The First Redcafe Sheep Draft

I see.. I think Crespo is a much better fit to my team than Ibra don't you?

Yes, that's what I was getting at, that I had the same issue about "fit" with Cavani-Ginola/Bergkamp/Robben being way better than Ibrahimovic-Ginola/Bergkamp/Robben
 
As per usual, truckloads of 90s/00s European names. Olsen was my ace up the sleeve throughout.

Last round I was very close to let my reminiscing and disappointment for Enzo get the better of me and pick the only eligible great partner he ever had in the NT:

Rubén Sosa. The problem was I absolutely needed Cavani to survive or I was fecked then.


Two well taken goals, and an absolute :eek: peach from Maradona halfway through that :drool:

Sosa normally makes my shortlist but I got tired of listing out attackers who had little chance of getting picked.
Chilavert, Riquelme and Kluivert I was astonished no one picked them up.

Also, VALDERRAMA!
I planned to pair Rivaldo and Kluivert up again, but Vieri was effectively a straight upgrade.
 
937882_Real_Madrid_CF.jpg

I look at that and all I can think of is every time you pick Rivaldo and Davids we end up playing each other :boring:
 
I chose Crespo over Ibra because I think he's a better fit with Laudrup and more fitting to my side's style of play. And Ince because, well I just think he was better than Baggio and the rest of the bunch, and more fitting with Modric's style of play.
Crespo will dovetail better with Laudrup. He's more mobile and will read and latch on to the Dane's through-balls. He'll also provide the space for Laudrup to be the main man, the same space that Ibra would try and occupy.
 
It was to be a 4-3-3 midfield with
Ballack - Alonso - Schweinsteiger
With Alonso holding deep.

Then decided it's not good defensively.
I wouldn't call it 'not good defensively', but it doesn't look like a great fit to me, I agree with that.
 
Crespo will dovetail better with Laudrup. He's more mobile and will read and latch on to the Dane's through-balls. He'll also provide the space for Laudrup to be the main man, the same space that Ibra would try and occupy.
Thanks it felt like the right option...
Damn I'm out ideas here.. Too many options for improvements..
 
My team before losing three times in banned list draft:

938623_Alianza_Petrolera_AS.jpg


Ince deep and right to help cover for Righetti-Sanchez weak side, Baines-Nedved and Laudrup-Crespo :drool: .. And the Terry-Carvalho combo is brilliant.

Thoughts?


I like it. Great CB partnership and certainly something to sell. Even with the sheep it looks solid!
 
If you don't have explosive widemen and you want to terrorise a sheep fullback, pick:
Figo, Overmars, Ribéry, Cristiano (old one)

If you want to have a player to cut in from the wings, pick:
Cristiano (current one), Ronaldinho, Del Piero

If you want a complete midfielder, pick:
Keane, Matthäus, Rijkaard, Redondo, Seedorf

If you want a offensive minded midfielder, pick:
Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Scholl

If you want a holding midfielder, pick:
Guardiola (regista), Gattuso

If you want a fullback to replace your sheep, pick:
Lahm, Carlos, Lizarazu, Cole, Zanetti, Amoros

If you want a versatile defender who can play both fullback and central defender, pick:
Maldini, Bergomi

If you want a top central defender, pick:
Nesta, Silva, Ruggeri, Blanc

If you want a star forward, pick:
Romário, Ronaldo, Henry, van Basten, Messi, Batigol

Goalkeeper, pick:
Buffon, van der Sar, Cech, Zubizarreta, Seaman, Taffarel
 
Just making it easier for people to pick and block. I think I got everyone from the Banned List. :)
 
Wow, those strikers are incredible

A few teams are going to end up getting very lucky here. I think Brazillian Ronaldo will get picked, as well as Van Basten.
 
Chaps, would you's rate Helguera over Ramos? A bit concerned that Ramos seems to have a bad rep on here, and would be seen to give away a lot of cheap frees, get sent off etc. Helguera seems like a safer pick.
I prefer Helguera to be honest. Strong at sweeper, centre-half and holding midfielder. Him and Hierro were stretched a lot of the times, but I'd attribute that to a more competitive league, a lack of midfield cover and Hierro's ageing legs. Ramos suffers because of his tendency for the odd brain-fart.
 
This is horrible. I believe strikers will fly here, plenty of options and some of them are bound to pass, sadly for me this and AM are the only positions I don't even consider a replacement...
This round fecks my head sideways..
 
Chaps, would you's rate Helguera over Ramos? A bit concerned that Ramos seems to have a bad rep on here, and would be seen to give away a lot of cheap frees, get sent off etc. Helguera seems like a safer pick.
They are both kind of similar in terms of ability. When Ramos was younger I used to think that he had the skill-set of a holding midfielder, just like Helguera was. Helguera used to play the holding role a lot from 2002-2004 or so, a lot of the time alongside Makélélé or just sweeping up from the back. Helguera used to get exposed quite often at times too...he grew more into a defender role later in his career.
Hugo Ibarra? What's your verdict on him?
I saw him play for Monaco and Boca quite a few times, he was a great attacking fullback. I remember during Monaco's CL-run he was an important player throughout, like he did for Boca in their Libertadores run.
 
Hugo Ibarra? What's your verdict on him?

Nah, Ibarra was way too attacking and a liability at the back at times as a result. Didn't recover all that well/urgently, a bit like Evra on a bad day. He was one of the few options MJJ had which applied but I told him defensively Simic and as an attacking fullback Jimmy Algerino. He chose Simic.

Algerino was in fact the PSG RB I thought you were on about, then Sorín as a wingback when you said my neck of the woods.
 
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938637_Dream_Team.jpg


Easily becomes something along the lines of:

938639_Dream_Team.jpg


Much flexibility, the 3-4-3 is mainly about easily pressing and marking space anyway rather than matching up man for man like cave folk.
 
Chaps, would you's rate Helguera over Ramos? A bit concerned that Ramos seems to have a bad rep on here, and would be seen to give away a lot of cheap frees, get sent off etc. Helguera seems like a safer pick.

Until you watch that United-Real game again, the one with the Ronaldo standing ovation.
 
Much flexibility, the 3-4-3 is mainly about easily pressing and marking space anyway rather than matching up man for man like cave folk.
Looking good, first option is obviously better.
I think it's not too hard to predict who you'll be looking forward to replace.. Stam-DeBoer is just fantastic.
 
Need to get past the first round first ;-)

I much prefer this, RVP as a winger is not really world class in the same way as him as a striker. The same goes for Mata out wide vs Mata centrally. I think you without need push two players out of their preferred position when you can play them in the same formation with a sliiight change. You dont need width provided by Mata and RVP, that is the bonus of having Beckham/Mihailo over two wingbacks.

You got width cover, so let RVP and Mata play centrally.

-------RVP------------Weah
---------------Mata
Mihailovic-Toure-Busquets-Beckham
-----Stam---De Boer---Brown
 
Looking good, first option is obviously better.
I think it's not too hard to predict who you'll be looking forward to replace.. Stam-DeBoer is just fantastic.

Wes Brown had a tremendous season in 2008. feck me, you would think we are on a Liverpool message board with everyone forgetting that, was the same with him in the 70s draft :(
 
Wes Brown had a tremendous season in 2008. feck me, you would think we are on a Liverpool message board with everyone forgetting that, was the same with him in the 70s draft :(

Nani had some spectacular 18 months at United too but if you pick Nani you will lose every game probably. Sad, but picking United players on a United forum is often the easiest way to have the player missrated.
 
I don't think many people will be going for the star centre forwards...most teams have more pressing needs than someone to make their team look more appealing and stronger up front. I can certainly see Zanetti, Maldini, Nesta, Bergomi and a couple of the top widemen (Figo, Cristiano, Ronaldinho) being taken first. Just about everyone has a top CF so it's basically the round where you fix your weakest link.

I personally would love to get van Basten to play with Gullit but there are weaker links in my team than Raúl. But like I said earlier, I am sure someone is going to get a stupidly good player that nobody else bothered to block because they assumed someone else would block him.
 
