Yeah, I think you, Nice and I are all thinking of the same player. I presume a number of us just thought he'd definitely get chosen (by a couple and most likely blocked) in the first round and stayed clear.
I love how you guys will pick a player that 7 or 8 other people covet (without hesitation) and lose a pick. Yet, when you can pick a guy no one else wanted, you shy away from it. Remember, this draft isn't always about picking the best available player.
If the last draft proved anything, it was that if you can be a bit brave and with a bit of luck, there is no reason you have to settle for second best.
Yeah. The third round last year was a prime example. Most people went Dutch, allowing Beckenbauer and another to slip through.
If you say so... but, that's not how I remember it. In the final rankings, one person benefited greatly from taking a risk and won. Others, with multiple sheep, ended up buried in the bottom 5. Of all the players "taking risks", a very low percentage of them actually achieved a high ranking.
I would say that Ravelli should be a sheep option. He is a legend in sweden, and of course he is not completely rubbish, but as I understood, we were supposed to pick some all right players for sheep, (maybe that is debatable). I would say Ravelli is way below the top keepers and I will be sorry to have him on my all-time team. He did get a lot of caps to his name, but there were no better alternatives in Sweden at the time. Most of his caps came during the 80s, where Sweden didn't participated in any final competitions. At club level he played all his carrer in Sweden except for one season in MLS. He was very rarely tested by the best strikers. He can never be regarded as anything more than decent. I was trying to find some dirt on him, and I came up with this clip from a match, where he lets in 4 goals against a 2nd division team who beats IFK Göteborg 4-3 in the Swedish cup. I know it doesn't prove anything, but it doesn't smells like world class. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5GU5uiXdzA"]YouTube - Veberöds AIF - IFK Göteborg i Svenska Cupen 1993 (del 2/2)[/ame] (The match highlight starts at 3.44, Ravelli is goalkeeper for the red team) About Aguinaga, I admit I am not the one who should be nominating him. I didn't follow the Mexican league regularly. As I remember him, mostly from international games, he was a skillfull player with a lack of power. He couldn't lift the team against the best. I have kinda the same feeling about Steven Pienaar. If others who know him better, thinks I am way off, then remove him from the sheep list.
Nah. Ravelli is not a sheep. Not even close. He won a pk shootout for Sweden vs. Romania is WC '94. Campos was a sheep last year, and even that was debateable. He only slid by because of his novelty height.
At the same time, I got a sheep for going conservative with two straight picks last year, so you never know. I never thought Laudrup would have gotten taken in the second round. A lot of it is luck, really. I almost picked the player who shall not be named twice, and didn't even consider him for the third round! No one debated my choice of Campos at the time. I'm tempted to pick him again, frankly.
I'm the one that nominated him. I think he's a sheep - mostly because of his height. He'd genuinely get obliterated against the "best of the best". He would have never covered enough net and could never have challenged anything in the air. But, he was a very good CONCACAF keeper in his time, and he could play. If he wasn't so short, I don't think I'd have nominated him as a sheep.
Agreed. I think those performances at USA 94 atone for the other ones. Valid points about Ravelli. I still wouldn't label him as a sheep because of some of his international performances. That clip from the Swedish Cup nearly convinced me but that was before his penalty saves against the Romanians and preventing the Swedes from being humiliated by Brazil at USA 94. Pienaar is a sheep. Definitely. I've never liked him ever since his Ajax days.
Tell me about it. After sending my selections to lanman it dawned on me that Kenny may well have left the building. As for my sheep selection, is there a definitive list? If not, any objections to Shay Given...?
Not really. I think he would be better than most sheep but there will be many quality keepers in the draft who were better than him.
Hmm, not sure about Given. He has been one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League over the past 10+ years.
I have to disagree about Shay Given as well. I know he didn't saved Ireland in the penalty shoot out competition in the World Cup, but being a top goal keeper in the Premier League for more than a decade, facing the best strikers in the world, is very good. In my opinion way better that Ravelli who played in the Swedish league.
Quick update on Round 2 Most selections are in with Karloski, Maniac Butcher, nsa, Peru FC & Triton still to pick. Deadline is Tuesday 8pm GMT Triton and frasermc both have their Round 1 sheep. nicephoras still to select his.
For Round 3 I've been deliberating over the criteria I initially intended to use and can't quite make my mind up whether it's going to be too tricky in certain cases. With that in mind, I'm going to put it out to everyone early to get some feedback. It's a two pick round as follows: a) Pick a player who became a manger / head coach of a club or national team b) Pick a player who played for the player from Pick a) while he was a manager. Now, if you are successful with Pick B but not Pick A, this may leave you with a very limited selection of players (being successful with Pick A but ot Pick B would still leave ample choice in almost all situations). This would mean you have to be extremely careful who you choose with Pick B, as if your Pick A fails you may be forced to select a sheep standard player. So while this opens up almost every player, it means thinking very hard about who you take as it may restrict your second and third picks if you're unlucky. Are people happy with this as a potential round, or is it going to be too restrictive?
I'm happy with that. Having to use the old grey matter a little more is no bad thing. I'd imagine everyone participating will make sure they thinks things through before making selections.
Like Fraser I'd be ok with the suggested criteria. If you were going to adjust it lanman I have two possible ideas to make it less of an issue (but might complicate the picking process): 1) You could ask for the a) picks first then the b) picks after each drafter gets an a) pick. If 3 fails on a), then 3 attempts at a b) pick on the 3rd go then people could suggest sheep to match the b) pick. 2) You could ask whether people want to keep their b) pick if their a) pick fails. Like I said these are just initial thougts and sound a bit complicated even to me, plus they'd require more interaction by PM in a short time and/or multiple picks allowed in one go. If the initial criteria sounds ok to others I'll go with it - I don't know if you're considering lanman that some players may have had very few managers and that could cause problems... maybe the above ideas could help if so. It's a nice idea as a round though and a bit different. Both the previous rounds have been excellent choices too IMO, though more conventional/similar to last years' draft criteria. EDIT I'm feeling my suggestions may cause other issues actually but I'll leave them posted to act as possible basis for ideas. I think on reflection the initial criteria is ok as long as everyone understands and therefore don't pick a player with few managers/managers who played at a high level.
Works for me - and quite a bit of fun. But, to confirm, if you choose someone as A and someone else chooses that same player as B, that player is still knocked out, right?