70s Fantasy Draft - Rood v Ralaks

[Brwned]

Team Rood

TEAM ROOD

Shay Given: Ireland’s most capped player and still one of the best keepers in England.
2 time PL Team Of The Year (‘02&’06).

Roberto Carlos: The best full back in this draft by far and arguably the greatest full back of all time. Known for both defensive and attacking brilliance plus legendary dead ball specialist
UEFA Defender OTY ‘02 / World Cup Allstar Team ‘98&’02

Jaime Carragher: Always Mr.Dependable when called upon by club and country
PL TOTY '06 / CL Winner and Runner Up / Premier League = feck ALL

William Gallas: Defensive rock for Chelsea, Arsenal and France for many years – always known as a strong, speedy defender who can deal with the quickest of attackers.
2 time PL TOTY (‘03&’06) / 2 x PL Winner

Stephen Carr: His peak was at the start of his career with Spurs, knows for his tireless running for both attacking and defensive duties on the right side of the pitch.
2 time PL TOTY ‘01&’03

Pep Guardiola:He is the blueprint for all Barca’s current success; Xavi, Iniesta and Fàbregas have all stated that he was their role model and hero.
Euro Team Of The Tournament 1992 & 2000 / 6 x La Liga / 2 x Euro Cups etc

Dino Baggio: Will look to break up the opposition in midfielder, big game player who often saved his goals for the biggest stage and got his name on the scoresheet in two UEFA finals and also in the World Cup. Was a regular for the national team ahead of the likes of Donadoni and Albertini in their prime.
3 times UEFA Cup Winner / WC'94 Runner Up.

Bernd Schneider: Earned the nickname "The White Brazilian" for his dribbling and passing skills as well as his dead ball accuracy. A vital part of teams that reached World Cup and Champions League Finals.
Rudi Völler said: "Bernd was a great footballer, who produced magic for Germany and Leverkusen…”

Rivaldo: One of the greatest players of all time, won everything from World Cup to Champions League to Ballon D’or, plus has an award that no other player in this draft can claim, Uzbek League Top Scorer 2009! An unstoppable attacking player who could win games all on his own.

Michael Owen: Awarded the Ballon D’or in 2001, at his peak his movement was unrivaled and he was considered the deadliest finisher on the planet. Scored one of the all time greatest World Cup goals.
Twice winner of the PL Golden Boot, he was also selected in the PL Team Of The Decade.

Diego Milito A prolific and consistent center-forward, statistically averaged just over a goal every two appearances. Pivotal in Inter's recent treble winning season and his two goals in the Champions League Final gave him international recognition as one of the world's most effective front men.
Serie A and UEFA Footballer Of The Year 2010. Italian and Champions League Winner etc.

Tactics:
My team features not one but two Ballon D'or winners and when we are talking about players at their peak, there is no greater honour. Add to that a sack full of World Cup, European and domestic medals plus a plethora of individual honours spread all around my legendary players.
We set up with a midfield diamond involving Guardiola holding to protect the already strong central defensive partnership of Gallas and Carragher. My fullbacks will both be encouraged to get forward to exploit the space behind my opponents wide players.

My star player is Rivaldo and I have given him a free role behind the deadly strike force where he can provide both goals and assists. Baggio and Schneider are complete midfielders who will add value to both the defensive and creative side of the team.

Owen will be instructeded to hang off the shoulder of the last defender and use his speed to get in behind while Milito keeps them busy in the air - there are sure to be chances created by the likes of Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos and Schneider and these two only need a few half chances to convert to a bag full of goals.

SUB: Roberto Di Matteo

Team Ralaks

Bench: Santiago Solari.

Hans-Jörg Butt:
Twice champions league runner up, lived in the shadow of Kahn and Lehmann but still managed to have a decent career at club level.

Paulo Ferreira:
His peak is probably his 2003-2006 years in which he won the PL twice, CL once among other stuff, solid full back.

Fabio Cannavaro:
Very solid centre back, Ballon d'Or winner, one of the only centrebacks to win this ever. He more or less won every individual award available this year so I'd say it's safe to assume this is his peak.

Carlos Marchena:
Big part of Spains defensive unit during the 2008 EC where they only conceeded two goals, due to this he earned a spot in the team of the tournament, also featured a lot for Valencia during his 9 year stint where they managed to win the Spanish league twice.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst:
Originally a midfielder, however he was turned into a left back by Rijkaard at Barcelona where he won two league titles as well as a CL.


Ruben Baraja:
El Pipo. Complete midfielder, and I mean that in the sense that he was a great tackler with decent passing as well as a nose for goals. He was even Valencias topscorer during the 2001/2002 season. If I was to pick a period where he peaked it would be 2001-2004 where he picked up 1 Uefa Cup and 2 Spanish titles of note. During this period he scored a goal every fifth game, which is a decent record for a central midfielder.

Phillip Cocu:
Another midfielder who has the engine and ability to play in a midfield two. His abilities are more defensive oriented than Baraja imo, and he'll sit slightly deeper. Almost 300 games for FC Barcelona, he was the foreign player with most games for the club before Messi reached and passed him during this season.

