World Cup Style Squads - League Based

La Liga Squad

GK JAVI VARAS (Celta de Vigo)
GK MOYÁ, Miguel Ángel (Getafe)
GK TOÑO (Granada)
CB BALLESTEROS, Sergio (Levante)
CB GODÍN, Diego (Atlético Madrid)
CB MARCHENA, Carlos (Deportivo La Coruña)
CB ÍÑIGO Martínez (Real Sociedad)
RB CICINHO (Sevilla)
LB CAPDEVILA, Joan (Espanyol)
LB DAMIÁ (Osasuna)
DM JAVI FUEGO (Rayo Vallecano)
CM XABI ALONSO (Real Madrid)
CM BEÑAT (Real Betis)
CM APOÑO (Real Zaragoza)
LM ISCO (Málaga)
LM MUNIAÍN, Íker (Athletic Bilbao)
AM INIESTA, Andrés (Barcelona)
AM ÓSCAR González (Real Valladolid)
MP GIOVANI dos Santos (Real Mallorca)
FW RONALDO, Cristiano (Real Madrid)
FW MESSI, Lionel (Barcelona)
CF FALCAO, Radamel (Atlético Madrid)
CF SOLDADO, Roberto (Valencia)

 

Looking at lanman's profile for his previous draft threads I noticed this and had an idea to do an all-time historical one for the second variant (the first could be done but I haven't thought about it yet and it would be more obvious in some respects and more the sort of thing often done on Big Soccer) for the English league using the following all-time table to determine the 20 clubs (allowing 2 players each from 3 clubs rather than dipping into the next tier for 3 more clubs - the players' form having to be based on their time at the club they are chosen to represent):

http://www.aboutaball.co.uk/aboutab.../historical-ranking-of-english-football-clubs
Liverpool
Manchester United
Arsenal
Aston Villa
Everton
Chelsea
Manchester City
Tottenham Hotspur
Newcastle United
Sunderland
Blackburn Rovers
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Shefield Wednesday
West Bromwich Albion
Nottingham Forest
Derby County
Bolton Wanderers
Leeds United
Sheffield United
Birmingham City

I'll post up my finalised squad in a bit.


I'm sure we could have a go for other countries if similar rankings could be found.

I guess people could continue to post current-league squads as per post 1 (like Peru FC did for La Liga) too though; things will have altered a bit in the last two years. Not sure off the top of my head whether the English league squad would be less good, but the results in Europe for English teams have been on a downward spiral.

 

Here is that squad then (based on idea of attacking 4-4-2 but with some versatile players who could switch around and probably allow other formations)


GK - Neville Southall (Everton/Wales), Pat Jennings (Tottenham/N.Ireland), William Foulke (Sheff Utd/England)

Centre-backs - Paul McGrath (A.Villa/Ireland), Colin Todd (Derby/England), Billy Wright (Wolves/England), Phillipe Albert (Newcastle/Belgium), Gudni Bergsson (Bolton/Iceland)

Full-backs - Dan Petrescu (Chelsea/Romania), Frank Gray (Leeds/Scotland), Michael Gray (Sunderland/England)

Central midfielders - Bobby Charlton (Man Utd/England), Colin Bell (Man City/England), Ossie Ardiles (Tottenham/Argentina), Bryan Robson (West Brom/England)

Wingers - George Best (Man Utd/N.Ireland), John Robertson (N.Forest/Scotland), Chris Waddle (Sheff Wed/England), Trevor Francis (Birmingham/England)

Support forwards - Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool/Scotland), Dennis Bergkamp (Arsenal/Netherlands)

Strikers - Thierry Henry (Arsenal/France), Alan Shearer (Blackburn/England)

 

Hmm...I'm not so sure about that squad. Lacks a bit of depth and quality in the fullback positions, while having too much talent in the attacking positions. You can only fit 2 or 3 of Dalglish, Bergkamp, HEnry, and Shearer in the XI, which means a bit of wasted talent. Would have liked to see a more balanced squad.

 

Claudio Gentile might injure Henry after a minute so we'd need the depth in attack!

No, seriously, go for it mate with an alternative squad - mine is only mine if you know what I mean (not the final word).

 

Looking at the link again, using the top 23 teams for one player each would have allowed Banks and Finney (plus a Burnley player). Not sure it would quite be better overall having to leave out Charlton or Best, and Bergkamp or Henry though (not if two from the same club would be allowed in a starting XI IMO).

