Your Team's All-Time Best Squad (Post-1992)

[Naitch]

I've been chatting with a guy who's making an FM20 database featuring teams' all-time* best squads since 1992. That means a Man Utd side featuring Peter Schmeichel and Wayne Rooney, a Chelsea with Gianfranco Zola and Eden Hazard, or a Man City with Shaun Goater and Sergio Aguero.

*The main issue he's facing is balancing teams, i.e. making sure every team has enough players for each position and all the big name players are somewhere.

To help, I provided input on Chelsea and Norwich, and had a stab at Ipswich with assistance from my girlfriend. When asked if I wanted to help with any other teams I didn't think I was familiar enough with any more to truly help. But, it occurred to me that this is the kind of thing we do a lot, much like the "Best XI of your lifetime" or "Best XI with just one player from each club", and that EWB has a healthy selection of supporters of different teams.

There are a few caveats for the database itself but don't let them limit you; it was a fairly fun exercise but also challenging trying to make it a balanced squad. I went for 3 keepers, 9 defenders, 9 midfielders/wingers, and 4 strikers. I've included the requirements for the database if you want to really challenge yourself/help make this database better.

Here's the Twitter account for the project: https://twitter.com/LegendsofFootb6

This was my attempt at an all-time Chelsea squad:

I was informed that Pedro had made it into the preliminary Barcelona squad, so he wouldn't be eligible for them in the database. I think that resulted in Gudjohnsen making the cut on account of Anelka technically also being a winger and Costa being at Atletico.

So, the idea for the database is that every team has a squad of 25 of their best players since 1992, provided that a player isn't already in another team's squad. That means Ashley Cole can only be at one of Arsenal and Chelsea, for example. It looks like player ages are being set to when they first signed/debuted for that club, so Cole would be in the database aged 18 if he were at Arsenal or 25 if he's at Chelsea. But, the general idea is that the players are being selected for that team based on their entire career with them so, using Cole as the example again, if I (as a Chelsea fan) thought that his tenure at Arsenal was better than his time with Chelsea, I'd have to include someone else, like Wayne Bridge or Graeme Le Saux. But, what if Bridge is at Southampton and Le Saux is at Blackburn? Babayaro it is, and so on.

Petr Cech

Carlo Cudicini

Dmitri Kharine

Paulo Ferreira

Cesar Azpilicueta

Ashley Cole

Celestine Babayaro

John Terry

Branislav Ivanovic

Marcel Desailly

William Gallas

Erland Johnsen

Willian

Pedro

Eden Hazard

Florent Malouda

Frank Lampard

Michael Essien

Dennis Wise

Roberto Di Matteo

John Obi Mikel

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink

Didier Drogba

Gianfranco Zola

Nicolas Anelka

[mattu29]

god damn thats alot of work, great idea tho, be well up for playing that!

[MJB]

My best attempt at a Man Utd XI. 16-17 out of the 23 are fairly straightforward.

 

GK - Schmeichel, Van Der Sar, De Gea.

DF - Stam, Ferdinand, Vidic, Bruce, G Neville, Irwin, Evra, Pallister, P Neville

MD - Keane, Scholes, Giggs, Carrick, Beckham, Ronaldo, Butt, Ince, Kanchelskis

ST - Cantona, Rooney, Van Nistelrooy, Van Persie

[Gazz]

Discounting players that would be more associated with other clubs (Speed, Woodgate, Butt, Batty etc.) and almost certainly forgetting someone really obvious...

GK	Shay Given
GK	Tim Krul
GK	Martin Dubravka
DR	Mathieu Debuchy
DR	Warren Barton
DL	Jose Enrique
DL	Oliver Bernard
DC	Jamaal Lascalles
DC	Phillippe Albert
DC	Fabricio Coloccini
DC	Steven Taylor
DC	Florian Lejeune
MR	Nolberto Solano
MR	Jonas Gutierrez
ML	David Ginola
ML	Laurent Robert
MC	Rob Lee
MC	Cheick Tiote
MC	Yohan Cabaye
MC	Hatem Ben Arfa
MC	Allan Saint-Maximin
ST	Alan Shearer
ST	Demba Ba
ST	Papiss Cisse
ST	Peter Beardsley

[DavidMarrio]

GK: Alisson, Reina, Dudek
DF: Alexander-Arnold, Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Van Dijk, Agger , Robertson, Aurelio
MD: McManaman, Salah, Gerrard, Alonso, Coutinho, Barnes, Redknapp, Berger, Mane 
ST: Torres, Owen, Fowler, Suarez, Rush

I think there's a strong case for Rob Jones over Finnan as if injuries didn't hit him he pretty much would have been England's number 1 right back for a while but I really loved Finnan who was such a reliable full back. I put Barnes and Rush in as experienced players at the time and some veteran leadership. Left back's we have never been blessed with really during the Prem era and so Robertson was a given. I picked Aurelio over Riise as again if Aurelio didn't have as many injuries as he did he would have had such a career with us. Hamann was another one which was tough to leave out. 