Pavel Nedved:
Another Ballon d'Or winner. One of them players who could do anything with a ball with both feet. He was an beast between the years 2002-2004 (and well he was very good outsite that time span as well) but during those years he was one of the best players on the planet.

Hasan Salihamidzic:
6 German titles to his name as well as four cups and one Champions League. Quick winger with great crossing accuracy, very strong mentally as well which is important when coming across some of the great full backs in this tournament. Lastly he is also tall and somewhat strong in the air (especially compared to other wingers) and thus he'll be a danger to contend with for opposing defenses whenever a corner or a freekick appears.

Simão:
Very comfortable with the ball at his feet (like every other winger out of Portugal, minus Bebe). Can take a cracking freekick and has a brilliant strike on his right foot as well. Can play up front as well if the need arise.

Filippo Inzaghi:
Second most prolific striker ever in European competitions (4 goals less than Raul at 74), AC Milan's topscorer in international competitions, also holds two hattrick records (10 in Serie A and 3 in Europe (shared with Owen)). Two times Champions League winner with AC Milan, was named MotM in 2007 as well. He'll bang them in for me, no doubt.

Small notes:
People are probably bored of reading by now so I'll keep this short, Baraja and Cocu will obviously form my midfield partnership, Cocu will play the more defensive role and Baraja will have more license to attack. Nedved will be allowed to do what he pleases really.

Tried to keep this as short as possible since most people won't bother reading it if there is too much text.

 

[antohan]

Will sit this for a while, see if someone has a total Cal-lapse

 

[Rood]

The main threat from Ralaks is Pavel Nedved, apart from that I dont see that much to worry my side at all. Inzaghi will be offside as usual and Gallas has him in his back pocket anyway, I never really rated Simao that highly and my major memory of Salihamidzic is him coming on as a very late sub in the '99 CL Final and us scoring 2 goals after that!

Cocu was a cracking player but he is going to have his hands full tracking Rivaldo. I feel that Ferreira is the weak point of the Ralak's defence and that Roberto Carlos will get a lot of joy down the left side to ping in balls to Milito's head or find Owen running in behind.

I may decided to put Baggio on Nedved to neutralise him and then give Guardiola and Schneider time and space to find the right balls to my prolific front 3 who are sure to get enough goals to win this match up.

 

[Ralaks]

The main threat from Ralaks is Pavel Nedved, apart from that I dont see that much to worry my side at all. Inzaghi will be offside as usual and Gallas has him in his back pocket anyway, I never really rated Simao that highly and my major memory of Salihamidzic is him coming on as a very late sub in the '99 CL Final and us scoring 2 goals after that!

Cocu was a cracking player but he is going to have his hands full tracking Rivaldo. I feel that Ferreira is the weak point of the Ralak's defence and that Roberto Carlos will get a lot of joy down the left side to ping in balls to Milito's head or find Owen running in behind.

I may decided to put Baggio on Nedved to neutralise him and then give Guardiola and Schneider time and space to find the right balls to my prolific front 3 who are sure to get enough goals to win this match up.

I'm not that afraid of Roberto Carlos on the left, he'll be alone against Ferreira and Salihamidzic who'll be informed to work hard defensively which he is perfectly able to, likely nullifying the threat of Roberto Carlos.

You may say Gallas will keep Inzaghi (who I feel has been criminally underrated in this competition) quiet, but I will obviously have him preying on Carraghers shoulders who is average at best and never looked content against good and pacey strikers.

I think Simao (and Van Bronckhorst) will be more than a match for Carr, who like Carragher isn't top notch. Like Ferreira on my side - your right back is one of your defensive issue imo, and unlike me you won't have a right midfielder who works hard and tracks back helping him. You may choose to have Baggio or Schneider track back but giving Baraja and Nedved more room will be dangerous for you.

 

[Rood]

It is true that the right side of my defence is my weak link, we all have one but that is only relative to my extremely strong left side of defence. While I was up against Giggs in my last match and it was a worry, Simao is not on the same level so I am relaxed about that threat here. Dont forget that Carr was still a regular international so accustomed to playing against top players, Carragher as well has always been dependable on both CL duty and when called on by England.

If you put both Ferreira and Sali on RCarlos then you could keep him quiet but putting 2 men on 1 obviously puts strain on the rest of your team and leaves spaces in other areas of the pitch - space that the likes of Rivaldo, Guardiola and Schneider can exploit to provide opportunities to my deadly strike duo.

 

[antohan]

Rood looking very assured here. Ralaks threat from the flanks is limited and no greater than Rood's despite him occupying less players there.

Ralaks midfield core is more coherent and comparatively stronger. Problem is Sali is busy with Carlos and don't see Simao contributing much, so while Rood has Guardiola on Nedved, Rivaldo is loose. The comparative strength of Cocu and Baraja could suffer from having to keep an eye on him as well as Schneider and Baggio.

This should be a tight game with relatively few chances. So it's the attack that settles it for me. While I do not underestimate Inzaghi, I don't see him as a solo line leader and Rood has more options to put the ball in the back of the net.