“It’s finished at Sunderland, and Manchester United have done all they can. That Rooney goal was enough for the three points. Manchester City still alive here. Balotelli…”
It was only a matter of time. In this episode of Greatest Games, Football Ramble Daily, in association with The Blizzard, revisits the most extraordinary final day of any modern Premier League season. Listen below.
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Football Ramble Daily welcomes a DIY football podcasting hero to today’s episode of Fantasy Five-a-Side as Jim is joined by blogger and podcaster, Andrew Mangan – aka Arseblog!
His five-a-side team features an intoxicating mix of Italian sophistication, French guile and Brazilian chain-smoking panache – all of whom will have a go in goal. Listen below!
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Apropos of nothing in particular, we’ve spent some time today working out FotMob’s best rated US eleven, based on those players who’ve spent the current season overseas.
To do this, we ran through those leagues for which we carry full stats and picked out the best performing Americans per position.
GK – ?? Ethan Horvath, Club Brugge (FotMob rating 6.74)
Let’s start off with a statistical anomaly as our goalkeeper has actually only started two games in the Belgian top flight this season! Horvath has played second fiddle to former Liverpool stopper, Simon Mignolet but has impressed when he’s had his chance, keeping one clean sheet and conceding only from the penalty spot in his other game.
LB – ??????? Antonee Robinson, Wigan Athletic (FotMob rating 6.76)
Although born in England, Robinson has of course pledged his allegiance to the States in international football. The left back was a mainstay in Wigan’s side in England’s second tier but looked all set for a massive transfer to Serie A giants, Milan in January.
Sadly, a heart defect was picked up on Robinson’s medical, meaning his dream move was cancelled and he has been unable to play since whilst awaiting treatment.
CB – ??????? Tim Ream, Fulham (FotMob rating 6.68)
Almost ever present at another English Championship side, Tim Ream has been central to Fulham’s plans as they look to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking, following their relegation at the end of 2018/19.
Captain of his side, Ream is also the only player over 30 to appear in our best XI.
CB – ?? John Brooks, Wolfsburg (FotMob rating 6.73)
Part of Wolfsburg’s core defence, in both the domestic Bundesliga and Wolfsburg’s Europa League campaign, Brooks has recovered well after missing the tail end of last season through injury.
He was even on the scoresheet as the German side sadly bowed out of European competition in the Round of 16.
RB – ?? Sergio Dest, Ajax (FotMob rating 6.85)
The teenage Dest is enjoying his breakthrough season at one of Europe’s most exciting sides having starred for Ajax’s youth side in the Dutch second tier last year.
He too has played his part in Europe, gaining his first continental experience in Ajax’s own excursions in the Europa League.
CM – ?? Julian Green, Greuther Fürth (FotMob rating 7.12)
Albeit playing in the German second division, Green is actually our best rated player to make this team.
His 4 goals in 14 league games from midfield this year has seen him already match his return for the whole of last season.
CM – ?? Weston McKennie, Schalke 04 (FotMob rating 6.52)
Another player plying his trade in German football, this time at the highest level – McKennie has made 20 appearances for a Schalke side looking to qualify for European football next season.
He scored his first goal of the campaign in a recent draw with Hoffenheim, where he was also awarded the FotMob player of the match.
CM – ??????? Duane Holmes, Derby County (FotMob rating 6.76)
Now in his second season with Championship side Derby County, Holmes has shown some real form – particularly following the arrival of Wayne Rooney as player-coach at the club.
The majority of the 25-year-olds goals and assists have come since the turn of the year. We particularly enjoyed this effort.
FW – ??????? Christian Pulisic, Chelsea (FotMob rating 6.70)
Much has been written about Pulisic this season, with many seeing his struggles to fight his way into Chelsea’s side following his permanent transfer from Borussia Dortmund as outright failure.
We would temper that, to say that when he has had a run in the team, his stats have been encouraging – particularly around the spell in which he scored his first hat-trick for the club at Burnley late last year.
FW – ?? Andrija Novakovich, Frosinone (FotMob rating 6.50)
Following one substitute appearance for English side, Reading at the start of the season, Novakovich moved to Frosinone, in Italy after the end of the European transfer window.
Second flight football in a completely new country appears to have taken him some time to adjust to, but since scoring his first goal in November, in a game in which he also provided two assists – he hasn’t looked back.
FW – ?? Timmy Chandler, Eintracht Frankfurt (FotMob rating 6.85)
The fourth player on our team to be based in Germany, Chandler perhaps provides some much needed experience to this side – having played in one of the world’s top leagues for a decade now.
He has scored 4 goals in 10 starts so far this season.
Is our team missing anyone? Perhaps a Josh Sargent (FotMob rating 6.44), or a Tyler Adams (FotMob rating 6.47)? Neither quite made it due to players scoring a higher rating in their position but taking in other factors, like the standard of the league and the quality of the opposition – should we have included them?
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We’ve been taking another look through the FotMob stats for Europe’s top five leagues. This time, we’ve focused on the search for this season’s flair players, the guys who get the fans going and love to run at opposition defences with the ball at their feet.
?? Bundesliga
First up, it’s maybe the surprising discovery that Bayern München’s mercurial midfielder, Thiago completes the most dribbles per match, on average in the whole Bundesliga.
To temper that, he actually shares the same average as his Canadian teammate, Alphonso Davies – who’s marauding performances from left-back have lit up a number of big games this season. Thiago however, is supposedly playing a more reserved role in midfield. But then, he was once described by Pep Guardiola as having three, four or five best positions. It seems he can just do it all!
?? Serie A
In Italy, Sassuolo’s Jeremie Boga stands head and shoulders above all comers – successfully completing at least one more run than anyone else, per match.
Despite his side sitting 11th in Serie A, the French-born, Ivorian international has been in such eye-catching form that Premier League club Chelsea – where Boga was an academy product are rumoured to be interesting in taking him back to London.
??????? Premier League
Back in January, Wolverhampton Wanderer’s star winger, Adama Traoré claimed he doesn’t do any weight training but anyone who’s seen the way he bullies opponents when he’s running down the wing may call that in to question.
The Spaniard has provided 7 assists and scored 4 himself in the English Premier League, whilst also producing more dribbles, per game than Wilfried Zaha, perhaps the best known flair player in the division.
?? La Liga
This one shouldn’t be a surprise, after all we dedicated a whole article to Messi’s outrageous La Liga stats from the 2019/20 season – right here!
No one else has come close to taking on defences as many times a game as arguably, the league’s best ever player. Nabil Fekir, in his first season with Real Betis perhaps deserves a mention – he has the second best average, whilst Eibar’s Fabián Orellana is next best, despite the Chilean’s near-veteran status.
?? Ligue 1
We often see arguments online about the relative merits of the top flight in France, but that’s not something we’re going to touch here. The statistics show that Neymar not only successfully completes the most dribbles, per match than any other player in Ligue 1 but also across any of Europe’s top leagues.
Does that make him the best dribbler on the continent this season? We’ll let you debate that one amongst yourselves but an average of 6 completed runs per game is pretty healthy, whatever league you play in.
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You have 15 minutes to try to name as many of the 141 clubs who have played in the Champions League as you can. As a bit of a hint, clubs are divided by country, with the number of seasons in the Champions League listed on the left.
Just tap Play below and begin typing your answers. Then, send us a tweet and let us know how you did!
Looking for more? Try naming every club to have appeared in the Premier League.
You have 10 minutes to try to name all 23 players who appeared for the Foxes on the way to their Premier League title win in 2015–16.
Just tap Play below and begin typing your answers. Then, send us a tweet and let us know how you did!
Forty-nine teams have graced the Premier League, and you’ve got 8 minutes to name as many as you can.
Just tap Play below and begin typing your answers. Then, send us a tweet and let us know how you did!
