Dream Team Football Formation

Lineup (4-5-1)

Matt can hold down a midfield position well, and is considered a more advanced winger thanks to his pace. offset by playing Anatole on the left of the midfield three means that he can cover for Matt's defensive duties where necessary and play that all important through ball. The back four choose themselves except for John, only on the basis that I don't know if he's around as much. Plenty of substitutes means this formation has lots to offer. Jake showed great strength in midfield on thursday, and although he is a striker, he could do very well at winning the ball and advancing to a position somewhere behind Steve whenever he gets a chance. Anatole can be very creative in the middle and so he should be given every chance to move the ball around and link up with Chris etc. Chris is the first option to fill in if either CB is out of position. The subs bench is chosen as much for practicalities as much as anything. I thought Johnny was also great thursday ahead of me, and a quick switch might be to drop Ed K back to rb, and play Johnny ahead of him if we don't have a natural rb. Andy, if he's around, was decent at CB, so could consider playing Lee on the right, as not sure Andy has the Pace. Paul could be a spot on either wing, or in Jakes' position. Sam B could really be useful at full-back if there are no other permanent options. If not, I prefer him more centrally than as a striker. I'd suggest a central position would play to his strengths more. He can play a ball and doesn't lack composure, but also doesn't have the pace/strength to get on the fast balls like jake/matt/steve can. The most obvious alternate is to play matt up front with Steve or Jake as a support striker, and Jonny/Ed on the left (either is good, Johnny more skillful, Ed stronger, battles harder) and take off whoever in midfield out of chris, anatole and the other striker. Key to this is that the support striker is willing to come deep to get the ball like Rooney does for United. But it would allow Matt's pace to stretch the opposition defence nicely.

Just a few parting thoughts anyway! Perhaps advancing matt on the left might be a bit much for this stage as its hard enough to get the midfield to come back anyway.