 

That was probably what I was looking for, as I'd seen that before I reckon. As Forest are hanging on to a top 20 position it'll do for me lol! That'll be current as well of course, wheras what I found was as of 2013 (which sort of fits with the thread in a way though).

I'm expecting my squad to be middle-ground era wise (or 60's to 00's obsessed if you prefer ) with yours averaging an earlier time and Poetgooner's a later one. We'll see though.

Foulke shouldn't really have been in mine before I guess! Bobby Moore will be coming in and at least one centre back I had before moving out - Gudni Bergsson was meant to be cover for right back too (although Colin Todd might be tried first anyway since Bergsson would've been very much backup player). Francis was cover for winger/striker really but obviously he moves out now (I'm not going to put a second Forest player in - quite a few players that had played for Forest at some stage were in before though! - if I did then I guess Anderson and Shilton would be more considered looking at my squad as it stands and could be considered instead of Robertson I suppose due to what Poetgooner was pointing out, as might Pearce or Walker arguably with a re-jig of defenders, but I'll likely keep Robertson in).

 

I'm questioning whether I'd need more than 3 wingers or not - if so then young Stuart Ripley is in consideration; if not the legend of Wilf Mannion; but Juninho Paulista might be the compromise as my Middlesbrough player who could play from the right wing if needed. Or I could stick in Albert Adomah so I have one active player in there!

 

I think I'll go:

OUT - Foulke (Sheff Utd), Francis (Birmingham), Bergsson (Bolton), Todd (Derby), Waddle (Sheff Wed)

IN - Jaaskelainen (Bolton), Moore (West Ham), Juninho (Middlesbrough), Eranio (Derby), Nilsson (Sheff Wed)

Starting line-up (tempted to keep Bergkamp with Henry though and maybe Bell for Ardiles - if one player per club he'd be in instead of Charlton anyway).
Southall; Petrescu, McGrath, Moore, F.Gray; Best, Ardiles/Bell, Charlton/Ardiles, Robertson; Dalglish, Henry.

 

I think I'd be somewhat persuaded quite easily on some of those now I see them written down

- Cech (had him in at one stage),

Montgomery (Cup Final heroics),

Clayton (thought about Beardsley, Keegan etc as Newcastle forwards who could maybe cover right wing, but switching Shearer to Newcastle and putting in Clayton makes sense; though Brian Douglas as right winger from the same era might be worth thinking about too in that case),

Ball (see you went for Mersyside rather than London 2 player teams; he can play on the right of course too),

Greaves (was mulling over that pick at one stage, over Klinsmann if any longevity factor would be considered anyway obviously; then switched to Ardiles, rather than Hoddle because I was thinking of not being over-balanced towards attacking central midfielders when Bell was great going forwards anyway and of course Ardiles was great on the ball and would probably still compliment a Charlton in terms of hanging back and playing the anchor role a bit more).


And obviously I did have Todd and Waddle in originally. I'm probably 50/50 about putting them back in over Nilsson/Eranio anyway, but Nilsson is obviously more of a proper right back than Todd (I guess Ball/Bell/Clayton also give you emergency options in your squad to cover that spot temporarily in a World Cup type scenario though).

 

Using http://www.myfootballfacts.com/All-TimeTopFlightPointsTable1888-89to2010-11.html I don't think it's particularly hard. There are lots of ways to "game" the system imho, since there have been a lot of great players who played for some of the weaker teams at some point in their career.

So here's my 23 man squad based on the top 20 top-flight points teams in England's history. The first name is also my starting 11:

GK: Peter Schmeichel; Peter Shilton; Colin Boulton
LB: Ashley Cole; Kenny Sansom
RB: Bob Crompton; Wes Brown
CB: Bobby Moore; Sol Campbell; Rio Ferdinand; Billy Wright
DM: Roy Keane; Fernando Hierro
CM: Ruud Guullit; Bryan Robson,
LW: George Best; David Ginola
RW: Cristiano Ronaldo; Chris Waddle
no.10s: Kenny Dalglish, Paul Gascoigne
no.9: Theirry Henry; Alan Shearer


