Someone placed me bottom even below a team with no tactics Well done billy! I think I had you at 4th with 26 at 1st.
Congrats Billy! I feel the strength of the teams in general were of high quality in this draft. Here are my Top 5 teams: 1st Sammer's Hammer (finished 2nd) Strengths: potent front-three of Stoichkov-Puskás-Luís Figo. Quality in all departments: defence, midfield and attack. Passarella-Gentile was one of my favourite centre-back partnerships. The strength and technique of Gullit in the heart of your XI epitomizes your team. Weaknesses: neither Luis Suárez or Tigana I would class as pure defensive holding men/anchors. Tigana was a valuable midfielder going forward (box-to-box), and Luis Suárez, although playing as a deep-lying playmaker for La Grande Inter, I feel your XI would have benefited by possessing a holding man more in the mould of Rijkaard for balance. 2nd PDG1978 (finished 12th) 3rd Bestie (finished 4th) 4th billyireland (finished 1st) 5th El Mata (finished 5th) (to be continued)
I think doge's team wasn't in those results cr7torossi (but anyway, it wasn't me lol as you can see!). I listed him on my list but he wasn't in the summary. I didn't expect Maradona would stick to the left, but I did think your line-up might allow him to shine and Kocsis could lay the ball back for him to run at defenders often.
Obviously a genius! What - I had Bestie, Billy and El Mata lower down? Well, still a genius! Actually, leaving my side out of it (and yours that I placed 2nd but indeed came near the top overall) we voted the same team in 1st place and I definitely agree with the "quality in all departments" statement. The weakness I can see too potentially, but that would trade off with what those two would do when they got hold of the ball (and Tigana could be very good at nipping in and stealing the ball I suppose) and that defence is certainly no walkover once opponents get near it if it can retain some discipline.
I thought I would be higher too . Congrats to Billy. I placed him at the first position too (I'm a bit disappointed he didn't pick Abalo this time however ). Thanks you Sammer's Hammer that was a highly entertaining draft.
@La-Máquina , Cheers mate. I agree and I think that is what came to bite me back most probably. Should have gone for someone like Duncan Edwards instead of Jean Tigana as Big Dunc was much more of a destroyer than Tigana. But I was a bit skeptical regarding Big Dunc as he only played for five odd years even though he was brilliant in those years.
Ok, here is the list of players by nationality drafted in the two straight all-time drafts and this one player per nation version (which is still an 'A' Class draft). Copied from the 'B' Draft thread with the drafting in this draft added in. Still showing by nation played for, wheras this draft was based on current nations the players are associated with. doge and korfan's picks included: Argentina (11 drafted thrice, 4 drafted twice, 7 drafted once, 22 players in total) Gabriel Batistuta - 3 Amadeo Carizzo - 2 Alfredo Di Stefano - 3 Ubaldo Fillol - 2 Diego Maradona - 3 Silvio Marzolini - 3 Luis Monti - 3 Jose Manuel Moreno - 3 Daniel Passarella - 3 Antonio Rattin - 2 Fernando Redondo - 3 Oscar Ruggeri - 3 Omar Sivori - 3 Javier Zanetti - 3 Osvaldo Ardiles - 1 Roberto Ayala - 1 Lionel Messi - 2 Raimundo Orsi - 1 Diego Simeone - 1 Mario Kempes - 1 Nestor Rossi - 1 Roberto