Best Villa XI of the Prem Era.

Pick your formation, your manager and your players from when football was invented.

GK: Bosnich

RWB: Delaney
LWB: Wright
RCB: Mellberg (Captain)
CB: Laursen
LCB: Southgate

DM: God
RCM: Taylor
LCM: Milner

CF: Yorke
CF: JPA

S1: Guzan
S2: Bouma
S3: Ugo
S4: Barry
S5: Townsend
S6: Young, A
S7: Tekkers

Manager: Sir Brian

I bet I have missed a load of players that should be there.... I have as you can see tired to fit all of Mellberg, Lauresen, Southgate and God into the same side!!

Team-                  Bosnich

Delaney.      McGrath.   Mellberg.         Staunton 

              
             Townsend.        Barry.    Milner


              Young    Benteke.      Yorke

Maybe we should have a vote on the formation in another thread? Then vote for each position and do a TBAR XI?

Mark Bosnich

Mark Delaney
Paul McGrath
Olof Mellberg
Wilfred Bouma

Tony Daley
James Milner
Ian Taylor
Ashley Young

Dean Saunders
Dwight Yorke



Ron Atkinson

Team (3-5-2)               
----------------------------------Bosnich

------------------ McGrath-----Mellberg -----Laursen (c)    
 
Charles -------------------------------------------------------------- Wright
              
 -------------Milner ----------Townsend ---------Barry


--- --------------- -------Angel---------Yorke

Subs: Friedal, Staunton, Southgate, Petrov, Merson, Young, Benteke

Manager: Brian Little.

Tough call with that squad. Benteke, Petrov, Young and Merson could easily have been in the starting eleven if I hadn't opted for the wing-back formation.

AndyD wrote:Maybe we should have a vote on the formation in another thread? Then vote for each position and do a TBAR XI?

Good idea. But this thread has a purpose too as it allows people select their formation and the players to fit.

4 - 4 - 2

Bozzie
Delaney - McGrath -  Laursen - Bouma
Young - Milner - Petrov - Barry
Deano - Carew

Subs - Spink, Mellberg, Taylor, Merse, Wright, Benteke, JPA

Manager Brian Little

Just sat back and looked at that properly. Petrov in front of McGrath & Laursen with Freddy Bouma and Mark Delaney either side? You could put me in goals and  I dont think the goals against tally would rise above 10 for the season!

Indeed, that's a solid looking team.

But really, when you look back, since '92 we have had some truly great players at villa.

Hi guys, first post (great forum btw!).


Bosnich

Mellberg McGrath Laursen Bouma

Milner Petrov Barry Young

Tekkers Yorkie

Subs
Guzan
Southgate
Ehiogu
Tayls
Townsend
Deano
Dublin

Welcome Matt Kendrick's Dentist. Love the username!

Bosnich
Delaney, Mellberg, McGrath, A.Wright
A.Young, Milner, Townsend
Merson
Yorke, Saunders

Subs: D.James, M.Laursen, G.Southgate, I.Taylor, G.Barry, C.Benteke, J.Carew.

Everyone has gone for Bosnich. Don't get me wrong, he was a great shot stopper but I think Guzan is a better allrounder.

He's not as good at the outright stopping of shots bit but I think in every other area he is better. He certainly can kick a ball better than wig-man.

Bosnich had a tendency to come for the ball when he couldn't get to it and had to back peddle.

He also had much better defenders in front of him allowing him to get on with his own game without having to stress about others.

I think you'll find with Okore back to partner Vlaar, Guzan will look even better than he does now.

He gets my nod.

Trotters wrote:Everyone has gone for Bosnich. Don't get me wrong, he was a great shot stopper but I think Guzan is a better allrounder.

He's not as good at the outright stopping of shots bit but I think in every other area he is better. He certainly can kick a ball better than wig-man.

Bosnich had a tendency to come for the ball when he couldn't get to it and had to back peddle.

He also had much better defenders in front of him allowing him to get on with his own game without having to stress about others.

I think you'll find with Okore back to partner Vlaar, Guzan will look even better than he does now.

He gets my nod.

Yeah, keeper was defo one of the toughest choices. Guzan is comfortably our best since Bozzie and it's very tough to separate the two imo. Also feels harsh not to find room for Southgate but centre-half has been exceptionally strong in the PL (Premier League rather than Paul Lambert!) era.

-----------------Guzan---------------
Delaney---Mellberg---Laursen---Bouma
-------------Milner--Barry------------
Milner-----------Merson---------Young
-----------------Yorke---------------

Subs:
Bosnich
Ehiogu
Southgate
Staunton
Taylor
Townsend
Benteke

I'd love Milner back. I'd REALLY love two of him.

Bosnich
Delaney
McGrath
Ehiogu
Wright
Barry
Milner
Taylor
Merson
Yorke
Benteke

Guzan
Mellberg
Staunton
Townsend
Carbone
Nillis
Angel

Lambert's line up would be:

Balaban (GK)
Collymore
Yorke
Saunders
Milosevic
Benteke
Baros
Atkinson
JPA
Johnson
Kozak

-------------------Bosnich---------------

--Mellberg---McGrath---Laursen---Wright--

-------------------Barry------------------

--Milner---------------------------Young--

-------------------Merson-----------------

------------Yorke-----------Saunders----

Subs:

David James
Southgate
Delaney
Taylor
Daley
Dublin
JPA

Manager: Ron Atkinson

See this thread: https://bellsareringing.forumotion.com/t305-tbar-villa-prem-xi-the-formation

But also carry on with this one

1st post time....

                     Friedel

Melberg   Laursen   Mcgrath   Bouma

             Taylor    Barry

    Solano     Merson     Young

               Benteke

Surprised at the lack of mention for Nolberto! Who is taking the free kicks guys?!

Tempted to Shove Yorkie out to the left wing for Ashley, but feel those 4 as a diamond should nail it, an uber solid back line, and some guile and an engine in midfield.

Big Ron on the side-line

Good point about Solano. He is a bit of a forgotten man.

This is a controversial point given how hated he is by Villa fans but i think O'Leary did very well in the transfer market for us.

Laursen, Solano, McCann, Bouma and Sorenson were all O'Leary signings and they didn't cost a whole lot either. Baros wasn't a great signing in the end although we were abe to swap him for Carew. All in all he got good value for villa.

You'd have to have Milner, Bossie, Charles, Laursen, Barry, Young (Ashley not Luke!), Yorke, God, and possibly Kevin Richardson at his peak in centre midfield.

I am gonna go for a 4-4-2

Bosnich

Mellberg McGrath Laursen Staunton

Daley Barry Townsend Young

Yorke Benteke

Subs: Guzan Southgate Milner Richerson Saunders

Trainspotter wrote:I am gonna go for a 4-4-2

Bosnich

Mellberg McGrath Laursen Staunton

Daley Barry Townsend Young

Yorke Benteke

Subs: Guzan Southgate Milner Richerson Saunders

Interesting that you went with Tony Daley seeing as he wasn't rated by many, especially when he made a couple of England squads and was harshly criticised. I think he was an exciting player who did very well for us and that he's a decent shout for that role in a 4-4-2. Richardson hasn't got many selections on the thread either so it's interesting that you have him on the bench.

Daley was my first Villa hero, in the first few years of the premier league he was our most exciting player. Maybe not the most consisten early in his career but from 92-94 he was outstanding. Richardson was hard, very consistent and could play I nearly put him in instead of Townsend.