MNF Extra: Carra picks his Premier League team of the season so far

0:04Now we're moving on to talk about the season so far. So where are we? 2.83 goals per game actually represents the fourth highest in any season. I think the previous three seasons are one, two and three. And people say the Premier League's boring. It needs to go back to the 90s. Unbelievable. But we are seeing more set pieces, Jamie. The second highest in any season. 29 % of goals have come from set pieces. We've got a top three that have all got 36 points or more. That's the eighth time that's happened at this stage of any season. and nine goals between Fulham and Man City a couple of weeks ago was the joint highest scoring match since 2013.

0:45Haaland leading the way on 19 goals, the third most at this stage in any season. 57 points already amassed between the three promoted sides, the most combined at this stage for 10 years. And leading the way of them, Sunderland with 27 points, the most by a promoted team since that same season, 2015-16. and poor old Wolves, just two points so far. The joint fewest by any team at this stage. So I think this is arguably the story of the season, isn't it, Jamie? What's going on here that has just sort of sent a bit of a shockwave, certainly through a lot of clubs down that bottom end? Yeah, but it's just brilliant for the league.

1:23It's brilliant for those clubs. You know, we were getting to the stage where promoted clubs almost didn't want to get promoted. It was like I'd rather be in the Championship winning every week. Yeah, and it was like I'm watching my team get beat every week And I just think what Sunderland have done especially and what Leeds have done over late has been absolutely fantastic. And it was getting a little bit too comfortable for a lot of teams in the Premier League. So they've had a little bit of a rocket up the backside, shall we say. So there's only one in the relegation zone right now, that is Burnley.

1:47But we'll see how many finish there at the end of this season. Remember, only 17 games in. Right, so Jamie's team. And I think that will be reflected in some of these promoted sides in that team, or certainly one of them, perhaps. We will see. We'll start with your goalkeeper, Jamie. Yes, I'm going to go with the Sunderland goalkeeper, Robin Roof's been really impressed with him. I think he's got the second best XG prevented. You know, we like our stats on here as well. So he's had a brilliant start to his Premier League sort of career and long may continue for Sunderland. Because as I said, one of the best defensive records as well that you can see in the league.

2:23And he's been a big part of it. I almost think it symbolises what Sunderland tried to do in the summer as well. This kind of quite ruthless approach to bring in 14 new players, They recognised that Leeds and Burnley were significantly better as championship teams. So they decided, right, we need to raise the standard right across the team. And Robin Rovers has certainly typified that. Right, let's have a look at your defence, Jamie. Yeah, two Palace, two Arsenal. I mean, I would say the right back position is probably the most difficult. I was really close to putting Timber in, who I'm a huge fan of.

2:55Also, Rich James, I think, has been outstanding. But he's played a lot of his football in central midfield. but every time I watch this guy, fantastic. Part of a really strong defensive unit until the last couple of games that he wasn't part of, I should have. But I think he's got three goals, a couple of assists as well. So I think he's fantastic. Munoz. Mark Gay, I was a tosser between him and LeCroix really as well. I'm really impressed with Crystal Palace. But I went for Gay because I think, as I said, he's got a few more goals as well. Saliba's missed a few games. He was close as well. But Gabriel, yes, he's missed a few games as well.

3:26but I just think this season, I go back to that goal he got at Newcastle, the leadership, how strongly he's been defensively as well. I think it's a huge miss for them and they need to get him back quick. Calafiore, actually, I thought he'd almost lost his position a little bit with Mars Lewis-Skelly coming in at the end of last season. It was brilliant. So I actually put in my team of the season last season. So for him to get that starting bird as well, he got the first goal, I think, at Old Trafford. And he's not just a left-back. He pops up all over the pitch as well. And yeah, he gets in as well.

