Best Available XI

[billycopper]

With what we've got available at the moment I'd go for:

Howard
Neville Heitinga Senderos Baines
Fellaini
Pienaar Arteta Bily
Saha Vaughan

That's presuming that Arteta and Senderos get up to speed pretty quickly.

I'd rather have Neville at centre back than Distin, so we may as well see what Senderos can do.

Fellaini is now the natural anchor for the team.

I have faith in Bily. I feel that his strengths are his crossing and shooting and his ability to find space in the box. It frustrates me when Moyes plays Bily on the right and Pienaar on the left, because they both have to cut in on to their preferred foot and it further congests an already tight midfield. Bily and Baines are both capable of delivering dangerous balls from the left hand side. Lets make that a feature of our play.

Coleman provides the same quality from the right, but we need Neville in there somewhere.

Arteta could pull the strings in the middle, setting Pienaar and Bily off on runs behind the fullbacks and playing the forwards in.

I feel that Saha is too isolated upfront on his own. His injury problems won't be helped by having to do all the running by himself and trying to hold the ball up while being knocked about by defenders. Vaughany would do a lot of the work for him and would occupy defenders, giving Saha the space he needs to get in on goal. Plus, when we do get forward, we've currently got very little to aim for in the middle.

That would pretty much be our strongest side apart from bringing Jagielka in for Senderos.

Against City we looked lively. We were getting forward down both flanks and creating problems. With those runners pulling the opposition defence apart it gives the perfect opportunity for someone with a decent shot on them, such as Arteta to run into the space and have a strike on target.

 

[DENNIS STEVENS]

Howard
Neville Heitinga Senderos Baines
Fellaini
Donovan/Bilyaletdinov Osman Arteta Pienaar
Saha/Yakubu​

I think it would do Cahill some good to have a break & to have to win his place back. If we can avoid accumulating further injuries then we should start to see some genuine competition for places, which can only be a good thing. I'd be interested to see who, if anybody, can put Baines under a bit of pressure for his place - Distin?​

 

[BigBurger]

No way would I have Bily, Osman or Donovan for that matter in the team over Timmy. Even if hes had a couple of bad games.

 

[faddy the blue]

With what we've got available at the moment I'd go for:

Howard
Neville Heitinga Senderos Baines
Fellaini
Pienaar Arteta Bily
Saha Vaughan

That's presuming that Arteta and Senderos get up to speed pretty quickly.

I'd rather have Neville at centre back than Distin, so we may as well see what Senderos can do.

Fellaini is now the natural anchor for the team.

I have faith in Bily. I feel that his strengths are his crossing and shooting and his ability to find space in the box. It frustrates me when Moyes plays Bily on the right and Pienaar on the left, because they both have to cut in on to their preferred foot and it further congests an already tight midfield. Bily and Baines are both capable of delivering dangerous balls from the left hand side. Lets make that a feature of our play.

Coleman provides the same quality from the right, but we need Neville in there somewhere.

Arteta could pull the strings in the middle, setting Pienaar and Bily off on runs behind the fullbacks and playing the forwards in.

I feel that Saha is too isolated upfront on his own. His injury problems won't be helped by having to do all the running by himself and trying to hold the ball up while being knocked about by defenders. Vaughany would do a lot of the work for him and would occupy defenders, giving Saha the space he needs to get in on goal. Plus, when we do get forward, we've currently got very little to aim for in the middle.

That would pretty much be our strongest side apart from bringing Jagielka in for Senderos.

Against City we looked lively. We were getting forward down both flanks and creating problems. With those runners pulling the opposition defence apart it gives the perfect opportunity for someone with a decent shot on them, such as Arteta to run into the space and have a strike on target.

This.

 

[DENNIS STEVENS]

No way would I have Bily, Osman or Donovan for that matter in the team over Timmy. Even if hes had a couple of bad games.

He's had more than a couple of bad games & after being played in a variety of positions due to the needs of the team, looks quite jaded to me. I'd expect him to come back & reclaim his place, as he adds something a little different to what the other midfielders bring to the team & when on form Cahill seems capable of getting others around him playing better.

