What is our best 11?

[Craig_1878]

I was reading an article in the Athletic today about Iwobi and how it would be hard to not include him in our starting 11, even when everyone is fully fit. It got me thinking, what would our strongest 11 be with a fully fit squad?

I would probably go for:

GK: Pickford

RB: Godfrey
CB: Mina
CB: Keane
LB: Digne

RW: Iwobi
DM: Allan
CM: Doucoure
LW: Richarlison

CAM: James

ST: DCL

[BlueForYou]

                    Pickford
Coleman    Mina     Keane     Godfrey
James        Allan    Doucoure     Digne
            DCL                   Richarlison

Bench: Olsen; Holgate; Davies; Gomes; Sigurdsson; Iwobi; Bernard

(+ 2 Subs: Nkounkou; Gordon)


   

[kramer0]

[Directed at the OP]

Agree with all of that but I'd have Holgate at RB.

Godfrey is getting a lot of praise for those mad bursts of pace and shoulder-to-shoulder strength but Holgate is a superior player for controlling games.

I think it goes under the radar sometimes but Holgate is arguably the best defender at the club at bringing the ball down under pressure and playing it calmly away to a teammate. He's really underrated in his ability to win possession for the team in situations where a lot of fullbacks would put the ball into touch or play a speculative long ball. Those situations add up over 90 minutes.

[Cereal Killer]

                     Lossl
         Kenny Pennington Besic
Bolasie  Siggy Gomes Delph  Bernard
                     Tosun

[YankeeBlue214]

Pickford/Olsen
Godfrey Mina Keane Digne
Allan Doucoure
Iwobi James Richarlison
DCL

Subs: GK, Coleman, Holgate, Davies, Gomes, Sigurdsson, Gordon, Bernard, Tosun

We won't be in a 4-4-2 with our best XI so I put them in the 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 hybrid Carlo preferred in the beginning of the campaign.

[Craig_1878]

[Directed at the OP]

Agree with all of that but I'd have Holgate at RB.

Godfrey is getting a lot of praise for those mad bursts of pace and shoulder-to-shoulder strength but Holgate is a superior player for controlling games.

I think it goes under the radar sometimes but Holgate is arguably the best defender at the club at bringing the ball down under pressure and playing it calmly away to a teammate. He's really underrated in his ability to win possession for the team in situations where a lot of fullbacks would put the ball into touch or play a speculative long ball. Those situations add up over 90 minutes.

That's a fair point tbf, for me it really was a toss up between the two and I may be suffering from recency bias with Godfrey's form of late.

I think both Godfrey or Holgate provide us with that defensive solidity that maybe Coleman doesn't offer, although I would probably put Coleman ahead of both in game where the onus is on us to attack against a weaker side.

[Jimmywhack]

Picks itself I think

Pickford
Holgate Mina Keane Digne
Allan Doucoure
Iwobi Rodriguez Richarlison
Calvert-Lewin

[Waltzer]

[Directed at the OP]

Agree with all of that but I'd have Holgate at RB.

Godfrey is getting a lot of praise for those mad bursts of pace and shoulder-to-shoulder strength but Holgate is a superior player for controlling games.

I think it goes under the radar sometimes but Holgate is arguably the best defender at the club at bringing the ball down under pressure and playing it calmly away to a teammate. He's really underrated in his ability to win possession for the team in situations where a lot of fullbacks would put the ball into touch or play a speculative long ball. Those situations add up over 90 minutes.

Personally I'm one that doesn't really rate Holgate, but I think it clearly highlights the need to get a new right back as I'm sure it'll vary by individual whether it should be Holgate, Coleman or Godfrey, all of whom are ok there, but they're not what Digne is to the left back role, that's what we need, a right footed Digne.

Sent from my CPH2025 using NSNO Everton Forums mobile app

[sam of the south]

that's what we need, a right footed Digne.

Sent from my CPH2025 using NSNO Everton Forums mobile app

Maybe we could do a non-sexy Weird Science type thing

[sam of the south]

Maybe we could do a non-sexy Weird Science type thing

Instead of bras on Ancelotti and Brands’ heads, they could wear shin pads & a severed right foot.

[Stumpy]

Personally I'm one that doesn't really rate Holgate, but I think it clearly highlights the need to get a new right back as I'm sure it'll vary by individual whether it should be Holgate, Coleman or Godfrey, all of whom are ok there, but they're not what Digne is to the left back role, that's what we need, a right footed Digne.

Sent from my CPH2025 using NSNO Everton Forums mobile app

I'm with you on that waltzer.
I am still not convinced 100% on holgate.
I still think on times he shuts off.
As much as coleman is on the wane,he's still the better option going forward.

[Sir Stealth]

Pickford/Olsen
Godfrey Mina Keane Digne
Allan Doucoure
Iwobi James Richarlison
DCL

Subs: GK, Coleman, Holgate, Davies, Gomes, Sigurdsson, Gordon, Bernard, Tosun

We won't be in a 4-4-2 with our best XI so I put them in the 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 hybrid Carlo preferred in the beginning of the campaign.

Godfrey has been superb recently. The only position  he didn't play well was.......right back

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

[YankeeBlue214]

Godfrey has been superb recently. The only position  he didn't play well was.......right back

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

I actually thought he did pretty well in his sudden debut vs the shite, but agree with you his 1 start there was less than impressive.

This is simply a case of Digne being our left back and wanting to keep Godfrey's athleticism on the pitch, with a little dash of right foot on the right side.

[Bob Sacamano]

I’d love for us to buy a right back this jan.

[Bob Sacamano]

And add some quality in midfield so we didn’t have to talk about putting a centre back in the middle of the park in the premier league.