Premier League Draft QF: Enigma 87 vs Crappycraperson

[General_Elegancia]

TEAM CRAPPY

Things to note:

• Back 6 is super solid. All teams in the draft will find it near impossible to break through the midfield of Makelele and Roy Keane. Makelele passing ability from the back is underrated, he will sit at the back and partly play role of deep lying playmaker with short passes. Keane will play his usual B2B role with even more aplomb.
• Sol Campbell is still one of the best CB in PL era and will form a formidable partnership with fellow Arsenal legend in Tony Adams whom he he played with for one season at Arsenal in 2001/2 when they won the double. Lee Dixon and Pearce ever reliable full backs proven in their time in 90s. Martyn at the back is a rock solid keeper for PL era.
• Attack has a proper winger in Ginola who will win fair share of their match ups against the opposing full back. Sanchez is proven wing forward in PL who will create and score, he will be looking to exploit the gap between LCB and LB forcing back the opposing left back who is attacking in nature.
• Zola will play the roaming role in the hole and drift on the park as required. He has proven in PL that he can attack from the wing so he will even swap with Sanchez as required at times and drop deep in midfield to run counter attacks.
• Shearer is perhaps the best PL striker of all time after Henry.

Player highlights:

• Campbell made PL team of the year in 98/99, 02/03, 03/04.
• Tony Adams made PL team of the year in 93/94, 95/96, 96/97.
• Keane PFA/FWA PL player of the year for 99/00. Made PL team of the year for 92/93, 96/97, 99/00, 00/01, 01/02. United player of the year in 99 and 00.
• Makelele Chelsea player of the year in 2005/6 and FIFA 11 in 2005.
• Ginola PFA/FWA PL player of the year in 98/99, made the PFA team in 98/99 and 95/96. Made FIFA 11 in 96.
• Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal player of the year in 2014/15 and 2016/17 seasons. Made PFA team of the year in 2014/15.
• Zola FWA player of the year for 96/97 and Chelsea player of the year in 98/99, 2002/3.
• Shearer won golden boot for 94/95, 95/97 & 96/97 seasons. He won PL player of the year for 94/95 and 96/97 seasons. He made PL team of the season for 5 seasons consecutively from 92 to 97, and 2002/3 season. 3rd place in Ballon'dor and FIFA player of the year in 96.

TEAM ENIGMA

Tactics – Direct, Attacking
Formation – 442, easily merging into 4-3-3
Defensive Line - Balanced
Marking – Zonal

Defence:
Fairly bog standard setup of defensive line. Stam comes to the fore as one of the greatest ever PL defenders. Next to him is Desailly who on his own is also one of the greatest CB's in the pool(and all time) playing alongside Clichy in balanced role, able to help in attack but also minding his flank when we're off the ball. Petrescu is in more attacking role, able to roam on the right flank and make it his own. In front of him Milner provides balance as he's able to tuck in and further strengthen the core of our midfield that protects the back four.

Midfield:
Son plays out wide as a left winger/left wide forward role where he can cut in and score, whilst also stretch the opposition defensive line on counter and use his pace to punish the opposition and catch them on the back foot. Fabinho replicates Gilberto's role next to Vieira who is in his natural B2B role. Beckham replaces Milner in the starting lineup, upgrading the quality in midfield bringing his phenomenal passing ability and also balance to the midfield being able to add numbers in the middle but also stretch the opposition defence and double on the flank alongside Petrescu.

Attack:
A familiar duo, Wright and Bergkamp scored combined 116 goals for the 3 seasons when they overlapped at Arsenal. Both are in their native roles with Bergkamp as main conductor of the team spreading up passes and looking to unleash Wright/Son through goal.

Although he needs little introduction some small highlights of how good he was.

With six Premier League titles to his name the Manchester United superstar played just over 250 matches in PL before moving to Spain and racked up 80 assists in PL alone (109 in total) and 85 goals in all competitions. Had he stayed in the Premier League for a longer period, he would surely would have made the most assists record his own.
If not slotting free-kicks into the back of the net, Beckham was laying them on a platter for the strikers at Manchester United.

It has been over 20 years since Jaap Stam last wore a Manchester United shirt, but his all-too-brief three years at Old Trafford are still remembered with pride by supporters, a time when they could boast of watching the best defender in the world every week.

