Billy No Mates Draft: R1 - The Stain vs Aldo

What will the result be?

  • The Stain wins by 2 goals

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Aldo wins by 3 goals

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    21
  • Poll closed .
Alaba is a fine defender, although young in his career and he's facing the greatest of them all.
Garrincha - The King of Dribble.


aC9lGaC.gif


On the other side Dani Alves is facing the prospect of containing this fella.
Roberto Rivelino - The atomic kick and the inventor of elastico.

giphy.gif
 
Last edited:
1v1 arguments.. :nono: He'll have plenty of support. Something that can't be said for your fullbacks.
 
He'll have plenty of support.
From? My fullbacks have a history of manning entire flanks by themselves against the best of opponents. Cabrini played wingback in Zona Mista with zero wide players ahead of him and won a World Cup, European Cup and a few leagues. Here he has a grafter in Rivelino who will be a bigger help than he ever had.

Both my fullbacks are defensive beasts who are ingrained with hard as nails Italian defending.
 
Beyond, we'll see. I'm not sold on Charles, never was. For me he is immense as a player who could play at both extremes at a high level - but that doesn't cut it at the later stages of an all-time draft: You can sell him as a world beating forward - not as a world beating CB. The latter part is a nice bonus in a very particular scenario - one which is highly unlikely to be relevant in a draft match.
Well one reason to pick him at CB here, ahead of some 'proper' defenders like Billy Wright for example, was to explore the truth behind his peers rating him as a world class centre half. You don't see that for every other 'can do that job' player, do you? So far I've come across the usual accounts but I'll try to come up with some evidence of him proving his defensive class against top opponents but that is definitely an area that can be improved, if I go forward.
 
The Stain is unfortunately soft at full back which is problem when playing on the break against Rivelino and Garrincha. Going for Aldo by 2.
 
I'll comment some more later, but my first thoughts are that Aldo's team isn't suited to the approach he has set up. For a team that is supposed to maintain their shape with a deeper defensive line, he cannot afford to go with only one defensively capable midfielder in the team. His team should be all about the high-pressing possession football approach with a high line with the players at his disposal, allowing Xavi and young Schuster to focus more on attacking than defending. Charles is fast enough to deal with Ô Fenômeno's pace, and Schulz and Charles are both good on the ball as well whilst being solid defenders.

The Stain's team is better-suited to their tactical approach with players being a better fit for each other. Scholes has the perfect platform to play his game with two very good wide threats, a direct forward, and two defensively capable midfielders. His defenders don't getuch of a mention, but they are very strong and capable of slowing down Aldo's attack (yes, I rate Alaba highly).
Allow me to explain my team further, when I said the line will be deeper than normal, I made it clear that we are not camping in our half, nor are we playing on the counter.

I have filled the team with players who can switch the defensive and offensive phases seamlessly due to their magnitude of skills combined with hard working attitude and tons of energy and stamina. So what I'm looking for are two very different attacking and defensive phases:

While attacking, we will push forward, no doubt and that goes in line with The Stain's tactic of allowing us to play in his half. Again this doesn't mean Charles and Willi will be marauding at the half way line - the four defenders are anything but irresponsible and will be guarding the goal with Tigana shielding them. Xavi and Schuster have the two most demanding roles, along with Pupi and Cabrini, and they are up to the task here. Both Xavi and Schuster will look to buildup from the back, keep the ball but not for a long time, and usually find Garrincha and Rivelino pretty soon. THEY will be the one playing the ball amongst them with Schuster giving support from midfield while Xavi is ready to recycle possession and start another wave of attack.

Giving Garrincha and Rivelino that much time on the ball in front of your goal can never end well. Not only are they quality wide players, but are highly multitalented. It is one thing letting someone like Beckham on the ball because his usual attacking approach is predictable, while players like Rivelino and Garrincha were all about surprising their opponent, either with an insane skill or dribble or switching between going outside or coming inside. Garrincha drove Brazil single handedly to a World Cup win, and he's not alien to being tasked with a high amount of attacking responsibility - he loves it, let him take on Alaba time and again and he will find in roads, pretty certainly. Rivelino as well, equally good at threading a through ball or launching an powerful shot. And talking of powerful shots, Schuster is lurking around.