Perfumo - 1 Austria (2 drafted thrice, 1 drafted twice, 1 drafted once, 4 players in total) Josef Bican - 2 Ernst Ocwirk - 3 Matthias Sindelar - 3 Ernst Happel - 1 Belgium (1 drafted thrice, 1 drafted twice, 1 drafted once, 3 players in total) Eric Gerets - 3 Jan Ceulemans - 1 Jean-Marie Pfaff - 2 Brazil (17 drafted thrice, 8 drafted twice, 11 drafted once, 36 players in total) Ademir Marques de Menezes - 2 Cafu - 3 Carlos Alberto Torres - 3 Toninho Cerezo - 2 Didi - 3 Djalma Santos - 3 Domingos Da Guia - 2 Falcao - 3 Garrincha - 3 Gerson - 2 Jairzinho - 3 Jorginho - 2 Junior - 3 Leandro - 2 Nilton Santos - 3 Pele - 3 Rivaldo - 2 Roberto Rivelino - 3 Roberto Carlos - 3 Romario - 3 Ronaldinho - 3 Ronaldo - 3 Socrates - 2 Zico - 3 Zizinho - 3 Dani Alves - 1 Danilo Alvim - 1 Branco - 1 Careca - 1 Clodoaldo - 1 Arthur Friedenreich - 1 Leonidas - 1 Luis Perreira - 1 Tostao - 1 Mario Zagallo - 1 Zito - 1 Bulgaria (1 player drafted thrice) Hristo Stoichkov - 3 Chile (1 player drafted thrice, 1 drafted once, 2 players in total) Elias Figueroa - 3 Leonel Sanchez - 1 Colombia (1 player drafted once) Carlos Valderrama - 1 Czech Republic (1 player drafted twice) Pavel Nedved - 2 Czechoslovakia (3 drafted thrice, 2 drafted once, 5 players in total) Ladislao Kubala - 3 Josef Masopust - 3 Frantisek Planicka - 3 Jan Popluhar - 1 Anton Ondrus - 1 Denmark (2 players drafted thrice, 1 drafted once, 3 in total) Micheal Laudrup - 3 Peter Schmeichel - 3 Brian Laudrup - 1 England (9 drafted thrice, 4 drafted twice, 9 drafted once, 22 players in total) Gordon Banks - 3 Roger Byrne - 2 Sol Campbell - 3 Bobby Charlton - 3 Duncan Edwards - 3 Tom Finney - 3 Jimmy Greaves - 2 Stanley Matthews - 3 Bobby Moore - 3 Bryan Robson - 2 Peter Shilton - 3 Billy Wright - 3 Jimmy Armfield - 2 David Beckham - 1 Charlie Buchan - 1 Dixie Dean - 1 Eddie Hapgood - 1 Emlyn Hughes - 1 Wilf Mannion - 1 Paul Scholes - 1 Ashley Cole - 1 John Terry - 1 France (12 drafted thrice, 2 drafted twice, 6 drafted once, 20 players in total) Manuel Amoros - 3 Laurent Blanc - 2 Maxime Bossis - 3 Marcel Desailly - 3 Thierry Henry - 3 Raymond Kopa - 3 Bixente Lizarazu - 3 Michel Platini - 3 Lilian Thuram - 3 Jean Tigana - 3 Marius Tresor - 3 Patrick Vieira - 3 Zinedine Zidane - 3 Patrick Battiston - 2 Luis Fernandez - 1 Alain Giresse - 1 Robert Jonquet - 1 Claude Makelele - 1 Just Fontaine - 1 Didier Deschamps - 1 Germany (14 drafted thrice, 5 drafted twice, 10 drafted once, 29 players in total) Franz Beckenbauer - 3 Andreas Brehme - 3 Paul Breitner - 3 Hans-Peter Briegel - 3 Karl-Heinz Forster - 3 Oliver Kahn - 3 Manfred Kaltz - 2 Jurgen Kohler - 3 Sepp Maier - 2 Lothar Matthaus - 3 Gerd Muller - 3 Gunter Netzer - 2 Wolfgang Overath - 2 Kalr-Heinz Rummenigge - 3 Matthias Sammer - 3 Karl-Heinz Schnellinger - 3 Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck - 3 Berti Vogts - 3 Stefan Effenberg - 2 Uli Hoeness - 1 Paul Janes - 1 Helmut Rahn - 1 Bernd Schuster - 1 Harald Schumacher - 1 Uwe Seeler - 1 Bert Trautmann - 1 Fritz Walter - 1 Pierre Littbarski - 1 Phillip Lahm - 1 Hungary (5 drafted thrice, 2 drafted twice, 2 drafted once, 9 players in total) Jozsef Bozsik - 3 Zoltan Czibor - 3 Gyula Grosics - 3 Nandor Hidegkuti - 2 Sandor Kocsis - 3 Ferenc Puskas - 3 Florian Albert - 1 Gyula Lorant - 1 Gyorgy Sarosi - 2 Ireland (2 drafted thrice, 2 drafted once, 4 players in total) Roy Keane - 3 Paul McGrath - 3 Mark