Edit: So in the wake of the football-less hell we find ourselves in, I thought it was long past time I updated this. I posted this thread back in 2016 to try and produce a rough representation of how our squad has shifted and evolved over the years. I've now updated it up to 2019, and also added in the contributions from others (as seen below, I originally started with the 2007/08 season which was the first that I can honestly say I saw most of). Feel free to suggest additions/adjustments!
OK so I apologise in advance if this thread has been done before, but it's been bumping around my head for a while that it'd be great to have on paper a picture of what our team has looked like from season to season. Now I don't think this should be restricted to which players had the most appearances each season, because that would be a bit boring. Rather, I'd like to use it to paint a picture of the team as a whole for most games. For example, in the 08/09 season, I've noted Giggs/Park on the left, because they both had periods of the season where they were first team choices, especially in big games. I'm quite young myself and my memory doesn't run too far back past the 07/08 season, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the Cafe filling in the blanks for me, but I'm going to get things underway.
05/06 season:
------------------------Edwin Van Der Sar
Gary Neville----Rio Ferdinand----Wes Brown-----Mikael Silvestre
Cristiano Ronaldo------John O'Shea/Darren Fletcher-----Ryan Giggs-------Ji Sung Park
----------------Ruud Van Nistelrooy-------------------Wayne Rooney
06/07 season:
------------------------Edwin Van Der Sar
Gary Neville----Rio Ferdiand----Nemanja Vidic----Gabriel Heinze
-------------------Paul Scholes--------------Michael Carrick
Cristiano Ronaldo------------------------------------------Ryan Giggs
---------------------Wayne Rooney---------Louis Saha-
07/08 season:
-------------------------------Edwin Van-Der-Sar
Wes Brown----Rio Ferdinand------Nemanja Vidic-----Patrice Evra
Michael Carrick--------Paul Scholes/Anderson
Cristiano Ronaldo-------------------------------------------Ryan Giggs
-----------------Carlos Tevez------------Wayne Rooney
08/09 season:
----------------------------Edwin Van-Der-Sar
John O'Shea------Rio Ferdinand-----Nemanja Vidic-----------Patrice Evra
----------------Michael Carrick-------------Darren Fletcher
Cristiano Ronaldo------------------------------------Ryan Giggs/Ji-Sung Park
-----------------Wayne Rooney---------Dimitar Berbatov
09/10 season:
------------------------Edwin Van-Der-Sar
John O'Shea------Johnny Evans------Nemanja Vidic------Patrice Evra
Antonio Valencia-----Darren Fletcher-----Paul Scholes/Michael Carrick----Nani
-----------------------Wayne Rooney-------------Dimitar Berbatov
2010/11 season:
----------------------------Edwin Van-Der-Sar
Rafael------Rio Ferdinand---------Nemanja Vidic--------Patrice Evra
Nani---------Michael Carrick----------Darren Fletcher-------Ryan Giggs
----------Wayne Rooney------Javier Hernandez/Dimitar Berbatov
2011/12 season:
-------------------------David De Gea
Phil Jones-------Rio Ferdinand-------Jonny Evans--------Patrice Evra
Antonio Valencia----Michael Carrick----Paul Scholes/Anderson-----Ashley Young/Nani
-------------------------Wayne Rooney----------Danny Welbeck
2012/13 season:
--------------------------David De Gea
Rafael----------Rio Ferdinand---------- Jonny Evans---------Patrice Evra
Antonio Valencia----Michael Carrick----Tom Cleverly-----Shinji Kagawa
--------------------------------Wayne Rooney
-------------------------------Robin Van Persie
2013/14 season:
---------------------------David De Gea
Chris Smalling------Phil Jones---------Nemanja Vidic----------Patrice Evra
Antonio Valencia----Michael Carrick----Tom Cleverley----Ashley Young/Adnan Januzaj
----------------------Wayne Rooney--------Robin Van Persie
2014/15 season:
--------------------------------David De Gea
Antonio Valencia----Chris Smalling/Phil Jones----Marcos Rojo---Ashley Young
-------------------------------Daley Blind/Michael Carrick
--------------------Maruoune Fellaini---------Angel Di Maria
-------------------------------------Juan Mata
------------------Robin Van Persie-----------Wayne Rooney
Footnote: This was the hardest one to do by far, as our system and personnel changed so much throughout the year. Some tweaking may be necessary.
