All Time Premier League Fantasy Draft: R1 - Gio vs Sjor Bepo

[green_smiley]

vs

................................. Team Gio............................................................................Team Sjor Bepo..........................................

TEAM GIO

TACTICS:

Our 4-3-3 is based around Mourinho's 2004-2006 Chelsea winning machine that raised the bar in the Premier League. Alongside that tactical model we have chosen the majority of our players from the era when the Premier League was its most competitive on the continent, with 8 of our starters hitting their peak during the 2000s. Anyone from outside that timeframe has importantly proven their credibility at World Cups.

On the right of defence is Dan Petrescu who was part of the Overseas Premiership Team of the Decade and remains the standout overlapping right-back. Proven at every stage, from his early career reaching European Cup Finals with Steau Bucharest, to the 1990, 1994 and 1998 World Cups, to his time in England (1.5 seasons at Sheffield Wednesday and a further 5 at Chelsea). On the opposite flank is Jan Vertonghen who was part of the 2012/13 PFA Team of the Year and can naturally tuck in as a third defender if Petrescu moves forward. That quality is likely to be particularly useful when up against the inside-cutting David Silva. The central defensive partnership is comprised of Vincent Kompany and Mark Wright. Kompany is one of only two defenders to have ever won the Premier League Player of the Season award. Three times in the PFA Team of the Year and part of the ESM European Team of the Year in 2011/12, Kompany has been a huge reason in City's success since 2010. His partner has 45 caps for England, a total that would have been a fair bit higher had he not been injured on the eve of both Euro '92 and Euro '96. Although he was one of England's shining lights at Italia' 90 (when he was chosen ahead of Tony Adams no less), it was in his early 30s when Wright played much of the best football of his career, earning a second PFA Team of the Year spot in 1996/97. Behind the defence is one of the Premiership's greatest in Edwin Van der Sar whose excellent reading of the gameenabled him to operate as one of the best keepers in Europe until his late 30s.

The midfield is carefully crafted around getting the best out of Steven Gerrard who has the freedom to dictate from his favoured central/right channel and bomb forward beyond Carrick and McCallister. A record 8 times in the PFA Team of the Year, Gerrard in his prime was good for over 20 goals a campaign as he did three times in four seasons during the mid-to-late 2000s. Claude Makelele is the standout midfield anchor in the pool and one whose selflessness and discipline absolutely maximised the ability of Frank Lampard and somehow gelled a top-heavy collection of Galacticos attackers into a functioning midfield. Alongside him is Juan Sebastian Veron. There's no pretense here that Veron fitted well into Ferguson's 4-4-2. But two things were clear from his spell at Old Trafford. First that his best performances came in a midfield three. Second that he was incompatible with Roy Keane. Here he is dropped into his perfect set-up, alongside a midfield partner who will defer to his considerable talents and another whose energy and dynamism willthrive off his exceptional passing range and vision.

Our front three is led by Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor, whose 24 goals in 36 Premier League games in 2007/08 showed what he could do when fit and motivated. What he also brings to the table is bristling strength and hulking hold-up play. Supporting him from the right is Carlos Tevez whose diligent endeavour, hustle and goal threat makes him a perfect contributor to a front three. Offering the genuine wingplay and wide threat is Arjen Robben who was "often unplayable at times" with his searing pace and ability to beat a man. He was a crucial component in Mourinho's 4-3-3 both in providing proper width and creating space for midfield runners and central attackers.

WHY WE WILL WIN:

1. Steven Gerrard's capacity to exploit the lack of defensive resistance in Sjor's midfield. Carrick, MccAllister, Zola, Silva and Robert - none of them are going to live with Gerrard's dynamism and goal threat.
2. The strength of the right flank. Together Arjen Robben and Dan Petrescu will stretch and overload Winterburn and Robert. I can't see Robert putting in the necessary shift here and Robben's pace will create chances.
3. The physicality of Adebayor and Tevez will see Lebeouf under the cosh. A ball-playing defender, the Frenchman never relished the purely physical battles and was prone to the odd brainfart.
4. The scope of Phillips to meaningfully influence the game will be reduced by the fact he thrived off a big-man/little-man partnership and by the questionable quality of his hold-up play to bring the likes of Zola and Silva into the game.

