Anibaba has proven that he can handle playing on the outside, but if he ever becomes a really good MLS player, I think it'll be as a CB. He isn't as good with the ball at his feet as Farrell, whose pre-season form at RB has been very promising. Less optimistically, I've seen a little of McCarthy in pre-season, and I don't feel nearly as confident about him. Right now, he's looking like my last resort in back.
The accuracy of his predictions also reflects the overall quality of the draft. Everyone has a pretty good sense of who the top values are.
Ranking the eight teams that have posted lineups so far, aside from my own. I've added commentary for the new additions. 1. MLSNHTOWN 2. Balerion - Drawing the #1 overall pick has its advantages. I see Dempsey as easily the most valuable player in this draft, and I feel like Balerion's 4-2-3-1 formation puts him in a position where he can do a lot of damage. With Tim Howard in goal, there is star power at the other end of the field, as well. Marvell Wynne at CB could be a weak point, though. He's coming off of a poor 2012, and the last I saw, the Rapids seemed to be returning him to RB. It's no surprise, therefore, that Balerion is jealous of me for having a wealth of center backs. 3. Deuteronomy and Mr Martin 4. Harper - Pick by pick, most of Harper's selections are very sharp, but I feel like a few of his choices this year are likely to keep his team from pushing far above mid-table. Spending his #2 pick on Holden was a big gamble that doesn't currently look promising. In addition, he sold his forward position a bit short, and I'm saying that even though I share his optimism about Sapong. 5. bmo180 (with ElevenBravo) 6. Sean 7. MI-Soccer - This team is exceptionally strong in the center of midfield and plenty strong on defense, as well. But in spite of these considerable strengths, there doesn't seem to be enough offensive bite to break through and score enough goals to win. At the moment, Buddle isn't looking like he'll be much use, and there isn't much width in the attack, either. Magee and Corona are both more comfortable pinching inside. 8. AutoPenalti - Young guys are the most fun to pick, but picking a lot of them is a road that plenty of drafters have gone down before. When some of the picks don't pan out, their line-up usually ends up with gaping holes in it. All that glitters is not gold.
Adding the final three teams, all of which posted lineups in the other thread, although more details would be appreciated. 1. MLSNHTOWN 2. Balerion 3. Deuteronomy and Mr Martin 4. Harper 5. soccersubjectively and joe cleats - These guys did a really interesting job of balancing their weaker points and their stronger ones. For example, a run-of-the-mill central defense (Chad Marshall and Josh Williams) is sandwiched between a star GK (Guzan) and a star DM (Cameron). Similarly, a questionable RM (Duka) is in front of a star RB (Cherundolo). Unfortunately for them, however, Cherundolo is hurt right now, and their backline depth looks very questionable. Balancing that out is a forward line that was solidified by Wooten in round 11, a steal, I think. 6. bmo180 (with ElevenBravo) 7. Sean 8. Neuwerld - Despite having the best set of wide players in the draft, I feel like this team simply doesn't have enough quality in the middle. At this point in Freddy Adu's career, it's hard to trust a team that's built around him, and the choice between Grabavoy and Jacobson as another starter in central midfield looks like a no-win. Also, until Nat Borchers manages to get healthy, Danny O'Rourke is starting in central defense, another subpar option. The wide guys can't do it on their own. 9. MI-Soccer 10. Sebsasour - I may be unduly pessimistic about this group, but a few of its starters seem a little too old (Bocanegra, Arnaud, Jewsbury), and a couple of others seem a little too unproven (Rowe, McInerney). Meanwhile, two of its key players have suffered a dip in form, with Danny Williams getting benched by Hoffenheim, and Herculez Gomez experiencing his first scoring drought since he arrived in Mexico. 11. AutoPenalti
Uh oh -- I did not know this. Perhaps I should have been paying less attention to my Tchani tricks and more attention to the basics. For what it's worth, there was always a group of people who steadfastly believed that Sean Franklin would be best at CB. Hanging your hat on an alternate reality doesn't count for much, but it might come to that... Well, everyone except for McCarthy. It's clear you aren't a Revolution fan.