2015/16 season:
---------------------------------------David De Gea
Matteo Darmian-----Chris Smalling------Daley Blind-------Marcos Rojo
----------------Morgan Schneiderlin/Fellaini-------Michael Carrick
Jesse Lingard-------------------Juan Mata---------------------Anthony Martial
--------------------------------------Wayne Rooney
2016/17 season:
---------------------------------------David De Gea
Antonio Valencia-----Eric Bailly/Phil Jones------Chris Smalling/Marcos Rojo------Daley Blind
--------------------------------------------------Michael Carrick
-------------------------------Ander Herrera----------------------Paul Pogba
Juan Mata/Mikhitaryan------------------------------------------Marcus Rashford/Anthony Martial
--------------------------------------Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Stray observation: as you might remember from 2016/17, our CB situation that season was fecked. We start with Bailly/Blind for 5 games until Blind is moved to left back, then it's Bailly/Smalling for about 10 games, then both get injured and it's Jones/Rojo fairly consistently until Feb, after which Rojo almost never plays again, and Jones pops in occasionally when we play a back 3. Incredibly, our CB pairing for the Europa League final was Smalling/Blind, which unless I missed something, was not a CB pairing we used at any point prior that season.
2017/18 season:
-------------------------------------------David De Gea
Antonio Valencia----Chris Smalling-----Phil Jones/Victor Lindelof------Ashley Young
---------------------------Nemanja Matic----------Paul Pogba
Juan Mata----------------------Jesse Lingard--------------------Marcus Rashford/Anthony Martial
-----------------------------------------Romelu Lukaku
2018/19 season:
---------------------------------------David De Gea
Ashley Young-----Chris Smalling------Victor Lindelof-------Luke Shaw
-------------------------------------Nemanja Matic
---------------Ander Herrera----------------------Paul Pogba
Jesse Lingard------------------------------Marcus Rashford/Anthony Martial
--------------------------------------Romelu Lukaku
Feel free to dispute any of these, and for those with encyclopaedic knowledge, please help me with the years before the 2000's.
OK so I apologise in advance if this thread has been done before, but it's been bumping around my head for a while that it'd be great to have on paper a picture of what our team has looked like from season to season. Now I don't think this should be restricted to which players had the most appearances each season, because that would be a bit boring. Rather, I'd like to use it to paint a picture of the team as a whole for most games. For example, in the 08/09 season, I've noted Giggs/Park on the left, because they both had periods of the season where they were first team choices, especially in big games. I'm quite young myself and my memory doesn't run too far back past the 07/08 season, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the Cafe filling in the blanks for me, but I'm going to get things underway.
05/06 season:
------------------------Edwin Van Der Sar
Gary Neville----Rio Ferdinand----Wes Brown-----Mikael Silvestre
Cristiano Ronaldo------John O'Shea/Darren Fletcher-----Ryan Giggs-------Ji Sung Park
----------------Ruud Van Nistelrooy-------------------Wayne Rooney
06/07 season:
------------------------Edwin Van Der Sar
Gary Neville----Rio Ferdiand----Nemanja Vidic----Gabriel Heinze
-------------------Paul Scholes--------------Michael Carrick
Cristiano Ronaldo------------------------------------------Ryan Giggs
---------------------Wayne Rooney---------Louis Saha-
07/08 season:
-------------------------------Edwin Van-Der-Sar
Wes Brown----Rio Ferdinand------Nemanja Vidic-----Patrice Evra
Michael Carrick--------Paul Scholes/Anderson
Cristiano Ronaldo-------------------------------------------Ryan Giggs
-----------------Carlos Tevez------------Wayne Rooney
08/09 season:
----------------------------Edwin Van-Der-Sar
John O'Shea------Rio Ferdinand-----Nemanja Vidic-----------Patrice Evra
----------------Michael Carrick-------------Darren Fletcher
Cristiano Ronaldo------------------------------------Ryan Giggs/Ji-Sung Park
