Team of the season half way stage

[Hursty]

I used to get annoyed reading these threads and not every single one of Doohan, Smith, Harvie, Rose, Forrest and Murdoch joined Shankland in everyone's picks. How the f**k are we still in this league

[TxRover]

Anyone not using Berra as a CH on their team of the half is deluded.

[Skyline Drifter]

From our side only Lee Connelly should really be considered at this point. Wullie Gibson has been terrific most of the season too but he's played four different positions so probably not often enough in any one of them for anyone to put him in a team of the season.

Connelly's a legitimate candidate though.

[vikingTON]

6 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Connelly's a legitimate candidate though.

No, he really isn't though.

[San Starko Rover]

Very hard to pick a XI based on what fans have seen unless they take an interest in the other teams highlights. From Raith’s point of view QOS have been a really good team (should have 6 points off us) but in the league they’ve been poor while Kilmarnock are the opposite of good in the league but beaten by us twice. Nouble is in most peoples XI but he’s been fairly ineffective in both games against us so we’ve not seen the best of the lad. Interesting that few have picked Berra or Lang at the back as they’ve been rock solid for us and our captain is currently warning the bench because of it. 

[Raith Against The Machine]

3 hours ago, San Starko Rover said:

Very hard to pick a XI based on what fans have seen unless they take an interest in the other teams highlights. From Raith’s point of view QOS have been a really good team (should have 6 points off us) but in the league they’ve been poor while Kilmarnock are the opposite of good in the league but beaten by us twice. Nouble is in most peoples XI but he’s been fairly ineffective in both games against us so we’ve not seen the best of the lad. Interesting that few have picked Berra or Lang at the back as they’ve been rock solid for us and our captain is currently warning the bench because of it. 

I don't think Lang has played enough football to be a stick-on, he had to be very patient before getting a run of games. He had been excellent since then, granted. 

You could certainly argue for Zanatta. It's the nature of wingers to be inconsistent, but when he's been on form he's been tremendous. Others in the division have no doubt been the same, though. 

The others in the equation from the Rovers would be Jamie MacDonald and Brad Spencer. I wouldn't swap MacDonald for any other keeper in the division, but I don't know that he's necessarily been on better form than others, particularly Sneddon. As for Brad Spencer, he's the key elevating factor in McGlynn's "greater than the sum of its parts" Rovers team. Does a team of the year need a quietly effective metronome that let's everyone else do what they do? 

I'd absolutely go to bat for Christophe Berra's inclusion, though. People still have their preconceptions of him, but he's been the standout performer in a standout Rovers team. That doesn't necessarily mean he's been one of the two best centre halfs in the league, of course, but I haven't seen better with my own eyes. 

I think there's an argument to be had for every jersey in the team other than the number 9, which has to be Joel Nouble's. Even when he's been quietened by the aforementioned Berra, you can see how effective he is (like a "more mobile Chris Templeman" in the most damning-with-faint-praise description I've heard on a terrace this year) and why Livingston won't hesitate to pitch him straight into Premiership games. 

[Tattie36]

I think Berra has been excellent, what I’ve seen of him. You don’t have a career like he’s had - including 3 seasons in the English premiership and 41 international caps, unless you are a very good player.

If he was playing in this league 10 years ago then he could literally have played every game in his baffies, smoking a pipe and would still have strolled it.

Havjng said that, I would have Little or O’Brien over him any day, so bench it is for old Christophe

Edited December 25, 2021 by Tattie36

[C4mmy31]

Hemming at Killie is the only one who gets pass marks from me.

[RR #1]

Any post which doesn't include Jamie Mcdonald and Christopher Berra shouldn't even be considered an attempt at a best championship 11.

[ecto]

13 hours ago, roverthemoon said:

Arbroath. To be sitting top at this stage is phenomenal.

Don’t pay enough attention to put forward a Championship XI but from us Berra and Zanatta would definitely be in there. 

Difficult for me to agree with the Berra inclusion, as O'Brien and Little have been superb, week in, week out, but am sure Berra is by some distance the best referee I have seen all season

[Nightmare]

Tunji Akinola > all these other CBs mentioned

 

Edited December 25, 2021 by Nightmare

[1320Lichtie]

Berra is class but bias and the fact Little and ToB just work so well with each other means I wouldn’t take him over either 

 

Gaston in with a shout of best keeper. Colin Hamilton is so underrated at left back. McKenna is an absolute machine. Same with Scotty Stewart. Nouble just been a joke in some games. We’re blessed jn but that obviously ends very soon when big man goes back just hope we keep it steady and give ourselves a chance of top 4 towards the last couple games.

[HoBNob]

The top five teams are seperated by five points, which is even more impressive considering the fifth team have a game in hand against Dunfermline. 

 

Quite clearly the top sides are all a much of muchness, anyone giving it "If you don't select x player then it isn't the best" is selectively forgetting there's four other sides at the top who are a bawhair away from them. And that's if you totally forget there's players at the bottom sides who will still objectively be having good seasons (Hamilton at Morton, Gibson at QoTS, Thomas at Dunfermline). 

For example I've seen Raith twice, on both those occasions they failed to best a side managed by Peter Grant. If I was to pick a side of the first quarter they'd have scant representation. 

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

16 hours ago, 1320Lichtie said:

Gaston in with a shout of best keeper.

Right, Arbroath have been very impressive this season but he absolutely definitely isn’t. 

[1320Lichtie]

1 hour ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

Right, Arbroath have been very impressive this season but he absolutely definitely isn’t. 

Struggling to think of a keeper I’d take over him in this league 

[oneteaminglasgow]

4 minutes ago, 1320Lichtie said:

Struggling to think of a keeper I’d take over him in this league 

From the non-Thistle teams, I’d take Zach Hemming, Jamie MacDonald and Mark Ridgers over Gaston off the top of my head. 

[Raith Against The Machine]

Gaston's the last goalkeeper in this league I'd take, but that's primarily because he wears short sleeves. 

[Skyline Drifter]

11 minutes ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

From the non-Thistle teams, I’d take Zach Hemming, Jamie MacDonald and Mark Ridgers over Gaston off the top of my head. 

Hemming isn't even the best on loan Middlesbrough keeper in this division.

But yeah, as good as Arbroath have been, there's several better keepers in this division than Gaston. He's decent, he's not exceptional. MacDonald is the best keeper in the division. Clearly. Sneddon has been outstanding in the second quarter. His performance at Palmerston in the recent 0-0 draw is the best I've seen from a keeper this season.

Edited December 26, 2021 by Skyline Drifter

[1320Lichtie]

When Gaston first signed for us a lot of us still preferred Darren Jamieson but we seen to have a weekly conversation about how dodgy other keepers in the league are

 

Ridgers is good aye. Rest meh

[D'Jaffo]

I don't get the fuss around Ridgers tbh. These threads are interesting because the best players can have off days against teams so the fans of that team won't include them.

If we're going off the best players we've seen this season then I'd have

MacDonald

 

Foster

Akinola

O'Brien

Hamilton

 

Welsh 

Allardice

 

Zanatta

McKenna

Gardyne

 

Nouble