regains the form that we know he is capable of, then a midfield trio of him, Paulinho and Dembele is fairly formidable. It would allow us the luxury to play a player like Eriksen. As someone already commented we scored 4 goals v Newcastle without an obvious creative player so it shows it can be done just AVB set us up in such a negative way we never saw it.