3:56OK, I'm interested to see the formation. Are we going to go with a Pentagon or... No, that's the new Liverpool formation. No. No, listen, we've gone with a standard, I think, 4-2-3-1. So I've gone with Xhaka and Rice in there. I mean, the other one to put in was Caicedo. And that was a really tough one. I didn't want to put all three because I think they're all most... Not defensive, but I want to put an attacking midfield player in there. I've obviously got Bruno Fernandes. I've said I think Declan Rice just has the edge on Kaissero, but I just felt the impact of Xhaka this season, for me, is the biggest impact of a signing or effect on a team, if you like.

4:36It feels like he's just so important to Sunderland. So I just felt like he had to be in the team. So I apologise to Chelsea fans, as I seem to do a lot. But no, I couldn't find room for Kaissero because of those reasons. And also, I had to put Bruno Fernandes in. They're going to miss him. He doesn't miss too many games. Now he's injured. But, I mean, you look at his numbers. I think he's still created the most chances. Maybe got the most assists in the Premier League. Or certainly very close. He's the outstanding chance creator in the Premier League. Yeah, he is. Even playing from a deeper position, which is amazing.

5:08Yeah. So let's have a look at your front three. I'm sure full of Chelsea players. Oh, no. No. Well, I think Haaland's almost a guarantee. He's so far ahead of any. 19 goals in 17 games. He's so far ahead of any. The question is how many could he actually end up with? Are we going to see someone who's going to hit 40? I mean, is that within his grasp? Well, I think in his first season, he got over 40, didn't he? He was certainly close to that. So he must be on to sort of beat that record. Morgan Rodgers on that left side. It was interesting looking at Rodgers and Semenyo in that. They both had brilliant seasons.

5:40But I don't think there's an abundance of wide players who were coming to mind. I think Docky was being really good. Phil Foden of late as well. But no, I think Rodgers, certainly of late, is probably the most in-form player in the Premier League. And Semenu, who'd probably gone off the boil a little bit in the last few weeks. There was a lot of talk about him moving on. But in the last few games, he's got a couple of goals as well. Made a brilliant start to his Premier League season as well. It's a good team, Jamie. I hope so. So if we're going to sort of make a shortlist from that, like a top three, who might be your halfway point players of the season, who would you narrow that down to, do you think?

6:18Harland Declan Rice they'd be certainly the two that would stand out right away and I think Morgan Rogers is sort of just on the on the Colt if you're talking about like a player of the year or something like that or the player of the year so far at the halfway point it'd be a toss up between Declan or Earl and Harland alright very good any more questions? no I'm going to I'm going to show you the Finalysis team now Sky Sports has partnered with Finalysis this year you can get involved by downloading the app yourself and then you can have your say on your club. So you give ratings every game as fans of your own club.

6:56And from that, we've collated that information or Finalis has to create this team at the halfway stage. These are the highest rated players. It's interesting, Jamie, because there is quite a lot of crossover, isn't there? Having a look at that quite quickly. I didn't ask you for your manager, actually, so far. Regis Labris is the highest rated manager so far. who would yours be it's got to be up there him or Unai Emery yeah I'd have to go for him for Sunderland to be where they are yeah Regis Labris it reflects the positivity on rear side I think that the you've got the three highest scores from that spine which are all Sunderland players you missed out Dan Ballard he might appear later on elsewhere front three of Foden Haaland and Semenu again so Rice and Xhaka Kamara who's also a very influential player clearly highly valued by Aston Villa fans as much as Morgan Rodgers is.

7:48Tyreek Mitchell sneaking in from Crystal Palace. I mean, that's... And Timber for Arsenal. When you're looking at these things, when you're trying to pick the teams, it's a case of who's high up there that perhaps shouldn't be, who've been the stars of those teams that have been performing perhaps under the radar a little bit. Yeah, there is a little bit of that. You take into account sort of the... It's not necessarily saying, my team, they are the best 11 players. You're trying to take into account who they play for as well. You think of something like, Is Xhaka a better player than Caicedo?

8:16No, he's not. But you think he's playing for Sunderland. He's got probably more responsibility than Caicedo. He's not playing with his better players as well. So you try and take all these little things into account and try and keep everybody happy. But it never works. So Chelsea are just noticing as well, Jamie, that it's not just you that are keeping Chelsea players out of your team. It's Chelsea fans who haven't managed to get a player into that team either. So they need to get down on that Fanalysis app, don't they? and start cranking up the votes for their own players. Right, we've got one more team, and this is a joint effort between yours truly and the highly accomplished stats team here.

8:52And the first criteria, Jamie, was that any player that you picked, we couldn't have. So we had to wait for your team first before naming our side. And this is how that has turned out. So for Bruggen, you talked about Rufus as having the second highest XG prevented. He's got the most XG prevented and he's also keeping Rufus out the national team. right now. So then we've got Coyote, first of all. I mean, I could have just gone with the throw-ins, but he's actually had the most dribbles by a defender as well. He also fares really well on defensive duels. Dan Ballard and Virgil van Dijk, quite similar because they're both box clearers, if you like, with the head.

9:29Dan Ballard has actually contested more headed duels in his own area than any other player. And he's only second to Virgil van Dijk in successful aerial duels and actually his third in the entire Premier League for the amount of headers in the opposition box or shots with his head. Virgil van Dijk, as we know, is just supreme in terms of winning aerial duels. He's still doing that. Most clearances as well. Rijnildo of Sunderland is an interesting pick and I think it might have been one that has slipped through the radar of a lot of people. He is the top fullback for one-on-one defending. He's got an 83 % success rate with his one-on-one defending and he's also been quite effective getting forward as well.

10:10Bruno Guimares wins duels in midfield. We know that, but he's also the top midfield player for line-breaking passes. The second most through balls as well behind Bruno Fernandes. Elliot Anderson, we talked about before the game this evening, didn't have, is probably his best game for Nottingham Forest tonight, but he's won the most possession of any midfield player. The most forward passes in the Premier League. Caicedo does make the stats team of the year so far and it's just consistency of those interceptions that he has in the middle of the park, top per 90 minutes on that. And then this front three, probably start with Sir Bosley.

10:43Now, doesn't really come top of anything but he's in the top five for so many different categories. So he's in the top five for chances created, he's in the top five for possession one, he's in the top five for sprints, he's in the top five for sprinting back to a defensive position as well. So he's there as an all-rounder. He's not a right winger though, is he? Well, he has been recently. That three-year-bit, didn't they? No. Igor, you can carry on. He tends to have Neville if you like. Igor Thiago, 11 goals so far. A lot of penalties. A lot of penalties, but as well as the goal scoring, he is also top four pressures.

11:21So his work off the ball is not going unnoticed. And Jeremy Docku, who you talked about, might have been in your team, will be in a lot of people's team of the season so far because of his ball-carrying exploits, most chances created as well from open play. Brilliant. Happy with that? Well, you're revising that all day. Any surprises there for you? No, I think it's a really good team. Actually, you know what? People will look at that and probably look at Van Dijk because people say he's had a really poor season. He's just not been Van Dijk. He's still been one of the best centre-backs in the league.

11:53He's just not been Virgil Van Dijk, head and shoulders above everybody else. Come back to being human, I suppose. Yes, basically. From the level that he's... He still had a really good season compared to other centre-backs. Yeah. And there's a lot to come from some of these players. Like Coyote, is he one that's caught your eye? You know what? He's probably one of the most entertaining full-backs to watch. You know, with the long throws and he goes on those runs with the ball. I love watching him play, yeah. Really effective. I'm a big fan of Dan Ballard as well. He's had a brilliant season. You mentioned the stats as well.

12:19Yeah, it's a decent team. Who do you think it's win? Out of my team or your team? Well, I think Haaland is an advantage. I definitely do. So he would have, of course, been in that stats team. But otherwise, I think it's a decent competition. And, you know, some of these players can raise the bar. Yeah, 100%. And you'd be allowed back into Chelsea by putting Caicedo in. Which is a good job.

12:48Thanks for listening to the Sky Sports Premier League podcast. don't forget to hit follow so you don't miss an episode

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