All time Premier League 25-man squad

Pitchside - Football Forum
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Just a bit of fun, your all-time PL 25-man squad. Minimum of 8 home grown players required.

My starter for ten…

Schmeichel
Cech
Alisson

G Neville
Trent

Van Dijk
Adams
Ferdinand
Terry (not sure?)

Ashley Cole
Robertson (not sure? Maybe Irwin instead)

Gerrard
Vieira
Keane
Lampard
Scholes
DeBruyne
D Silva
Fabregas

Salah
Shearer
Henry
Aguero
Ronaldo
Kane

Honourable mentions: Seaman, Courtois, Rob Jones, Ivanovic, Sagna, Kyle Walker, Sol Campbell, Pallister, Stam, Vidic, Hyypia, Pearce, Le Saux, Kolarov, Essien, Petit, X Alonso, Modric, Kante, Toure, Fernandinho, Pogba, Giggs, Beckham, Cantona, Suarez, Fowler, Bergkamp, Drogba, Rooney, Andrew Cole

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First team:

Schmeichel
Trent* Ferdinand* Virgil Irwin
Makelele
Essien Gerrard*
Salah Suarez Henry

Second team:

Cech
G Neville* Hyypia Vidic Robertson
Mascherano
Keane Vieira
Ronaldo Shearer* Giggs*

Reserves: Seaman*, Ivanovic, Beckham*

Had to take Seaman over Alisson to fulfil the homegrown quota.

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No Torres?

Looking at that list, it begs the question, who do you leave out for him, but still to leave him out feels so wrong

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My squad, first players that sprang to mind…

Goalies: Čech, Van Der Sar, Alisson

Fullbacks: Ivanović, Trent, Cole, Robertson

Centre backs: Van Dijk, Ferdinand, Vidić, Terry, Adams

Midfielders: Keane, Vieira, Kante, Gerrard, Lampard, Silva

Wingers and forwards: Henry, Ronaldo, Shearer, Salah, Rooney, Kane, Bergkamp

Couldn’t pick Giggs over Salah primarily because of his off-the-field issues, even though I’ve always thought that Giggs was a brilliant player (although Scholes was better of the two, in my opinion, all the Man United fans that I know perennially debated about it).

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Any reason why no one’s having Owen? I started watching football around 2005, but thought Owen would be considered by someone who’s been following from before?

Probably Mascherano as well. But yeah, it’s incredibly difficult to remove anyone.

Essien is an interesting shout. I remember him being one of the top top midfielders in that Chelsea team and very underrated.

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Torres nosedived after leaving us. If he’d continued his form he’d be a definite contender

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There were a few that I couldn’t fit in that I would have liked to have done. Torres, Makelele, Mascherano, Gilberto Silva being the main ones (three DMs in there but I can’t squeeze them into my squad given who’s there already!).

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So here’s my go at it.

GK: Allisson, Van Der Sar, P. Schmichiel

RB: TAA, Dixon

LB: Robbo, Peirce

CB: Van Dijk, Adams, Keown, Vidic

CM: Gerrard, Keene, Viera, Juninho, Okocha, X. Alonso

RW: Salah, C Ronaldo

LW: Kewell, McManaman

ST: Shearer, Bergkamp, Henry, Di Canio

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I’ve made my choice based on the quality of these players, not their longevity, stats or anything. Just the sheer quality of their game, and their personality.

GK: Schmeichel, Van der Saar, Czech (Alli misses out marginally)

Central defence: VVD, Adams, Hyypiä, Kompany, Carra

Full-backs: Azpilicueta, Trent, Robbo, Ivanovic

Central midfield: Keane, Vieira, Gerrard, Xabi, Kante, Scholes, Lampard (shame, no place for Masch in that list…).

Attack: Henry, Shearer (that idiot was a good player in his days, to be fair with him), Salah, Bergkamp, Giggs, Suarez (would have loved to place Fowler in here as well, but Suarez cuts it by a small margin for me).

A lot of big names missing out there, who could make a valid claim for selection: Essien, Drogba, Makekele, Terry for instance, from the first Mourinho team at Chelsea. Kompany, Aguero and David Silva from the perennial Cheaty winners. And of course some of the current ones: De Bruyne being the one standing out, along with Mané and Firmino.

And I’ll accept if someone criticises my list for being too heavily Liverpool-biased… :blush:

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When there have been a few suggestions I’ll do a series of polls to see which players make the cut for the forum as a whole. It will be on the basis that the squad needs…

8 home grown players

3 goal keepers
2 right backs
4 Centre backs
2 left backs
2 holding midfielders
6 midfielders (not holding, but box to box, attacking, wide etc)
6 forwards

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Conspicuous by the total lack of mention is King Kenny.

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That’s because his last game was in May 1990, in the old First Division. This thread is about the Premier League.

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First XI:
Cech; Irwin, Ferdinand, VVD, Trent; Vieira, Gerrard, DeBruyne; Ronaldo, Henry, Salah.

Second XI:
Alisson; A Cole, Terry, Vidic, G. Neville; Kante, Keane, Scholes; Kane, Suarez, Drogba.

Squad: I think the ‘second XI’ may even beat the first XI.
(Given a 4-3-3 formation, I’ve dropped a midfielder - Giggs - for an extra forward - Bergkamp - who doesn’t really fit - may play behind the front 3 - but I couldn’t leave him out). Home grown in bold.

Cech; Alisson; Seaman

Irwin; Cole
TAA; G. Neville

Ferdinand; Terry; Vidic; VVD

Vieira; Kante; Keane; Gerrard; Essien; DeBruyne; Scholes

Bergkamp

Ronaldo; Henry; Salah; Kane; Suarez; Drogba

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First impressions are that you don’t have eight homegrown players there. :thinking:

And that you keep spelling our goalkeeper’s name wrong. :joy:

Also, did Schmeichel run over your dog or something? I know everyone has their own opinions, but surely he has to be in the top three goalkeepers of the Premier League era?

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Thanks Cynical - I always spell Becker wrong and I’ve made sure that the home grown is only english.
I’m with Roy Keane on Schmeichel - he’s very good, but overrated and just not as good as everyone thinks…

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Mascherano and 24 others.

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Alisson
Cech
Reina

Van Dijk
Ferdinand
Terry
Carragher
Trent
Cole
Irwin
Azpilicueta

Kante
Vieira
Alonso
Gerrard
Lampard
De Bruyne
Pires

Rooney
Ronaldo
Salah
Aguero
Henry
Suarez
Drogba

Far too many Neville shouts in here, Irwin was twice the player and could play both sides. Lashing in Carra to fill a homegrown spot and cover at FB, and because I wanted to get another forward in.

Oh wait, only had 23. Guess I can chuck in KDB and Azpi then.

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:blush: My bad.

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Will do a poll to see who gets the three goalkeeper spots shortly.

The nominations from the thread so far are

Schmeichel
Alisson
Cech
Seaman
Reina
Van der Sar

Any others worth considering?

Lehmann, Given, De Gea, Ederson, Howard, James, Schwarzer, Martyn, Courtois, Robinson?..I personally thought Flowers was an excellent keeper.

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Brad Friedel was one I thought was better than he often got credit for

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