Randy Lerner era XI

[will.shilt]

surely Jlloyd has to be in the worst

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

It's a shame we lost Delaney, Mellberg, Laursen and Bouma all for nothing.

On paper that looks like a great defence.  Did they ever all play together under O'Leary?

[not3bad]

                            Guzan

Beye            Collins     Knight         Warnock


Agathe        Hogg       Ireland       Routledge

                Sutton             Heskey           

A little tough on Hogg, TBH.
Sidwell might be a better option:he was truly gash for us.

could always throw in DjembaDjemba for good measure

Djemba Djemba is not a Randy Lerner era player.  And I agree with earlier posts, Sutton and Hogg should not be in there.  How on Earth could you leave Harewood and Sidwell out of that team of 'stars'?  They cost £10 million between them, before wages!

[ADVILLAFAN]

Imagine where we could be if we had a team like this...

Friedel
Young Mellberg Laursen Bouma
Downing Milner Barry Young
Bent Agbonlahor

Hmmm, 10 good players and Downing....

[not3bad]

                                           Gabor Kirally

Beye            The £10 Million guy from West Brom     Knight         Warnock


Agathe        Sidwell       Ireland       Routledge

                Harewood             Heskey   

Sorry, memory's a bit shit today.

EDIT: I remembered the keeper!

[Duncan Shaw]

I keep saying it, Sidwell was an integral part in the five man midfield with Gabby up top on his own that went on that superb unbeaten run (including the famous 3-2 at Goodison) where we looked superb.

[timeoutbigbar]

Aye, apologies for bringing the thread down to negativity, I seem to do that a bit these days, can't imagine why.  Can't really argue with the OP best lineup.  The only real decision would be the goalkeeper.

edit: Oh, and I'd completely forgotten about the hare.  Sidwell was mediocre, not terrible imo.

[Mouse Potato]

I keep saying it, Sidwell was an integral part in the five man midfield with Gabby up top on his own that went on that superb unbeaten run (including the famous 3-2 at Goodison) where we looked superb.

If I remember the famous 3-2 win at Goodison correctly, we were played off the park for the majority of the match and then stole it at the death with a blinder from Ash.  We took our chances but were far from superb.

[not3bad]

Sidwell was mediocre, not terrible imo.

I'd still put him in ahead of Hogg in any 'negative' team.  Hogg had one proper chance (Man Utd) to my memory, in which he did pretty well.

But as for the 'positive' side, yes, I think it could have been as high as 2nd in this league.  Man City's superteam would still be top I suspect.  On the other hand they wouldn't have Milner & Barry!

[Matt Collins]

I keep saying it, Sidwell was an integral part in the five man midfield with Gabby up top on his own that went on that superb unbeaten run (including the famous 3-2 at Goodison) where we looked superb.

The problem is we didn't look superb. We were predominantly dour, struggled to create chances and kept on getting really lucky (4 winning own goals in that period?)

Sidwell was absolutely shit for us.

[olaftab]

Is there any reason this has descended into naming all the poorest players or were we just concerned the thread bordered a little too closely to happy thoughts?

Human nature John we just feel more at home in adversity !

[Greg N'Ash]

Imagine where we could be if we had a team like this...

Friedel
Young Mellberg Laursen Bouma
Downing Milner Barry Young
Bent Agbonlahor

Fascinating thing with that is despite the millions upon millions he spent and the time he was in charge there's only 5 MON's buys.

[Concrete John]

Imagine where we could be if we had a team like this...

Friedel
Young Mellberg Laursen Bouma
Downing Milner Barry Young
Bent Agbonlahor

Fascinating thing with that is despite the millions upon millions he spent and the time he was in charge there's only 5 MON's buys.

It's 6 - Big Brad, the two Youngs, Milner, Downing & Bent.

And personally I'd have Dunne at CB as if we're talking about the Randy era Mellberg spent most of his short time of that era at RB.

EDIT - sorry, forgot Bent wasn't a MON buy!

[Mister E]

Sidwell was mediocre, not terrible imo.

I'd still put him in ahead of Hogg in any 'negative' team.  Hogg had one proper chance (Man Utd) to my memory, in which he did pretty well.

But as for the 'positive' side, yes, I think it could have been as high as 2nd in this league.  Man City's superteam would still be top I suspect.  On the other hand they wouldn't have Milner & Barry!

True but as Osbourne and Pires have been mentioned we can leave out both Hogg and Sidwell in favour of these two hopeless cases.

[not3bad]

Actually, what about the chap we had on loan from Spurs Kyle Walker!

Sorry, I remembered his name as I was typing.  I'd put Kyle Walker in ahead of Luke Young.