PFA L1 team of year 18/19 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter steve82
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Half the barnsley team.
steve82
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Don’t think you could pick any holes in either side in all honesty.
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skyblueeyesrevisited
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Lee Burge anyone?
clint van damme
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Here’s the PFA L1 team of the the year.
Pretty fair vote in my opinion.
James Collins would be my player of the year
Manager would be Jack Ross.
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Why Jack Ross? Not guaranteed to go up automatically with that squad is an underachievement
steve82
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Yeah I take your point, I just think it was a very difficult tasks to go into coming to L1 from winning the Scottish championship with St Mirren to the wreckage of Sunderland and turning the clubs fortunes around in one main summer window and a January too with back to back relegations utilising a few of those players still in this rebuild to be on course for a top 6 finish is a pretty good achievement given the mood around the club.
It is a job we all look at and say they should be going straight up but achieving that isn’t so easy given the pressure and media focus.
Personally I think it’s a good job done so far
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CanadianCCFC
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10 in the top 4 and all in the top 6.
SkyBlueCRJ
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I disagree entirely with this. Granted he had a huge rebuilding job on his hands so he has to be given some credit for the work he's done in shifting a significant amount of players out, and subsequently bringing in a fresh group. But given the size of their budget, and where they currently find themselves in the league, there's no way Jack Ross can be awarded manager of the season. Even with significant cuts Sunderland have spent millions on players this season - most notably £5 million for Will Grigg. Plus, the likes of Glenn Loovrens, Grant Leadbitter and Max Power would be on serious contracts considering who they have previously featured for in their careers.
IMO it should be given to Daniel Stendal. Barnsley have been a silent force this season but have still managed to keep toe to toe with Luton who obviously went on a 20-something unbeaten run. Plus Barnsley is his only second stint in management and his first time managing a club in England.
steve82
Well-Known Member
I too think Stendal has done a very creditable at Barnsley who sit 6 points clear having played a game more. Similar to Sunderland we’re relegated from the championship and like you say have gone about business very quietly and admirably.
Sunderland being the most recent fallen giants so to speak with a lot of media focus are all the talk above a phenomenal season Luton have had and Daniel Stendals Barnsley. Add to this they are many sides in the leagues cup final as we ourselves found out in L2 last year. Sides came to stop us playing, frustrate and nick results. I dare say they have faced the same scenarios.
It’s easy to say the budget and players brought in should win the league or achieve promotion at least but the achieving of that task with media focus, home fans expectations and demands can weigh very very heavy on a manager especially in the aftermath of the car crash scenarios they’ve been tasked to piece together immediately in the task of promotion.
Yes he’s had the luxury of picking some good players but to gel that and embed it to succeed is a task on its own out the spotlight.
I think Jack Ross has done a commendable job.
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AStonesThrow
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Fuck the Makems, Stendel all day :shamefullyembarrased:
Liquid Gold
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Give the manager award to Joey Barton and if anyone can take it off him they win.
SkyBlueCRJ
Well-Known Member
Bit long winded but couldn't condense it so apologies in advance.
I'm not by any means saying his job was easy but saying he deserves the manager of the year award simply because he was forced to rebuild isn't sufficient reasoning in my opinion. By that logic Mark Robins should've been awarded manager of the year last year for completely rebuilding the squad from scratch under a restricted budget whilst still managing to reach the playoffs - you could also argue he was similar pressures from both the fans and the media to achieve promotion during that campaign. Also, Mowbray seemed to cope okay when manager of Blackburn last season, again arguably under similar pressures? Every manager is under pressure, if they're given a huge budget to work with and a solid core squad to build around surely if anything it alleviates that pressure.
Sunderland and Jack Ross began the season with a host of players that would walk into a host of Championship sides, let alone in League One. The likes of Matthews, Gooch, Honeyman, Maja, McGeady would've easily walked into several Championship teams at the beginning of this season. You claim he's been landed in a mess but had he really? New owners with a fresh approach, no outstanding debt thanks to Ellis Short, the biggest budget in League One, permitted to keep certain stars and provided the means to strengthen in January. Plus, if you actually look at how successful his signings have been this season, you'll find he hasn't done brilliantly with regards to recruitment. His only significant challenge when he came in was rebuilding the squad, but the vast majority of managers in League One have to rebuild their squads season after season on a small percentage of Sunderland's budget, so that's hardly a rarity.