Liverpool: KEnny Dalglish
Arsenal: Thierry Henry, Ashley Cole
Everton: Kenny Sansom
Man Utd: George Best, Cristiano Ronaldo
Aston Villa: David Ginola
Chelsea: Ruud Gullit
Spurs: Sol Campbell
Man City: Peter Schmeichel
Newcastle: Alan Shearer
Sunderland: Wes Brown
WBA: Bryan Robson
Blackburn: Bob Crompton
Bolton: Fernando Hierro
West Ham: Bobby Moore
Derby: Colin Boulton
Wolves: Billy Wright
Leeds: Rio Ferdinand
Nottingham Forest: Roy Keane, Peter Shilton
Boro: Paul Gascoigne
Sheffield Wednesday: Chris Waddle

This is the best squad I could come up with. Had to "game" pretty hard, such as Ginola for the Villa spot, Fernando Hierro taking the Bolton spot lol. Hierro gives the squad a deep-lying playmaker in a midfield full of box-to-box midfielders, so definitely a coup.

I also made one sacrifice pick. At first I went with Colin Todd for Derby (his name is the one that comes up when you google "Derby's greatest player") and Pat Jenning for Spurs. Then it occurred to me, why do I need JEnning when I already have Shilton and Schmeichel? So I googled "Derby's greatest keeper." His name is Colin Boulton, picked him for 3rd choice keeper and brought in Sol Campbell.

I genuinely didn't know what to do with the right back position to be honest. Went into the 100 greatest X of all time thread, saw Bob Crompton rated in the top 10 RBs of all time, so put him in there. Wes Brown is just there because I don't know what to do with the Sunderland spot, and he was very good during his peak with Man United.

I wanted Graeme Souness for my Boro spot, but I already had 4 central midfielders, and I needed a Dalglish backup, so Juninho is in.

All in all, I'm very happy with my starting XI. A few of the best players of all time in there, and very capable backups.

Update: Just found out Gascoigne played for Boro, so he's replacing Juninho

 

Can't complain when you pick two Forest players mate!

Keane was a proper box to box CM/(AM?) in those days too, but would fit pretty well alongside a Gullit as of Chelsea days or Robson as of West Brom days I would think.

I did think about Gullit, as I always tend towards peak and it's makes sense here anyway really (though like I say the fact Greaves was at Tottenham scoring goals a lot longer than Klinsmann might have swayed that one had I been choosing between them; and somehow the likes of Zola, albeit he came late in his career and arguably his absolute Chelsea peak was short too, or Lampard for example, might be slightly miffed at Gullit being chosen rather than them I dunno!? Osgood crossed my mind briefly until I knew Shearer was in my selection).

 

Don't forget you'd be picking Gazza on 'Boro' form though. I wondered about him as a Newcastle player even tbh at one point.

 

Oh, also I had assumed Ferdinand might be my Leeds player but somehow I ended up with a load of possible centre-backs on my shortlist (in my head, not on paper) so went with Frankie Gray instead as a left back.

Maybe Sansom (and Ginola?) are in doubt though poetgooner if the rule is form for the club selected for?

 

I'm confused. Are the players assigned the form for the club they've been selected or peak form? If it's the former, just forget my squad. It's absolute bullcrap lol.

Schmeichel was no good at City, Ginola no good at Villa, Hierro no good at Bolton (relative to his peak form) and a few others. I went with peak form

 

No problem lol. I'm not sure that what lanman thinks of that (I added it as a rule today after making the all-time suggestion, wheras obviously for current players we'd be using current/recent form for current club so it wouldn't have applied when the thread was started).

You'd be trying to pick Gullit on PSV/Milan/Sampdoria form then maybe too! Like I say I was sort of considering him based on Chelsea form anyway as he was very good in a proper midfield role for them for a short time.

 

Ligue 1 right now :

Paris St.-Germain : T.Silva, (Matuidi)/ Cavani
SCO Angers : Mangani
SM Caen : Féret
AS Saint-Etienne : L.Perrin
OGC Nice : Ben Arfa
Olympique Lyonnais : Gonalons, Valbuena
Stade Rennais : N'Tep
Satde de Reims : Mandi
Lorient FC : Waris
AS Monaco : B.Silva
EA Guingamp : Briand
FC Nantes: Ré.Riou
Lille OSC : Enyeama
FC Gir. Bordeaux : Pallois
SC Bastia : Squillaci
Olympique de Marseille : Mandanda, L.Diarra
FC Toulouse : Ben Yedder
SC Montpellier : Hilton
ES Troyes AC : Jean
Gazélec Ajaccio : Bréchet

GK : Mandanda (Marseille)
GK : Enyeama (Lille)
GK : Ré. Riou (Nantes)