 

[green_smiley]

TEAM SJOR BEPO

Tactics:
The intent is to play some kind of fluid 4231 which will give us possession domination over opponent and in the end that will give more chances to my final third magicians to create something for my deadly striker and the goalscoring machine that is Danny Welbeck.


Off the Ball:
When opponent has the ball our defence will be playing in some kind of normal defensive line. We wont be sitting deep but neither we will push to much forwards. In goal we have probably the second best sweeper keeper in the world, france and spurs captain Hugo Lloris. Any balls over the top and he will rush out and help his centerbacks.
Centerback pairing of Martin Keown and Frank Leboeuf. We have the perfect combination of one aggressive winner of the ball in Keown and the one that based his game on good reading of the game. Both played big part in great defences in the 90s.
On the left side we have the combination of Winterburn and Danny Welbeck. Winterburn who is a very good defender will get plenty of protection from Danny's workrate while on the other side we have proven combination of David Silva and Zabaleta. Two players that are brilliant individually and even better together as they have fantastic understanding. Defensively wise Silva is against centerback Vertonghen so he doesnt have to do much in defense while Zabaleta faces a good battle with Robben.
in front of that great back 5 we have the best holding midfielder in the draft, the defensive mastermind and underrated hero - Michael Carrick. The rock of United midfield for almost 10 years now. Partnering him is Gary Mac from Leeds. We went for the Leeds version even though and the Liverpool grandpa version is brilliant as we wanted a mobile player alongside Carras. Macca was brilliant on the ball but he was also good off the ball when defending.

On the Ball:
We built a side with intention of winning possession battle against everyone in the draft, with Gio by the looks of things is going for counter-attacking side i dont think there will be an issue on who will win the possession. Lets start from the back. We have Lloris who is comfortable with ball in his feet and has good distribution. Left footed Leboeuf on left side of defence, Frank who was pretty good on the ball for a centerback and on both sides he has Arsenal players who played in possession team. Keown is probably the worst player in possession in my team and even he proved himself capable of playing in dominating team, to help him even more we surrounded him with good ball players on every 4 sides.
Dont think i need to spend time of speaking about Carrick's ability on the ball, good on the pressure, fantastic technique, plays with both feet and fantastic range of passing. Capable of dominating the game alone which he proved in Ferguson last season with United where he was the best player of the winning side and best player in the league in my opinion.
Macca apart from his brilliant ball skills and football brain has that quality of running into spaces without the ball, lets say Vieira esque as he was famous for that. Macca like him did it brilliantly and with Zola and Silva in the hole there will be plenty of spaces created for him by those magicians.
On the right we have combination of Zabaleta and Silva, Zabaleta will be bombing forward all game and with Robben on the left flank(i guess) there is no way that Vertonghen can handle the double threat of Silva and Zabaleta, in fact he cant even handle Silva alone and this was they will be tearing him apart all game long. Zola in the hole will be facing Makelele which will be an interesting match up, with so much of possession i think he can do something in the 90 minutes, he can always move himself on the left or go up and make it difficult for centerbacks.
And for the last i leaved two players that faced much criticism during the draft. Phillips as he played with big man up front and in this setup he plays as a "lone" striker. With so much possession and with two geniuses behind him we wanted a natural born goalscorer, a poacher. We needed goals and we think that Phillips fits the bill with his fantastic off the ball movement, nose for goal and great finishing ability. Phillips played with a big man as he played for "poor" team that was unable to get the ball forward so the big man - little man combo was perfect. Now he has a side behind himself that will dominate possession and has plenty of players that will create chances for him, something he didnt have for practically his whole career and even despite that he has a great goalscoring record.

