7 mistakes people make building a dream lineup (and why the best XI isn’t the best team)

You know how it goes. Someone in the group chat says “everyone post your all-time XI” and within ten minutes the screen is full of superstars. Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar and Mbappé up front. Three number 10s in midfield. The defence? Whoever was left over. On paper it’s the greatest team ever assembled. On the pitch it would probably be three down at half-time.

Real football has a famous example of this. In the summer of 2003 Real Madrid sold Claude Makélélé to Chelsea and kept Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo and Beckham. The most expensive attack in the world, with almost nobody behind it to win the ball back. They finished fourth in La Liga that season. Great players don’t automatically add up to a great team.

Everyone has made the mistakes below at least once. I certainly have.

1. Picking stars without looking at their positions

The classic one. To squeeze four great players in, you push one to right-back and another out wide. It looks fine on paper, but a centre-back at right-back won’t overlap, and a centre-forward on the wing doesn’t know how to get to the byline and cross.

Choose the formation first, then put the best player for each role in each slot. If one of your stars misses out, change the formation. Fitting the shape to the player usually works better than moving the player out of position.

2. Treating midfield as “the leftover spots”

In dream lineups, forwards get picked first and midfield gets filled last. Yet that’s where most of the game is played. Midfield is where the ball is won, carried forward and delivered to the striker. However good your striker is, he’s useless if the ball never reaches him.

A good midfield usually has three different types: a ball-winner (intercepts, wins duels), a playmaker (distributes, sets the tempo) and a runner (gets into the box and acts like a second striker). Pick three of the same type and you’ll be either far too slow or far too open.

3. Sending both full-backs forward

Today’s most attacking full-backs play almost like wingers, and it’s tempting to put one on each side. The problem: when both are high up the pitch and you lose the ball, there are two huge gaps either side of your centre-backs. The opposition’s wingers are waiting for exactly that.

4. Ignoring which foot and which side

A right-footer on the left wing loves to cut inside and shoot; a left-footer wants to go down the line and cross. Which you need depends on your team. If you’ve got a striker who dominates in the air, you want wingers who cross. If not, inverted wingers who can shoot are more dangerous.

The real mistake is stacking three of the same type on one side. If the left-back, left midfielder and left winger all drift inside, nobody provides width and the opposition simply closes the middle.

5. Forgetting the bench

A squad is more than eleven players. In a real match people get tired, booked or injured, and the same happens in the match simulator. When you need a change in the 70th minute and there’s nobody suitable on the bench, your hands are tied.

Have at least one defender, one midfielder and one attacker among your substitutes: a goalscorer to bring on when you’re behind, a holding midfielder to protect a lead. Two alternative plans can change the last half hour completely.

6. Leaving defending to the back four

Defending isn’t only the defenders’ job. The striker’s first press, the winger tracking back, the midfield closing passing lanes all count. If none of your four attackers ever runs back, even the best back four ends up defending two-against-four.

The teams that concede the fewest rarely have the best centre-backs. They have the forwards who run back the most.

7. Calling it done without testing it

The only way to know how a lineup plays is to put it on the pitch. Play your team against a strong opponent and look for patterns. Are the goals you concede always coming from the same area? Are you keeping the ball but creating nothing? Is your wing-back still in position at the end?

Lineup arguments with friends usually end with “mine’s better”, because nobody can prove it. That’s exactly why I built the match simulator into DreamerBuild: put the two lineups against each other and settle it on the pitch.

The 30-second check before you save

• Is every player actually in his own position?
• Does midfield have a ball-winner, a playmaker and a runner?
• Is one full-back attacking and the other more careful?
• Are there different types of player on the two flanks?
• Does at least one forward help defend?
• Is there an option on the bench for every area of the pitch?
• Have you played the lineup at least once in the simulator?