With The fat man finally selling up and getting out of our club I thought it would be interesting to create a best XI of the Ashley Era. My swing at a matchday squad based on the list of players brought into the senior team according to transfermrkt from the 07/08 season onwards (player list to follow): Starting XI Dubravka Santon Coloccini Mbemba Debuchy TIote Cabaye Wijnaldum Ben Arfa Saint-Maximin Ba Subs Krul Lejune Enrique Nolan Barton Cisse Remy
Goalkeepers Tim Krul Fraser Forster Rob Elliot Steve Harper Karl Darlow Jak Alnwick Freddie Woodman Matz Sels Martin Dubravka Mark Gillespie
Defenders Jose Enrique Cacapa David Rozenthal Habib Beye Abdoulaye Faye Tamas Kadar Ben Tozer Fabricio Coloccini Sebastian Bassong Ryan Taylor Mike Williamson Danny Simpson Fitz Hall Zurab Khizanishvili Patrick van Aanholt Sol Campbell Davide Santon James Tavernier Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa Mathieu Debuchy Massadio Haidara Kevin Mbabu Curtis Good Paul Dummett Lubomir Satka Daryl Janmaat Jamal Lascelles Mbemba Grant Hanley Ciaran Clark DeAndre Yedlin Achraf Lazaar Jesus Gamez Florian Lejeune Javier Manquillo Jamie Sterry Stuart Findlay Federico Fernandez Fabian Schar Antonio Barecca Emil Krafth Danny Rose Valentino Lazaro Jetro Willems Jamal Lewis
Midfielders Joey Barton Alan Smith Jonas Guttierez Kevin Nolan Danny Guthrie Ignacio Gonzalez Wayne Routledge Fabrice Pancrate Hatem Ben Arfa Cheik Tiote James Perch Stephen Ireland Dan Gosling Yohan Cabaye Gabriel Obertan Mehdi Abeid Sylvain Marveaux Vurnon Anita Yoan Gouffran Moussa Sissoko Gael Bigirimana Shane Ferguson Romain Amalfitano Remy Cabella Siem De Jong Jack Colback Georgino Wijnaldum Florian Thauvin Jonjo Shelvey Andros Townsend Henri Saivet Sammy Ameobi Rolando Aarons Matt Ritchie Mohamed Diame Isaac Hayden Christain Atsu Jacob Murphy Mikel Merino Kenedy Dan Barlaser Miguel Almiron Sung-yueng Ki Sean Longstaff Allan Saint Maximin Nabil Bentaleb Matty Longstaff Rodrigo Vilca Ryan Fraser Jeff Hendrick Joe Willock
Forwards Kazenga LuaLua Hari Vukic Xisco Peter Lovenkrands Leon Best Marlon Harewood Nile Ranger Shefki Kuqi Papiss Demba Cisse Demba Ba Loic Remy Luuk De Jong Adam Armstrong Emmanuel Riviere Facundo Ferreyra Ayoze Perez Aleksandar Mitrovic Seydou Doumbia Ivan Toney Dwight Gayle Daryl Murphy Joselu Islam Slimani Yoshinori Muto Salomon Rondon Joelinton Andy Carroll Callum Wilson
Could you imagine Ben Arfa in form and ASM in form in the same team? ASM---------Ba--------Ben Arfa -------------Wijnaldum------------ ---------Tiote--------Cabaye--- Enrique--Colo--Schar---Debuchy --------------Krul-------------- I'm going for Krul over Dubravka because his shot stopping was amazing. I notice more mistake in Dubs than I do Krul, but both are worthy.
No Gutierrez?! He'd definitely be in my XI. The best team is pretty much the 11/12 team with Dubravka in place of Krul.
Jonas was a hard worker, but lets face it he never really set the world alight in the premier league. He'd pop up with the odd goal or assist but was mostly just a harder worker.
That's exactly it really, he worked for more than just about any player we've had in recent times and lifted the team a lot of the time. Also he was very strong and bulldozed through players; someone like Kieron Dyer would break his leg from the slightest touch from another player, but Jonas had both the skill and the strength. Considering how many overpaid lazy ****s we've had in recent times, it made a nice change to have someone who genuinely made an effort.
Depends if you are just picking the best player, a player at their best, or how they performed over a period for us. Tiote had one good season. Largely **** the rest of the time. However his one good season was ridiculous, he had a pass completion he never even got close to again (visually not stats wise). Merino never played that much, but his ability level for me was sky high. Coloccini was a tough one. At his best he was as good as we've had. However I couldn't pretend he was consistently at a high level. Mbemba played at a very high level for one season, under both McClaren and Rafa. Then Rafa discarded him. You could make an argument for the likes of Lejeune who at his best, was maybe more talented than many. But he liked an injury and it took him ages to get up to speed after an injury. I've just gone for what I think was the best - I reckon that team is pretty good. GK Dubravka RB Debuchy CB Coloccini CB Mbemba LB Santon CM Cabaye CM Merino CM Gini FWD HBA FWD ASM ST Ba
I dunno what happened to Tiote towards the end of his time here like, he became pretty poor after being an absolute beast for the first couple of seasons. Arsenal away 1-0 under Hughton...he was absolutely immense that game.
People putting in Jose Enrique forgetting that Jonas played Jonas' role and Enrique's. He literally busted a ball. Jonas is name number 1 on any team.
I know what you mean but working hard doesn't make you good. Everyone can work hard, not everyone can play football well.
