Benchwarmers XI for the 2014/15 season

Who doesn’t like making bucket loads of cash without having to put in a lot of hard work? I’m pretty sure there are very few who wouldn’t like that. Football players are paid heavily for their services, especially those who play in the best leagues across Europe.Don’t believe me? In the time you took to read up to this part, Radamel Falcao would have made at least £1. Every time he sits on the United’s bench and thinks over what happened to his career over the course of a full game, he would have made nearly £3,090!Such astronomical figures give us a small explanation as to why many star players don’t make a fuss when they are used to warm the bench or substituted into the game just to waste time. All jokes apart, we have seen many big names playing for several of Europe’s big clubs struggle for game time this season due to different reasons and a team of these players would probably be good enough to compete against many top sides.Here is a XI of the big names who have spent more time on the bench than on the field.

#1 Goal Keeper: Petr Cech

Jose Mourinho created a furore when he benched Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas and this season once again he showed that he doesn’t care about a player’s past endeavours after he dropped a keeper of Petr Cech’s stature to the bench. To quote the famous meme, “One does not simply bench a long-serving goalkeeper unless his name is Jose Mourinho”.

Cech went from being named in the PFA Team of the Year to being named on the Chelsea bench on a regular basis in the space of a few months. To be fair to the Czech international, he hasn’t put a foot wrong.

In the past, other veteran keepers have also suffered the same fate as Cech. For example when Liverpool signed a young and promising Pepe Reina, they immediately benched their Champions League hero Jerzy Dudek. Even then very few would have foreseen Cech in such a scenario.

Knowing Cech, it was obvious that he wouldn’t rest on his laurels and make life easy for Thibaut Courtois. The 32-year-old has still made 15 appearances with a majority of them coming in cup games.

#2 Right Back: Bacary Sagna

After spending seven years of his professional career with Arsenal, Bacary Sagna left London as an FA Cup winner. The Frenchman went ahead and joined Arsenal’s direct rivals Manchester City in the summer and then went on to make a statement which he would be regretting right now.

Sagna said: “At Arsenal we lost our way every season in March or April, we would lose our grip on titles with the squad decimated by injuries. What was missing was trophies.”

But little did Sagna know that Arsenal would look like an entirely different proposition this season. City failed to beat Arsenal in all three attempts this season and in the process they lost the Community Shield game to the Gunners and a league game at the Etihad as well. Arsenal now have a very good chance of finishing above Manchester City and also retaining the FA Cup while Sagna will endure yet another trophyless season.

To make matters worse, Sagna has played just 16 games for Manchester City this season and has found it extremely difficult to get ahead of one of the most consistent right backs in the game, Pablo Zabaleta. On the other hand, his former club Arsenal have unearthed a gem in Hector Bellerin to fill their right back void, not to mention a younger replacement in Mathieu Debuchy.

#3 Centre Back: Matthias Ginter

Matthias Ginter is one of the most promising youngsters in Germany and he was rightfully part of the German team that won the World Cup, even though he never played in the tournament. Borussia Dortmund snapped up the youngster from Freiburg in the summer, but the move has not worked out as well as either party would have wanted.

Ginter had a rough start at Dortmund as his side lost the first three league games in which he started. He also started an international game against Argentina and once again ended up on the losing side. His role was quickly reduced to that of an unused substitute and eventually only got game time due to injuries to other center backs like Hummels, Subotic and Papastathopoulos.

The German has gone from a regular starter for a Bundesliga side to a benchwarmer for another Bundesliga side in the space of a few months as he has so far made only 13 starts and 8 substitute appearances.

#4 Center Back: Angelo Ogbonna

Almost two years ago, Angelo Ogbonna was a coveted player and was therefore naturally linked with a host of top European clubs. But being a naturalized Italian, he decided to stay in Italy and that too in the same city as he moved across town to play for Juventus instead of Torino. But he didn’t come cheap as Juventus had to part with nearly £11 million to acquire his services.

Fast forwarding to the current date, we find Ogbonna on the Juventus bench more often than not as he struggles to displace players like Bonucci, Chiellini and Barzagli. This isn’t a good situation for the 26-year-old as he has to fight for only one of three available positions and still finds himself benched.

In the current season, Barzagli has been out with an injury for long periods, but Juventus have gone with a change in formation by playing four at the back in most games instead of drafting Ogbonna in and sticking with their famed system of three at the back.

Overall, the Italian has made 16 starts with just one coming in a Champions League game and 6 further substitute appearances. At the age of 26, Ogbonna should be aiming for bigger things than settling for a part-time role.

#5 Left Back: Filipe Luis

Filipe Luis was arguably one of the best left-backs in Europe last season and the Brazilian was a key member of the Atletico Madrid side that won the La Liga and made it to the final of the UEFA Champions League. Many people would have expected Luis to cement his place in the starting eleven and leave Cesar Azpilicueta to fight for a place as a full back on either flank.

But the story was entirely different. Luis has been kept out of Chelsea’s starting line-up in league games by Azpilicueta right from the start of the season despite the Spaniard being a right footed player and therefore Luis was given starts in Cup competitions including the Champions League. But eventually, Azpilicueta became Chelsea’s starter in Europe as well.