I feel like that squad gives you different options of play. Those attacking options are frightening though.

[Jam]

I guess for Leeds, although a few of them would be elsewhere:

GK: Nigel Martyn, Paul Robinson, Kasper Schmeichel

DF: Gary Kelly, Luke Ayling, Ian Harte, Jonathan Woodgate, Lucas Radebe, Ben White, Patrick Kisnorbo, Rio Ferdinand, Dom Matteo

MF: Pablo Hernandez, Lee Bowyer, Lewis Cook, Kalvin Phillips, Olivier Dacourt, Gordon Strachan, Gary Speed, David Batty, Jonny Howson

ST: Robbie Keane, Mark Viduka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Jermaine Beckford

[Colly]

29 minutes ago, Gazz said:

Discounting players that would be more associated with other clubs (Speed, Woodgate, Butt, Batty etc.) and almost certainly forgetting someone really obvious...

Apart from that I think it's a good squad. I'd maybe have Steve Watson over Debuchy (not a massive fan), and if for some reason Andy Cole doesn't end up at Man Utd you'd have him straight in over Ba or Cisse. I'd only have Ben Arfa if it was a 5 a side competition...

[Gazz]

4 minutes ago, Jam said:

I guess for Leeds, although a few of them would be elsewhere:

GK: Nigel Martyn, Paul Robinson, Kasper Schmeichel

DF: Gary Kelly, Luke Ayling, Ian Harte, Jonathan Woodgate, Lucas Radebe, Ben White, Patrick Kisnorbo, Rio Ferdinand, Dom Matteo

MF: Pablo Hernandez, Lee Bowyer, Lewis Cook, Kalvin Phillips, Olivier Dacourt, Gordon Strachan, Gary Speed, David Batty, Jonny Howson

ST: Robbie Keane, Mark Viduka, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Jermaine Beckford

No way Leeds are getting Schmeichel and Ferdinand.

[Gorka]

Goalkeepers: Lukasz Fabianski, Michel Vorm, Dorus de Vries

Defenders: Garry Monk, Ashley Williams, Alan Tate, Ben Davies, Angel Rangel, Neil Taylor, Kevin Austin, Federico Fernandez

Midfielders: Gylfi Sigurdsson, Joe Allen, Leon Britton, Darren Pratley, Nathan Dyer, Wayne Routledge, Scott Sinclaur, Dan James, Jordi Gomez, Ferri Bodde

Strikers: Lee Trundle, Wilfried Bony, Michu, Jason Scotland

Honourable Mention: Gorka Pintado 

Got to around 18 players and then started throwing shit at the wall tbh.

[Colly]

4 minutes ago, Gazz said:

No way Leeds are getting Schmeichel and Ferdinand.

Get Cantona in.

[nihilist]

Coventry City, 1992-2020

GKs: Magnus Hedman, Kieren Westwood, Marco Marosi

Def:  Muhamed Konjic, Roland Nilsson, Richard Shaw, Marcus Hall, Richard Keogh, Scott Dann, Fankaty Dabo

Mid: Jay Tabb, Tom Bayliss, James Maddison, Paul Telfer, Gary McAllister, George Boateng, Gary McSheffrey, Mustapha Hadji, Michael Doyle, Aron Gunnarsson

Strikers:  Dion Dublin, Mickey Quinn, Robbie Keane, Darren Huckerby, Marc McNulty

[Jam]

41 minutes ago, Gazz said:

No way Leeds are getting Schmeichel and Ferdinand.

25 is a struggle as it is, don't take away the only half decent players we've had!

Realistically Keane, Batty and Hasselbaink would be elsewhere too

[Kyle]

GK: Jordan Pickford, Tim Howard, Nigel Martyn
DEF: Leighton Baines, Alessandro Pistone, Lucas Digne, Phil Jagielka, John Stones, Joleon Lescott, Sylvain Distin, Seamus Coleman, Tony Hibbert
MID: Tim Cahill, Idrissa Gueye, Mikel Arteta, Steven Pienaar, Thomas Gravesen, Richarlison, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Phil Neville, Gerard Deulofeu
ATT: Wayne Rooney, Romelu Lukaku, Yakubu, Kevin Campbell

You have no idea how much it hurts me to miss out on Big Nev and Dunc, but Super Kev did too much to save the club from relegation and Big Nev wasn't at his best during the Prem years.  