DF : Pallois (Bordeaux)
DF : T.Silva (Paris St.-Germain)
DF : Mandi (Reims)
DF : Hilton (Montpellier)
DF : Bréchet (Gazélec Ajaccio)
DF : Squillaci (Bastia)
DF/ MF : Perrin (Saint-Etienne)

MF : Gonalons (Lyon)
MF : Mangani (Angers)
MF : L.Diarra (Marseille)
MF/ AM : Féret (Caen)
AM/ ST : B.Silva (Monaco)
AM/ ST : Ben Arfa (Nice)
AM/ ST : Valbuena (Lyon)
AM/ ST : N'Tep (Rennes)
AM/ ST : Waris (Lorient)

ST : Cavani (Paris St.-Germain)
ST : Ben Yedder (Toulouse)
ST : Jean (Troyes)
ST : Briand (Guingamp)

11 (a 5-5):

---------------------------ENYEAMA-------------------------
----PERRIN------T.SILVA------PALLOIS------MANDI----
---------------------------L.DIARRA--------------------------
---------B.SILVA--------BEN ARFA-------VALBUENA-----
------------------CAVANI--------BEN YEDDER-------------



(but I've made this in 15 mins, it is very possible there are better options, other combinations... + 10 other minutes only for Echiéjile or Valbuena? until I saw I had Pallois and that Mandi could be the left back instead of CB). Ben Yedder or Waris first and Ben Yedder from the bench.
(Very old players on bench concerning the defenders)

For an all-time team there are too much possibilities. Would be fun if Babaorum makes one too and we post it on the same day at the same hour to see how much the selection could be different. There is certainly no lack of possible combinations.
As to know if it would be based on the all-time table (G, W, D, L) or the 20 of right now or another selection of 20 clubs?

 

Well, I have made one. French League, All-time, option 2.

GK : Petr CECH (Rennes)
GK : Dominique DROPSY (Valenciennes)
GK : JOËL BATS (Auxerre)

DF : Lilian THURAM (Monaco)
DF : Laurent BLANC (Montpellier)
DF : Marcel DESAILLY (Nantes)
DF : Manuel AMOROS (Monaco)
DF : Patrick BATTISTON (Metz)
DF : Carlos MOZER (Marseille)
DF : Etienne MATTLER (Sochaux)

MF : Didier DESCHAMPS (Nantes)
MF : Michel MEZY (Nîmes)
MF : Jean TIGANA (Lyon)
MF : Roger JOUVE (Nice)
MF/ W: Pierre LAIGLE (Lens)
AM : Alain GIRESSE (Bordeaux)
AM : Raymond KOPA (Reims)
AM/ ST : Michel PLATINI (Saint-Etienne)
AM/ W : Eden HAZARD (Lille)


ST/ W : Dragan DZAJIC (Bastia)
ST : Josip SKOBLAR (Marseille)
ST : Carlos BIANCHI (Strasbourg)
ST : George WEAH (Paris St.-Germain)


the 11 :

-----------------------------------------PETR CECH-----------------------------
LILIAN THURAM----LAURENT BLANC----MARCEL DESAILLY----MANUEL AMOROS
------------------------JEAN TIGANA--------DIDIER DESCHAMPS---------------
---------------------ALAIN GIRESSE------------MICHEL PLATINI------------------
--------------------JOSIP SKOBLAR-----------------DRAGAN DZAJIC----------------



Since it seems it must be "functional" (23 men squad and all), I don't see Zidane in that team, or eveything must turn around him. Giresse will play in less touches than Kopa too.
One all-french and one all-foreign could be something to do. Only think of it now.

 

It ought to be a great game between your team and mine mate!

Despite your great defence, maybe the wingplay and attacking quality of my English league XI (plus possible subs) ought to lead to some goals. And your team ought to get some joy going through the middle with your Magic Square, setting up your Yugoslav left footers and possibly Weah making an impact off the bench.

I can see why you didn't given your starting line-up but I might have put Bossis in there as a Nantes player I think. Maybe Fontaine or Piantoni as a second Reims player.

