The First Redcafe Sheep Draft

Pat_Mustard said:
I hate the thought of Koeman getting caught one on one against the likes of Romario. The spare man that the back four provides is a necessary insurance policy for me.
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That was the entire idea of the dream team. Koeman regardless of not being very pacey managed to play that exact role in one of the best club teams of history. He is himself rated extremely highly as well and I dont think there are five better players in history in the "lone CB" role.

The other four would certainly not be in this draft and no other defender would be better for the role in this draft. Koeman played against top top quality players of that era and it worked.
 
antohan said:
We'll see if we get drawn together ;)
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Makes sense. I'd probably look to play Raúl as a lone centre forward to try to harass a Koeman like he used to do when he played behind Moro-Anelka at times like he did around the millennium time. I think it would be a good match-up all around...
Pat_Mustard said:
Roy Keane would have been the perfect pick for you in the last round imo. Absolutely familiar with that 4-4-2 and a great ball-winner to allow Sousa a platform to perform. Have you completely ruled out starting Djukic alongside Silva and playing Desailly as the defensive midfielder? I haven't really thought it through but that looks a decent option to me.
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I think Redondo was a better midfielder than Keane, certainly a better fit as to provide a huge creative outlet through the middle of the pitch, something I never thought Keane was capable of doing to the highest level, which was what I wanted from my second midfielder. I was looking at getting an engine-type player, box-to-box with complete abilities alongside a more crafty, technical midfielder who could drop in between the lines and read the game well. Baggio-Sousa were the best options for the criteria "played for the same club, but their careers never overlapped".

I actually did not want to get any United players but once I decided to take a chance on Giggs, I decided to choose Irwin mostly on the basis of this thread, seeing as how I never saw him play regularly, like Keane: https://www.redcafe.net/threads/how-good-was-denis-irwin.354479/ I saw that a lot of United fans rated him extremely highly and Irwin already talked about a great partnership with Giggs - the fact that there was literally a tiny pool of elite left backs played a huge part in my decision as well.

I was actually planning on playing a 4-1-3-2 before I decided to play a 4-4-2 with Sousa and Baggio... I actually wanted to pick Sanchís and Cambiasso first before I decided to change my mind - @Edgar Allan Pillow wanted them as well, and he was able to get them because I changed my picks.

IMO I think the 4-4-2 with Sousa/Baggio would be more successful than a 4-1-3-2 with Desailly/Sousa, because the midfield quality is more or less the same but the central defense quality is less.

I think I have one of the best partnerships at the back with Desailly-Silva, two astonishingly complete central defenders. Both of them have no weaknesses whatsoever IMO - they have both excelled as midfielders and defenders, are quick, strong, and are great markers

I really wanted to get Thiago Silva in the draft stage so I am glad to have him now...
 
antohan said:
I don't think someone could play in defence for Bayern for nine years and not be disciplined. It's an oxymoron really.
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We played with Lucio and Demichelis as centerbacks for years :lol:. But that probably helps your point about Sagnol, he did a very disciplined job next to them ;).
 
Annahnomoss said:
I think you will be best of winning the ball back then attacking very directly with the help of your incredible offensive trio.

Like in most of these drafts it will be about who you are drafted against and as all teams you need to get the right opponent. Versus a very narrow opponent you will be among their worst nightmares.
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mmm, surprising because my thinking was the opposite. With 4 players in the middle, how can I not dominate possession there? Yes, it will be easier for them to bring ball forward out in wings (4-4-2) but I thought the midfield tussle favours me. The presence of Baggio definitely gives flex to Rui Costa to drop deep if needed without losing any potency.


Pat_Mustard said:
Impatient, drunken goon. :D

My favourite team so far. The lack of width is the obvious flaw in the formation, but Maldini and Jorginho will provide enough given the creativity and quality elsewhere.
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:D a mild hangover fuelled impatience, mate!

Lack of width is more of a choice and not a flaw here. As I told Annah above I have enough power to counter through the middle. If I do play against wingers, can always switch to a back 3, sit deep and attack through the middle on the counter. Having a regista gives you the added bonus of creativity + defence.
 
I think your team looks good Edgar.

The only question mark I have is that I don't think the front trio of Rui Costa/Baggio/Sheva is a perfect fit. There is a lot of overlapping there in terms of role and playing style - even Sheva was a complete forward in the diamond, with a great workrate in which he would pull wide and drop deep with Inzaghi the one leading the line.

I would prefer to see that Inzaghi style player here, Sheva could play that role I guess but it could limit him somewhat.
 
Pat_Mustard said:
Roy Keane would have been the perfect pick for you in the last round imo.
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My thoughts exactly. He would have been blocked though, as it turns out!

