As a responsible voter, I looked up all the players yesterday
I fully agree with Sherwood being a questionable one - and in no way Matthews vs Dunne is a biggest mismatch in the game. Dunne played on the highest level most of his career, his credentials speaks for himself. He is a level below Wilson (great character he is, was there a bigger write-up about him in the main thread?) and Neville, but still a brilliant player. Sherwood played only 4 seasons in the First division for a mid/low table club (Cardiff was 12,10,20 and 17, he left them for a Third Division club in 1956 and they were relegated in the next season). And he is up against one of the best players in history, who is a much more versatile player than Matthews.
Another one in question is Raisbeck - who played as a center-half, a position more similar to a modern day midfielder rather than a defender. Incredibly fast, yet, not very tall (178 cm) and, with Rio not being monstrous in the air (pretty good, but nothing out of the ordinary like Charles/Dean, in my opinion, he had other qualities), I can see Charles creating havoc there on set-pieces. Hell, even Law and Best would stand a chance against them in the air if you take in consideration that the delivery is from David Beckham.
The midfield is an interesting one. No doubt that MJJ is better there in terms of personnel, but I like the balance in Skizzo's team better - I wouldn't call Murdoch a box-to-box ala Keane/Robson/Souness, he wasn't that mobile, but I can see him almost as a deep-lying playmaker of sorts, his game was less about running and more about positioning and playmaking. Auld will work harder than Charlton here, despite the latter being a superior player (I found an interesting quote yesterday, the question was about the secret behind his almost non-existent injury record:
Bobby Charlton said:
Errr, I was a bit of a coward. I didn't always go where angels fear to tread. No. If I was asked to tackle somebody, by the time I made my mind up it was too late
Beckham will help more than Giggs or Matthews, I think, which means that in midfield the teams are pretty even.
So, it comes to defenders/attackers and how are they suited to cope with each other. Giggs and Matthews will be a great threat to Skizzo's fullbacks - Neville always struggled against fast and agile players and Matthews are just too good, even if there is nothing wrong with Dunne personally - but what's next? Neither were really known as a constant goalthreat themselves (both capable of moments of an individual brilliance though, no doubt about that, ask Vieira&co) so they will try and find Dean with their crosses mostly. And this is where Charles comes in - he, as much as Dean himself, is well-known as one of the very best headers of the ball in the history of British football, but he is 5 cm higher - I think he is the best man to try and stop Dean from scoring here.
On the other hand we have the real mismatch of the game, Best vs Sherwood (with Best equally capable of cutting in or running down the wing he will be a tougher opponent than Matthews), and a cheating Beckham who doesn't need to beat the best fullback on the pitch to make his deadly cross. It's good that Rio is covering for Sherwood and not Raisbeck, who isn't going to be threatened from Wilson's side, but he still is the most questionable player on the pitch (a shoehorned midfielder of sorts) and he is against arguably the best striker in the draft in Law.
The amount of MJJ's firepower is impressive though. And all those sires
But in the end I went with balance. Great team though,
@MJJ, I didn't like your team in the beginning, but you changed it completely and now it really is beautiful. You just needed to get rid of KKK
) but because he was a quality striker. the best ever in britian history.