With only a few hours before kick-off on 'grand slam sunday' I thought Id start this thread after reading an article from The Guardian. Simple rules...construct an XI in any system using any players from the Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool (preferrably use Liverpool players ) squads and also name a 7 man bench. _____________Reina____________ Sagna__Ferdinand__Carvalho__Evra _______Fabregas___Masch_______ Ronaldo______Gerrard_______Babel _____________Torres____________ Bench: van der Sar, Carragher, Gallas, Flamini, Hleb, J Cole, Adebayor
Cech Cole Sagna Ferdinand Terry J Cole Essien Fabregas Ronaldo Rooney Torres Subs Reina Gallas Evra Gerrard Lampard Hleb Drogba
I do question what some of those so-called experts based their teams on. Seems to me that most are simply trying to appease every set of fans, so a few have picked players on reputation alone and others have simply made poor selections. ----------- Torres --- Rooney -------------------- Ronaldo --- Scholes - Carrick ------- Mascherano Evra - Vidic - Ferdinand - Sagna ------ Van der Sar Subs: Reina, Arbeloa, Gallas, Flamini, Gerrard, Nani, Tevez That would be my first team but a rushed one before the match starts. The Man Utd defense is by far the best with Brown being the only player who, on paper at least, is the weak link. Sagna is the best available option to replace him. Mascherano is the best defensive midfield option at present. You cannot look past either Scholes or Carrick for what they provide to the side. The front trio pick themselves. The bench has Reina simply for his penalty ability, Arbeloa for his ability to play either flank, Gallas for obvious reasons, Flamini to have a different type of defensive midfielder available, Gerrard to make an impact from the bench (I'm not sure how he would do as a starter in the above system), Nani to play either flank or centrally and Tevez to replace or partner Rooney. Now before anyone asks I felt I should deal with a few notable omissions. The only Liverpool central defender I would take is Agger and he is currently crocked. I don't think Fabregas has played well enough outside of his initial purple patch. Hleb is good but not in the above system. I still have some questions regarding the end product of Cole and I have far less for Nani. I chose Tevez instead of another striker for personal reasons and style of play.