 

Yes, I think there's a match here! I don't know what would happen if the match was played in England but at home, the French League team could prove being at the level so probably the goal difference would be important in the end, that is even certain. In gross, I have opted for the "modernity" in defence and for the "flair" (this that of course doesn't exist anymore since the Earth is too much polluted) in attack.
I considered that I had enough width with the two full-backs and Dzajic who can move on the left and let Platini come upfront as a second CF.
I can see Fontaine or Piantoni struggling against England...Skoblar and Bianchi were more technical than Fontaine so I think you'd better have Des Walker than Billy Wright on the pitch. As for Bossis, I could have him instead of Blanc. But, to tell the truth, I would have some hesitations to put him on one side given the very probable deployement of your terrible wingers.
Yet, choosing Roger Magnusson or ...Chris Waddle instead of Mozer remains a possibility.
Ah and yes, let's tell the truth, that square is not so magic with Deschamps instead of Fernandez (or Genghini). But what is better than Deschamps to play against a British side? He will be at 300 per cent.

 

i'll try my luck on an ol' english XI+12:

GK Peter Schmeichel (manchester united)
RB Branislav Ivanovic (chelsea)
LB Stuart Pearce (nottingham forest)
LCB Bobby Moore (westham united)
RCB John Charles (leeds)
RM Billy Meredith (manchester city)
LM Gareth Bale (tottenham hotspur)
LCM Bryan Robson (manchester united x2)
RCM Steven Gerrard (liverpool)
FW Wilf Mannion (middlesbrough)
ST Dixie Dean (everton)
GK2 Peter Shilton (derby)
GK3 Bert Trautmann (manchester city x2)
RB2 Gudni Bergsson (bolton)
LB2 Eddie Hapgood (arsenal)
LCB2 Paul McGrath (aston villa)
RCB2 Billy Wright (wolverhampton wanderers)
RM2 Chris Waddle (sheffield wednesday)
LM2 Laurie Cunningham (westbromwich albion)
LCM2 Rob Lee (newcastle united)
RCM2 Alex James (arsenal x2)
FW2 Dave Halliday (sunderland)
ST2 Alan Shearer (blackburn rovers)

 

Bundesliga - All time team
* based on bundesliga all time table (http://fussballdaten.de/bundesliga/ewigetabelle/)
** exclude pre-Bundesliga player like F. Walter, H. Rahn, etc.

Bayern - Franz Beckenbauer / Gerd Müller
Bremen - Horst-Dieter Höttges / Rudi Völler
Hamburg - Uwe Seeler / Kevin Keegan
Dortmund - Matthias Sammer
Stuttgart - Karlheinz Förster
Gladbach - Berti Vogts / Lothar Matthäus
Schalke - Manuel Neuer
Köln - Wolfgang Overath / Pierre Littbarski
Frankfurt - Jürgen Grabowski
Kaiserslautern - Andreas Brehme
Leverkusen - Bernd Schuster
Hertha - Erich Beer
Bochum - Stefan Kuntz
Nürnberg - Andreas Köpke
Duisburg - Bernard Dietz
Hannover - Per Mertesacker
Karlsruher - Oliver Kahn
Düsseldorf - Klaus Allofs

GK : Oliver Kahn(Karlsruher)
GK : Manuel Neuer(Schalke)
GK : Andreas Köpke(Nürnberg)

RB : Berti Vogts(Gladbach)
RB : Horst-Dieter Höttges(Bremen)
CB : Franz Beckenbauer(Bayern)
CB : Karlheinz Förster(Stuttgart)
CB : Matthias Sammer(Dortmund)
CB : Per Mertesacker(Hannover)
LB : Andreas Brehme(Kaiserslautern)
LB : Bernard Dietz(Duisburg)

MF : Uwe Seeler(Hamburg) - originally forward but he rated WK midfielder by Kicker in 1970
MF : Kevin Keegan(Hamburg)
MF : Lothar Matthäus(Gladbach)
MF : Wolfgang Overath(Köln)
MF : Bernd Schuster(Leverkusen)
MF : Erich Beer(Hertha)

RW : Pierre Littbarski(Köln)
RW : Jürgen Grabowski(Frankfurt)
CF : Gerd Müller(Bayern)
CF : Stefan Kuntz(Bochum)
LW : Rudi Völler(Bremen)
LW : Klaus Allofs(Düsseldorf)

Best XI
Kahn - Vogts, Beckenbauer, K. Förster, Brehme - Seeler, Matthäus, Keegan - Littbarski, G. Müller, Völler

Sub XI
Neuer - Höttges, Sammer, Mertesacker, Dietz - Overath, Schuster, Beer - Grabowski, Kuntz, K. Allofs