Lawrenson - 1 Denis Irwin - 1 Italy (12 drafted thrice, 8 drafted twice, 9 drafted once, 29 players in total) Roberto Baggio - 3 Franco Baresi - 3 Giussepe Bergomi - 3 Gianluigi Buffon - 3 Antonio Cabrini - 3 Alessandro Costacurta - 2 Renzo De Vecchi - 2 Giacinto Facchetti - 3 Claudio Gentile - 3 Paolo Maldini - 3 Alessandro Nesta - 3 Gianni Rivera - 3 Gaetano Scirea - 3 Marco Tardelli - 2 Gianluca Zambrotta - 2 Dino Zoff - 3 Giancarlo Antognoni - 1 Tarcisco Burgnich - 1 Fabio Cannavaro - 2 Roberto Donadoni - 1 Ricardo Ferri - 1 Valentino Mazzola - 1 Giussepe Meazza - 2 Silvio Piola - 2 Luigi Riva - 2 Paolo Rossi - 1 Mauro Tassotti - 1 Francesco Totti - 1 Andrea Pirlo - 1 Mexico (1 player drafted twice) Hugo Sanchez - 2 Northern Ireland (3 players drafted thrice) George Best - 3 Danny Blanchflower - 3 Pat Jennings - 3 Netherlands (10 drafted thrice, 2 drafted twice, 4 drafted once, 16 players in total) Johan Cruyff - 3 Edgar Davids - 3 Ruud Gullit - 3 Ronald Koeman - 3 Ruud Krol - 3 Johan Neeskens - 3 Frank Rijkaard - 3 Jaap Stam - 2 Wim Suurbier - 3 Marco van Basten - 3 Wim van Hanegem - 3 Dennis Bergkamp - 1 Rob Rensenbrink - 2 Faas Wilkes - 1 Arie Haan - 1 Edwin van der Sar - 1 Paraguay (1 drafted twice, 1 drafted once, 2 players in total) Jose Luis Chilavert - 2 Carlos Gamarra - 1 Peru (1 drafted thrice, 1 drafted twice, 2 players in total) Hector Chumpitaz - 3 Teofilo Cubillas - 2 Poland (1 drafted thrice, 1 drafted twice, 1 drafted once, 3 players in total) Gzregorz Lato - 3 Zbigniew Boniek - 2 Wladyslaw Zmuda - 1 Portugal (3 drafted thrice, 1 drafted twice, 1 drafted once, 5 players in total) Mario Coluna - 3 Eusebio - 3 Luis Figo - 3 Cristiano Ronaldo - 2 Fernando Peyroteo - 1 Romania (1 player drafted thrice) Gheorghe Hagi - 3 Scotland (2 drafted thrice, 4 drafted twice, 3 drafted once, 9 players in total) Billy Bremner - 2 Kenny Dalglish - 2 Alan Hansen - 3 Graeme Souness - 3 Alex James - 1 Denis Law - 1 Dave Mackay - 2 Danny McGrain - 2 Willie Woodburn - 1 Soviet Union (3 drafted thrice, 1 drafted twice, 4 players in total) Rinat Dasaev - 3 Albert Shesternyov - 3 Lev Yashin - 3 Oleg Blokhin - 2 Spain (4 drafted thrice, 4 drafted twice, 5 drafted once, 13 players in total) Francisco Gento - 3 Josep Guardiola - 2 Fernando Hierro - 3 Luis Suarez Miramontes - 3 Ricardo Zamora - 3 Jose Antonio Camacho - 2 Rafael Gordillo - 1 Andres Iniesta - 2 Michel - 1 Xavi - 2 Telmo Zarra - 1 Sergio Busquets - 1 Iker Casillas - 1 Sweden (2 drafted thrice, 2 drafted twice, 4 players in total) Nils Liedholm - 3 Gunnar Nordahl - 3 Orvar Bergmark - 2 Kurt Hamrin - 2 Ukraine (1 player drafted twice) Andriy Shevchenko - 2 Uruguay (5 drafted thrice, 1 drafted twice, 3 drafted once, 9 players in total) Jose Leandro Andrade - 3 Jose Nasazzi - 3 Jose Santamaria - 3 Juan Schiaffino - 3 Obdulio Varela - 3 Enzo Francescoli - 1 Ladislao Mazurkiewicz - 2 Ricardo Pavoni - 1 Victor Rodriguez Andrade - 1 Wales (1 drafted thrice, 1 drafted twice, 1 drafted once, 3 players in total) John Charles - 3 Ryan Giggs - 2 Neville Southall - 1 Yugoslavia (3 players drafted twice, 3 drafted once, 6 in total) Vladimir Beara - 1 Dragan Dzajic - 2 Dejan Savicevic - 2 Velibor Vasovic - 2 Branko Zebec - 1 Branko Stankovic - 1
Wow, surprising results. Maybe because i was a bit more easy going in doing my rankings this time but the teams were all so close. I'll post my rankings with explanations later.
