Crystal Palace has a lot of speedy player and our favourite surely must be Zaha. Speed and movement have become a key component in today's game. It's not being able to control the ball that's more important anymore. First thing clubs are looking at is if you can make it count physically. And I don't mean to be big and strong, it's more if you can run fast and move into spaces to get the ball, draw back fast to help recover and close spaces. Players like Kante, Coutinho or Torreira are real midget fighters.

A lot of teams are using black players or players of Jamaican ancestry in their first 11 because of their natural abilities (I don't mean that in a racist way, I just said black people as in the colour of their skin).

Let's make a comparison of the first 11s:

Liverpool: Alexander-Arnold, van Dijk, Wijnaldum, Sadio Mane, could count Firmino too (5), but Salah, Milner or Robertson are pretty fast too

Man City: Kompany, Mendy, Fernandinho (though he's past his prime), Sterling, Leroy Sane (5), but Walker and de Bruyne are pretty much up there too

Tottenham: Dele Alli, Wanyama (2), but Trippier, Ben Davies, Son Min Heon or Harry Kane are fast as well

Chelsea: Rudiger, Kante, Willian (3), but you can make a case about Azpilicueta, Hazard, even Barkley

Man United: Valencia/A. Young, Pogba, Martial, Rashford, Lingard, Lukaku ( 6 )+ Ander Herrera

Arsenal: Aubameyang, Lacazette, maybe Iwobi but he's kind of slow (3)+ Bellerin, Torreira (kind of few, no wonder they haven't been doing good these last seasons with Ozil, Mkhitaryan or Mertesacker until recently; their best players this season are the fast forwards Aubameyang and Lacazette)

Everton: Yerry Mina, Zouma, Idrissa Gueye, Richarlison, Walcott, Calvert Lewin ( 6 )

Leicester: Ricardo Pereira, Ndidi, Mendy, Demarai Gray (4), also Jamie Vardy

West Ham: Masuaku, Obiang, Felipe Anderson, Michail Antonio (4)

Southampton: Ryan Bertrand, Lemina, Redmond (3)

Fulham: Christie, Denis Odoi, Jean Serri, Sessegnon (4)

Wolves: Willy Boly, Adama Traore, Helder Costa/ Ivan Cavaleiro (3)

Bournemouth: Ake, Lerma, Stanislas/Ibe, Joshua King, Callum Wilson (5) though Ryan Fraser is darn fast too

Crystal Palace: AWB, Sakho, PVA, Kouyate, Townsend, Zaha, J. Ayew/Benteke (7)

Burnley: Aaron Lennon (1)

Brighton: Bernardo/Gaetan Bong, Bissouma, Izquierdo/Locadia (3)

Newcastle: Yedlin, Lascelles, Diame, Atsu/Kennedy (4)

Watford: Kabasele, Mariappa, Capuoe, Doucoure, Ken Sema/Success, I can't count Deeney cause he's really slow (so 5), but Roberto Pereyra and Holebas are still pretty fit and fast

Huddersfield: Zanka, Billing, Mounie (3)

Cardiff: Ecuele Manga, Sol Bamba, Josh Murphy, Bobby Reid/Junior Hoilett (4)

You notice that the team who have few of these fast players (Huddersfield, Cardiff, Burnley, Southampton) are pretty much bottom of the Premier League. Meanwhile, teams who have the most fast players are up.

On the other hand, it's not a definite rule. Crystal Palace seems to have the most (at least fro moutside of the top 6), so it should be doing better in the table, right?

It works for Watford which has turned into a very tough to beat team this season and they also recover a lot and have possession, it works for Bournemouth and the fast attacking players there like Callum Wilson, Josh King, Ryan Fraser are up in the scoring and assisting charts.

Edited by mattteo (11 Jan 2019 11.43am)

It was mostly a post about ancestry and how many of these players of African-American ancestry have become very sought out. That some of them are not very fast, sure, I even said above in the post. But you can't call them slow either.

Also, Sofiane Boufal is not at Southampton anymore, he's been gone 6 months now. And he wasn't that fast either. Who should catch MoTD now?

Jahanbakhsh has hardly played for Brighton because of injury and Kamarra is not a starter for Fulham, I just posted the players who usually make the first 11.

Kompany and Benteke make your post, but the likes of Walker and Vardy don't?

Have to disagree with you here, gone are the days where kids get scouted for their size or speed. Those qualities do help but scouts focus on players ability on the ball more than anything now, so controlling the ball is one of the first things you need to do. I know because I'm involved in it myself.

Oh I see, you've authored a list of fast players of African ancestry exclusively. Your contributions to this forum are certainly unique!

It's a trend even if you don't want to aknowledge it. Compare this to squads 15-20 years ago.