But yeah, if you go 4-4-2 there is no better midfielder IMO
 
Balu - Torsten Frings
crappycraperson - Traore
Chesterlestreet -Florent Malouda
VivaJanuzaj - Righetti
Gio - Dragisa Binic
Cutch - Sergio Ramos
Edgar Allan Pillow - Dante
Pippa - Manucho
Polaroid - Janssen
Stobzilla - Trevor Sinclair
Jayvin - Hajry Redouane
sullydnl - António Pacheco
Snipers Breath - Marquez
 
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He said he was getting rid of Rafa Márquez earlier, I think. I'm getting rid of Manucho instead of Djukic, by the way.
 
But I still would wait until @AldoPaine18 shows up. We have a brilliant gamemaster here, so he should confirm the final list and make the draw.
 
Round wise -

I would say sully/NM won it since they really needed someone like Cesc. I was alluding to Xavi when I said I knew who they would go for, Cesc is good enough replacement
 
crappycraperson said:
Round wise -

I would say sully/NM won it since they really needed someone like Cesc. I was alluding to Xavi when I said I knew who they would go for, Cesc is good enough replacement
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I prefer Cesc actually, Xavi always has that weird 'he can't do it without Busquets and Iniesta'-tag on him. Everyone starts to question his ability the moment he isn't played in a tikitaka team. It's mind-boggling, but that's how it is.
 
Balu said:
How are you lining up btw? You have to play one sheep, right?
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Theon said:
The only question mark I have is that I don't think the front trio of Rui Costa/Baggio/Sheva is a perfect fit. There is a lot of overlapping there in terms of role and playing style - even Sheva was a complete forward in the diamond, with a great workrate in which he would pull wide and drop deep with Inzaghi the one leading the line.
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Yeah, we were having lots of thought about this. It was to be Sheva-Batigol as front 2 and then after the Batigol got banned leading to Sheva-Inzaghi. But then I got lucky with Baggio.

The thing with Baggio is that he is everywhere. Runs from the deep, shooting outside the box, dribbling inside and was good at all that. So to give him a free role, it would need his partner to be flexible too and Sheva fit that category perfectly. Pulling defenders left, opening spaces for Baggio, or leading it himself when Baggio wanders off. We thought they will be a perfect foil to each other.

Edit: Rui Costa is not slouch in scoring goals himself. He can make a play himself or set up for either baggio or Sheva. Nightmare for defenders whether they are in man or zonal marking!

Check this out. There is no consistency to what he does and how he scores. It's like he is a threat all over the final third. Some finishes thin the video where he dribbles past multiple defenders and scores is just :drool:

 
Balu said:
I prefer Cesc actually, Xavi always has that weird 'he can't do it without Busquets and Iniesta'-tag on him. Everyone starts to question his ability the moment he isn't played in a tikitaka team. It's mind-boggling, but that's how it is.
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I agree. If anything I think it should be Iniesta who should invite such accusations IMO.
 
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Good luck in the draw ;)
I'm really pleased with my team, Lahm makes my defense from "fine" to "very very good", I think Ince-Modric really compliment each other, and for me it's not like I have one man upfront, Laudrup is like two players :drool:
 
Balu said:
It doesn't look that bad with the sheep in there actually. Few teams have strong left wingers to really exploit your sheep.
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Yeah. I am happy how it turned out in the end. My plan was always to get Cole to keep the all PL team alive. Used my first 2 picks to block players for others!
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
Yeah, we were having lots of thought about this. It was to be Sheva-Batigol as front 2 and then after the Batigol got banned leading to Sheva-Inzaghi. But then I got lucky with Baggio.

The thing with Baggio is that he is everywhere. Runs from the deep, shooting outside the box, dribbling inside and was good at all that. So to give him a free role, it would need his partner to be flexible too and Sheva fit that category perfectly. Pulling defenders left, opening spaces for Baggio, or leading it himself when Baggio wanders off. We thought they will be a perfect foil to each other.
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Shevchenko/Batistuta would have been perfect. Love to have seen that.

You don't need to sell Baggio to me mate because I love him as a player and it's not a criticism of either him or Shevchenko, or Rui Costa in truth. The fact is that the roles do overlap and if you want to confine one to a certain play style then whilst it will work it's not their natural game.

It isn't really the goalscoring either and I certainly agree that all three would be capable of scoring fantastic goals playing with each other - they won't lose that ability. The problem is much more about general play and the positions they will look to get into when attacking, this is where the overlap happens - in fact if you just take Baggio's goal vs Czechoslovakia that is a movement and run you would see Sheva making.
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
mmm, surprising because my thinking was the opposite. With 4 players in the middle, how can I not dominate possession there? Yes, it will be easier for them to bring ball forward out in wings (4-4-2) but I thought the midfield tussle favours me. The presence of Baggio definitely gives flex to Rui Costa to drop deep if needed without losing any potency.

Lack of width is more of a choice and not a flaw here. As I told Annah above I have enough power to counter through the middle. If I do play against wingers, can always switch to a back 3, sit deep and attack through the middle on the counter. Having a regista gives you the added bonus of creativity + defence.
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I dont disagree at all. You chose to go for a diamond and did it well and you will suffer the strengths and weaknesses of it. I think you have a nice diamond.
 


Look at all his passes here, :drool: , with Nedved and Crespo at the end of them... Honestly even Sanchez picked up some great movements and tactical awareness at Barca so I reckon that will break any defensive line :)
 
VivaJanuzaj said:


Look at all his passes here, :drool: , with Nedved and Crespo at the end of them... Honestly even Sanchez picked up some great movements and tactical awareness at Barca so I reckon that will break any defensive line :)
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He kinda forgot how to finish chances though :D . Sanchez in 12/13 with Laudrup as the AM could produce an endless video of hilarious 'feck up a brilliant pass infront of goal' moments.
 
Balu said:
He kinda forgot how to finish chances though :D . Sanchez in 12/13 with Laudrup as the AM could produce an endless video of hilarious 'feck up a brilliant pass infront of goal' moments.
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Maybe in 12/13 he did, but he's done brilliantly well in front of goal this season - 15 goals in 20 matches this season. That's not half bad for any player let alone winger!
And that's why I got Crespo there too.. Few people knew how to finish chances the way he did :)

What are your thoughts on my team overall?
 
I know, I rate Sanchez a lot, even defended him quite a few times, when he was ridiculed here for his finishing. He was incredibly wasteful last season, but it looked like a confidence problem more than anything and he's done great so far this season.

Pretty much flawless team (besides the goalkeeper of course :D ), but most teams I've seen so far are, not entirely sure yet how it all would click. Laudrup, Nedved and Crespo are a brilliant attack, scary stuff. I'm not the biggest Modric fan, so I'm not 100% sold on your midfield. Oh and thanks for picking Lahm, I hoped he would stick around so I might have the chance to get him later ;).
 
Balu said:
I know, I rate Sanchez a lot, even defended him quite a few times, when he was ridiculed here for his finishing. He was incredibly wasteful last season, but it looked like a confidence problem more than anything and he's done great so far this season.

Pretty much flawless team, but most teams I've seen so far are, not entirely sure yet how it all would click. Laudrup, Nedved and Crespo are a brilliant attack, scary stuff. I'm not the biggest Modric fan, so I'm not 100% sold on your midfield. Oh and thanks for picking Lahm, I hoped he would stick around so I might have the chance to get him later ;).
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What is there not to be sold on Modric? He's possibly the best playmaker out there today, he's so complete it's amazing. The beauty in Modric's play imo is his ability to make the best of players around him, and the way he does it is so composed and makes everything look so simple, plus as we both said, my team's strength is based on it's movement into space, and Modric is as good as it gets in these pin-point passes. But I see plenty of people here not rating him highly enough, so I think that might be a problem for me.
The good thing about picking up Lahm is that as we can see at this year's Bayern, Lahm will be a significant part of my possession game because he showed his incredible understanding of the game on and off the ball, and I can see Lahm-Modric-Laudrup to be the hardest possession game to break up, with the ability to break forward fast with my front three's electric pace. There's a reason Guardiola called Lahm: "The smartest player played for him", he adds another dimension to the build up play. Just watch his match against Arsenal a couple of nights ago, played so many passes between defenders. That gives me three or four players(if you include Nedved there) who has brilliant passing abilities, with 4(Laudrup, Crespo, Nedved & Sanchez) players who can finish brilliantly(Sanchez is far behind them obviously but he's finishing is good), plus the options of crossing via Baines Nedved and Lahm, and long range shooting with Modric & Laudrup.
 
VivaJanuzaj said:


Look at all his passes here, :drool: , with Nedved and Crespo at the end of them... Honestly even Sanchez picked up some great movements and tactical awareness at Barca so I reckon that will break any defensive line :)
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There's only one Laudrup video that you need to post to blow anyone's mind on what he could do. It's been posted a lot of times before but one can't get tired of it, surely? 83 minutes of sublime genius. :drool:

 
crappycraperson said:
Balu - Torsten Frings
crappycraperson - Traore
Chesterlestreet -Florent Malouda
VivaJanuzaj - Righetti
Gio - Dragisa Binic
Cutch - Sergio Ramos
Edgar Allan Pillow - Dante
Pippa - Manucho
Polaroid - Janssen
Stobzilla - Trevor Sinclair
Jayvin - Hajry Redouane
sullydnl - António Pacheco
Snipers Breath - Marquez
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Thanks for compiling the list, crappy. I believe that is accurate.

Let me update the squads and I'll make the draw.
 
And the Random List Generator has spoken.

But for the sake of drama let's welcome Pele and Diego Maradona in the studio who will help us in drawing the matches for the first round of the tournament. Maybe not the best decision seeing the broken furniture backstage...
 
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