Another really nice team from top to bottom. Howard and Dempsey are bookend stars, and the rest of the XI fits together and the subs are logical, too. I was very interested in Bruin, and Deuts and I had him on our target list entering Round 3. Wynne and Franklin were on my team last year. The defense is deep with 6 very capable professionals. Wood keeps improving, but I don't think he's a 1st teamer yet. Cascio and LaBrocca are possible, but not certain starters for their club, indeed they may alternate in Colorado's XI depending on the midfield needs of each game. Larentowicz is probably quite secure as a starter in Chicago, though. Zizzo, Hoppenot and Townshend are all nice subs, but can they start if needed? I think it will come down to these promising, but yet borderline starters -- Wood, Cascio, and LaBrocca. If they perform regularly and help contribute to scoring, then the offense will have some options besides the very good pair of Dempsey and Bruin, and this team will contend for the top. If not, then this team could slip closer to the middle of the pack.
This team has some terrific young prospects in Diskerud, Hedges, Brooks, Johnson, Gil, and Gyau. In a few years this could be a tremendous team. But in 2013 it will be hard to keep a regular, professional starting XI on the field. Just too many kids not starting for their clubs or still working through professional youth/B-teams. I think the backs and keepers will generally be able to keep games close, with solid professional starters and bench options. But the midfield will find itself scrambling to stay in the game and the forwards will have serious trouble creating enough chances or scoring goals.
Considering that I've lined up my best player at left mid, I'd hardly be in position to object to that. Although I do think of Franklin as a very good right back Not a Revs fan, and I tend to put a lot of stock in team awards, which may be giving Revs mgmt too much credit. The fact that they named McCarthy their Defender of the Year made me think they'd seen something in him that I, frankly, haven't.
MI-Soccerfan did a really nice job of building a coherent XI with several solid bench options, even without a pick at the top of the Draft. Kljestan and O'Brien were guys Deuts and I would seriously have considered taking in the 2nd and 6th rounds had MI not gotten them first. Gruenebaum and Williams were also on our short list. As others have noted, so much depends on Buddle having a big bounce-back season. If he doesn't, then the offense for this team will struggle. There are a lot of complimentary attacking players, but no reliable scorers other than Buddle. The defense and the defensive midfield will be very, very solid, even with Packwood's unfortunate injury. Williams is starting quality, but maybe less so at LB, since he usually starts at RB for the Union. If Buddle performs, this team is easily a top half of the table contender. If Buddle struggles, this team could slip into the bottom half.
I think the other issue with this team is the reliance on Conor O'Brien to be an attacker. I haven't seen him play enough to speak with real authority, but if O'Brien turns out to be more of a box-to-box midfielder than a true attacking midfielder, it will add to the offense's Buddle problems. Maybe I have just been watching too much of Klinsmann's USMNT, but I have visions of Jones, Kljestan, and O'Brien occupying the same area of the field and ultimately being less than the sum of their parts.
While I am not much of a McCarthy fan, I admittedly am being a little harsh on him. He is a victim of what I like to call the Bornstein Effect. He was a below-average starter by league standards at his position, but there wasn't anyone better to replace him. Nonetheless, the frustration with seeing him week in, week out has compelled Revs fans to judge him more harshly than they would have if he had simply been a decent backup. But obviously, it's not his fault that there was only Darrius Barnes to challenge him.
My attack after Dempsey and Bruin is certainly where I assumed the most risk. This is the fallout of selecting Howard with my fifth pick. By the time the end of the sixth round came and went, a number of intriguing options had been taken off the table. In order to have a good-looking time by the end of 2013, I'll need Wood and Cascio to make progress over the course of year. If they stagnate, they'll have to go down as overdrafts.
Since you bring this up, I believe that NFL followers have a name for a related effect, where fans of a team with a below-average starting QB consistently believe that he's worse than his back-up.