Wow, quite delighted to finally get a win after probably a half dozen drafts or even more at this stage. I did feel quite confident about finishing high, but it was a pretty tight draft so there really was no certainty. I was fortunate that very few players I had pencilled in got taken before me, and the few that did wound up being blessings in disguise. I've got a history of having the guy I really want taken right before I am up, and in not getting the guys I want most in sheep drafts, so I guess luck just smiled on me this time around. - I wanted Marzolini for example a small bit over Schnellinger/Brehme (who I had at a coin-toss, though Brehme would have fit in behind Blokhin a tiny bit better perhaps). Doge taking him though eventually led to me knowing several rounds in advance that I could sit back and take Batistuta in the final round. That was huge peace of mind, and on that note I was surprised my backup for him, Denis Law, went unpicked (and Jimmy Greaves, though England had more players in total picked than Scotland). - I really wanted Rivelino and was spitting blood when Michaelf took him just ahead of me to either Sammer or Bestie via PM . But that allowed me to pick up the #1 RB of all time in Djalma Santos in round 6 which I felt was a major coup at the time, and came right before a run on FBs. I think my backline was possibly the biggest factor in my winning this thing, so that was huge. - I wanted Schmeichel, but missing out on him allowed me to wait about 3 extra rounds in taking a GK - rounds where I got Blanchflower, Blokhin and Schnellinger - the first two were open to almost everyone, so I doubt they would have lasted much longer than they did. And I fell back on VDS, who to my mind is without question a top 15 and almost certainly a top 10 GK of all time, plus arguably the best distributor of the ball in the history of that position. I guess it paid off that I went in for one or two 'free' picks like Chumpitaz and Keane early on - I think for both it was mentioned that they might have still been there a round later, but I felt it wasn't worth the risk due to their combined ability/nation value. I also noticed that there are considerably less big defensive names from 'lesser' nations than there were attacking ones, which is why I used 5 of my first 7 choices there (the back four + Keane), and it paid off nicely when there was a scramble on defensive positions at the end, especially when a number of people had used the big nations already. To be honest, I was quite surprised through the draft to not see a higher premium placed on legit players from 'lesser' nations in general. My initial plan for example, was to leave my German and Brazilian picks until rounds 10 & 11 as both had far more than 17 players worth drafting. I was also extremely fortunate to have Platini fall to me at #13. For me, he's an probably #6 on the list (after Pele, Maradona, Beckenbauer, Cruyff and Di Stefano) in my own estimation, so that was a complete blessing. He only really fits in one part of the field, but he is incredibly versatile both to different systems and styles of players around him. So I'll leave it with this...
Congrats billy. I had you 2nd behind Twenty26Six. These were my top 4: Twenty26Six, billyireland, babaorum and La-Máquina. The nearly escorts were: Excape Goat and El Mata. I'm disappointed with my final position, my expectations were high.
Grats to billy! Had you 3rd, but overall there wasn't much seperation between the top drafters imo so well deserved. Kind of disappointed to finish below average and not expected compared to last time when nicephoras/I had a team with 2-3(?) sheep. In the final ranking babaorum was the most underrated for me, I had him 2nd.
I can see how frustrating it can be. And you miss out by a few points as well. In the WC Draft I won by 5 points but like I said then you deserved the win as shown by the fact that most (including me) voted you as first. Your consistency is really admirable.