This Saturday lunchtime, United supporters will get to salute him again as he returns to Old Trafford for the first time as a manager when his Reading side meet United in the third round of the FA Cup.

Since he left English football in the summer of 2001, Stam's legend has only been further burnished, and it remains my contention that he is both the greatest defender to play for United and to grace the Premier League.

Stam finished each of his three seasons with United as a Premier League champion, as well as completing the treble by adding the UEFA Champions League and the FA Cup in his first season in 1999.

The greatest campaign in United's history was this 1998-99 season, and it was built upon having Stam guarding their defence, which allowed United's attacking talent, including David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Dwight Yorke and Paul Scholes, to flourish.

Peter Schmeichel only played behind Stam for that one season, but the Dane did not hesitate when I once asked him who was the best defender he had played with during his career.

"It has to be Stam, he was a tower of strength; he was so quick and strong," the former United goalkeeper said. "In the treble-winning season, he proved himself as one of the best-ever defenders. He was awesome."

During this time, Stam won UEFA's Defender of the Year award in both 1999 and 2000, and when Premier League managers were polled on who they would most like to purchase given a free choice and an unlimited budget, they chose Stam over the more obvious charms of Thierry Henry, Roy Keane and Alan Shearer.

As a player, Stam had no discernible weakness. He had a towering 6'3" frame and a brutish strength that allowed him to overpower and bully any opposition striker who dared venture near him.

And he was quick, really quick. He possessed the sort of pace rarely bestowed on a mere defender, and I cannot recall seeing him beaten in a race for the ball.

"Once Jaap's pace took him into the channel ahead of an attacking player they had no chance," his former team-mate, Giggs, wrote admiringly in Giggs: The Autobiography. "He was so strong it was a mismatch. He would not be beaten."

 

[General_Elegancia]

Good luck to both of you, @Šjor Bepo @crappycraperson @Enigma_87

 

[TheReligion]

Nice teams

@Enigma_87 why no Gilberto/Viera partnership? I would have enjoyed that, especially with Bergkamp and Wright in tandem ahead of them!

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/2246083/vieira-hails-silva-partnership

 

[Enigma_87]

Good luck to both of you, @Šjor Bepo @crappycraperson @Enigma_87

Cheers for setting it up, mate!

Nice teams

@Enigma_87 why no Gilberto/Viera partnership? I would have enjoyed that, especially with Bergkamp and Wright in tandem ahead of them!

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/2246083/vieira-hails-silva-partnership

Tbh I thought about it, but I rate Fabinho high. He allows Vieira to roam forward when staying back and does a lot of dirty work for him. In a sense I didn’t want to make a complete carbon copy if Arsenal but improve it in places where I can.

At the end Stam is a huge upgrade alongside Desailly and that pairing is probably the best to cope with Shearer - they have the raw power, pace and positional sense to counter his strengths.

And then I couldn’t pass on Becks upgrade on Milner as he gives a lot of work rate but also boosts the quality of that midfield and upgrades that midfield up a notch.

 

[crappycraperson]

I think there is not much between both teams. Where I believe I have the edge:

My midfield duo is more solid. Makelele will negate DB's impact by a lot.
Peak Shearer is a huge difference maker and the best goal scorer on the pitch by a lot.

 

[TheReligion]

Cheers for setting it up, mate!



Tbh I thought about it, but I rate Fabinho high. He allows Vieira to roam forward when staying back and does a lot of dirty work for him. In a sense I didn’t want to make a complete carbon copy if Arsenal but improve it in places where I can.

At the end Stam is a huge upgrade alongside Desailly and that pairing is probably the best to cope with Shearer - they have the raw power, pace and positional sense to counter his strengths.

And then I couldn’t pass on Becks upgrade on Milner as he gives a lot of work rate but also boosts the quality of that midfield and upgrades that midfield up a notch.

I think you’ve made some good upgrades mate so I’m not having a go. I think personally I’d have kept Gilberto in with Viera though as it’s a good proven partnership and hard to argue against.

Beckham is a clear upgrade in his favourite role and Stam/Desailly a pretty formidable pairing.