Harper is a Draft veteran, so it's no surprise he's got a well organized team with good talent and depth. Sapong, Sarkodie, Pearce and McCarty were players Deuts and I had on our short lists in various rounds. I think Findley will have a very respectable return to MLS this year and George John will return to good form, too. Zusi has become a strong MLS player and regular guy on the US roster. Yet, he's got almost everything riding on Holden's return and Sapong winning regular starts for his club. If these two things work out (and I sure hope Holden returns, as the US could really use him in real life!), then Harper's got himself a contender. If not, it's battling the middle of the pack. It would also be a great story if Charlie Davies worked his way back to regular playing time, but he and the rookie Hurtado are gambles as striker depth.
Wood is one of those low-visibility guys abroad who can be hard to get a handle on. But the fact that he has recently broken into 1860's first team suggests that he hasn't stagnated, and that he could in fact be a major contributor to your team.
If we lose Johannsonn, the lineup will be: ---------------Wenger------------ DeLeon-------Silva----------Gatt ------Alexander----Carroll------- Wingert--Okugo--Gonzo---Beita -----------------Busch------------- We are gonna vote again later in the year right? I picked alot of guys for their upside this year
Yeah, we'll try for a midseason vote and an end-of-season vote. There aren't any hard and fast rules about what "counts" because this is all for fun, but I'd place more value on the December 2013 vote than anything else.
Yes, we should vote again later in the year. Maybe even twice? Once in the summer and once in December? Unfortunately last year I don't think we ever voted.
I disagree with this completely. Corona is more than comfortable and able to play wide when called upon to do that. He in my opinion is one of the most underrated players in the player pool for the Nats and is exactly what we need right now. He is a player who break down a defense through passing or through his dribbling Magee when he starts out wide does a tremendous job of staying out wide. He is excellent on running up and down the left flank and creating problems... You can look at heat map after heat map and when he starts out wide he spends most of his time out wide The questions about O'Brien, Kljestan, and Jones all playing together I get... but the questions about width I completely disagree with But that is also what makes this so fun. It is fun to hear and see each others different views and takes on players, teams, and schemes
Since you suggested it, I looked up a heat map. Only one, in a game I happened to choose because I saw that he had been credited with an assist. http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2012-06-30-sj-v-la/chalkboard The assist, it turned out, was a secondary assist from smack dab in the middle of the penalty area, and I see very little evidence of him creating problems down the left flank.
Here is the championship game http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2012-12-01-la-v-hou/chalkboard western conference finals vs. seattle - away leg http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2012-11-18-sea-v-la/chalkboard western conference finals vs. seattle - home leg http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2012-11-11-la-v-sea/chalkboard There is his last 3 games in all of them the majority of his time is spent on the flank. I mean obviously there are times he pinches in or plays more inside... but he is moe capable of playing out wide when called upon to do so.
Of the three you posted, I've only looked at this one, and again, I see him pinching into the middle quite a bit. The Chalkboard doesn't credit him with a single attempted cross, and he never even gets close to the Houston endline. His furthest touch down the left flank was in order to take a throw-in. We may have to agree to disagree, but I'm afraid that the chalkboards have only reinforced my original viewpoint.
Yeah we clearly have a different view of what width and pinching in are. Width is not simply hugging the touchline, running down to the endline and whipping in a cross. What Magee does is plays on the left side, plays good service into forwards and then can run off of them in to dangerous positions. Good service does not have to be a cross... it can be a diagonal ball from 30 yards out, it can ber service to the feet of a striker at the top of the box.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/matchcenter/2012-07-18-sj-v-dal/chalkboard If you want an example of midfielders who I think are good at providing width, here are SJ's Chavez and Salinas from a haphazardly chosen game. You can see both of them getting plenty of touches along the sidelines, and sometimes advancing into the corners on the attack. In contrast with Magee's 0 attempted crosses, Chavez had 7 and Salinas 4.