I dunno, like i said, first time for me. Usually calm and collected but KM has had my eye twitching at times. Kind of fun. But ye, will lay of it.
Hehe, aaah got ya.
La Liga/Serie A/BuLi Draft - 1st Rd KM vs Aldo/The Stain
- Thread starter Marty1968
- Start date
Completely different players -- Ronaldo has been more of a centre forward for Madrid in recent years.
Wasn't having a go mate, you carry on. It's just that I became weary from all the mud slinging and general buffoonery that takes place during these games many moons ago.
@antohan
Think he requested to be banned for a year or something because of a draft. Shouldn't he be back soon, people?Wasn't having a go mate, you carry on. It's just that I became weary from all the mud slinging and general buffoonery that takes place during these games many moons ago.
@antohan
I really liked Aldo and The Stain's drafting efforts. Obviously with the likes of Davids, Mendieta, Aimar and Makaay larging it up. But this is closer than I'd anticipated. Both midfields are very good. As for the Mascherano debate, if we equate his role with Barca rather than his position, then it's an easier sell. In fairness to KM he is right to flag that one up because I don't think we can legitimately claim an absolute, rectum-tearing peak Mascherano based on his La Liga performances, but he'll do a steady job in there.
Maybe peak Henry, but this one lacked a little bit of va va voom to obliterate defenders like he did in his prime. I'd fancy Piszczek to largely keep him at bay. Even Felipe Luis feels a little under-rated here and I can see him doing a decent job, fit-wise, for squaring up to the great Pierre.
What a fecking team that was. Apart from the slower-than-a-week-in-jail defence. Very hipsterish though, no wonder it crashed out of the group stages to @Cling Bak and @Jayvin IIRC.Anyway, you could have said we just picked Mascherano as a DM based on his previous career if he was deployed as a DM in a bog standard setup or something, not here where we have tailored the setup to suit his qualities as well as his style of play at Barcelona to a tee. We have added two immensely hard working midfield powerhouses who can easily handle the midfield on their own, like I will show you below in a match @Gio played and used them as a double midfield. I have also added CBs who can drift wide, specially Montero who is at home in a LCB role and give Masch enough space to operate in his preferred zone of play. That also frees someone like Candela who was fantastic going forward and adds a new dimension to the attack.
Well, he certainly did not play that role with Gonzalo Higuain on the pitch. He was rarely the most advanced player in these matches, especially compared to when Benzema played with him. Ronaldo is just one of several examples, though. Ribery also often found it tough to compete with the Pole.
Piszcsek did a great job in the past against peak Ronaldo and Ribery in CL and league in the past, why would he struggle that much against after peak Henry?
Different setups, different games.
I don't know what was the situation then, but over here he's not in a 1v1 against Henry for 90 minutes. He's against a left flank of Henry, Davids and Candela all of whom when on the ball will move the ball down that flank quickly and with a lot of control and penetration. Not to mention all suit each other perfectly, Henry cutting into the left channel opening up space for Candela to bomb forward and Davids guarding against any counter - it's basically a very well functioning flank both offensively and defensively.
What are KM's instructions to counter that?
Senna will do his job as a defensive midfielder and help Piszczek in anything you'll throw at us offensively.
Genuinely don't know why you've got a six vote lead, on this page we've established that you guys don't have an advantage on the wings at all(despite the attempts to portray Littbarski as world's best right winger ever). Still I guess that's why AM helps.
Genuinely don't know why you've got a six vote lead, on this page we've established that you guys don't have an advantage on the wings at all(despite the attempts to portray Littbarski as world's best right winger ever). Still I guess that's why AM helps.
Where?
We do.
Candela-Davids-Henry on the left and Angloma-Mendieta-Littbarski on the right are both significantly stronger flanks than their counterparts.
I actually regretted to pick Cafu on 1st round, when you saw manager was able to have Angloma at 8th.
To be fair, @Boycott and I lost our match against the soloing @Marty1968, so there's still some hope for you.
Anyways, I do like both teams very much. It's somewhat disappointing to see these two teams meet up with the quality they have at their disposal. KM's Senna-Albertini-Boban-Ibra axis is absolutely perfect and able to tear any defence in this draft. Ibra's movement will definitely drag one of Linke and Montero around, creating the gaps that Reus and Griezmann can exploit and that Boban/Albertini can pass through. And against a wing back in Candela, I think Griezmann is going to have a good time both on and off the ball. Reus (who I genuinely believe can become a German legend if he avoids more injuries) will be at his best in this team, though he's unlucky to face a solid unit in Angloma who is capable of containing him. Still, I think the gaps that Ibra can create in his role can provide spaces for Boban, Reus, and Griezmann, plus there's Piszczek around to provide width on the right and supply Ibra if needed.
I did read that this is why the Mascherano-Montero-Linke backbone was formed, but honestly, KM's midfield and forward players are all excellent on the ball and capable of handling all sorts of pressure. Mascherano can't do his usual pressing game against Ibra or Boban (depending on if Masch is going after Ibra or not) without creating gaps for someone else. Masch could fill in for one of the defenders following and pressing Ibra, but then what about Boban or Griezmann/Reus getting into that area? The likes of Davids and Mendieta will be able to cover lots of ground with their tireless running and hard work, but there will always be a free player available for KM.