Welbz.....player who provoked so much criticism after i picked him, was even more pleased with his pick after that. On serious note, we wanted "balance" player who will ensure that Zola and Silva run the show, someone who doesnt mind to play in that "passive" role(a rare quality that people dont appreciate(Willian, Park etc.)), someone who will make this sacrificing runs for others and someone who is technically good and will work hard for the team. In our vision Danny fits like a glove in every segment we need from him. We dont expect goals from him, dont expect that he creates something on his own. We want that he works hard, make runs that will help the team, plays short passing game(pass and move), strech the play when needed and helps others. The same things Ferguson expected from him and why he trusted him in all the big games, and you have to say, Danny rarely let him down as he was pretty good big game player for United.

 

[green_smiley]

@Rado_N @Damien

Could you please help to put up a poll?

With players at peaks in the teams indicated, who will win?
Gio
Sjor Bepo

votes visible without voting
votes can be changed
24 hours

 

[green_smiley]

Good luck @Gio @Šjor Bepo

 

[Šjor Bepo]

WHY WE WILL WIN:

1. Steven Gerrard's capacity to exploit the lack of defensive resistance in Sjor's midfield. Carrick, MccAllister, Zola, Silva and Robert - none of them are going to live with Gerrard's dynamism and goal threat.
2. The strength of the right flank. Together Arjen Robben and Dan Petrescu will stretch and overload Winterburn and Robert. I can't see Robert putting in the necessary shift here and Robben's pace will create chances.
3. The physicality of Adebayor and Tevez will see Lebeouf under the cosh. A ball-playing defender, the Frenchman never relished the purely physical battles and was prone to the odd brainfart.
4. The scope of Phillips to meaningfully influence the game will be reduced by the fact he thrived off a big-man/little-man partnership and by the questionable quality of his hold-up play to bring the likes of Zola and Silva into the game.

1. I have defensive mastermind in Carrick, McAllister who is more then capable in that department and workhorse Welbeck against Gerrard and Veron as Makelele will be a passenger in offensive part of the game + im winning possession battle so thats another way of my defending.

2. On your right flank you have Tevez(not Robben) out of position who will be going inside all the time and this will make it even easier for my defence as Winterburn can tuck in and the spaces between the lines are going to be even smaller.

3. I have Keown in my defence, dont think i lack any physicality there, he is the one who will fight while Leboeuf will pick up the pieces

4. Already explained this in my tactic, its like saying Adebayor is a lesser player because he played for possession side and here is playing for the counter-attacking side. If he fits he fits no matter where and how he played before.

By far the biggest mismatch on the field is on your left side......one of my biggest areas in the team and your weakest. Silva would destroy Vertonghen like he does every season and with Zabaleta overlapping and Robben not following him i cant see how you can defend against it.

ps: good luck gio

 

[antohan]

Gio looks amazing there, even with Adebayor upfront.

 

[Moby]

Ooh this is close. Welbeck could have some actual use on that side.

 

[antohan]

Only two players of Sjor's would get into Gio's side: Keown and Silva. Zola misses out because he doesn't suit the tactics. In the meantime, Adebayor looks remarkably at home in them. Hopefully Gio has let his contract run down and has him mildly interested.

 

[Theon]

Makelele will be a passenger in offensive part of the game + im winning possession battle so thats another way of my defending.

Makelele doesn't offer defence splitting passes but he's perfectly capable of ticking a side over and rarely loses possession. I don't think you're winning any possession battle at all, not that I expect the game to be decided on who has more of the ball anyway.

 

[Šjor Bepo]

Makelele doesn't offer defence splitting passes but he's perfectly capable of ticking a side over and rarely loses possession. I don't think you're winning any possession battle at all, not that I expect the game to be decided on who has more of the ball anyway.

i know but he isnt the player i need to defend against, he will sit deep and play his simple passing game while Zola will be around him to "stop" him doing anything more.....i might lose the game but in my view i would definitely have more of the ball.