Luis has so far made 18 starts in all competitions with some of them coming due to injury or suspension to either Azpilicueta or Branislav Ivanovic. He has made five further substitute appearances and most of them have come when Mourinho pulled off a winger and put Luis in to protect his team’s lead.

#6 Central Midfield: Sami Khedira

Sami Khedira was a starter for Real Madrid in the final of the UEFA Champions League as his club won the tournament last season. He also started four games and came on as a substitute in another for Germany at the World Cup where they were also crowned champions. Khedira was due to start the World Cup final too, only to be ruled out in the pre-match warmup.

Considering that Khedira is a player capable of starting in such high-profile games, it comes as a surprise that he has been used sparingly by his club this season despite injuries to Luka Modric and the below par performances of Illarramendi. Even though Modric missed several weeks of action with injuries, Khedira has started just six games and made only 10 substitute appearances across all competitions!

There have been occasions when Carlo Ancelotti has played his centre backs in midfield even when Khedira is available for selection, with the most recent one coming in the Champions League game against Atletico Madrid. The German’s contract with Real Madrid expires in the summer and there will be clubs who will be eager to snap up such a talented player for free.

#7 Central Midfield: John Obi Mikel

If John Obi Mikel plays for Chelsea for one more season then he will have played long enough for the Blues to earn himself a testimonial match! But so far the Nigerian has not been able to cement his place as a regular starter.

Mikel has been primarily used by Jose Mourinho this season as a late substitute to make his side defensively more stable and protect the lead. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that he has started just 11 games this season and made 12 further substitute appearances with a majority of them coming very late in the game.

It is obvious that Mourinho doesn’t see Mikel as nothing more than a squad player as the Portuguese has preferred to play young centre back Kurt Zouma in midfield on a couple of occasions in big games. But nevertheless Mikel seems to be happy playing the cameo roles as long as he is winning trophies.

#8 Right Wing: Pedro

Pedro Rodriguez used to be a very important player for the Barcelona side that found immense success under Pepe Guardiola, but somewhere along the way he started to fade and started to live in the shadows of Lionel Messi, Alexis Sanchez and Neymar. The arrival of Luis Suarez from Liverpool was a big blow for Pedro as it became obvious that he would have to step up his game considerably if he had to earn a starting berth.

But the Spaniard had some time to give his manager a welcome headache as Luis Suarez was serving his ban for the first few months of the current season. Even then Pedro couldn’t earn himself a starting role as the emergence of Munir El Haddadi earlier in the season put him firmly on the bench.

After Luis Suarez returned from his long suspension, it was all over for Pedro as the trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar have made it difficult for any player on the planet to start ahead of any one of them on current form.

#9 Left Wing: Lukas Podolski

Lukas Podolski is the third World Cup winner on this list of benchwarmers. Arsene Wenger was clearly reluctant to give Podolski a run of games in the previous season and it raised several questions from many players as to why Wenger did not give the German a chances over a struggling Olivier Giroud and a rookie Yaya Sanogo.

This season Wenger’s treatment of Podolski saw no further improvement and the arrival of Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck saw the German getting even lesser game time. In January 2015, Podolski signed for Serie A giants Internazionale on loan and it was expected that he would do better in a new team and a new league. In terms of playing time, there was some improvement for Podolski, but his performances led to him being branded as one of Serie A’s worst signings.

Overall, Podolski has started just 10 games this season with eight of them coming for Inter and the others coming for Arsenal in cup matches. In addition to this he has made 16 substitute appearances.

#10 Striker: Radamel Falcao

If I were earning as much as Radamel Falcao, then I wouldn’t be worried about not playing a lot of football. The Colombian striker was the biggest transfer made on the transfer deadline day last summer and it was one which excited many Manchester United fans, and rightly so. Falcao was one of the deadliest strikers in Europe during his time at Atletico Madrid and is well remembered for single-handedly dismantling Chelsea in a UEFA Super Cup match.

Falcao arrived at United after recovering from a lengthy injury and was therefore either subbed on or subbed off early. But even after he was fit enough to start games regularly, he has struggled in front of goal. Eventually, the once prolific striker found himself on the bench and watched Wayne Rooney do what he couldn’t do for the Red Devils.

So far, Falcao has started just 16 games and made an additional 10 substitute appearances and all he has to show for that is 4 goals and 4 assists. The lowest point of his season was when he was overlooked for an EPL game but was forced to play in an U21 match for United.

#11 Striker: Stevan Jovetic

Stevan Jovetic made a big money move to Manchester City in 2013, but constant injury problems hampered his progress in England. The Montenegrin showed early indications of having a much better second season as he was Manchester City’s standout performer in pre-season and he followed it up with a good start to the season with 2 goals against Liverpool in the second league game of the season.

But Jovetic couldn’t follow up his initial good form and eventually lost his place to Sergio Aguero who had made a return from injury around the same time. Jovetic’s Manchester City career took an even bigger hit after the arrival of Wilfried Bony as he was dropped from City’s Champions League squad to accommodate the Ivorian after UEFA reduced their squad limit.

Overall Jovetic has only managed to start 14 games this season and then forced to satisfy himself with 12 substitute appearances. With things looking bleak for the 25-year-old, a summer departure looks imminent and a return to Serie A is on the cards.

How the Benchwarmers XI would line up.