Interesting to compare the club then with now. 2008 Pld30 W12 D9 L9 Pts45 2011 Pld30 W10 D12 L8 Pts42 R.Bartlett V Allams P.Duffen V A.Pearson P.Brown V N.Pearson Myhill V Guzanl Ricketts V Rosenoir Turner V Chester Brown V Gerrard Dawson V Dawson Garcia V Koren Ashbee V Evans Marney V Cairney Pederson V Stewart Windass V Mclean Campbell V Fryatt I've bolded my choices, what does everyone else think. What a game 2008 v 2011 would be!!! I think our present set up will ultimately outshine the achievements of 2008 if not this season then next season. Good times to be a City fan again.
R.Bartlett V Allams - Allam's, no contest. P.Duffen V A.Pearson - Pearson, no contest. P.Brown V N.Pearson - More difficult, but I'm going Pearson on the basis that his signings are excellent and I think there's more to come. Myhill V Guzan - I'm going Mannone on this one(even if you didn't offer it as an option) Ricketts V Rosenoir - Rosenior. Turner V Chester - Turner Brown V Gerrard - Gerrard Dawson V Dawson - Erm.......Dawson Garcia V Koren - Koren Ashbee V Evans - Evans(I'm ignoring what each has done for our club and I'm voting on ability alone) Marney V Cairney - Neither, this position should be Koren's( and if it wasn't, you should have Marney v Harper), but I'm giving it to Koren. Pederson V Stewart - I'm going to cheat, as Stewart would win for me on the right wing, so I'm sticking him there. On that basis, Pederson beats Garcia. Windass V Mclean - Windass, but that's no reflection on Mclean, a bit more time and he may well get there. Campbell V Fryatt - This is difficult, but I'd go Fryatt, I think he's a more complete player. The big difference for me, is that the 2008 players that win on that list are all at the ends of their careers(despite their obvious quality), whereas now we have a young squad that look just as good.
Interesting statistics - in the promotion season we picked up 30 points from our final 16 games and finished 3rd. Although that run was fantastic, something similar would probably get us in the top 6. As for the team, I would say it is of similar ability now. The difference is the team is younger this season, so we're only going to get better. Lack of leadership in midfield does still concern me though, stick Ash back in the middle and you've got a serious promotion challenging side (no disrespect to Evans who has been very good)
I posted on an earlier thread that a major difference between the 2008 team and this one was time spent playing together. As was mentioned in the programme notes last game, only Dawson remains of the line up from the first game. The current squad is playing better as they gain more knowledge of how each other play. The back 5 as a whole is better, the midfield is definitely better, and the top two are starting to become a good partnership so possibly equal to Campbell/Windass. It they had played together from the start I think we would be a lot higher up the table.