 

[diarm]

Only two players of Sjor's would get into Gio's side: Keown and Silva. Zola misses out because he doesn't suit the tactics. In the meantime, Adebayor looks remarkably at home in them. Hopefully Gio has let his contract run down and has him mildly interested.

I would have Zabaleta for Petrescu and Carrick for Veron as well but I agree that Team Gio is looking very strong for this game.

 

[antohan]

I would have Zabaleta for Petrescu and Carrick for Veron as well but I agree that Team Gio is looking very strong for this game.

Nah, Petrescu was brilliant, Zabaleta is just a very good right back at a time when few are much cop. And while Carrick's peak and impact in the PL is greater than Verón's that midfield three calls for Verón, not Carrick. You could make a case for it though when facing a strong midfield, absolutely. It's a question of how much you want to leave Makelele to shield or would rather double pivot while Gerrard roams forward. Certainly an interesting variation for Gio to consider.

 

[diarm]

Nah, Petrescu was brilliant, Zabaleta is just a very good right back at a time when few are much cop. And while Carrick's peak and impact in the PL is greater than Verón's that midfield three calls for Verón, not Carrick. You could make a case for it though when facing a strong midfield, absolutely. It's a question of how much you want to leave Makelele to shield or would rather double pivot while Gerrard roams forward. Certainly an interesting variation for Gio to consider.

Fair point on Carrick/Veron but I definitely rate Zabaleta higher than you. If I had a pick of any City player in the last few years, he'd be right up there with Aguero and Silva.

Petrescu was a fine player but I don't think he was ever as good, or as consistent.

 

[antohan]

The focus on keeping most clubs with a spare berth is also very clever. For some they already have the best possible player, for others one with an obvious easy upgrade, and for City you would only consider Yaya, but Gerrard is there so the best possible pair for a 4-3-3 is already in their squad.

A drafting masterclass from Gio and Theon.

 

[antohan]

Fair point on Carrick/Veron but I definitely rate Zabaleta higher than you. If I had a pick of any City player in the last few years, he'd be right up there with Aguero and Silva.

Petrescu was a fine player but I don't think he was ever as good, or as consistent.

He has to drop Kompany or Tevez though so it's a moot point really

 

[Rado_N]

@Rado_N @Damien

Could you please help to put up a poll?

With players at peaks in the teams indicated, who will win?
Gio
Sjor Bepo

votes visible without voting
votes can be changed
24 hours

Sorry been out , done now.

 

[diarm]

He has to drop Kompany or Tevez though so it's a moot point really

Not if he's already swapped Kompany and Tevez for Keown and Silva!!

 

[green_smiley]

Sorry been out , done now.

Thanks

 

[Šjor Bepo]

its two different styles of play so me neither wouldnt take much players from gio....

Here are a few gifs of Gary Mac against The King.

Spoiler: good reading of the game

Spoiler: another interception and switch of play

Spoiler: tackle on Cantona

Spoiler: another tackle on Cantona

Spoiler: again winning the ball cleanly against Cantona

Spoiler: heading interception in his own box

Spoiler: interception

Spoiler: another ball won

Spoiler: nice run and shoot

Spoiler: under pressure

Spoiler: pass and move - teammate is shit

Spoiler: pass and move

Spoiler: youtube tribute

 

[antohan]

This is how they could end up if there were six reinforcements. With five, you would just keep Tévez instead of Silva, or Verón instead of Scholes. The trick part is the swapping of Robben and Adebayor for Henry and Drogba. Henry would clearly be the pivotal one (e.g. Henry-Tevez/Adebayor-Robben).

Of course, they need the players to be released in a timely fashion as well, but there's obviously all sorts of other options.

 

[antohan]

Not if he's already swapped Kompany and Tevez for Keown and Silva!!

Why would you do all that to "upgrade" Petrescu to Zabaleta?

Much higher priorities! ^^^^^^

 

[antohan]

its two different styles of play so me neither wouldnt take much players from gio....

Here are a few gifs of Gary Mac against The King.

