2 of those teams don't have the midfield to compete with Varela/Suarez/Laudrup though - they're going to struggle to get the ball out wide. You've only really got Karloski and, to a lesser extent, JamesA that are going to be able to consistantly hurt Gerrard/Hierro down the left. There are weaknesses in 26's team - I would prefer replacing Hierro with a more mobile centre back come right back given that there is also Koeman back there. I don't think that Gerrard is the liability some are making him out to be in this formation. In a 4-4-2 he would be a disaster, but not here. England played with Darren Anderton in that position at Euro 96 - it's not a primarily defensive position.
I'm not sure that's true - if it was my team, I'd have Nilton Santos push up as much as possible and tell Bertoni to play primarily on the left, which would force Suarez and Laudrup to help more on that side. The other problem is that this is an all time draft, not a question of whether or not Gerrard can play there adequately. I'm also not sure Anderton is a great comparison - he was primarily a wide player, something Gerrard is not.
One of the main characteristics I recognize of Maicon is despite being a very offensive side-back is also very good defensively, very balanced in that sense. I think is the main difference between him and his contemporary Dani Alves. Pirri is undoubtedly the best Spanish defensive midfielder ever and of the history of Real Madrid (in his style alongside Redondo), had a great stamina and a very smart and elegant game. I think he perfectly covered two areas, pressure and recovery because his great stamina and defensive game, and great form to distribute and rotate the ball alongside Cueto and Hidegkuti.
5. Excape Goat His Brazilian team have a very good order and style. Gérson, Rivelino, Zizinho and Garrincha covers the talent fee, Mackay is a very good anchor. Germano was a very good defender but I'm not sure if he would be the best defensive partnership for Kohler. 6. soccernutter I like his team, Bergomi and Cannavaro as stoppers I think it's very possible to operate well, Rijkaard and Zito a great partnership at the midfield, Matthews and Eusébio large cache names very good positioned. Simoes seems me a very good left-winger but at this level I think is only a regular player. Fritz Walter seems a difficult player to rate, I think he was slightly better a support striker or deep-lying forward than a playmaker despite he was still good in both tasks. 7. schwuppe A very good pair in Edwards and Charlton at the midfield. Malbernat is an historic player for Estudiantes de La Plata by his leading but his level at general is low at this draft, I think he would constantly surpassed by the talented players here. Very good formation at general.
8. KyleP A very good team, it's difficult to note any weakness unless I put thick and there is how I think Nelinho was a very good attacking side-player but not so good defending. McGrath is highly regarded here but I don't think he was one of the very best for his position (not Top 50 in my own rankings). Sócrates, Baggio and Ronaldo seems a great trio in attack. 9. PDG1978 Trapattoni, Kaká and Rui Costa form a good midfield but I think doesn't reach one of the best at this game. Despite of that, Zico elevates significantly the level but I'm not sure how their society could function with Kaká, a very attacking player. Zebec and Scirea seems me a great partnership in defense. 10. argentine soccer fan Ok, his team is also very good and he had Cruyff, probably the best player of this draft alongside Di Stéfano, but it created me seems doubts. Guardiola was a very good deep-lying playmaker, well suited for a team with a much ball possession but he can't cover excellent the defense issues as an anchor. Pavoni, Deco and Rep fully cover their work and were very good players, but especially Pavoni and Rep seems me just slightly short for this high game.
11. JamesA Verón and Effenberg don't seem me the best pair in the first line of the midfield, neither Del Piero as playmaker. Despite of that he has quality players as Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo by the sides, Baresi as sweeper and Zarra as centreforward. Zanetti played very good as left-back but I think could be slightly better to have him by right. 12. y.o.n.k.o Ok, as several of you I find a structural problem in put to Iniesta as central midfielder, he definitely isn't the type of player of Xavi, he plays more advanced in the attack and Deschamps would be very lonely. Being Gento and Jairzinho in the attack I believe he could go for more defensive side-backs, especially than Brehme. Finally, I believe Piqué is a slightly low pick at this level. Despite of that, could be very dangerous with a such powerful attack. 13. Breitner'sWig Valussi seems me a very evident sheep despite was the best type of player to be the partner of Chumpitaz. Bochini was a great playmaker but I think he would need a better defensive support than just only Jansen. 14. cr7torossi I think he complicated too much in his tactics. Anyway I can look I believe Hamrin and Cubilla cover the same space and clogged between them, Redondo seems me out of position and without too much mark. To these type of games I believe is better to form a symmetric team.
