All-Time Fantasy Draft

[Gio]

It was a crying shame that Argie generation coincided with no World Cups being played. No one who saw them play has any doubt they would have walked them.

Yeah the esteem in which they were held suggests they'd have been strong favourites. I always wonder how well Scotland would have fared in a 1920s or 1930s World Cup when we were certainly one of the better teams in Europe and pretty consistenly the strongest home nation calling on the likes of Jimmy McGrory, David Meiklejohn, Alan Morton, Hugh Gallacher, Alex James and Bob McPhail. We thrashed Czech Republic twice in '37 who were runners-up in '34 and quarter-finalists in '38, turned over runners-up Hungary in '38, Germany and France and drew a couple of times with that great Austrian side. The 1938 World Cup is the biggest 'what if' for me.

 

[Thisistheone]

Not what you are looking for (Europe since 60s) but "Football in sun and shadow" by Eduardo Galeano is a very good read. The author is best known for his left-wing writing (e.g."The open veins of Latin America") but a huge football fan and wrote this as a collection of short stories on certain players and the different World Cups.

It's quite enjoyable until he gets to the 90s and loses his way raging against FIFA, TV networks, Adidas, Nike, Mastercard, and anyone willing to sponsor football. Some good points on the influence they have and how the game gradually gets ruined in "the periphery" as a result, but completely changes the tone of the book and sours what was quite a splendid read.

Thanks. Will check this one out as well.

 

[antohan]

Thanks, that's one I've not read so will get it ordered.

Thanks. Will check this one out as well.

As said, bear in mind he is a left-wing writer and this is a very cunning way to get the masses to read propaganda. About 50% is football, 30% is valid/fair history and politics and the other 20% is downright agenda-driven tangents, particularly towards the end when he starts losing the plot, as left-wing writers usually do.

For anyone who has an interest in Latin America beyond football it's a great starting point to understand what is going on in those ideologically twisted one-track minds.

It's a great read, but don't expect anything remotely ressembling a European book on football, tactics, etc. You can easily read it in one afternoon, for starters!

 

[Thisistheone]

I'm kind of missing this thread now.

Not so much the match threads but the drafting was the best bit.

With hindsight I would have tried to get Facchetti as 3rd pick and leave the strikers til the end.

 

[antohan]

I'm kind of missing this thread now.

Not so much the match threads but the drafting was the best bit.

With hindsight I would have tried to get Facchetti as 3rd pick and leave the strikers til the end.

Eto'o certainly was a weird 3rd pick. Glad you didn't get Facchetti though. As far as I'm concerned him and Baresi were the best picks there and LB had a lot less options once I ruled out Argentina/Brazil/Germany. CB is much easier to fill.

The drafting certainly is the most fun. The nationality rule really does make it interesting because you have to nail where you want each nationality to go in order to avoid getting overloaded with players which can't come on and "Garrincha or Carlos Alberto" situations.

If you look at my drafting you will notice what I set out to do. I was very clear I wanted my Argies to be Maradona, Messi or Di Stéfano and my Brazilians to be Pelé or Ronaldo. Any reasonable combination of those at No.10 and No.9 was what I aimed for regarding those nationalities. That meant scarcity on the wings, only Best and Giggs/Ronaldo would be final-winning material.

Seeing as by my turn they were all gone bar Giggs, I gave up on alternative specialists for a front four and sort of built the side around eventually incorporating the key ones. The risk of course was losing in the very first game!

Laudrup was very handy as it gave me the chance to go for an interim strategy of Laudrup-Stoichkov-Romario (Romario occupying a slot to eventually be vacated if I got better). That got shot to pieces soon enough but still, unless I had Maradona, Laudrup could stay there throughout.

Effenberg himself was partnering Rijkaard for as long as I couldn't get Beckenbauer or Matthaus to seamlessly upgrade him.

I did end up having to make calls eventually (Maradona or Zanetti) but they were nowhere near as excruciating as others, which allowed the team to keep getting stronger.