-----------------Wayne Rooney---------Dimitar Berbatov
09/10 season:
------------------------Edwin Van-Der-Sar
John O'Shea------Johnny Evans------Nemanja Vidic------Patrice Evra
Antonio Valencia-----Darren Fletcher-----Paul Scholes/Michael Carrick----Nani
-----------------------Wayne Rooney-------------Dimitar Berbatov
2010/11 season:
----------------------------Edwin Van-Der-Sar
Rafael------Rio Ferdinand---------Nemanja Vidic--------Patrice Evra
Nani---------Michael Carrick----------Darren Fletcher-------Ryan Giggs
----------Wayne Rooney------Javier Hernandez/Dimitar Berbatov
2011/12 season:
-------------------------David De Gea
Phil Jones-------Rio Ferdinand-------Jonny Evans--------Patrice Evra
Antonio Valencia----Michael Carrick----Paul Scholes/Anderson-----Ashley Young/Nani
-------------------------Wayne Rooney----------Danny Welbeck
2012/13 season:
--------------------------David De Gea
Rafael----------Rio Ferdinand---------- Jonny Evans---------Patrice Evra
Antonio Valencia----Michael Carrick----Tom Cleverly-----Shinji Kagawa
--------------------------------Wayne Rooney
-------------------------------Robin Van Persie
2013/14 season:
---------------------------David De Gea
Chris Smalling------Phil Jones---------Nemanja Vidic----------Patrice Evra
Antonio Valencia----Michael Carrick----Tom Cleverley----Ashley Young/Adnan Januzaj
----------------------Wayne Rooney--------Robin Van Persie
2014/15 season:
--------------------------------David De Gea
Antonio Valencia----Chris Smalling/Phil Jones----Marcos Rojo---Ashley Young
-------------------------------Daley Blind/Michael Carrick
--------------------Maruoune Fellaini---------Angel Di Maria
-------------------------------------Juan Mata
------------------Robin Van Persie-----------Wayne Rooney
Footnote: This was the hardest one to do by far, as our system and personnel changed so much throughout the year. Some tweaking may be necessary.
2015/16 season:
---------------------------------------David De Gea
Matteo Darmian-----Chris Smalling------Daley Blind-------Marcos Rojo
----------------Morgan Schneiderlin/Fellaini-------Michael Carrick
Jesse Lingard-------------------Juan Mata---------------------Anthony Martial
--------------------------------------Wayne Rooney
2016/17 season:
---------------------------------------David De Gea
Antonio Valencia-----Eric Bailly/Phil Jones------Chris Smalling/Marcos Rojo------Daley Blind
--------------------------------------------------Michael Carrick
-------------------------------Ander Herrera----------------------Paul Pogba
Juan Mata/Mikhitaryan------------------------------------------Marcus Rashford/Anthony Martial
--------------------------------------Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Stray observation: as you might remember from 2016/17, our CB situation that season was fecked. We start with Bailly/Blind for 5 games until Blind is moved to left back, then it's Bailly/Smalling for about 10 games, then both get injured and it's Jones/Rojo fairly consistently until Feb, after which Rojo almost never plays again, and Jones pops in occasionally when we play a back 3. Incredibly, our CB pairing for the Europa League final was Smalling/Blind, which unless I missed something, was not a CB pairing we used at any point prior that season.
2017/18 season:
-------------------------------------------David De Gea
Antonio Valencia----Chris Smalling-----Phil Jones/Victor Lindelof------Ashley Young
---------------------------Nemanja Matic----------Paul Pogba
Juan Mata----------------------Jesse Lingard--------------------Marcus Rashford/Anthony Martial
-----------------------------------------Romelu Lukaku
2018/19 season:
---------------------------------------David De Gea
Ashley Young-----Chris Smalling------Victor Lindelof-------Luke Shaw
-------------------------------------Nemanja Matic
---------------Ander Herrera----------------------Paul Pogba
Jesse Lingard------------------------------Marcus Rashford/Anthony Martial
--------------------------------------Romelu Lukaku
Feel free to dispute any of these, and for those with encyclopaedic knowledge, please help me with the years before the 2000's.
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