Hopefully this is our last season in League One and with this in mind, we take a retrospective look at the best players we have had in our 4 years in the third tier. This might seem premature as promotion is far from a foregone conclusion, but the main purpose of this article is to demonstrate that the players we currently have are amongst the best we have had in years. Sifting through mediocre journeyman, anonymous loan signings and players not good enough for the National League, this is our best League One team.
GOALKEEPER: Jon McLaughlin
With the sheer amount of dross we have had in the recent past, this is actually pretty hard to write. One of the only easy choices is in goal -indisputably, our best goalkeeper since we have been down here is Jon McLaughlin .He was assured, had decent distribution and never really looked like making an error, a League One rarity when you consider some of the others that have followed him. Watching McLaughlin, you could have confidence in a ‘keeper, something we still can’t fully have this season.
DEFENCE: Carl Winchester, Bailey Wright, Dion Sanderson, Bryan Oviedo
The hardest area to choose on the pitch. I feel as if it is hard to single out any defender we’ve had in League One for praise in particular, other than Sanderson. Tom Flanagan enjoyed his best football this season and ten games into this campaign, you would’ve said that Callum Doyle was a shoe in for the best centre half we’ve had since dropping down the divisions. However, Flanagan was extremely inconsistent in his Sunderland career and could not be depended on routinely whilst young Doyle has completely dropped off . That’s why I have gone with Wright and Sanderson in centre half, Wright being solid enough and Sanderson arguably being the best defender we have had for a number of years. I wish we could have secured him for at least another season.
Other than those two, who else can you choose? Alim Ozturk? Jack Baldwin? Joel Lynch or Morgan Feeney? We have had poor options in defence over the last few years yet when Doyle returns to the squad rejuvenated, fingers crossed, in all likelihood we might be looking at a decent partnership in the heart of our defence, solid enough to take us up. In terms of fullbacks, we have always lacked depth in this position. It seems our League One tradition to have no fit right back, causing us to opt for a midfielder there instead. I feel Winchester’s assured appearances go under appreciated. This season especially, he has put in extremely solid performances and is an important part of the team. His effort and versatility are almost unrivalled.
The consistency of Winchester has been vital this season. At the start of the season, he played like Cafu and he has been solid basically ever since. Have we ever had a stand out full back in League One? Connor McLaughlin wasn’t good enough; Denver Hume never really impressed but appears to be doing alright at Pompey, Declan John scored against us for Bolton but was never really given a chance in his time here. Strangely, it’s between Winchester and O’Nien for who has been our best right back over the last few years. On the opposite side, Oviedo was just a level above the other contenders but in time, I am sure Dennis Cirkin will come good.
MIDFIELD: Aiden McGeady, Alex Pritchard, Dan Neil, Luke O’Nien
The first three aren’t particularly contentious, being undoubtedly gifted footballers; I feel O’Nien is probably a left field choice which I have to justify. And I will. Not being nearly as technically good as Elliot Embleton or Jay Matete, O’Nien divides opinion and the chief criticism from his detractors is that he runs around a lot, smiling and putting graft in, whilst being limited as a footballer. But, a central element to all League One sides is an engine, someone who can put in graft. We can’t football our way out of the league - we have tried. So much of success in this division can be attributed to fitness and work ethic. It's a league where the physical side is often given priority and decent football is forfeited. O’Nien can put in the graft that allows our more gifted players to flourish. The other three speak for themselves. Honourable mentions to George Honeyman, Grant Leadbitter and begrudgingly, Lee Cattermole.
ATTACK: Josh Maja, Ross Stewart
The attack picks itself, no controversy here. Josh Maja was a class above in our first League One season and Ross Stewart is a class above in hopefully our last League One season. Ross has banged them in, despite the sometimes poor service to him. Whilst Charlie Wyke might have been our top scorer in the league last year, Stewart is an infinitely more complete player. His movement and work rate have been second to none this year and though the majority of our goals come courtesy of this one man, it never feels like the whole team is built around him in the same way that we played to Wyke’s (limited) strengths. If we don't go up, expect a host of Championship sides to come in for Stewart.
CONCLUSION
Omissions such as Elliot Embleton, Nathan Broadhead and even Jay Matete might look startling initially, but it just goes to show that we have a decent side this season, with some of the best players we have had since we have dropped down the divisions. The bar, admittedly, is pretty low. In looking back at previous years, we have had some extremely poor players peppered in amongst some fairly average first teamers, with only the occasional decent player. Kaziah Sterling, Danny Graham and Will Grigg in attack alone are some of the worst players to wear red and white. This team shows there is reason for cautious optimism for promotion whilst simultaneously demonstrating just how poor the standard of League One is.