Again, all immensely reliant on winning the first game, and when drawn against Gio I really thought I was a goner. Good thing was everyone got tied up in the Nordahl discussion and Erico fit like a glove to argue Moreno as less attractive. All tangents which meant Platini-Rivaldo-Xavi didn't hurt anywhere near as much as they could and should have. Call me wahtever you want, but my players were glad to have it that way

 

[Thisistheone]

Yeah the Eto'o move was clearly a mistake looking back. It was all new to me so I got obssessed with getting a well known player from a small country. Thinking that later on in the draft it would be easier to get good players from the big countries. Of course I didn't plan on a lack of full backs and central midfielders.

Being able to pick Maradona meant I got away with it otherwise it could well have been a 'crash and burn' in the first round job.

Of course, other players taking your picks causes problem. I really wanted Neeskens as 2nd pick but NM got in there just before me.

My order of picking probably should have gone something like 1. Maradona 2. Breitner 3. Facchetti 4. Sammer (knowning now of the East German factor ) playing Breitner in midfield.

 

[antohan]

My order of picking probably should have gone something like 1. Maradona 2. Breitner 3. Facchetti 4. Sammer (knowning now of the East German factor ) playing Breitner in midfield.

That would have been awesome. I was keen on Breitner as well as he afforded that flexibility of playing LB if I missed out on Facchetti while doing the German CM role better than Effenberg.

Originally I was planning on Breitner 3rd, Stoichkov 4th and Facchetti 5th as my best case scenario but then MBR got Stoichkov and Breitner before it was my turn again! MBR was very unlucky to draw Dan, he had the makings of a cracking side there.

Ended up with Iniesta, an unplanned pick that Aldo was -quite notoriously- very keen on. I felt we could pick Guardiola/Luis Enrique much later and that my backup Brazilian (Rivelino) could fulfil the same duties and was going to last until the end.

Prioritising Iniesta probably cost us Romario and getting Rio and Vidic together. I cursed that pick throughout the draft. As it turns out though, he gave us loads of flexibility and acted as a great reminder that great teams weren't required to have out and out wingers. Had I had Guardiola/Luis Enrique instead I most likely would have lost against Gio as I would have gone all negative and didn't have the right forwards to be playing on the counter.

So there you go, the difference between this and my previous drafts was most likely down to Aldo doing my head in and convincing me to pick someone I didn't really want.

 

[Moby]

Seems like that Iniesta discussion will go to the grave with me!

Iniesta wasn't in my initial plans either, given a host of players who can play as an AM. But once you picked Laudrup, given Iniesta's nationality and his versatility, it seemed a good choice. It did cost us few of our options, but then as expected it was more than handy and did the job. Him going though his peak right now also helped a bit.

 

[antohan]

It did cost us few of our options, but then as expected it was more than handy and did the job. Him going though his peak right now also helped a bit.

Yeah, that's another factor I didn't mention, for those who never saw much of Laudrup, Iniesta would inspire the necessary confidence in the buildup.

I'm always averse to currently active players. I picked Forlán bang before he started having a mare with Inter, and Theon was singing Kompany's praises only for him to duck when faced with a shot. But then, the Ronaldo transfer rumours certainly helped Cutch with everyone thinking of him in the best possible light.

It's always tricky with current players.

 

[Brwned]

I watched antohan's Pelé's 20 best goals video in the matchday thread and thought it seemed really unflattering, surely he scored better goals than that? Of course he did and there's plenty of better videos out there but it made me realise why Pelé's underrated by so many.




What a ridiculous footballer.

"There's Pele the man, and then Pele the player. And to play like Pele is to play like God.

"The greatest player in history was Di Stefano. I refuse to classify Pele as a player. He was above that."

"The best of all was Pele, who is a mixture of Di Stefano, Maradona, Cruyff and Leo Messi."

"Di Stefano was manufactured on earth, Pele was made in heaven."

 

[antohan]

The first one is awesome

People were questioning Pelé the striker so I just typed in "Pelé goals" and posted that one. It's not bad as far as showing Pelé in and around the box and I certainly didn't want to post a skills one with him starting moves in midfield!

Some interesting quotes there. For Puskas to say that... But the Menotti one is most interesting as he was indeed a much more complete player than Maradona and that gets it down to a tee.

Much better than my poor attempts at inferring the difference in styles in the description of fantasy final performances. The man had everything Brazilians have going for them, but was also a ruthless machine.

This is the clip Brwned is referring to as "unflattering". How many would like to boast such highlights, let alone as unflattering fodder.