Sorry mate, got a bit caught up in the possibilities while waiting for the poll. Will bugger off now. Great gifs, great player indeed. It's just a really odd side with quite a few meh players and no clear flow/style to how they would play (I'm sure your tactics cover it, but I refuse to read all the walls of text written these days unless I see something compelling and want to check a thing or two).

 

[diarm]

Why would you do all that to "upgrade" Petrescu to Zabaleta?

Much higher priorities! ^^^^^^

You said those 2 were the only players that would make Gio's side! I said I would have 2 more on top of that.
Anyway, it doesn't matter because Petrescu is a bloody good right back anyway and Gio's team has this.

 

[antohan]

You said those 2 were the only players that would make Gio's side! I said I would have 2 more on top of that.
Anyway, it doesn't matter because Petrescu is a bloody good right back anyway and Gio's team has this.

Oh, I get it now. But we agree the third step wouldn't have anything to do with his rightback. I was actually thinking about Keown for Wright as Kompany is fine there and the City slot isn't needed, while the Liverpool slot freed up leaves the option of Xabi if Scholes doesn't come along. Could leave them in a pickle over the leftback though so it's only really Silva who walks into it.

 

[diarm]

Oh, I get it now. But we agree the third step wouldn't have anything to do with his rightback. I was actually thinking about Keown for Wright as Kompany is fine there and the City slot isn't needed, while the Liverpool slot freed up leaves the ooption of Xabi if Scholes doesn't come along.

Oh hell yeah. I'd be upgrading a centre back and a centre midfielder in the next picks.

 

[Šjor Bepo]

Sorry mate, got a bit caught up in the possibilities while waiting for the poll. Will bugger off now. Great gifs, great player indeed. It's just a really odd side with quite a few meh players and no clear flow/style to how they would play (I'm sure your tactics cover it, but I refuse to read all the walls of text written these days unless I see something compelling and want to check a thing or two).

no problem mate, we all have different views on the game

 

[Moby]

Leaning towards Sjor's team at the moment, Welbeck aside, it's a fine set of players.

His defense looks extremely watertight with four proper defenders who know how to do their business and have been part of some quality backlines over the years. Keown is the best CB on the pitch though Kompany's not far behind. Not much in it individually but as a unit I prefer Sjor's here.

Coming to the elephant in the room, the midfield. Sjor has assembled three PL stalwarts and that is a fantastic midfield unit. Makelele and Gerrard are great, but Veron never quite justified his talent in the PL, he is a high profile PL flop and there's no way around it really, I see there being a danger of people considering his Serie A form or quality which undoubtedly would be make him great in this setup, but his PL performances just don't cut it, sorry. It would not have been a big issue if Sjor had some below par midfielder, but given the quality of his midfield there isn't any scope of a drop in performance for the opposition and I can see Veron being a let down here.

Gio surely has a better attack, Welbeck would be great in curbing Petrescu's forward runs but offensively he's not going to get much if any joy around there. Going by 'peak' ability, Phillips should be rated quite highly here, and with the service coming from Sjor's wonderfully creative midfield, I'll go on to say he has a better chance of scoring than Ade.

The big plus for Gio is has players in Gerrard and Tevez who are capable of upping their game when it matters.

 

[Moby]

Only two players of Sjor's would get into Gio's side: Keown and Silva. Zola misses out because he doesn't suit the tactics. In the meantime, Adebayor looks remarkably at home in them. Hopefully Gio has let his contract run down and has him mildly interested.

GaryMac comfortably shits on Veron when it comes to the PL.

 

[Gio]

Leaning towards Sjor's team at the moment, Welbeck aside, it's a fine set of players.

His defense looks extremely watertight with four proper defenders who know how to do their business and have been part of some quality backlines over the years. Keown is the best CB on the pitch though Kompany's not far behind. Not much in it individually but as a unit I prefer Sjor's here.

