Top 20 Championship players

[CMRoyal]

Aged under 30. Listed in today's Indie.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... 34196.html

Unfortunately they aren't listed on one page online as far as I can tell, so here's a summary:-

Top 6:-

1. Kightley
2. S Hunt (!)
3. Joe Ledley (also !)
4. Doyler
5. Eagles
6. Bodde

RFC also placed 13 (Rosenior) and 20 (Kebe).

Wolves have 5 players in the 20, Reading 4, Cardiff 2 and Brum just one (McFadden).

[No Hoops]

Harper
Marcus
Ingi

Who writes this drivel

[CMRoyal]

Harper
Marcus
Ingi

Who writes this drivel

I repeat - AGED UNDER 30. Harps just qualifies, Marcus and Ivar don't.

[cmonurz]

3 is Joe Ledley, not Ledley King?

[CMRoyal]

3 is Joe Ledley, not Ledley King?

and

Note to self: never post pre-first coffee of the morning.

[Maguire]

3 is Joe Ledley, not Ledley King?

Yep, and they've mixed up the pictures of Bodde and Eagles too.

It's not a bad list really and Reading's two most effective players this season are in the top 5 which is about right. I do like some of the Wolves players too like Jarvis, Kightly, and Foley.

[Whore Jackie]

A top 20 Championship players list, doesn’t feel right without Sidwell and Jagielka topping the tree.

[readingbedding]

Would Sidwell be in the top 200 in the Prem?

[Bristol Paul]

Looks a good article to me. Surprised, in a good way, that Kebe makes the top 20. Despite being very raw, he's clearly one that other managers mark out because of his ability to make chances through his speed. I wouldn't have expected Ingi, Marcus or Harper in there, yes they are good players, but top 20? Not in my book.

[readingbedding]

We're second, so obviously we'd have more players than most.

We're not 20th are we.

[Sun Tzu]

The article points out that half the players included are wingers and there is a lack of centre halves....

[papereyes]

The article points out that half the players included are wingers and there is a lack of centre halves....

Possibly a result of them picking under-30s?

[Sun Tzu]

The article points out that half the players included are wingers and there is a lack of centre halves....

Possibly a result of them picking under-30s?

Possibly.

Maybe it's harder for a centre back to catch the eye, or maybe there just aren't too many really good centre backs in the Championship ...

[papereyes]

The article points out that half the players included are wingers and there is a lack of centre halves....

Possibly a result of them picking under-30s?

Possibly.

Maybe it's harder for a centre back to catch the eye, or maybe there just aren't too many really good centre backs in the Championship ...

First one of those seems pretty reasonable.

I don't quite buy the second given that they've said that they're removing experienced players from the list. The peak age for a centre back is meant to be around 30. Our back two at the moment are in their early thirties, ruling them out of contention.

[Top Flight]

We're second, so obviously we'd have more players than most.

We're not 20th are we.

We have got more players in that list than most.

The only team with more players on that list than us are Wolves. And they are the only team above us.

[Sun Tzu]

Possibly a result of them picking under-30s?

Possibly.

Maybe it's harder for a centre back to catch the eye, or maybe there just aren't too many really good centre backs in the Championship ...

First one of those seems pretty reasonable.

I don't quite buy the second given that they've said that they're removing experienced players from the list. The peak age for a centre back is meant to be around 30. Our back two at the moment are in their early thirties, ruling them out of contention.

It would be interesting to hear nominations for the best 5 centre backs in the division. Have to say I'm hopeless at that sort of thing as from my perspective they tend to be anonymous figures either kicking lumps out of our forwards or being left stranded by our forwards !
So who are the best defenders and are any of them under 30 ?

[Thaumagurist*]

I'm not even sure Stephen Hunt is our best player. I saw him attempt to do a volley at Southampton that went well wide of the goal and out for a throw in. I think Doyle should have been ahead of him.

[Wax Jacket]

Harper isn't a top 20 RFC player

[Berkshire Born]

No mention of Bikey? He must have been up there prior to his ban?

[Sun Tzu]

Bear in mind the list was complied using views of current Championship players, managers, fans and journalists it's probably a reasonable reflection of how the rest of the division views players.

We may see Hunt's faults but clearly he's the player other teams rate most highly.