Yes folks, it’s that time of the season again. Football journalists have barely had time to get settled back into their routine when the Premier League fixture list throws up a big game.
Starved of meaningful matches to report on and, shock horror, having to give Sam Allardyce a reasonable press because England won, in a competitive game, away from home, it is time to return to what they do worst.
Whenever there is a break in the season the 4th estate generally runs out of routine reporting material pretty quickly. When this happens it is a sure-fire bet that they will resort to childish games in order to try and keep their editors and the general public in a state of mild amusement and, more importantly, addiction to their rag, until something more relevant comes along.
One game which has grown in popularity for some unknown reason is picking a team. It may be a combined team or just guessing the team for the next match. It is a complete irrelevance as these people will never be in a position to select the actual team about which they are writing, but it seems to keep the masses in good humour for a while.
Not one to be left out, WSA has decided that it is about time a world-beating team was selected. Manchester’s United and City could, between themselves, field a decent team to represent Manchester. A combination of the two names gives us the word “Unity,” so that is the name of the team. Now, who would get into this elite team?
I think either manager would pick David De Gea. Great shot-stopper and good in the air to please Mourinho, he is also good with his distribution and footwork which would please Guardiola. Bravo is far too new to be considered just yet.
Right full backs are a bit of a puzzle. Sagna, Zabaleta and Valencia are all reasonably good going forward but only Sagna seems to have any real defensive qualities, so he gets the nod.
The two centre backs would have to be Bailly and Stones on current form, although I would expect Kompany to get in the side when fully fit.
Left back has to be Luke Shaw, no contest. Clichy and Kolarov are also pretty good going forward but quite often completely forget that they are supposed to go backwards as well.
Now for the first controversial selection. A holding midfielder to sit just in front of the centre backs. My choice for this position would be Daley Blind. He has hardly put a foot wrong for United so far and is virtually playing this position now, albeit from a slightly deeper central role.
A midfield three consisting of David Silva, Paul Pogba and Kevin De Bruyne would play just behind the front two. The two strikers don’t need much thinking about. Zlatan Ibrahimović and Sergio Agüero would have to be the first choice partnership.
So here’s the team:
1. David De Gea
2. Bacary Sagna
3. Luke Shaw
4. Eric Bailly
5. John Stones
6. Daley Blind
7. Kevin De Bruyne
8. Paul Pogba
9. Zlatan Ibrahimović
10. Sergio Agüero
11. David Silva
It would also be quite an impressive bench with the likes of Bravo, Otamendi, Iheanacho, Rashford, Herrera, Mata, Sané, Nolito, Mkhitaryan, Gundogan, Clichy, Kolarov, Valencia, Sterling and others. In fact a fairly decent second eleven could be selected from the leftovers! (Much as it goes against the grain I suppose I should include Smalling and Rooney on the bench, even though they wouldn’t get on the pitch!)
So that’s the game played by all the press nowadays. All the wannabe managers who were never quite good enough to be in a position to select a real team now do so through the media. It’s no wonder that Fantasy Football and the Football Manager PC games are so popular. Everybody’s at it!
Based on those facts an attempt at team selection is just a harmless bit of fun enjoyed by millions so who’s to knock it? And who knows, maybe Pep or José will read your choice and agree with it although, for some reason, I doubt it.
Here’s another couple of combined selections for you to agree/disagree with: