The fans’ reaction to Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa has been pretty much dominated by the discussion regarding Graham Potter’s habit of making team and formation changes with many supporters believing that Potter needs to quickly establish his strongest team and at least try to stick with it for a few games to bring some consistency.
Therefore we thought we’d look at what might be our strongest line-up and formation. According to WhoScored.com – our top players are shown below in a formation. We’ve gone with a 4-2-3-1 which I feel best fits the players. It’s tough to statistically pick our best formation simply because Potter has used so many. In 13 games, he’s used 7. A back 3, standard 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-4-1-1, 4-2-2-2 and 4-2-3-1.
WhoScored.com Best 11 Players
The top 11 eleven players according to WhoScored.com ratings system is shown below in a 4-2-3-1 formation. The ratings shown are WhoScored.com average rating for the season so far.
Jefferson Montero and Federico Fernandez who are our 8th and 9th best rated players aren’t included. Fernandez has left and Montero is injured. Leroy Fer is our 14th highest rated player and is included because 12th placed Declan John and 13th placed Cameron Carter-Vickers have only started one game.
I find that it’s difficult to name our definitive strongest eleven mainly because a few players have had good and bad games but I don’t think the team needs too many adjustments.
The Fer and Fulton combination didn’t look particularly good at Aston Villa on Saturday and to play Potter’s possession game – you’d need a better ball player and passer in there. McKay is also a player who isn’t performing and needs replacing. Martin Olsson played further forward at Villa and would provide better attacking width down the left compared to the new Summer signing.
What The Fans Say
Asking for fans’ strongest elevens on Twitter, the return of Kyle Naughton is a popular choice, so too is putting Celina in the middle. It’s no surprise either than nobody has picked Barrie McKay who hasn’t really impressed since the very first game of the season at Sheffield United.
Mulder
Roberts Rodon VDH Olsson
Fer Carroll
Dyer Celina James
McBurnieDon’t understand why Dyer has been sidelined again after coming in once the window shut. It’s not like our wide men (DJ aside ) are pulling up trees.
— Paul Thomas #JenkinsOut (@NeathJack1) October 21, 2018
Mulder
Naughton Rodon VDH Olsson
Fer Carroll
Roberts Celina James
McBurnie— Berwyn Roderick (@B_Rod99) October 21, 2018
Mulder. Olsson. VDH. Rodon. Roberts. Fulton. Fer. Celina. Montero. James. Mcburnie. 4-2-1-2-1
— Nathoo (@nathanrees7) October 21, 2018
Mulder
Roberts vdH Rodon Olsson
Naughton Carroll Grimes
Celina McBurnie JamesExact shape subject to tinkering. McBurnie off at half-time if he doesn’t pick his game up sharpish.
— Jason Williams (@fmswansongs) October 21, 2018
Mulder
Naughton VdH Rodon Olsson
Fer Grimes/Carroll
Roberts Celina DJ
McBurnie— Jack (@GillyJ32) October 21, 2018
Mulder
Naughton VdH Rodon Olsson,
Carrol Fer Celina. Dyer McBernie Routledge— Terry Summerfield (@tersummerfield) October 21, 2018
This one from Jordan looks pretty solid to me. The Naughton – Roberts link-up down the right has looked solid and Dan James was on fire at home down the left against Ipswich. Many of us would also like to see Celina moved inside to create plays for McBurnie and Grimes adds a better passer alongside Fer in midfield.
Starting 11 against Blackburn
Mulder
Naughton VDH Rodon Olsson
Fer Grimes
Roberts Celina James
McBurnie
— Jordan (@JordanWebber96) October 21, 2018