That's a bit harsh on Kompany. His reputation's taken a dent over the last year or so but we shouldn't underestimate his level before that. Only two defenders have won that PFA Player of the Year Award which I think is quite telling. It's only really Thiago Silva and Diego Godin who trump him over that timespan. I do rate Keown though. But Mark Wright has more England caps than he does (despite various tournament-missing injuries) which, again, is a sign of the quality in our central defensive partnership here.

Coming to the elephant in the room, the midfield. Sjor has assembled three PL stalwarts and that is a fantastic midfield unit. Makelele and Gerrard are great, but Veron never quite justified his talent in the PL, he is a high profile PL flop and there's no way around it really, I see there being a danger of people considering his Serie A form or quality which undoubtedly would be make him great in this setup, but his PL performances just don't cut it, sorry. It would not have been a big issue if Sjor had some below par midfielder, but given the quality of his midfield there isn't any scope of a drop in performance for the opposition and I can see Veron being a let down here.

It's about fit and balance really. We've got a great blend of defensive discipline, energy, attacking threat and passing ability. That midfield works in the same way that Veron performed when he had the right set-up at United. See how him and Phil Neville dominated Arsenal's midfield in the 2-0 win. We've replicated that arrangement here, with a selfless grafter in Makelele, deferring to the main man.

Equally though if we are asking questions about Veron's fit, I would question whether Carrick and McCallister are a robust enough partnership to deal with the threat here. Particularly with the lack of assistance from both Silva and Zola. McCallister, again another player who I rate (and Sjor did some nice GIFs above), fared best off a more physical partner such as David Batty for Leeds, Stuart McCall for Scotland or Steven Gerrard / Dietmar Hamann for Liverpool. Not that Carrick will not contribute there, but the necessary qualities are lacking somewhat there to fend off our own midfield and impose their own game on us.

 

[Annahnomoss]

That's a bit harsh on Kompany. His reputation's taken a dent over the last year or so but we shouldn't underestimate his level before that. Only two defenders have won that PFA Player of the Year Award which I think is quite telling. It's only really Thiago Silva and Diego Godin who trump him over that timespan. I do rate Keown though. But Mark Wright has more England caps than he does (despite various tournament-missing injuries) which, again, is a sign of the quality in our central defensive partnership here.

Considering that we've given every single player leeway for having a short peak so far I don't see why Kompany shouldn't be evaluated on his peak season - in which he was world class. Though I hope we will be stricter on the peak years for every round that goes and in the final we see players who really put their mark on the Premier League.

 

[Annahnomoss]

As for the game I think it is very tight. Veron clearly wasn't at his best in the league but his passing range is there none-the-less and it would add a lot to that midfield. Defensively I think the left side with Robben-Veron-Verthongen looks pretty weak though and they are up against two great individuals who has an outstanding partnership as well in Silva/Zabaleta.

On the other side Sjop has a great defensive shield in Welbeck/Winterburn up against Tevez/Petrescu which I think is a fantastic wing for Gio. Petrescu is the best attacking full back in the draft and close to the best right back in the draft.

Honestly have a hard time separating the teams and think it would be a draw unless Gerrard won it for Gio, which wouldn't be odd.

 

[Physiocrat]

Gio's side is clearly well constructed however so is Sjor's- the question is who will win

It's seems clear that with Mac, Carrick, Zola and Silva there is little chance that Gio will have more possession- it's clearly setup for a direct sort of attack with Gerrard and the old Robben.

Gio does have decent defence but Vertonghen is better as a CB and with Zabeleta overlapping Zola and Silva will create chances (Robben won't track back) and Phillips at his peak will put them away. With the majority of the possession (I'd guess 56-44 or something similar) Phillips being used to playing with a big man isn't a huge issue.

Robben on the counter is the obvious outball but the now back three shielded by Carrick is hardly porous. Gio's other route to goal on the right comes up against the stallwart Winterburn and the industry of Welbeck.

On physicality, Gio wins in midfield but so what? Mac at Leeds had great industry and a great engine. Carrick played next to the zimmerframe version of Scholes. Also they're both excellent on the ball under pressure so in this case the extra physicality isn't a huge boon.

