Morning all,
It seems to be the holy grail in football for a manager to know their best XI these days. At the start of the season, I looked at our squad of players and there was only a few I could absolutely say were nailed on as absolute members of this club. The likes of Lloris, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Rose, Eriksen and Kane were the only six I could say with absolute certainty.
However - without meaning to get carried away after the weekends performance - I don't think we are now far away from being able to confidently claim a best first XI.
Of the six I mentioned earlier, only Rose is now up for debate following a strong start to the season by Davies, but the rest remain firmly placed as best XI material. I now also feel that Walker, Dier and Son have successfully taken their 'must start' status.
So that leaves the LB, CM and final attacking midfielder options left to fill. The battle for left back appears to have brought the best out of both options, which is exciting to see and no clear winner stands out. At centre midfield, Alli has taken the position by storm, though Bentaleb and Mason remain strong and viable alternatives for the role alongside Eric.
In the final attacking midfield slot we face the biggest conundrum however. Chadli offers goals aplenty but has a tendency to stifle creativity and doesn't particularly protect his full back. Lamela on the other hand is tricky on the ball and looks to create, plus shows great attitude in defence but doubts remain over his consistency. Waiting in the wings behind these are Townsend and N'Jie, another two viable options.
So right now, I make it 8 out of 11 positions easy to call for a Best XI and would probably plump Rose, Alli and Lamela for the other three.
Are we close to finding our best XI?
Finding our Best XI?
posted on 29/9/15
The goal actually was actually scored from our LB position, so i think its a bit harsh putting the entire blame on Walker, who lost the ball at right wing. That ball had a fair distance to travel, through many zones on the pitch that should have cover.
posted on 29/9/15
Regardless of wether it was scored from that position it was walkers wayward pass to a city player that got them that break to score. It was completely walkers fault and has been known to do this sort of thing on a number of occasions.
posted on 29/9/15
Spurs were on the attack don't forget so players were higher up the pitch. Walkers brain fart moment ( and he has many of them) caused the city counter attack where our players where out of position
posted on 29/9/15
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posted on 29/9/15
Yeh but Ace face if this was a one off thing then yes I would agree to a certain extent but walker does this almost every game. Nearly every game he will pass it to the opposition who then go on the attack through on goal. He has been doing this for a few seasons now and notably did it against Liverpool away a few seasons back which lost us the game. He has to cut this out because he will cost us goals.
posted on 29/9/15
Don,
I think you’re being deliberately harsh again on a player you do not rate. There are many mis-placed passes in a game, but its just fortunate how rare it is for a goal to be scored 9 seconds off the back of one, especially when the mis-placed pass was 18 yards from the opposition goal.
As Ace says, Walker was guilty of giving possession away – but not totally to blame for the ball ending up in our net. When we attack we should not have more players in front of the ball than the opposition. And I don’t want Walker worrying about crossing the ball at any point in the future, thinking he will be at blame for a goal conceded if he doesn’t hit his intended target, or if the intended target fluffs it, and they counter from it. Same goes for Davies/Rose on the other side. When either FB go up high, they should be able to rely on players shifting over to cover.
posted on 29/9/15
What so you can excuse walker making brain fart passes aslong as we make sure we cover? Come on mate it just seems to me your finding any old excuse for him. Walker did the exact same thing against palace and they went through on goal but it come to nothing. My point is walker does this often and he does it in positions which potentially lead to goals. If walker cut out these mistakes then we wouldn't need to be chasing back desperately trying to retrieve it. I just think Kyle walker is prone to this sort of error and this is something I have noticed down the years from him rather than just 1 game
posted on 30/9/15
You're wrong on this Don, and I'm no Walker fan.
You cannot attribute any more than 10% blame to Walker for that City goal. As has already been stated, Eriksen had plenty of time to bring Trippier down and the players we had furthest back could have stepped up sooner to play De Bruyne further offside (not that the linesman would've noticed anyway!).
It was a misplaced pass in the opposition final third. Any team on the attack is going to do that from time to time, midfielders and strikers alike. You have to look at the bigger picture
posted on 30/9/15
Don,
What so you can excuse walker making brain fart passes aslong as we make sure we cover? Come on mate it just seems to me your finding any old excuse for him.
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No-one is excusing Walker for the “brain fart pass” (as you put it) but I am excusing him total blame for the fact the ball ended up in our net. If the fullbacks were under the impression they would not get any cover when they go 80 yards up the pitch you would inevitably put an end to the modern day fullback – and we would go back to them never crossing the half way line.
I’ve seen Lamela give the ball away around our own box, leading to a goal (like in the 1-1 draw at The Emirates last season and the 4-1 loss at City), yet I did not see you scapegoat him for the goal one little bit – or shout any blame on him at all – let alone single him out in the way you are with Walker.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you base your opinions on player preference and not on a particular scenario – and this is further proof of this. You cannot cannot heap full blame, for a goal conceded, on one player, because they lost possession that high up the pitch. And I’m not particularly pro-Walker either.
posted on 30/9/15
I do look at the bigger picture and walker does this almost every game. I still think he's a weak link and that's just my opinion. I think he's playing better this season so far granted but he is still so prone to errors like the one mentioned which effectively gift the opposition chances.