[METALMAN]

Obviously you all came here to see the Kilmarnock team, so here you go:

Goalkeepers: Gordon Marshall, Cammy Bell, Dragoje Lekovic

Defenders: Frederic Dindeleux, Ray Montgomerie, Gus MacPherson, Gordon Greer, Stuart Findlay, Manuel Pascali, Stephen O'Donnell, Garry Hay, James Fowler

Midfielders: Ian Durrant, Andy McLaren, Gary Holt, Gary Dicker, Ally Mitchell, Chris Burke, Craig Bryson, Mehdi Taouil, Alexei Eremenko

Strikers: Ally McCoist, Paul Wright, Kris Boyd, Christophe Cocard, Steven Naismith

Edited July 27, 2020 by metalman

[Gazz]

The Kilmarnock ratio of Gary's is pleasing.

[METALMAN]

I actually gave serious consideration towards including Gary Wales and Gary McDonald, while Gary McSwegan and Gary Wales were slightly longer shots.

[GoGo Yubari]

Here's one for Seattle Sounders FC. Some are even names people outside of the US would recognize!

GK: Stefan Frei, Kasey Keller, Marcus Hahnemann

DF: Chad Marshall, Roman Torres, DeAndre Yedlin, Leo Gonzalez, Jeff Parke, Zach Scott, Joevin Jones, Kim Kee-hee, Brad Evans

MF: Osvaldo Alonso, Nicolas Lodeiro, Gustav Svensson, Cristian Roldan, Mauro Rosales, Steve Zakuani, Jordan Morris, Victor Rodriguez, Lamar Neagle

FW: Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins, Fredy Montero, Raul Ruidiaz

[Naitch]

8 hours ago, Jam said:

25 is a struggle as it is, don't take away the only half decent players we've had!

Realistically Keane, Batty and Hasselbaink would be elsewhere too

Yeah I figured it might be more difficult for some teams, Leeds being possibly the hardest to judge for the database restrictions is why I figured it wasn't quite as fun a challenge to come up with a workable squad. Seeing a couple of current players in there sounds promising for the future, as someone who hasn't followed what Leeds are doing outside of the Prem/when Norwich aren't playing them.

8 hours ago, Jam said:

25 is a struggle as it is, don't take away the only half decent players we've had!

Realistically Keane, Batty and Hasselbaink would be elsewhere too

Yeah I figured it might be more difficult for some teams, Leeds being possibly the hardest to judge for the database restrictions is why I figured it wasn't quite as fun a challenge to come up with a workable squad. Seeing a couple of current players in there sounds promising for the future, as someone who hasn't followed what Leeds are doing outside of the Prem/when Norwich aren't playing them.

[ADG]

Here's my attempt at a Rangers squad:

GK: Andy Goram, Stefan Klos, Allan McGregor
DR: Fernando Ricksen, Alan Hutton
DL: , Arthur Numan, Sasa Papac
DC: Richard Gough, David Weir, Carlos Cuellar, Lorenzo Amoruso, Jean-Alan Boumsong (was shit for Newcastle but a leviathan for us for a whole 6 months),
MR: Brian Laudrup, Andrei Kanchelskis
ML: Jorg Albertz, Claudio Caniggia
MC: Paul Gascoigne, Ronald de Boer, Barry Ferguson, Giovanni Von Bronckhorst, Mikel Arteta
STR: Ally McCoist, Michael Mols, Kris Boyd, Dado Prso

[Cymbols]

GK: Thomas Sorensen, Mark Bosnich, Brad Guzan 

DF: Olof Mellberg, Martin Laursen, Paul McGrath, Tyrone Mings, Jloyd Samuel, Alan Wright, Mark Delaney, Luke Young, Ugo Ehiogu

MF: Gareth Barry, Lee Hendrie, Stiliyan Petrov, Jack Grealish, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Ian Taylor, Andy Townsend, Garry Parker, Tony Daley

ST: Christian Benteke, Gabby Agbonlahor, John Carew, Juan Pablo Angel, Dalian Atkinson

Yeah finding wingers who aren’t better known for playing elsewhere was a struggle.