Fleetwood Town team of the season - best Highbury XI according to stats

Well, these things are always a matter of opinion but we can use the stats.

Statistical website whoscored.com provides an average rating for every player based on marks out of 10 per performance, and uses this information to determine whether the most deserving players have been given the most game-time.

Now at Fleetwood this is complicated by the fact that some of the players with the highest averages only joined the club in January.

That shows the success of Barton’s transfer window business but it isn’t only the new arrivals who have had a sterling campaign.

So, here and tomorrow we’ll go through the Town team to determine Barton’s best 11 based on whoscored.com average ratings.

Town’s keeper in the ‘Average Rating XI’ is Alex Cairns.

Although he has lost his place to Matt Gilks and Billy Crellin at stages this season, Cairns has re-established himself as Town’s number one.

His average rating of 6.43 is just 0.1 higher than that of Crellin, though the youngster has played in 20 fewer games.

At right-back, it’s no surprise that Lewie Coyle makes the XI and is arguably having his best season so far with the Cod Army.

Coyle is ranked fourth in the entire squad, his five assists and one goal helping him to a 6.92 average.

Having made his loan from Leeds United permanent in January, there is hopefully much more to come from the versatile defender.

Moving inside in the back five we have Harry Souttar, whose exceptional rating of 7.08 is the second-best in the squad.

The towering Stoke City loanee has played in 34 games so far, starting 33 of them, and was recently crowned EFL young player of the month. Souttar has also represented Australia twice, scoring in both games.

Alongside ‘Soutts’ is another player who joined the Cods on loan but is no longer at the club.

Jimmy Dunne was a summer addition from Burnley but his loan was cancelled in January.

He made only nine appearances for Fleetwood but his average of 6.88 was enough for seventh place overall in our average ratings.

The last central defender is another loanee, Lewis Gibson from Everton.

He has slotted into the back-line seamlessly and solidified that part of the Fleetwood team that has been their weakest. His 6.92 rating places him fifth overall.

Rounding off the back five is Danny Andrew. He may only be 13th on our list with an average of 6.72, but our need for a left-back sees the former Doncaster defender win a place in our 11 ahead of the higher-rated Callum Connolly and Kyle Dempsey (though both rated only around 0.05 ahead of Andrew.

A reliable performer down the left all season, Andrew has made partnerships with several players on that flank and has shown he has an eye for the spectacular.

Town fans won’t forget the sight of him netting a memorable free-kick against Peterborough United.

Lewis Coyle’s partner-in-crime down the right Wes Burns is the next pick. The pair are neck and neck on assists for the campaign but the Welshman is another enjoying probably his best season in a Town shirt.

Burns is ahead of his assists total at this stage last season but his goals total (two in the league and four in all) has let him down. A 6.84 rating places Burns ninth in the standings.

Coming inside, Jordan Rossiter is the first and only name in the central midfield slots, despite being ruled out for the season.

Another loanee, the Rangers man was brilliant for the Cod Army before a knee ligament injury closed his season in November.

He is sixth in the overall standings in the squad, have started 15 games.

Rossiter’s contract north of the border expires in the summer and there will be a long line of suitors.

Town will be hoping to put themselves towards the front of that line by standing by him and helping him to rehabilitate.

On the left edge of the wide three-man midfield is Barrie McKay, the highest-rated player at the club.

McKay just edges Harry Souttar out by 0.01 but his 7.09 rating across eight games, with two goals and two assists, tells its own story.

Even so, it doesn’t tell the full story of the impact he has had at Highbury and how the mood of the camp was boosted by a player of his calibre arriving on loan from Swansea City.

Barton will be hoping McKay continues his fine form once it is safe to do so and helps fire Town into the Championship.

The centre forward pairing speaks for itself but we’ll start with Ched Evans as the higher rated.

That may come as a surprise given that Paddy Madden has been more prolific but Evans’ third spot overall and 6.93 average rating says a lot about his all-round game.

He has nine goals and three assists from 27 games this campaign.

And finishing off the 11 is Paddy Madden, Fleetwood’s top scorer this season on 15 goals – he has laid on three more.

On the brink of making history as the club’s top-scoring player in their eight years in the EFL, Madden has often been in the right place at the right time for Town this season.

He is also just one appearance away from bringing up a century is Fleetwood colours.

The average rating 11 shows the impact that Joey Barton’s January transfer dealing has made, with signings who have hit the ground running.

So our first-choice Town team, based on average ratings (with each player’s rating and overall position in the squad in brackets) is: Cairns (6.43, 18th); Coyle (6.92, fourth), Souttar (7.08, second), Gibson (6.92, fifth), Dunne (6.88, seventh), Andrew (6.72, 13th); Burns (6.84, ninth), Rossiter (6.90, 6th), McKay (7.09, first; Evans (6.93, third), Madden (6.85, eighth).