 

[Gwladys Nights]

-------------Howard-------------
Neville--Heitinga--Jagielka--Baines
---------Arteta---Fellaini--------
Donovan------Cahill--------Pienaar
--------------Saha--------------

The back four picks itself at this point I think, and Howard is unchallenged as our first choice in goal. I think Saha is our most complete forward, our most talented forward, and our forward best suited to playing up front on his own. A fully fit Yakubu isn't far behind him on any of those though. I still think Vaughan can be an important player for us but for the time being he looks like he's best used as half of a front two, and our personnel doesn't accommodate a front two naturally.

So while it seems to me that the rest of our team picks itself quite automatically, there are all kinds of permutations that our midfield can take. I think at this point Fellaini, Arteta and Pienaar have to be seen as automatic picks. I think Pienaar has shown that his best position is in the center of midfield, but I'd be loathe to lose the threat that he and Baines provide in combination down our left hand side. I'm excited to see Arteta and Fellaini dropping deep to take the ball off Heitinga. We have plenty of good footballers in our side now.

So that leaves two positions for Cahill, Bilyaletdinov, Donovan and Rodwell to compete for, with Osman and Gosling keeping them on their toes and filling in where necessary. I think Donovan provides us with a balance we've seldom seen under Moyes, and Tim Cahill is still the heart-beat of the side, so I've gone for the above formation. Cahill is great at troubling defenders and allowing Saha to find space, provides an obvious goal-threat and when he's on form makes the team play with a swagger that is absent when he is.

The obvious potential that Bily and Rodwell have shown means I'd be surprised if they haven't made themselves undroppable within about a year and two respectively, which is convenient given Cahill's advancing years, and the likelihood that at least one of Pienaar and Donovan won't be here this time next year (can just feel it in me waters).

I love thinking about our best 11 at the moment, I've got more faith in our near future than at any time I can remember. Moyes is on the cusp of building a very, very good team.

Edit: Until Jagielka is back I'm really not sure who I want keeping his place warm. Not particularly trustful of Yobo, Distin or Senderos.

 

[RNG]

Didn't Moyes say Arteta was still a few games away from real fitness right now?
He wants to use him sparingly till he's up to speed....

 

[Yard Dog]

If everyone was fit, id have:

----------Howard-----------

Neville Heitinga Jagielka Baines

----Arteta Fellaini Rodwell----

-------Pienaar Cahill---------

-----------Saha-------------


Bench:
Billy
Donovan
Osman
Yakubu
Yobo
Vaughan
Coleman

Stand:
Distin, Senderos, Anichebe etc

For the mean time i think Donovan can do well, and Billy just needs to get up to speed.

We nearly have strength in depth in every position but obviously we will probably never have the whole squad fit!

 

[devonblue]

cahill needs a rest and should get one on wednesday hope saha's hamstring is okay as well.
imo our best 11 would be
howard
heitinga yobo distin baines
donovan arteta felli pienaar
cahill
saha
but when rodwells back maybe move mikky back to right mid

 

[Hayee]

Those of you who have left neville out are a fickle bunch. Is it just coincidence that, bar saturday, we are playing for eachother again? Has our improvement in form coincided with his return? - YES! Why? - because he leads us, he gives his all and epitomises our motto, NIL SATIS NISI OPTIMUM!

 

[jamiem]

Howard​

Neville Heitinga Senderos Baines
Fellaini
Donovan/Bilyaletdinov Osman Arteta Pienaar
Saha/Yakubu​

I can't believe people on here putting players just signed straight into our strongest 11? I know Senderos is a decent player but we don't know how he'll fit in?

I remember having a simular rant last season when people were putting Castillo in our strongest midfield before he'd played a game!

Surely players coming to our great club have to earn the right to be in our stongest 11

 

[DENNIS STEVENS]

I can't believe people on here putting players just signed straight into our strongest 11? I know Senderos is a decent player but we don't know how he'll fit in?

I remember having a simular rant last season when people were putting Castillo in our strongest midfield before he'd played a game!

Surely players coming to our great club have to earn the right to be in our stongest 11

The original post was about our best available XI currently & at the moment the man for Senderos to get past is Distin who hasn't been entirely convincing, so it seems likely to me Moyes has brought Senderos in to play rather than to sit on the bench as cover. That's a far cry from suggesting that Senderos would be in our strongest XI if everybody was fit & in form - I'd expect Jagielka to be ahead of him, but who knows whether he'll be the same player when he makes his return.