DREAM TEAM

LEE HOLMES – The Exeter City winger, on loan from Preston North End, chooses his favourite XI, made up from players he has played with in his football career.

GOALKEEPERI

Kelvin Davis – Southampton Kelvin was awesome for the three years I played with him at Southampton, and there was a season in particular in which he saved everything thrown at him. A really good friend of mine.

RIGHT BACKI

Jeff Kenna – Retired He won the Premier League and anyone who has done that has to be outstanding. I played with him at Derby and he taught me a lot. As I was a winger, in training he would give me little pointers on how to defend which were very useful.

CENTRE BACKI

Tom Huddlestone – Hull City We played together from the age of eight and came up through to the Derby first-team. Tom is the gentle giant-type character and you could see he was Premier League standard. The way he sprayed it around the park from the back was amazing. The quarterback role in midfield suits him perfectly at Hull.

CENTRE BACKI

Jose Fonte – Southampton Each time Southampton have been promoted he’s just got better and better and you don’t get called up to the Portugal squad if you’re not a brilliant player. He’s a very composed and quiet individual.

LEFT BACKI

Dan Harding – Millwall (on loan from Nottingham Forest) Dan’s my best mate, so he will cry if I don’t have him in here! But he had everything you needed as a full-back while we were at Southampton. Always the quickest player in the back four and he can get forward to play almost as a winger.

CENTRALI MIDFIELDI

Morgan Schneiderlin – Southampton Even while we were in League One, I thought he could have walked into a Premier League team. He had the mobility, passing and could score goals. The only question was about his ability in the tackle, but he answered that years ago.

CENTRALI MIDFIELDI

Inigo Idiakez – Retired I was just coming through at Derby when he signed in 2004 and he didn’t speak a word of English, but what he did on the pitch spoke for itself. Before you knew it, he picked up the language and became captain, and he was the best freekick taker I’ve ever played with. Everything came so easily to him, he had a gift.

CENTRALI MIDFIELDI

Georgi Kinkladze – Retired I have to get ‘Kinky’ in somewhere. When he first came to Derby I was about 15 and we lived in the same village. He used to drop me off back home in his Ferrari! You just let him do what he wanted because he was so good, the ultimate inspiration as a winger.

RIGHTIWINGERI

Alex OxladeChamberlain – Arsenal You just knew he was destined for the top. In his first couple of sessions training with the first team at Southampton, he would bang in goals from anywhere. He was also my room-mate for a time too and was very down-to-earth.

LEFTIWINGERI

Adam Lallana – Liverpool Whenever you had Adam in the team, he would lift everyone else by that extra five or ten per cent. He could do things with the ball that mere mortals cannot, so it’s not surprising to me that he finds himself in the international set-up.

STRIKERI

Rickie Lambert – Liverpool For Rickie to score that many goals – more than 100 in five seasons – for Saints is unbelievable. You could tell by his attitude that he would keep on improving. He was quiet for a Scouser, he did his talking on the pitch.