Wrong. Last season for example, Xavi scored more goals for Barca than Iniesta. Iniesta can and does everything as Xavi, but he also does things Xavi can't. I didn't say they are the same player. Iniesta is more versatile - in his positioning, with the roles he can play and with his abilities. Iniesta can play deeper, more advanced or wider. He can orchestrate and penetrate. That doesn't mean your evaluation of Thuram is accurate. Maybe it's your memory that needs refreshing....Thuram didn't struggle to play CB anywhere. And he was great at RB in 1998-2000 and as CB in 2006. He was also great for Parma as CB too. Yes, every team needs one. Busquets and Guardiola are special kind of water carriers - they can also pass the ball. Deschamps wasn't great passer or as good as Busquets/Guardiola, but he wasn't a bad passer either. That part I agree with you about. My dislike is for your comments regarding Thuram, Deschamps and Iniesta.
My wife threw away my notes when cleaning my desk. I don't remember how I ranked all the teams. I only remember that my top 3 was: 1.KyleP, 2.Cevno and 3.Excape Goat. And I gave Twenty's team last place because I didn't like his team with 3 sweepers (Koeman, Hierro, Domingos) plus Gerard by himself on the whole right side.
This did disturb me for a while. I from the first 4 rounds, including a double, I used the maximum 15 picks and ended up with one sheep to boot. That's 11 blocks out of 15. But then in the last 6 rounds (including a double again) I only needed 11 attempts. So only 4 blocks out of 21 there. Anyone have any comments on why I got so many fails? Were there too many obvious picks? Aimed too high? Or is it mainly luck? My record: R1(int app aged 36+) Suarez, Zoff, Chumpitaz R2 (same WC squad no) Maradona & Platini, Fachetti & Moore, Czibor & Finney R3 (Eur club final winning goal) van Basten, Coluna, Eto'o R4 (born pre-WC'30) Ocwirk, Liedholm, Carrizo, Valussi R5 (league match in 2012) Buffon, van Nistelrooy R6 (UCL + Copa Lib win) Bochini & Beckenbauer, Muller R7 (same comp, diff teams) Tigana, Jansen R8 (top 3 in award) Fillol, Schnellinger R9 (won 6 or more comps) Mazurkiewicz R10 (pick from list) Vogts First three players were good quality, then it all went wrong as I panicked getting Eto'o and then again with RVN after a sheep. Then replaced one with Muller which meant I had accepted a sheep for the starting XI. I realise now that would be punished hard. But the Jansen thing seems to have come off just as bad, maybe I misjudged how others would react.
With those players in 26's midfield, not many teams are going to enjoy a good share of possession, granted. But play them on the break with wingers, they would get the **** smashed out of them. I really don't think the back 3 are good enough to be dealing with this either. If your comments were true I think we'd be seeing a lot more teams playing 3 at the back IRL in order to dominate possession. The truth is you risk being found out on the break down the wings.
I can also play deeper, more advanced or wider. I'm not any good at those positions, of course, and Iniesta isn't as good wide or deeper either. You can argue all you want, but practically every posted who commented on your formation said the same thing about Iniesta. I guess they're all wrong also? You're right, it must be a different player named Thuram I remember struggling for Juventus. Did he have a twin brother? Guardiola was no water carrier. You seem to think the Cantona jibe applies to any midfielder who sits deep - it doesn't. Pirlo played as the deepest of Italy's midfielders this season; Cantona would describe him or Pep as a water carrier though. It was meant as an insult as to skill. The comments about Iniesta are the crux of the issue. Anyway, I've said what I meant to say about the issue, and my rating of your team was close to where it ultimately ended up in the draft. If you want to argue about it some more with other people, feel free.
I think I know Iniesta's strengths a little bit better since I've been watching every Barca or Spain game since he and Xavi have been playing. Of course you and others are entitled to your opinions, but you are wrong. Iniesta is equally good in every position/role he has played. Either that or your evaluation skills are lacking.... First, I don't care about Cantona's jibe. And second it doesn't apply to every midfielder who sits deeper. Pirlo played deeper than Gatuso, but the later is the "water carrier". Players like Guardiola and Busquets are DMs who can keep it simple and tidy, doing some work that not many people would notice, but also they can distribute the ball. I didn't want that kind of DM on my team. I wanted a different type of DM. Hence I picked Deschamps since I think he was better at being a destructive DM with decent passing. It's not just that as I said already. That's fine. I just disagree with your evaluation of some of the players on my team.