On the other hand how many times have Alaba and Alves have stopped a world class winger who was an unstoppable dribbler for 90 minutes having their backs to the wall and their team not seeing most of the ball? They are simply nor suited to that tactic as others have said as well.
 
Well one reason to pick him at CB here, ahead of some 'proper' defenders like Billy Wright for example, was to explore the truth behind his peers rating him as a world class centre half. You don't see that for every other 'can do that job' player, do you? So far I've come across the usual accounts but I'll try to come up with some evidence of him proving his defensive class against top opponents but that is definitely an area that can be improved, if I go forward.

That's an interesting one: I love Wright and probably rate him higher than most (my take on him is that you'll struggle to find a significantly better stopper – as opposed to allround defender – anywhere), but he'll turn out to be some sort of semi-liability for you down the line as well in an all-time draft, because he simply ain't got the selling potential of the real heavyweights.

So, in that sense I'd normally class Charles as the more logical pick – because of his particular traits: You can use him as a plausible top class CB in a first round match, and then field him as a plausible top class (and more than that, even) striker in a later stage. That is an immense bonus with him that you don't get with...well, not with anyone else, really.

But the likelihood of you using him up front here at any stage – was very slender, given who you do sport up front. So, for my money you would've actually been better off, all things said and done, picking Wright – or another unquestionable stopper who might, yes, need upgrading later on, but if we're talking “final worthy” you need a whole new pair of CBs anyway.
 
I don't think TS' defensive shield is solid enough.

And he relies on it being an actual shield, as per his stated tactics.

Centrally, no questions asked. But his FBs will be specifically targeted by immense tricksters (an obvious part of Aldo's game here). And the idea is to soak up whatever comes, and then hit back on the counter. I don't think they'll be able to do that soaking part well enough. Alves in particular is not a soakin' sort.
TS is unfortunate. His central 'shield' is as good as it gets with Varela anchoring and Kohler and Shesternyov forming a complementary, high-calibre partnership. His relative weakness at full-back is punished brutally: Alaba has the worst possible luck of the draw, a 1 in 15 chance of getting Garrincha. And although Rivelino is shunted a little wide, it works because of the obvious proof of the pudding at Mexico '70 and the presence of the consummate touchline-hugger on the other flank.

Two lovely teams though.
 
Allow me to explain my team further, when I said the line will be deeper than normal, I made it clear that we are not camping in our half, nor are we playing on the counter.
I understood that a while back. What I don't get are Xavi and Schuster's roles when your team is defending. Much of your discussion has been about what your team will do on the ball, and you have mentioned nothing about what your midfield will do off the ball with your defence being deeper than normal.
 
I understood that a while back. What I don't get are Xavi and Schuster's roles when your team is defending. Much of your discussion has been about what your team will do on the ball, and you have mentioned nothing about what your midfield will do off the ball with your defence being deeper than normal.
First look at his central threat and how much defending it demands. Varela will not be posing much threat in attack. And the three of Tigana Xavi and Schuster have Robson and Scholes to track. None of them will be constantly present in the attacking third so none of my midfielders need put in a constant defensive shift. Secondly both Xavi and Schuster have loads of work rate and commitment and they'll track any runs made by his CMs. It's not man marking. It's a midfield battle which would be fought by all 6 players who largely operate in a similar area and unlikely to stretch each other beyond what they can handle.
 
Well done! Now win the whole thing! @Aldo
I'll be honest, even though I thought you'd win this match, I wanted Aldo to win it because Rivelino and Garrincha with Xavi and Schuster going forward is just :drool:. If he set up a high-pressing, ball-dominating approach, I'd have definitely voted for him in this match, but I'm glad he's going through now. A few tweaks in the midfield, and he'll be perfect.
 
Ye, couldn't find many faults with his team really. Hard to argue against one of my favourites Xavi as well. Also, Zanetti is my personal preference at rb and Romario is Romario :drool: