Reality-Monopoly Draft - R1: mazhar vs Onenil

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Oh so Modric as LM and Nedved as RM, that makes sense. Thats actually very interesting, I would love that team. Lot of graft on wings to pin onenil's wingback back and Law/Seeler partnership in attack with Didi/Viera partnership in middle. I don't know if Modric would be rated highly in that role, but does have all the tools to play it.

Yup. I rate Modric's grafting capabilities very highly. He'd be awesome as left midfielder drifting wide or cutting in as necessary. Perfect foil to a attacking Didi. Would have preferred a more pivot DM than Vieira, but not that relevant.

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

Fantastic teams, both of them. Love the use of Law, having just recently rewatched 1963 England vs the Rest of the World game.

Maybe would've preferred less striker-ish and more playmaking №10 for onenil though, the unpicked Bochini, for example.

Two things here. First I rate Bergkamp in his 'late peak' (say 99-02 in Draft terms) as just as good a playmaking AM as someone like Bochini. Bergkamp's technique is tremendous and he was incredibly unselfish not to mention intelligent at this point. I don't really see losing much if anything using Bergkamp. Bergkamp was really a prototype of the modern 4231 AMCs in his later years. This where Bergkamp's role as one of the modern masters of the "pre-assist" come in as most die hard Arsenal fans of the era know how important Bergkamp was as a playmaker to that later Arsenal side of 00-05. Here is a quote from Bergkamp from his book Stillness and Speed

Alot of it is about measuring. Cruyff talks about that with the youth at Ajax now. Measuring offensively, but defensively as well. It's all about distances. I know where the gap is. I know the speed of Patrick (Kluivert). So I know where the space will be in two or three seconds. But he has to keep running....orrrffff...or it looks like a silly pass!

The other thing, of course, is the pass before the assist. I don't know if there is even a name for that, but there should be. Every now and then they would show one of those on Match of the Day. They'd say "Look at the goal, and look at the assist, but most important look where the attack starts from." Thats interesting. Where does an attack start? What makes the difference in the end?....

"It's true I always forced myself to make the best pass, to make it easy for the striker on the receiving end. Why? For myself, because I wanted to do the maximum. I always put myself in the position of making the best pass possible. "

These quotes are integral to enlighten us to Bergkamp's mentality as a player and I do not believe he is an inferior playmaking no.10 in any way to someone like Bochini in his older peak incarnation (99-04 in overall history). This is not young 1994 Bergkamp I am playing here but the player who is intelligent enough to be making those quotes above.

I really should at some point before 2017 ends do something like you and Joga do with matches to highlight older players because this past weekend enlightened me that my kid's generation doesn't really remember Bergkamp like I do, so eventually I'd like to make some videos like that.


But perhaps even more important are the injury considerations. Until that first match actually started I was still expecting some shock injury surprise from @Edgar Allan Pillow. And the whole focus on injuries affected our draft strategy more than the drop boxes. So a player like Bochini was mostly not even considered because Bergkamp is just more versatile. With an injury Bochini couldn't have played second striker like Bergkamp could have, had we been forced to change formation due to injury.

 

[harms]

Maybe. You've seen more of him, of course. As far as second strikers go, I'd rate Bergkamp as one of the best when we look at creativity and playmaking, his through balls, especially. But I still think he comes a bit short if we compare him to genuine world class playmaker a la Bochini, and the added goal threat that Bergkamp provides, isn't really needed when you have the most prolific goalscorer ever up front.

As I said, you obviously saw more of him as an Arsenal fan, so I can be simply underrating him

 

[mazhar13]

Good game OneNil. That was closer than I thought it would be.

I think I lost this game with Didi. Playing him in that initial role really ruined my chances completely. I initially wanted a 4-4-2 with Joaquin on the right but was concerned about Bergkamp, Vidal, and Boszik taking control of the midfield against Vieira and Didi.

Oh well, good game nonetheless.

 

[Ecstatic]

Good game OneNil. That was closer than I thought it would be.

I think I lost this game with Didi. Playing him in that initial role really ruined my chances completely. I initially wanted a 4-4-2 with Joaquin on the right but was concerned about Bergkamp, Vidal, and Boszik taking control of the midfield against Vieira and Didi.

Oh well, good game nonetheless.

You should have followed your instinct. Before the draft starts, it was obvious for me you would implement a 4-4-2 with Seeler/Law.

I don't see a gap between Bergkamp/Boszik/Vidal and Law/Vieira/Modric. Deep-lying playmakers are generally known for their long passing skills and tend to play very simply while Didi is rather a sophisticated guy who likes to combine with other central midfielders and operate in the opposing half.

Another tactical system is also possible and I guess it's more easy to sell Vieira as a #6 than didi in a similar role. Aesthetic influence the votes so to present Law as a right-forward might have been helpful.

Superb players but as usual, in these drafts, discussions can focus on the positioning of a single player.

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

Good game OneNil. That was closer than I thought it would be.

I think I lost this game with Didi. Playing him in that initial role really ruined my chances completely. I initially wanted a 4-4-2 with Joaquin on the right but was concerned about Bergkamp, Vidal, and Boszik taking control of the midfield against Vieira and Didi.

Oh well, good game nonetheless.

Cheers Mazhar and good game as well. You had a very solid team. Didi is a tricky player I think for drafts. Not as tricky as Xavi I think but still tricky.