Who would make your ‘Best XI’ from the three promoted teams?

Scenes of past celebrations.
It seems a long time since we were celebrating promotion back to the Premier League.

The plaudits and euphoria soon died down though and many pundits were quick to point out how NUFC would struggle upon their return to the Premier League. In the eyes of many people, and even in the eyes of some of our own fans, they saw a team that was almost the same as the one who took us down. On paper that may have been the case, but in practice they were very wrong, especially Andy Gray who said that West Brom were the best team to win promotion despite finishing way behind us in the league last term.

Fast forward eleven months and it’s Newcastle who are top of the trio of promoted teams and look favourites for safety whilst Blackpool and West Brom both linger just one point ahead of the drop zone. Whilst safety is yet to be guaranteed, I would much rather be in our position than in the position of either of those two teams

Which brings me to my point really. I found an article earlier which named the a ‘Best XI’ team of players from the promoted clubs, and to my surprise I found that only four players from Newcastle had made the grade. Here is the team that Sport.co.uk have nominated. Needless to say I disagree with it, but here goes:

Matt Gilkes, Danny Simpson, Jonas Olsson, Alex Baptiste, Jose Enrique, Joey Barton, Kevin Nolan, Charlie Adam, Jerome Thomas, DJ Campbell, Peter Odemwingie.

The first thing that strikes me is the goalkeeper. Matt Gilks has been out since November, so can he really qualify? Has he been any better than Steve Harper? And does he qualify simply because he is playing for the Premier League’s latest love affair that is Blackpool?

Danny Simpson and Jose Enrique I’d agree with, as I would with Jonas Olsson, but does Alex Baptiste really deserve to get in there in front of Fabricio Coloccini? I don’t think so!

Moving onto the midfield, I can’t really argue with that. I’d probably drop Kevin Nolan if I’m being honest and replace him with Cheik Tiote. It would be harsh on Nolan as he has been good for us again this season, but Tiote is the better player and gets the nod from me.

As for the strikers, well where do I start? No Andy Carroll? Granted the chap is a Judas, but he did score eleven goals in half a season which is more than both DJ Campbell and Peter Odemwingie. You could even put a case forward for Leon Best as he has scored nearly the same amount of goal in less appearances, but I’d probably plump for Carroll instead of Campbell.

That would leave my team ‘Best XI’ looking like:

Steve Harper, Danny Simpson, Jonas Olsson, Fabricio Coloccini, Jose Enrique, Joey Barton, Charlie Adam, Cheik Tiote, Jerome Thomas, Peter Odemwingie, Andy Carroll.

Any advances on that?

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

110 thoughts on “Who would make your ‘Best XI’ from the three promoted teams?

  1. Get Nolan in there toonsy, he might be a heffer but does a good job, a lot like you chubba 🙂

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  2. Jay – We don’t book trains. We just go whenever. That’s how we roll 😉

    Hopefully the train “approaching the platform now” won’t just disappear this time though. How the **** can they lose a train FFS!

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  3. Manager: Holloway

    ——————Harper————————
    –Eardley–Taylor–Coloccini–Enrique—-
    —Dorrans-Barton-Tiote-Adam-Brunt—–
    ——————Odemwingie—————–

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  4. Jay pissed off running about getting my car fixed the day then finishing work late because of it 👿 I like to get home early on fridays 😉

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  5. richietoon,
    How are you adjusting to your new life?

    It’s pissing down in Newcastle!!

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  6. not still trying to keep that new car going are you dave,1946 was a long time ago m8,up-date it for gods sake

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  7. TGS…..I know mate I’m still there 😀 fly out on the 4th April 😎

    Dave….buy a car built this century ya tight fecker 😆

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  8. Ice I would change it but it would be hard to get someone to buy it 😥 as you need to carry plenty of petrol about with you 😆

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  9. Jay a rover 75 2.5l v6 average 18-19 mile to a gallon 😯 but I dont really do much miles so it makes it a bit easier.
    The missus is pestering me to change it for the last year but tbh I like it and as I said its getting someone else to take it 😉

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  10. cheers again lads for your support, i’ll continue to supply articles in return!
    btw if i dont know you on facebook, add me chaps- Mark Stockley

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  11. That should be it now. An issue with the server (well not the server, but trying to connect to it apparently) that was beyond control.

    Fingers crossed we’re fine now 🙂

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  12. just watching the news and thinking that most of us all moaned about the snow etc but we dont have it that bad compared to a lot lately plus Japans today 😯

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  13. TOONSY you did say freaky friday mate.
    didnt belive dave when he said you looked in mirror 😆

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  14. BATTY how come this wig has label on it says property of mike ashley you sure its the right one

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  15. dog you will have too ask rich seeing that it was his ,think hes been doing abit of work for him ,dave told me rich flys fattys helecopter 😉

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