It's not that Ross has done a bad job this season as he obviously hasn't, 4th in the league is hardly a failure. However, it's difficult to argue that if he fails at achieving promotion this season it would be classed as a huge failure for Sunderland and Ross. Not just from a footballing perspective, but also a financial one too considering they only have one more year of receiving parachute payments. You're perfectly entitled to your opinion though!
skybluegod
Well-Known Member
Would those 3 really have walked into several Championship teams?
Gooch and Honeyman, both only had about 30 appearances each before this season?
Maja had hardly played and hadn't scored. All 3 have come on leaps and bounds under Ross, and have only had a consistent and sustained run this season, would doubt any would have walked into championship teams before now.
Terry Gibson's perm
Well-Known Member
The Accrington manager has done a good job keeping them up with what must be the smallest budget by a long way
skybluegod
Well-Known Member
Hard one, as they did well for the first half of the season, and then went on a run of 1 win in 17 or something like that i believe. Has recently overseen a decent upturn, not manager of the season, but definitely done a good job overall. Have to agree on it being Daniel Stendal at Barnsley, if Jones has stayed at Luton it would have undoubtedly been him
SkyBlueCRJ
Well-Known Member
No they didn't? Honeyman played 45 times last season and scored 7 times from midfield in their relegation season. Gooch featured over 40 times prior to their relegation to League One since the start of his Sunderland career. Maja was the least experienced but was highly rated last season, and I was actually most surprised he stayed but he was committed to the cause. Perhaps it was a bit far fetched to suggest Maja and Gooch could've walked into the side but still, hardly the worst players to have at his disposal.
skybluegod
Well-Known Member
Apologies, I had it in my head Honeyman had an ACL last season, must have imagined that!
Gooch as you say 30 appearances by the age of 22/23? Wouldn't say he would walk into championship teams still.
Maja was still unproven, lots of players are highly rated but don't hit the heights.
Jerome Sinclair springs to mind! Highly rated his entire career yes hasn't even done it in league one yet.
Liquid Gold
Well-Known Member
The manager of the year should go to whoever had overachieved the most. Top 5 should all be there and half of the league was in relegation trouble at one time or another. Difficult pick this time round. As mentioned the one outstanding candidate now manages Stoke.
steve82
Well-Known Member
Well worded and I gave it time to read, it’s a fair counter you make. Good post.
I think Stendhal also had some fortune in the players already at his disposal for a attack on L1 striker in attacking threat of Keiffer Moore and Cauley Woodrow. Granted Keiffer Moore had a season ending injury in February but had the luxury of Cauley Woodrow to play the main man with the Senegalese lad Thiam.
There is a lot of similarities between the two clubs in terms of how the seasons gone in terms of relegation and losing the main striker during the campaign and both are credible names for the award. Stendhal has been the one chosen and I agree he’s value for it regardless of my opinion.
That said as another poster said if Nathan Jones had of stayed at Luton it’s a no brainer.
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Sky Blue Harry H
Well-Known Member
Can't stand the lad, but I'd have Lyle Taylor over Collins any day. Also think Lee Bowyer has done well with a difficult owner.
cc84cov
Well-Known Member
agreed should of won the league or at least automatic promotion
SkyBlueCRJ
Well-Known Member
Stendal certainly inherited a decent side as well, there's no doubting that. They were predicted favourites along with Sunderland this season so I suppose there are slight similarities. But realistically if you're comparing the calibre of player on paper prior to the season, Sunderland wins hands down - hence why they were the top favourites. Having the likes of McGeady, Cattermole and Oviedo at Ross' disposal sets Sunderland apart from Barnsley by a significant stretch. But as football is 'a funny old game' as Mr Greaves would say, sometimes the best teams on paper in the league fail to do the best. But regardless of this when you've got several players with extensive Premier League experience there's always going to be that expectation, and there will continue to be such expectations for any future manager in Ross' shoes as long as money is a part of the game. It might not be fair but that's just part and parcel of the pressures a modern manager has to endure.
Stendal definitely deserves the award, but without a doubt Nathan Jones would've been the clear candidate if he'd stayed at Luton as they've had a great season.