On the next-to-last round, I was looking at the options of picking Guardiola or Marco Tardelli, as they both fit the criteria. I liked Guardiola better for what I was trying to accomplish in terms of ball movement. Would you have liked my team better with Marco Tardelli at DM?
The team is set up to defend deep. It won't be a high line, and we won't be pushing up in numbers. Every other team will be trying to play wide open and pushing up on me, and I will be sitting back and hitting them on the break. Barca has shifted at times to 3-4-3 (and 2-5-3 in some cases) in order to dominate possession with Busquets dropping between Puyol and Pique, and the fullbacks effectively becoming full-out side midfielders. Do they get broken down on the wings? Did Brasil not win a World Cup playing a 3-5-2 in 2002?
I don't see Tardelli as a pivot. He is more of a box-to-box type of water carrier for this draft. And, you already had a similar (if not better) player in Masopust. In your tactical schematic, you could have positioned Masopust lower and talked more about him being a two-way player. That might have garnered you a few more 1st place votes. You were already second place for me though. To get any higher, you needed to replace Deco with someone better. You had a better chance of convincing me that Perfumo could play CB than Deco belonged at AM over someone like Netzer, Neeskens, Suarez, or Overath.
Right, back now from my trip and just reading up on the results. Can't say I'm that suprised by the outcome, apart from Breitner's Wig's placing. I certainly didn't think his team was anywhere near the worst.
The main point of contetion against your team seems to be 'balance', but then looking at most of the teams in this draft, not many are terribly balanced themselves, I thoughts yours in fact was one of the more sensibly constructed compared to a lot. The obvious issue is only having Jansen has genuine cover in midfield, but then I thought the defense was solid enough, even with Valussi, to be able to compenstate for that. Obiously it's a team with a fair few flaws but imo it still stacks up fairly well compared to the other sides in this draft.
Exactly my view, 2 issues of contention seem to be enough to scupper a team though, no matter how you compensate for them. Thought yours was very well balanced too with an excellent attack, just a question of whether the general quality was quite enough in the side when looking towards the defensive end of things. Probably reflected in your 4th place ranking.
If I picked Cabrini I would have had to change my formation, and indeed play Masopust lower next to him (as I did with Pipo Rossi and Duncan Edwards in a previous draft), and I didn't really want to do that. I wanted Guardiola, and I wanted Masopust to help defend but play more offense interacting with Cruyff and taking advantage of the space left by Labruna. I narrowed down my options in the last round to replacing three players: Pavoni, Deco and Perfumo. Pavoni I really liked, I watched him when I was a kid, and the only reason for replacing him would be that I know most people haven't seen him and he's very much underrated. Deco I could have replaced in midfield with a better rated player, but I thought he fit very well within the role I needed. I finally decided on Perfumo because I didn't want to play a libero type like him alongside a sweeper. Once I was able to get Sammer -one of my all-time favorite defenders- I started worrying about that pair. I really wanted a stopper that would click next to him, and I really thought that was the best way to improve my team. So, it was either try to fix the team for the rankings (replace Pavoni or Deco) or try to fix it in my own mind (replace Perfumo), and I chose the latter. Anyway, I ended up ranked second, and I personally think the team that was ranked first, led by Di Stefano- was the better one, so I don't have any complains.
I had problems with Bochini. In Independiente he always had two or three ball-recovery mids behind him. In fact, for much of his career he played up top as a false-nine. But for Breitner's Wig team he only had Jensen protecting him. I think if Breitner's Wig has seen more of Bochini he would have given him more cover. Truth is, it's hard to say any team was a "worst" team. There was very little difference in my mind between most teams, except a few at the top. Very minor concerns could mean the difference between being ranked seven and fourteen. But somebody had to be last, so...
Two or three? Crikey he was a princess. I think you're right, maybe I haven't seen enough of him and if I held the opinion he can't operate without having Deschamps, Makelele and Gatusso all dedicated to earning him the ball he certainly would have no place in my team. What a waste of players! And they say we English are negative!
Let's be honet though, a lot of the teams were like that. When I was going through my rankings, I found myself thinking that most of them could do with an extra body helping out defensively. This was probably the most challenging sheep draft so far and for that reason it did seem like the teams were a lot more unbalanced than in previous editions. The voting was also once again, very challenging, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. I had to redo mine I few times before I was happy and even now I'd probably change them quite a bit if I had a second chance.