Premier League XIs: A grand old G team
We’re up to the Gs and this midfield – including Steven Gerrard and Paul Gascoigne – is rather bloody good…
Goalkeeper: Shay Given
The finest Irish goalkeeper of the Premier League era, Shay Given was Newcastle United’s No. 1 for over a decade. He made 451 appearances in the top flight, one more than F-Team keeper Brad Friedel. Those eligible for the back-up spot in the side include Gunn senior and junior, Chelsea Europa League-winning hero Rob Green, Heurelho Gomes, Frode Grodas, Paul Gerrard and Liverpool’s 1984 European champion Bruce Grobbelaar. If you want a goalkeeper challenge, try naming the ‘G’ goalkeeper who is former club mate of Shay Given and is now living the life of a third choice ‘keeper.
Right-back: Geremi
Cameroon international Geremi played with Given at Newcastle United after spending four successful years at Chelsea as a utility player. He won two Premier League titles during Jose Mourinho’s first spell at Stamford Bridge, adding them to the La Liga and Champions League winner’s medals he already had from his time at Real Madrid. Though not a regular goalscorer, Geremi was capable of the odd screamer and had the ability to hit a sweet free-kick in his locker, once curling a beauty into the top corner against Chelsea whilst on loan at Middlesbrough.
Centre-back: William Gallas
Another Premier League winner with Chelsea, William Gallas arrived in England in 2001 after joining from a struggling Marseille side. Gallas traded clubs with World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf and partnered the D-Team‘s Marcel Desailly at the back. Gallas bagged a title-clinching goal against Manchester United in 2006 as Chelsea became perennial Champions League qualifiers during the Frenchman’s stay. He made the short trip to north London to sign for Arsenal in 2006, just after the club came agonisingly close to winning European football’s top prize. He may have taken over Dennis Bergkamp’s shirt at the Emirates but he categorically will not be permitted to wear the number 10 shirt for the G-Team. He completed a London hat-trick in 2010 by signing for Spurs and won the last of his 84 international caps in the same year.
Centre-back: Joe Gomez
Still only 22, Joe Gomez looks set to become a mainstay of Liverpool and England’s backlines for the next decade alongside A-Team star Trent Alexander Arnold. Like his team-mate, Gomez made his national debut at an early age, coming on as a substitute for Phil Jones in a friendly against Germany when he was 20. The swap certainly contained some symbolism, with England’s supposed next great centre-back replacing the old next great centre-back. The oft-ridiculed Jones certainly hasn’t had the career many expected after promising signs in his youth and Gomez will be keen to make sure he doesn’t become a punchline in the coming years. Playing next to Virgil van Dijk and under Jurgen Klopp, it’s hard to see anything else than a stellar career ahead.
Left-back: Ricardo Gardner
A legend at Bolton Wanderers with over 250 Premier League appearances to his name, Ricardo Gardner played under five different managers during his long stay at the club. He is best remembered as part of the Sam Allardyce side that regularly finished in the top half during the mid-noughties after winning promotion to the top flight in 2001. Other G defenders include golden oldie Richard Gough, Michael Gray, Kieran Gibbs, Gael Givet and Ricardo’s fellow Gardner, Anthony.
Right wing: David Ginola
Ginola may have to put up with being shunted out to the right wing in the G-Team because of Ryan Giggs’ existence but back in the 1998/99 season Ginola managed to overshadow Giggs and his fellow Treble winners by winning the FWA and PFA Player of the Year awards. The Frenchman won his only trophy in England that campaign as Spurs lifted the League Cup but he was worth much more than a solitary medal. As one of the main acts of Newcastle’s ‘Entertainers’ side in the mid-nineties, Ginola came unbearably close to Premier League glory in the 1995/96 season as the Magpies narrowly lost out to Giggs and his Manchester United team-mates. At national level, Ginola became a scapegoat for a France side that failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup and he ended up with just 17 caps for his country. Talk about undercapped.
Defensive midfield: Ruud Gullit
Premier League fans weren’t accustomed to seeing Ballon d’Or winners in their sides during the mid-nineties as Serie A and La Liga reigned supreme. However, Ruud Gullit’s arrival and subsequent influence on English football changed things forever as a foreign revolution swept the nation. Signed by Chelsea at the start of the 1995/96 season, Gullit was a genuine all-time great who had won European Cups, league titles and a European Championship at international level, as well as numerous personal accolades. After moving into management at Stamford Bridge and winning the FA Cup he guided the side near to the top of the table before he was surprisingly sacked. A brief and unhappy spell at Newcastle saw the Dutchman leave the Premier League for good but the English game had changed drastically since his arrival. At the time of his departure an English club had recently won the Champions League and Chelsea had a cosmopolitan squad ready to compete at home and abroad. It was a far cry away from the handful of first-season foreigners in 1992.
Attacking midfield: Paul Gascoigne
It’s tough to forget the modern image of Gascoigne but at his peak he was peerless amongst his England team-mates. Whilst he clearly wasn’t the consummate professional, the circus surrounding him was well worth it (unless your name is Glenn Hoddle) to see one of the country’s most natural talents of all time produce moments of magic. He may not have broken the British transfer record in the Premier League era but back in 1988 Tottenham paid a huge sum to sign the Geordie from Newcastle United. He famously shot down Arsenal in the 1991 FA Cup semi-final for Spurs before injuring himself early on in the Wembley showpiece against Nottingham Forest as his club lifted the trophy. At international level he was famous for his tears in 1990 and for his genius against Scotland in 1996. The key incidents of Gazza’s career summed up a player who had the talent to win it all but also possessed demons that held him back.
Attacking midfield: Steven Gerrard
A no-brainer; who wouldn’t have Steven Gerrard in a G-Team? Well, maybe El-Hadji Diouf, who seems to have a lot more time for the former Liverpool captain’s mum than he does for his former club-mate. The Liverpool immortal gets the captain’s armband but he may not be too happy with the side’s home ground, with the G-Team playing at Goodison Park. Merseyside-born Gerrard may have been pictured wearing an Everton kit as a boy but he was Liverpool through and through by the time he made his club debut as a teenager in 1998. 504 Premier League appearances later, Gerrard left Anfield as one of Liverpool’s all-time greats in 2015 having captained the club to Champions League glory in 2005.
Left wing: Ryan Giggs
Ginola, Gullit, Gascoigne, Gerrard and finally Welsh wonder Ryan Giggs. G-Team manager Pep Guardiola would surely be delighted by the talent at his disposal in midfield. The Man City boss would have one of his current players as back-up, with Ilkay Gundogan an excellent option on the bench as well as Aston Villa star Jack Grealish. Other midfielders include Great Danes Thomas Gravesen and Jesper Gronkjaer, Serge Gnabry, Northern Ireland’s Keith Gillespie, Luis Garcia and England’s late debutant Steve Guppy.
Forward: Eidur Gudjohnsen
The Iceland great gets in the G-Team ahead of current Stamford Bridge bench-warmer Olivier Giroud. Gudjohnsen spent over a decade playing for English clubs, but is best remembered for his Premier League-winning spell at Chelsea. Other attacking options include the Gayles of Dwight and Marcus, Asamoah Gyan and rising star Mason Greenwood. Another up and coming player may feature for the G-Team in the future but Billy Gilmour would have to really do something special in his career to get in this midfield.
James Wiles – whose Instagram has a whole load more XIs
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