Pie and Bovril's World XI

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Polls been up for a week. May as well put the results together. Here's the top 3 for each position

Goalies

1- Oblak 33%
2- Alisson 12%
3- de Gea 10%

Pretty straightforward win for the Atletico Madrid keeper. Certainly a safer pair of hands than 2nd and 3rd.

Right Back
1= Alexander-Arnold 30%
1= Kimmich 30%
3= Dani Alves 6%
3= Lichsteiner 6%

A draw between two different full backs. Do you prefer a more attack minded full back who hugs the line and acts like a winger or a more defensive minded one who can cut inside and be a playmaker? Also 3rd place went to two players well past their best so can only presume yer da' voted in this one.

Left Back:
1- Robertson 47%
2- Alba 18%
3= Digne 4%
3= Guerrerio 4%
3= Rodriguez 4%
3= Rose 4%
3= Sandro 4%

The only surprise here is, between us, we think Danny Rose is just as good as Ricardo Rodriguez or Alex Sandro. Behave yourselves PnB. Robertson ran away with it and, no shocks, Alba was a comfortable 2nd.

Centre Backs
1- van Dijk 29%
2= Koulibaly 14%
2= Ramos 14%

van Dijk, as well as being a great defender, is a useful addition going forward and managed to stop Liverpool being Liverpool and into a team that wins things until Covid19 came along and made Liverpool more Liverpool again. Everyone still, clearly, loves Ramos's shithousing and it's fair to say if yer the best centre back in Italy, like Koulibaly is, you're a good shout for best defender in the world.

Sitting midfielders

1- Kante 25%
2- Busquets 17%
3- Modric 11%

Kante's not been at his rip roaring, hard tackling best, domestically at least, for a couple of years now as he's been shunted forward but he was still always gonna win this. Busquets and Modric can also seem to have had poor season's but Modric's form for Croatia at the World Cup keeps him up near the top and Busquets is still the 2nd name on the teamsheet for Barcelona so hardly surprising he makes it too

Attacking midfielders

1- de Bruyne 53%
2- Bernardo Silva 8%
3- Havertz 6%

The biggest winning margin of the poll Kevin de Bruyne, injuries aside, has been near untouchable for a couple of years for Man City and Belgium and just steam rolled over the opposition. Hardly surprising to see Bernardo Silva, who has just as useful for Man Ciy in the last couple of years, take 2nd place but Kai Havertz, the young German, nipping into third is surprising

Wide attackers

1- Messi 31%
2- Mbappe 19%
3- Mané 7%

Maybe the biggest surprise here is the absence of Salah or maybe it's Messi "only" getting 31% of the vote. He's still the best player at Barcelona and, possibly, the world. MBappe goes under the radar a bit for PSG, where we expect him to run amok, but he is phenomenal. Mané is probably a more "complete" player than Salah and makes up the top three

Strikers

1- Ronaldo 24%
2- Lewandowski 16%
3= Aguero 15%
3= Haaland 15%

Ronaldo wins it, unsurprisingly, but his challengers are catching up. Lewandowski has been on fire for Munich and Aguero remains the best finisher in the EPL. Haaland is still young and learning but his goals to games ratio is obscene at the highest level already.

Best XIs?

Going by the need to shoehorn in both Alexander-Arnold and Kimmich as joint winners (and, possibly, Koulibaly and Ramos as joint 2nd place) I came up with these two teams

--------------------------------Oblak
---------------Ramos----- van Dijk------ Koulibaly
Alexander-Arnold------------------------------ Robertson
------------------------Kimmich----- Kanté
------de Bruyne----------------------------------- Messi
------------------------------Ronaldo

or

-------------------------------Oblak
Alexander-Arnold-- Kimmich --van Dijk--- Robertson
--------------------Kante----- Busquets
-----MBappe------ De Bruyne------------- Messi
------------------------------Ronaldo




 

[Barry Ferguson's Hat]

None of those players play in any of those positions.