I think Beckham and Petrescu work well together actually and the lazy Ginola would leave Pearce somewhat exposed.

@crappycraperson do you have anything in place for defensive phases as I don’t see much work in Ginola and Sanchez if I’m honest…

 

[TheReligion]

Looking at this subjectively I favour @Enigma_87 at the moment but it’s tight.

Makelele and Keane is a very tough CM pair especially with the creativity of Zola dropping in to collect. Keane was an underrated passer of the ball too so don’t see any major issues even if there’s no real DLP to dictate there’s enough to get the ball through to Zola and the wings.

I’m not convinced about the wide areas though and think Ginola and Sanchez leave their full backs pretty exposed.

 

[crappycraperson]

I think you’ve made some good upgrades mate so I’m not having a go. I think personally I’d have kept Gilberto in with Viera though as it’s a good proven partnership and hard to argue against.

Beckham is a clear upgrade in his favourite role and Stam/Desailly a pretty formidable pairing.

I think Beckham and Petrescu work well together actually and the lazy Ginola would leave Pearce somewhat exposed.

@crappycraperson do you have anything in place for defensive phases as I don’t see much work in Ginola and Sanchez if I’m honest…

I think overall the six of my midfield and defence have enough cohesion and quality for his attack. Ginola would not have to fall back too deep to do a job on Becks who will also find himself operating in same area as Keane from time to time. Zola being able to fall deep allows the midfielders to make life tough for both of his wingers who have tendency to tuck in a lot of times.

 

[Enigma_87]

I think you’ve made some good upgrades mate so I’m not having a go. I think personally I’d have kept Gilberto in with Viera though as it’s a good proven partnership and hard to argue against.

Beckham is a clear upgrade in his favourite role and Stam/Desailly a pretty formidable pairing.

I think Beckham and Petrescu work well together actually and the lazy Ginola would leave Pearce somewhat exposed.

Yeah, cheers for the input, mate. I agree with you especially on the right flank and Petrescu is one of the best full backs providing going forward whilst in Becks he has a great foil and can create 2 on 1 scenarios on Pearce, who himself wasn’t the best in terms of defensive acumen. We have some proven partnerships in Desailly/Petrescu, Wright/Bergkamp and Fabinho replicates what Gilberto does pretty well.

obviously Keane/Makelele is a formidable partnership on its own, but both Son and Becks are incredibly hard working which gives more support to my midfield base.

Son also could create havoc with his movement through the lines and as I said crappy’ main strength and scorer in Shearer is well taken care of, IMO.

 

[Himannv]

I can only see Enigma's formation graphic. I'm assuming the other one is on Sharemytactics and that site is playing up and cannot be accessed from my location or something. Anyway, lovely team from Enigma apart from those awful fullbacks. Looks a good Arsenal remake.

 

[Enigma_87]

I can only see Enigma's formation graphic. I'm assuming the other one is on Sharemytactics and that site is playing up and cannot be accessed from my location or something. Anyway, lovely team from Enigma apart from those awful fullbacks. Looks a good Arsenal remake.

Cheers.
Any particular reason why you don’t like my fullbacks mate?

I assume Clichy might not be as highly rated but Petrescu surely is one of the outstanding fullbacks in the pool?

 

[crappycraperson]

Best of luck Enigma going forward. Bad match up for me since we had very similar teams and I believe Beckham turned out to be the X factor. I actually wanted him for the second pick but just my luck didn't get him and then faced the team who did.

 

[Enigma_87]

Best of luck Enigma going forward. Bad match up for me since we had very similar teams and I believe Beckham turned out to be the X factor. I actually wanted him for the second pick but just my luck didn't get him and then faced the team who did.

Commiserations, mate. You had an excellent team as well with little between the sides.

Yeah, got lucky to snatch Becks so late.

 

[Himannv]

Cheers.
Any particular reason why you don’t like my fullbacks mate?

I assume Clichy might not be as highly rated but Petrescu surely is one of the outstanding fullbacks in the pool?

I just never thought he was anything special. The opinion is probably skewered a bit since I watched him more towards the end of his career so I don’t know. I guess the RB pool is a bit shit anyway in this draft.

Clichy I think you’d probably have to agree with me on. There are just much better options there.