Also Veron- he was great on his day at Utd when used properly but even at a single season average peak he's clearly the worst midfielder on the pitch.

BTW I'm Bepo's AM

 

[antohan]

GaryMac comfortably shits on Veron when it comes to the PL.

No question, you probably have hundreds of midfielders who do (with McAllister being one of the better ones). But what is required of that player is pinging a few balls here and there, and while Verón didn't make a significant impact overall few could fulfill that role much better. For a first round it's a great fit-for-purpose inclusion.

 

[antohan]

Gio's side is clearly well constructed however so is Sjor's- the question is who will win

It's seems clear that with Mac, Carrick, Zola and Silva there is little chance that Gio will have more possession- it's clearly setup for a direct sort of attack with Gerrard and the old Robben.

Gio does have decent defence but Vertonghen is better as a CB and with Zabeleta overlapping Zola and Silva will create chances (Robben won't track back) and Phillips at his peak will put them away. With the majority of the possession (I'd guess 56-44 or something similar) Phillips being used to playing with a big man isn't a huge issue.

Robben on the counter is the obvious outball but the now back three shielded by Carrick is hardly porous. Gio's other route to goal on the right comes up against the stallwart Winterburn and the industry of Welbeck.

On physicality, Gio wins in midfield but so what? Mac at Leeds had great industry and a great engine. Carrick played next to the zimmerframe version of Scholes. Also they're both excellent on the ball under pressure so in this case the extra physicality isn't a huge boon.

Also Veron- he was great on his day at Utd when used properly but even at a single season average peak he's clearly the worst midfielder on the pitch.

BTW I'm Bepo's AM

 

[Physiocrat]

Just declaring my interests. I'm not standing for a FIFA position.

However I still stand by everything I wrote

 

[Physiocrat]

Come on everyone. This is a much more interesting match up than the number of posts suggest

 

[Moby]

Being stylistically complimentary is fine, @Gio it's simply that the required quality was not on display enough times to give it any credit here. Whether it was due to SAF not utilizing him well or whatever, doesn't matter. You cannot be selective in his performances and just pick out the few ones where he showed glimpses of his quality. It wasn't like he had one excellent season with doing what you are asking to the required level most of the time, it just don't cut it here, sorry. I was baffled at the time you picked him, or had anyone else picked him. He doesn't belong in this draft. To put it simply,

- Did he show glimpses of his quality at times when played correctly/was arsed to? Yes.
- Does that justify him being up against one of the best midfields in the draft? Nope!

It's a weakness that can hurt you given Sjor has assembled enormous quality there with nothing remotely as questionable as Veron, that is the bigger point here. Even if you do give some sort of credit to the Argentine, it just falls apart when you look at the opposition. And not just the three in the middle, Silva very much belongs to the midfield discussion. That certainly gives Sjor a big edge, Slippy on his own cannot be at 2 or 3 places on the park at once, however good he was.

 

[antohan]

Just declaring my interests. I'm not standing for a FIFA position.

However I still stand by everything I wrote

Nah, I was just laughing because after reading Aldo's post and yours I was thinking maybe he could mount a comeback, then saw your vote doesn't count.

 

[Gio]

The whole point though is we're not relying on Veron to have a stormer here @Aldo. Even though we've built a great three-man system for him, his role is fairly straightforward and nothing at odds with what he can do or what he did do in England (and he could conceivably have a great game with that set-up). It's simply about spraying plenty of passes around and providing Gerrard a base to probe, push and penetrate from. Even if he has a quiet game, he'll still be a fine foil for Gerrard and Makelele who, let's not forget, are the best midfielders on the park.

 

[Physiocrat]

Another point on Veron- he's crucial to Gio mounting counters. Wright, Makalele and Kompany aren't going to ping long diagonals to Robben, only Veron will. Slippy could but he's likely be further forward. Vertonghen is a decent passer but being at left back will limit his options.