My Best Town XI: Shefki Kuqi Friday, 24th Apr 2020 13:52 As we reach part 20 of the series, Kieron Dyer catches up with Shefki Kuqi, who selects the best XI from his time playing for Town before Dyer assesses his side. Goalkeeper Kelvin Davis - Good shot stopper and great with his feet. Right-back Fabian Wilnis - He was a good right full-back. Left-back Matt Richards - He was a very consistent left-back. Centre-half Jason de Vos - Good centre-back, I wish he could have had a little bit more pace. Centre-half Richard Naylor - Very strong and aggressive centre-back. Midfield Jim Magilton - Best footballing brain in the team by far. Midfield Alan Mahon - Good technical player and great left foot. Midfield Tommy Miller - Great box-to-box central midfielder and good finisher.  Striker Pablo Couñago - Great at holding the ball up and bringing other players into the game.. Striker Darren Bent - Really, really quick and a good finisher. Striker Shefki Kuqi - Very strong and hard-working centre forward. Kieron’s View Shefki’s picked the same central defensive pairing as Alan Lee - Jason de Vos and Richard Naylor, plus Fabian Wilnis at right-back. At left-back he’s picked Matt Richards, another who came through the academy. I always like to see our academy producing players and he was another one of the success stories who came through the academy. He played a lot of games, more than 150 for Ipswich, so he had a good spell. I know that Shefki was here when David Unsworth was on loan but he’s gone for the homegrown player. Shefki obviously saw enough of him in games and in training for him to warrant a place in his XI. Alan Mahon’s another we’ve not had named in a team before. He had a very big impact during his loan spell, the fans really took to him and I think he would like to have stayed longer. When I was talking about Didzy’s team I mentioned the loan spells of Tom Lawrence, Ryan Fraser and Bersant Celina and I think Alan Mahon was a similar success during his spell here and clearly impressed Shefki. Jim Magilton, a bit like John Wark, is getting picked in different eras. When Shefki was playing with Jim, he was probably nowhere near his prime. Not being disrespectful, he was probably on his last legs, actually he was probably on his last legs when I played with him, to be fair, he was never the quickest. But he was a lot older when he played with Shefki, however, he still makes the team. It just goes to show how quick in his brain and how he had a massive impact in that era as well. Shefki’s picked the same front three as Tommy Miller, but with Pablo as the central striker and Darren and Shefki coming in from the wide areas. I think it would work better with Pablo playing between the midfield and the front two. It is funny that it seems that all the strikers like picking themselves in their own teams. Like I said before, they’re the most selfish people on the football pitch, that’s why they score all the goals I suppose, so you can’t really argue with that. Shefki was an iconic figure, he was very, very strong and what I like is that just before Paul Hurst was appointed manager here he did an interview with TWTD and was really up for getting an interview for the job.  Even when he sent his team through, he filled it in in a proper coaching manual and on a tactics board, and he’s set his team out how a manager would put out his team in his coaching manual, so you can see he’s got manager’s head on. I would like to see Pablo behind the other two strikers, although they can both play wide coming in, but I think all three of them are more effective centrally, that’s why I’d play the two up front with Pablo behind them. A couple of new faces in the team with Richards and Mahon. A good team, a lot of firepower and a lot of goals in that team.
Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
You need to login in order to post your comments |
   Blogs 295 bloggersIpswich Town Polls[ Vote here ] |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.We in turn value your personal details in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