I don't think many people will be going for the star centre forwards...most teams have more pressing needs than someone to make their team look more appealing and stronger up front. I can certainly see Zanetti, Maldini, Nesta, Bergomi and a couple of the top widemen (Figo, Cristiano, Ronaldinho) being taken first. Just about everyone has a top CF so it's basically the round where you fix your weakest link.

I personally would love to get van Basten to play with Gullit but there are weaker links in my team than Raúl. But like I said earlier, I am sure someone is going to get a stupidly good player that nobody else bothered to block because they assumed someone else would block him.

And those are largely forwards. I'm pretty sure many will get their needed man if they time it well and no one else is on them, there's no point trying to stop Balu getting Lahm or Edgar getting Bergomi.

The players that absolutely must not slip through are Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Cristiano, Matthaus, Rijkaard, Maldini and Nesta. Those are the ones that turn into draft superheroes, then there are as many in a second tier who were arguably brilliant and often as good but don't have as much of an impact. Those will likely go and I'm actually not too fussed if they do, it's the overdrive/frenzy a single player provokes that makes it all rather boring at times.
 
The length of the peak is an issue.

Nah, weren't we rating a goalie based ona single tourno earlier? I think it's more what Annah says, we've seen a decade of him week in week out so a great year gets clouded by the others. With non-United and, particularly, non-EPL players a great year is all people remember, not the crap ones.
 
The players that absolutely must not slip through are Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Cristiano, Matthaus, Rijkaard, Maldini and Nesta. Those are the ones that turn into draft superheroes, then there are as many in a second tier who were arguably brilliant and often as good but don't have as much of an impact. Those will likely go and I'm actually not too fussed if they do, it's the overdrive/frenzy a single player provokes that makes it all rather boring at times.

Following on from the above, the main danger is we all end up mass-blocking 2-3 players. Why not follow this logic?
  • If you are strong upfront, block forwards
  • If you are strong in midfield block midfielders
  • If you are strong at the back block defenders
That should provide a good spread.
 
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Nah, weren't we rating a goalie based ona single tourno earlier? I think it's more what Annah says, we've seen a decade of him week in week out so a great year gets clouded by the others. With non-United and, particularly, non-EPL players a great year is all people remember, not the crap ones.

Were we? Not talking about the World Cup Draft of course which was based on a tournament - tournament basis but I don't think we have rated any player - nevermind keepers who rarely get talked about - based on one year/tournament in a large scale draft, be it all time or those 60s/70s etc. It's a different thing to say that the player was exceptional for 2-3 years, say like Ronaldinho and still quite good in the other years, but Wesley reached the required capability to stand his ground against players you usually see in these drafts for a brief period. He was not crap or anything before or after, and quite solid plenty of times but he comes across a Giggs or a Nedved or the likes and to be really fair he won't last long wouldn't being beaten.

I love him as much as any other manc for that great season, he really made the position his own but then injuries and a dip in form followed soon after. Sheasy was our first choice RB for major part of the very next season.
 
Re: This round, as much as it seems that a top pick would make a huge difference, and yes it really can but from my experience, the sides that were drafted well initially would still go furthermost.

The improvement is for everyone, and while some may improve more due to them improving on a sheep or a relatively weak player, even a not so top but excellent improvement for the sides that already have drafted well and look great would mean a lot more.
 
Following on from the above, the main danger is we all end up mass-blocking 2-3 players. Why not follow this logic?
  • If you are strong upfront, block forwards
  • If you are strong in midfield block midfielders
  • If you are strong at the back block defenders
That should provide a good spread.

Organizing a counter attack?

I don't think there should be any attemps to standardize the picks/blocks. The draft works best only when the choices are random. If we organize and streamline the choices, then it becomes boring.
 
I don't think there should be any attemps to standardize the picks/blocks. The draft works best only when the choices are random. If we organize and streamline the choices, then it becomes boring.

This. It's more fun if there's a chance of us screwing up and allowing someone to grab a brilliant player.
 
There's a chance either way, just suggesting one way to get a decent enough spread. In any one of those categories you still have 3-6 players you are likely to be looking at.

I don't really give a rats if everyone improves on their team, it's just boring when a game is all about the other team having <insert draft superhero>.