Both defences have their flaws, particularly with the left backs, but I do like KM's more balanced defence. Piszczek will keep track of the slower Henry with his better speed and stamina, and Buchwald was a strong marker and defender who can handle Makaay. Bonucci will be a good foil for him, covering for him and sweeping up where necessary, though I do think that AldoStaine's left side can cause problems if I assume that Griezmann isn't really tracking back.
In the end, I have to go for KM here. His attack is more well-rounded against a defence that is too oriented towards the physical aspect.
Griezmann has played 20 games on the right side of the attack, against Candela who has 266 Serie A games under his belt and from the 97-98 season till the 02-03 season was the first choice left-back at Roma, during which the club finished as Serie A champions in the 00-01 season. As much potential as Greizmann has, so far he hasn't done enough to be qualified for a draft such as this based on his performances as a right winger/forward in La Liga.
Off the ball, I have the following players back defending: Montero, Mascherano, Linke, Candela, Angloma, Davids, Mendieta
Against: Ibra, Reus, Greizmann, Boban and Albertini? Even with an attacking fullback I still can't see the free man in attack?
That was a Roma that played with a libero in Aldair, allowing Candela to push forward. You seem to have Mascherano in that auxiliary defender role, which I don't mind, but honestly, Griezmann isn't a strict right winger in this setup. With Ibra in that team, he's given the freedom to drift around and get into the gaps which he's done consistently very well against all sorts of opponents. Whenever Griezmann plays in a team that has a decent amount of the ball, he's very effective. He's only useless if his team has little of the ball (his worst matches this season have come against Barcelona).
You're intentionally ignoring Senna and Piszczek, but fair enough, you're trying to convince your case. It's just that, I don't know how you'll really deal with the gaps that Ibra will create with his movement. Your defenders aren't really that adept at covering the gaps. Montero always had Ferrara alongside him doing that, and Linke isn't well-known for that either. You then pair Montero with another stopper and attacking left back. That's not going to get the best out of Montero IMO.
How is your team going to close down the gaps and prevent KM's attack from exploiting them?
Personally I'd have put Griezmann on the left and Reus on the right. Griezmann was almost always a lefty for Real Sociedad and Reus has played about every 4th game in his career on the right, albeit most of it for Mönchengladbach. Maybe not, I don't know. Griezmann's peak is with Atlético as a second striker or his final season with Sociedad out on the left, same as Reus for Dortmund. It might seem like a small thing to be bothered by but compared StainDo's set-up it's a small difference that makes the difference imo. On the other hand, AldAin do have Henry and Mascherano outside their peak and Makaay would be preferable as a La Liga pick but honestly there wasn't much difference as far as I could tell from his CL appearances. Also Littbarski, was he really a right winger in his peak? I have to scrutinize that bit give that KM's winger pair has been scrutinized that way. In the big matches I've found him in on international level in the early 80's he wasn't out on the right so I have to know if he did play there for Köln or if he was a deep-lying striker as wiki suggests he was in his early career (how early was that).
Not at all, I mentioned right there that you can include an attacking fullback if you want. But I'm sorry, Senna good as he was defensively would have negligible attacking contribution in this context.
Yes, he played as a right winger for Koln from seasons 1978-79 till 1982-83, and from there on till the 85-86 season he played more centrally.
We haven't instructed a man marking job on Ibra with one of our defenders, instead we have covered the entire area he operates in with players who would be excellent in countering his strengths. Of course not to say he will be shut down, though he does have a history of going AWOL on the bigger stage but that's for another day, but it will damage his attacking threat by a much bigger degree than his defense would against my attack.
So, there would not be many instances of anyone being dragged around by him. Our players are going to stick to their positions and wherever Ibra pops up, the man in that position will pick him up.
If someone is likely to follow him even if for lesser distances, it would be Linke as he is instructed to go for aerial and physical challenges when the ball comes into the Swede's path, and in that case, worst case scenario is Linke out of position and who does he have to exploit the gaps? Greizmann with his style of play in La Liga is going to land exactly where Montero would operate, nevermind the fact that he has Candela and Davids both in very close attention, both extremely quick to track back as well. On the other side, Angloma is up to the task of tracking Reus.
Adding in the fact that all three in my midfield are quick, tireless and would drop into a shield extremely quickly after losing the ball and form a watertight defensive unit.
Should be an easy win for @Aldo's team this one
Sigh. A 7 point lead will be very difficult for me to overturn. I think I'd have defeated the majority of other teams too.
GG @Aldo
GG @Aldo
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Wasn't having a go mate, you carry on. It's just that I became weary from all the mud slinging and general buffoonery that takes place during these games many moons ago.
@antohan
Same here I think. Too much lying goes in these threads.
Good game @Aldo. Hope you win ahead, you certainly've the players to do so.
Think the scoreline is harsh on me though!
Think the scoreline is harsh on me though!
Thank you. You had a good side as well and it was a tough draw for both of us.
Yeah, 20-11 is harsh, but it sometimes happens even in close games like this one
yeah too harsh. I thought Aldo/Stain have the better side from first glance and overall but all in all I think you build really nice team and it was a draw in the poll in the first 12 hours or so. 20-11 is a bit harsh.
Cheers. Always have a hard time pinpointing the Germans because their national team usually played 5-3-2 so many of the midfielders were played here and there.
Shit, forgot to vote to you