The Modern Draft: R1 - Barney vs VivaJanuzaj

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

vs

....................................... Team Barney ...................................................................................... Team VivaJanuzaj .......................................



Team Barney

TACTICS

My team will line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Benatia and Demichelis make up a very solid duo. The two centre backs have Zabaleta and Rodriguez either side of them. Both of these full backs can attack and defend at a very high level and in Rodriguez's case, he can provide a high output of goals and assists. Zabaleta has shown consistently for Manchester City that he is capable of being a major threat going forward, while also being defensively sound and making few mistakes. Rodriguez is currently showing that he is capable of being very good at both ends of the pitch too.

The full backs and the defence in general will be helped with having a brilliant defensive shield in front of them. Javi Martinez has shown for Bayern and Bilbao that he is capable of doing this at a ridiculously high level. The fact that he played such a major part in Heynckes' brilliant team is a testament to his ability. While Martinez is very good on the ball, ideally once he gets it he will look to get it quickly to the next brilliant midfielder in my team, Xabi Alonso. Alonso has shown time and time again that he knows how to run a football match, whether it was for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or the Spanish national team. The bearded Spaniard could thrive in most circumstances, but especially so against midfielders that gave him time on the ball. VivaJanuzaj's midfield is not one that is suited to a pressing game and none of his midfielders are disciplined enough to be able to do a half-decent job on him, so even if he attempted to instruct one of his midfielders to do this job, he would not succeed. This means that Alonso will have time on the ball. An Alonso with time on the ball to run a match is never a good thing for the opposition. With the number of options that he will have ahead of him, he could pick the opposition apart. Alonso will also be able to contribute to the defensive side of the game. He is a very hard worker and while he won't be running around storming into tackles, his intelligence will allow him to intercept passes and cut out dangerous balls.

Looking further forward, I have Antonio Valencia and Lukas Podolski on my wings. As most of you are Manchester United supporters, you will have all witnessed first hand the damage that he could inflict upon opposition full backs. While Clichy is a solid enough full back, he will not be able to cope with a Valencia who is in his prime. While it is true, Valencia is not a goal threat, he is a player who will create chance after chance and when players like Gerrard, Podolski and Benzema are the ones expected to finish them it is not good for the opposition. Not only does Valencia offer a brilliant threat going forward, but he is also another grafter in my team. While I don't expect him to have to defend much considering he has Zabaleta behind him and Clichy is the full back in VivaJanuzaj's team, he can still fulfill that role when he needs to. On the other flank I have Lukas Podolski. Podolski has shown throughout his career what a goal threat he can be and how lethal a finisher he is. It is his form for the German National Team and for Koln that has stood out though. Podolski's movement and deadliness in front of goal more thank make up for Valencia's shortages in these aspects of his game.

In a second striker role playing off of Karim Benzema, I have Steven Gerrard. Rather than spending ten thousand words boring you about how brilliant Gerrard is, I will keep his role description short(ish). Gerrard displayed some of the best form of his career in 2008/2009 in this role for Liverpool. Gerrard is another hard worker in my team. When Gerrard has the ball arrowed into his feet from Alonso, he will be able to turn and immediately have options: Podolski's movement creates one, Valencia's pace creates another, Benzema's pace and movement creates a third, a full back bombing forward creates a fourth, while keeping the ball and driving forward presents another. Gerrard is a player who makes those around him better and he is a striker's dream. Any half-decent centre forward that plays with Gerrard ends up liking him. The great ones such as Torres and Suarez both adore him. The partnership that he will form with Benzema should allow the team to be successful and score goals. Thiago Silva is a great defender, but Mertersacker next to him is a clear weakness. Even with Silva in the opposition's side, Gerrard has performed against better defenders with worse players around him - with a team of this quality he will be given even more of a chance to shine.

My team is one that is full of grafters. In many cases when people use this term they use it when referring to players with a lack of talent. This time, however, that is not so. The team combines the two excellently. My team have two brilliant set piece takers, Gerrard and Rodriguez, so we will always be a threat in those type of situations too.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Team VivaJanuzaj

​

Team Tactics:
Defense: My defense is marshaled by the most complete defender in the world at his prime, Thiago Silva, who will make any attacker suffer. Thiago is partnered with the big man Mertesacker, and the beauty of Thiago Silva as a defender is that he is so complete he can be a classic complimentary partner to any type of defender, and here he'll make up for Mertesacker's lack of speed, while the big man will be the big tower at the box to deny long balls by Alonso & Gerrard and prime Valencia's multiple crosses. To complete my balanced defense, I have Ivanovic as the reliable RB who can tuck in to CB when Clichy & Song are going too forward, or help at the attack as much as the best RB in the league does for Chelsea. Clichy at his prime was a superb attacking full back for Arsenal, and while Gotze gets to play a free role on the left, Clichy will be in charge of linking up with him and cross balls to Diego Costa.
Midfield: The midfield is based on power and great strong players. Alex Song will play the DM, but he's not at a water carrier role. Sometimes he'll get restricted and do the holding midfielder's role, but plenty of times when Ivanovic won't roam forward and stay as the 3rd CB he'll move forward to link up with the next two midfielders. Moving forward up the midfield, we've got Pogba at the box to box roaming position he loves, Pogba will get the freedom between moving deep and help setup attacks and join the attack. Pogba has both the attacking and defending abilities so he'll be perfect to help Song. My third midfielder is Yaya Toure, whose playing his dream role at the moment. Yaya doesn't like to be restricted to a certain area of play and preferes to change the quantities of how much he defends and attacks while the match goes on, and with Song & Pogba next to him instead of Fernandinho&Silva he'll have more freedom to dominate the midfield like he loves. Yaya will help defending at times but he'll kickstart the counter attacks and move the ball forward with urgency.
Attack: Mario Gotze is the main creator of the team, playing in the free role as the LiF. With Clichy creating the width at the left, Gotze will have the freedom of moving around from the AM role to the left inside forward and all around the front area, and he's got plenty of double-passing options between Clichy-Pogba-Yaya-Pedro-Diego Costa. Gotze will create space for the attackers with his movements and will lead the team moving forward. On the right side, we've got Pedro who is one of Pep's Barca's "big match players". Pedro is a superb right forward, because he can both create width with his stronger right foot, or move inside and score goals. Pedro also has a great through ball, which he'll use to feed the mighty Diego Costa who will thrive in this setup - a team who will move fast to the counter, while on possession have plenty of ways to feed him either through balls or crosses.

Key point -
Plenty of goalscoring threat:

• Diego Costa - Diego Costa is the type of striker that can thrive in a team with multiple ways of creating for him. His physical superiority of Demichelis and Benatia, Pedro can linkup with Gotze and feed him a through ball, both can play a simple one-two with him, an early cross from Ivanovic, crosses from Pedro & Clichy and more. With the creativity from all around the team, and Diego Costa's 34 goals in the last 44 league matches he played(Chelsea and last year's Atletico Madrid), he will definitely get on the scoresheet here.
• Set Pieces - My team has amazing aerial threat from set pieces, I'm not really sure who will defend against the likes of Ivanovic, Diego Costa, Yaya Toure, Mertesacker, T.Silva & Pogba's aerial threat with Gotze's corners and free kicks. Plus, Yaya toure is one of the most accomplished set piece taker in the world, scoring a whopping 10 goals from 13 attempts in the 13/14 season.
• Long Shot - Pogba & Yaya have a great long shot, both of them love to shoot from distance and if they'd get a bit of space they'll shoot and pose a great threat.

The freedom of Mario Gotze:
Gotze will be hard to be stopped at the free role. Don't let his young age mislead you, Gotze will love the free role, allowing him to roam from the wide left role to the AM role. Gotze will be the link to allow Clichy to get to the wide edge of the area and cross balls, he will allow Yaya-Pogba to build up attacks using him, and will feed through balls to Costa & Pedro. Gotze will move often to the hole between Martinez,who has Yaya/Pogba to watch over, and the CBs, who have Diego Costa on their plate. Giving him freedom in this matchup will have massive consequences.

Defending:
Between T.Silva not allowing him to play his normal link up play as the pivot, and Mertesacker on the air, I don't see Benzema taking an active part of this match as much as he'd like to get in the game and scoring. Song will try to use his physical superiority in order to disallow Gerrard from shooting long shots and playing through balls. Ivanovic won't find it hard to keep a prime Podolski at his pocket, while Valencia's crossing threat won't be too felt with Silva & Mertesacker taking care of Benzema aerially.

Pressing in the midfield.
The most important thing is too starve Gerrard to minimum feed as possible, and the way to do it is to deny Xabi Alonso & Martinez from starting attacks in the way they enjoy. Pogba & Yaya will press Xabi & Martinez high up the midfield. Pogba is the perfect player to press relatively slow Xabi Alonso - Pogba's tenacity and work rate, on top of his physical superiority when he sits on Xabi he won't give him time to send his great long balls or build up attacks, Yaya who is much slower and needs to do less defensively will watch over Martinez to make possession more difficult to control by the opponent.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

@Barney
@VivaJanuzaj

Game On. Best of luck to both of you!

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

Good luck @Barney

I can't post a big post atm, but I'll write something soon.

 

[Barney]

The most important thing is too starve Gerrard to minimum feed as possible, and the way to do it is to deny Xabi Alonso & Martinez from starting attacks in the way they enjoy. Pogba & Yaya will press Xabi & Martinez high up the midfield. Pogba is the perfect player to press relatively slow Xabi Alonso - Pogba's tenacity and work rate, on top of his physical superiority when he sits on Xabi he won't give him time to send his great long balls or build up attacks, Yaya who is much slower and needs to do less defensively will watch over Martinez to make possession more difficult to control by the opponent.

None of VivaJanuzaj's midfielders are disciplined enough to do a reliable job pressing Alonso/Martinez and neither are suited to playing the type of pressing game that it will take to stop my midfielders.

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

None of VivaJanuzaj's midfielders are disciplined enough to do a reliable job pressing Alonso/Martinez and neither are suited to playing the type of pressing game that it will take to stop my midfielders.

It's a bit funny to claim it, my midfield is a couple of levels above yours in terms of Athletisicm and physical superiority.
Song is a very good presser, and will out muscle Gerrard as he's got no other defensive duty and will follow him around the pitch. I'm not saying he'll mark him out but he won't allow him the space to control the match like he usually does
Pogba is most athletic midfielder on the pitch, and is has the biggest work rate too.
Gotze is brilliant in pressing play which hr played in Dortmund, Bayern and Germany and excelled in these setups.
Plus I got Yaya, who isn't being expected to press but the game won't go by him, with Gotze and Pogba pressing Xabi and not strong in possession Martinez, Song following Gerrard wherever he goes and Yaya in the middle intercepting passes, your midfield will never be able to play their preferred game through the middle and will have to rely on the wings.
Moreover, Xabi Alonso is known for being less effective when he's being pressed hard, forcing him out of his dominating game and not allowing him his usual passing. That's his weakness and its being exploited perfectly as Martinez passibg doesn't need too much pressure to disturb and your midfield is outbnumbered

 

[Barney]

Song is a very good presser, and will out muscle Gerrard as he's got no other defensive duty.

Song following Gerrard wherever he goes

Alex Song, even at his best, has no where near enough ability to shut down a Steven Gerrard in his 2008/2009 form. Gerrard is more intelligent and asking Song to follow him around the pitch will not work, as again, Song is a midfielder who lacks discipline.

Pogba is most athletic midfielder on the pitch, and is has the biggest work rate too.

Having a high work rate does not automatically mean that he'd suit a midfield that is trying to press.

Plus I got Yaya, who isn't being expected to press but the game won't go by him

That's exactly what will happen though. Even at Yaya's best he has never shown that he has the nous to remain switched on the entire 90 minutes. That is even more noticeable against better midfielders.

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

That's exactly what will happen though. Even at Yaya's best he has never shown that he has the nous to remain switched on the entire 90 minutes. That is even more noticeable against better midfielders.

Don't push it, he's no cone on the pitch. I'm not even suggesting he'll press his ass off because he won't, but you're exaggerating to the other way here. Yaya doesn't stand like Balotelli and wait for the ball to come back to him.

 

[Physiocrat]

My first thoughts are that both teams are set-up to be more counter attacking sides which could either mean it's a really dull game or end-to-end. I'm favouring Viva slightly primarily due to Gotze who can open up the defensive. Barney's team lacks a similar player. Pedro also provides much more going forward than Valencia against a deep defense.

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

My first thoughts are that both teams are set-up to be more counter attacking sides which could either mean it's a really dull game or end-to-end. I'm favouring Viva slightly primarily due to Gotze who can open up the defensive. Barney's team lacks a similar player. Pedro also provides much more going forward than Valencia against a deep defense.

I'd also add that my attack is much more dangerous and screams goals between Pedro Yaya Gotze and Diego Costa, especially when his defensive setup in the match. Both his full backs are weaker, his CB pairing are weaker too, and my defense, on top of being much more solid, is facing a weaker attack as Benzema-Gerrard-Valencia-Podolski aren't the biggest goal threat

 

[Barney]

I'd also add that my attack is much more dangerous and screams goals between Pedro Yaya Gotze and Diego Costa, especially when his defensive setup in the match. Both his full backs are weaker, his CB pairing are weaker too, and my defense, on top of being much more solid, is facing a weaker attack as Benzema-Gerrard-Valencia-Podolski aren't the biggest goal threat

Zabaleta and Rodriguez are both better fullbacks than Ivanovic and Clichy. Gerrard, Benzema and Podolski are all massive goal threats and Rodriguez chips in with a fair few too.

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

Alex Song, even at his best, has no where near enough ability to shut down a Steven Gerrard in his 2008/2009 form. Gerrard is more intelligent and asking Song to follow him around the pitch will not work, as again, Song is a midfielder who lacks discipline.

This is not true either, first of all, I said Song's duty is limit Gerrard from space when receiving the ball and not allow him space to control the game. Plenty of CBs who don't have the biggest discipline like Pepe or Jones are being played as DMs with a marking role not because they are brilliant defenders, its because they have the physical superiority to frustrate them into influencing the game less.
Song is much stronger than Gerrard, with Xabi Alonso not being able to control the pace from deep because of Gotze-Pogba pressing, Gerrard won't get enough possession and when he does Song will always be there to force him into quick passes and no space. Of course Gerrard will beat him a few times but with the extra man in midfield Gerrard will have to be at his prime and work his socks off to have control in this match

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

Zabaleta and Rodriguez are both better fullbacks than Ivanovic and Clichy. Gerrard, Benzema and Podolski are all massive goal threats and Rodriguez chips in with a fair few too.

Seriously? You can't possibly think that Zabaleta is better defensively than Ivanovic, who has been the best defensive RB in the world for a few years now.
And Rodriguez > prime Clichy? I shouldn't even respond to it, Clichy was a brilliant LB for Arsenal at his prime

 

[berbatrick]

Benzema is one of my favourite forwards but his strengths mesh perfectly with Real Madrid and Ronaldo/Bale who can go past him and are the main goalthreats. I can see Gerrard linking nicely with him but Valencia is completely unsuitable and Podolski is just a little bit less than top class.

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

Podolski is just a little bit less than top class.

And against Ivanovic who is at his best RCB-RB position and Ivanovic is the best defensive full back in the world and maybe the entire draft.
As for Benzema, his best qualities are his build up abilities and helping creating for his wingers. Valencia is not the winger for it as he is mostly about crossing and not really scoring, and Podolski is also being well marked. Plus, Benzema is against T.Silva, who is the best CB on the pitch by a huge gap, and if T.Silva loses him for a Valencia cross I've got Mertesacker there to knock these crosses out of the box

 

[Chesterlestreet]

Couple of rather heavy question marks over some players here. If we're to be fair and go by prime, what exactly is Valencia's prime, say, and how long did it last?

Same for Podolski. His prime incarnation is - I would say - the NT one. He looked insanely good at one point, then a bit meh on club level, then - again - brilliant for Germany.

I'm not completely sold on the Starfish-Benzema combo either. But then again, I reckon Benzema is a very adaptable sort of player. And Starfish's...er...starfishery isn't normally detrimental for whoever plays up front (as Barney correctly suggests in his write-up), and it should suit both Valencia and Podolski well, both of whom are potentially excellent in what you'd call supporting roles.

Starfish himself would indeed - again, as per Barney's write-up, be at his most effective in that sort of role.

Alonso is undisputed and would no doubt work well in that role, bit of freedom given both the presence of the more defensively dedicated Martinez and the general workman like character of the whole set-up. I rate Martinez very highly myself, but if we look at that pesky "peak" thing again, his is very short (so far).

Still, I think I prefer Barney's team here. Pogba and Yaya, backed by Song...no, I don't like that very much, I'm afraid.

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

Couple of rather heavy question marks over some players here. If we're to be fair and go by prime, what exactly is Valencia's prime, say, and how long did it last?

Same for Podolski. His prime incarnation is - I would say - the NT one. He looked insanely good at one point, then a bit meh on club level, then - again - brilliant for Germany.

I'm not completely sold on the Starfish-Benzema combo either. But then again, I reckon Benzema is a very adaptable sort of player. And Starfish's...er...starfishery isn't normally detrimental for whoever plays up front (as Barney correctly suggests in his write-up), and it should suit both Valencia and Podolski well, both of whom are potentially excellent in what you'd call supporting roles.

Starfish himself would indeed - again, as per Barney's write-up, be at his most effective in that sort of role.

Alonso is undisputed and would no doubt work well in that role, bit of freedom given both the presence of the more defensively dedicated Martinez and the general workman like character of the whole set-up. I rate Martinez very highly myself, but if we look at that pesky "peak" thing again, his is very short (so far).

Still, I think I prefer Barney's team here. Pogba and Yaya, backed by Song...no, I don't like that very much, I'm afraid.

Backed with Gotze.
Between pressure from Pogba Gotze and Pedro, who all either played a pressing game and excelled in or have the right physical attributes for it(Pogba), when will Xabi get the chance to control the match? Let alone create chances for the chance-lacking attack here against a very formidable defense with two of the best defenders in the draft in Ivanovic and Thiago Silva.
I really don't see Barney scoring here, whereas my Set piece threat is unquestioned and threat from Costa-Pedro with Gotze and Yaya as the passers or Pogba Yaya long shots screams goals.

 

[Barney]

If we're to be fair and go by prime, what exactly is Valencia's prime, say, and how long did it last?

In both 2009-2010 and 2011-2012 he was outstanding.

Same for Podolski. His prime incarnation is - I would say - the NT one. He looked insanely good at one point, then a bit meh on club level, then - again - brilliant for Germany.

His prime form was always shown for the national team and from the little I've seen of his first stint at Koln, he was very good there too.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

Pedro never did anything for me, I have to say. Bit of a non-entity, really. Just my opinion - decent enough player, sure, but nothing special.

As for Alonso controlling the match - this is twisting things unnecessarily for me. You don't depend on ONE player controlling the match, unchecked (as it were). Alonso will be important for Barney, of course, not least as the most obvious link between midfield and Starfish - but the latter's general influence of the match is more worrisome than Alonso's, as such. He'll have plenty of support from both the wingers (who aren't luxury players by any stretch) and Martinez - and from Starfish himself, who will run his arse off in customary fashion.

So, no - I ain't buying that.

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

In both 2009-2010 and 2011-2012 he was outstanding.


His prime form was always shown for the national team and from the little I've seen of his first stint at Koln, he was very good there too.

Yes, Valencia was amazing at these years but most he did was still that right winged run an a cross to Rooney (who at his prime was better than Benzema aerially). Here he doesn't have Rooney, and both Silva Mertesacker are much better aerially than Benzema.

Podolski was good at Koln , and great in the NT but he was never going to be a big goslthreat against Ivanovic

 

[PedroMendez]

my issue with barney´s team is, that he has too many players of dubious quality. The axis Alonso - Gerrard - Benzema is worldclass and Martinez + Zabaleta are also great players, who fit well into the system. Still the other players are all fairly underwhelming.

In that sense Viva´s team is a lot more balanced. He might not have the likes of Alonso/Gerrard but he also doesnt have so many weak links.

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

Pedro never did anything for me, I have to say. Bit of a non-entity, really. Just my opinion - decent enough player, sure, but nothing special.

As for Alonso controlling the match - this is twisting things unnecessarily for me. You don't depend on ONE player controlling the match, unchecked (as it were). Alonso will be important for Barney, of course, not least as the most obvious link between midfield and Starfish - but the latter's general influence of the match is more worrisome than Alonso's, as such. He'll have plenty of support from both the wingers (who aren't luxury players by any stretch) and Martinez - and from Starfish himself, who will run his arse off in customary fashion.

So, no - I ain't buying that.

Not allowing the Alonso-Gerrard passing game work is the key to stop an already not dangerous attack . You can not rate Pedro and that's fine, but his work rate is undeniable and he played a key part in Barcelona's pressing game at Pep's Barca, and that pressing on a non experienced LB of Rodriguez, or with Gotze, another proven presser, on xabi Alonso will deny Barney's midfield, who is technically superior, to control the match.
I'm really not seeing the route to goal here with Benzema as the only slightly prolific goalscorer against a very strong defense.

On the other hand, I don't see any explanation on how Barney's CBs will stop Diego Costa whose getting feeded by Gotze Pedro Yaya and Pogba, or for that matter I don't see anywhere how he won't concede in a corner.

 

[Barney]

I'm really not seeing the route to goal here with Benzema as the only slightly prolific goalscorer against a very strong defense.

Podolski, Gerrard and Benzema all have plenty of goals in them. Gerrard scored the 3rd most goals in the league in 2008/2009 when he played in this position. Podolski is an excellent goalscorer as well.

Zabaleta is more than capable of handling Gotze and should Gotze drift inside that leaves your defence completely exposed to Zabaleta's ability going forward.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

I'm really not seeing the route to goal here with Benzema as the only slightly prolific goalscorer against a very strong defense.

Well, depends on the definition of "prolific", I suppose. But both prime Starfish and prime Podolski are clearly goal threats - very much so, I'd say. Podolski had something like a goal every other match for Cologne (and scored frequently for Germany) - and Starfish must've had very decent numbers for Liverpool in his prime years, not to mention his penchant for popping up and scoring important goals for 'em (which goes for Podolski too, I suppose).

 

[Physiocrat]

Still not sure where to go in this match but there's a much more high scoring and entertaining game which needs your comments too!

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

Well, depends on the definition of "prolific", I suppose. But both prime Starfish and prime Podolski are clearly goal threats - very much so, I'd say. Podolski had something like a goal every other match for Cologne (and scored frequently for Germany) - and Starfish must've had very decent numbers for Liverpool in his prime years, not to mention his penchant for popping up and scoring important goals for 'em (which goes for Podolski too, I suppose).

But is it enough against my defense? I feel like Ivanovic and Thiago Silva are getting massively underrated here. We're talking about Gerrard and Benzema against them, Benzema at his best season had 21 league goals(for RM, nothing close to what he's playing with here), Gerrard's best season had 16 league goals.
On the other hand, you've got the very unconvincing(yet looked away from) CB pairing of Demichelis and Benatia, against Diego Costa(27 league goals in one season) and Yaya Toure(20 league goals in one season), and that's not even mentioning how much more goal threat Gotze and Pedro pose against Podoslki and Valencia, who again, are facing a better defensive pair.

 

[Raees]

Really like the look of both sides, but Barney's wide players put me off.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

But is it enough against my defense? I feel like Ivanovic and Thiago Silva are getting massively underrated here. We're talking about Gerrard and Benzema against them, Benzema at his best season had 21 league goals(for RM, nothing close to what he's playing with here), Gerrard's best season had 16 league goals.
On the other hand, you've got the very unconvincing(yet looked away from) CB pairing of Demichelis and Benatia, against Diego Costa(27 league goals in one season) and Yaya Toure(20 league goals in one season), and that's not even mentioning how much more goal threat Gotze and Pedro pose against Podoslki and Valencia, who again, are facing a better defensive pair.

It's not possible to play the pure numbers game here, but even if we do, neither Götze nor Pedro are more dangerous in terms of goal scoring than prime Podolski. And prime Benzema - clearly - would have scored much more in a set-up NOT featuring Cristiano Ronaldo.

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

Do set pieces count for nothing in draft games? I have yet to see one response from Barney or a different poster/voter who has any arguments against my team's almost certainty to score from a corner or a free kick. Mertesacker, Ivanovic, Thiago Silva, Yaya Toure, Pogba, Diego Costa all 1.80(and some over 1.90) and all brilliant headers on the ball.
Yaya Toure's free kicking abilities had him score 10 goals in the 2013-14 season with free kicks.

It's not possible to play the pure numbers game here, but even if we do, neither Götze nor Pedro are more dangerous in terms of goal scoring than prime Podolski. And prime Benzema - clearly - would have scored much more in a set-up NOT featuring Cristiano Ronaldo.

He would have definitely NOT score as much in a team that doesn't score 100+ goals every season, plenty of strikers face that much chances, that's why I didn't bring up Pedro's numbers to the equation.
As for Podolski, both Gotze and Pedro face much weaker defenders than Ivanovic, who is the best defensive RB in the draft, it's bloody Podolski, not Ronaldinho. If Ivanovic doesn't do more against Podolski than Gotze does against Zabaleta I don't know what's what anymore. Zabaleta is brilliant, and better than most at the offensive end, including Ivanovic, but he was never a great defensive RB. Solid? Yes, capable of both bombing the RW and stopping a free roaming Gotze? No.

 

[antohan]

Benzema is one of my favourite forwards but his strengths mesh perfectly with Real Madrid and Ronaldo/Bale who can go past him and are the main goalthreats. I can see Gerrard linking nicely with him but Valencia is completely unsuitable and Podolski is just a little bit less than top class.

Precisely what I was thinking, who is Benzema going to pivot for? Podolski?

 

[Chesterlestreet]

He would have definitely NOT score as much in a team that doesn't score 100+ goals every season, plenty of strikers face that much chances, that's why I didn't bring up Pedro's numbers to the equation.

Has nothing to do with the sort of player he is. If we can't imagine him in a different set-up, the basic premise of the whole thing goes out the window. Irrelevant sort of argument, in other words.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

Precisely what I was thinking, who is Benzema going to pivot for? Podolski?

Pivot-schmivot. I detest that term.

But, yeah - alright. He'll "pivot" for both Podolski and Starfish, the latter being the main threat on the park in this set-up.

 

[crappycraperson]

There are some issues with Viva's team. Pogba and Toure are playing in their best roles but Song is the simply not the right player to play behind them. His stint at Arsenal was typified by poor defensive play and good attacking one, but that is not what you need here. Similarly it will be better off a proper winger who can create on the wing than Pedro, who is more of a forward. I like his defense, one of the best for this stage.

On the other side I don't rate Barney's attack at all. Part of it comes from not rating Valencia's peak as much as others. Gerrard up against Song is the one who can make the difference for him but I don't believe Benzema is the type of forward to play in front of Stevie G. Alonso + Martinez vs Yaya + Pogba would be possibly the tastiest MF battle in this draft so I am gonna call that even with may be an edge to Barney. In the end it just came down to the fact that I can see Viva's defense handling Barney's attack better than vice versa.

 

[harms]

I really don't like how Rodriguez gets picked in those draft to fill the youth quota and is expected to have a decent defensive performance. He is insanely overrated - he is brilliant offensively, but he really is underwhelming as a defender. And not like every other modern fullback with priority in attack, he just isn't good enough (maybe just yet). To say that he is better than Clichy is madness.

Viva overrates a couple of his players too.

Ivanovic isn't the best right back in the world for some years. He is one of the best right-backs in the league and the best performing one this season. Zabaleta was better in the last few years (but he edges Rafael, Coleman and Sagna on stability). He gets slightly overrated as a defender because he looks like a CB/RCB, but he isn't THAT good. And his attacking contribution is somehow overrated too, because nobody expects this much end product from a CB-ish "defensive" RB. He has a good habit of scoring vital goals in big games though. A great player, very consistent, but the amounts of "best"s in Viva's comments about him is unjustified.

Song was never great defensively. His main strength at Arsenal was his chips/long balls to Van Persie. He was (is) a very athletic player, but tactically clueless, hence Arsenal's usual non-existent defensive midfield. And to say that he will easily outmuscle starfish is to underrate the latter - he was a very strong player, even if he wasn't built like a tank.

Begovic is a huge turn-off too.


Thoughts on the game:

• Pedro and Ivanovic will have a field day on their flank - Podolski won't help much, Rodriguez isn't good enough defensively. I would've switched Martinez and Alonso, to be fair, to provide some cover there
• Not sure if Benzema is the right Torres replacement here. A brilliant forward though and a brilliant team player - but I would've loved to here more about how this would work
• Barney lacks goalscorers here - he only has Benzema, Captain Fantastic and Podolski and they are up against outstanding Silva, very useful in the right set-up Mertezacker (and he is well-covered), Ivanovic and Song. It's hard to see how they will score more than one.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

There are some issues with Viva's team. Pogba and Toure are playing in their best roles but Song is the simply not the right player to play behind them. His stint at Arsenal was typified by poor defensive play and good attacking one, but that is not what you need here.

Yeah, I don't like that trio at all. And I'll add that the Pogba/Toure combo leaves something to be desired in itself, in terms of the infamous "balance" our Aloysius keeps banging on about. I don't see it working very well at all. Which is my main gripe, really.

It's an on-paper brilliant combo which would be frustrating-as-feck in reality, backed by a sub-par player in the pure DM role.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

And to say that he will easily outmuscle starfish is to underrate the latter - he was a very strong player, even if he wasn't built like a tank.

He'd be pretty much useless against a prime Starfish, in my opinion. There's a chasm between 'em in terms of quality, given the roles they're both given here. Prime Starfish in that role was a monster of a player, one who even a top notch, dedicated, man marking sort of DM would struggle with, if he had to track him and contain him. Song isn't anywhere near the required level - Starfish would eat him for breakfast.

 

[BobbyManc]

Do set pieces count for nothing in draft games? I have yet to see one response from Barney or a different poster/voter who has any arguments against my team's almost certainty to score from a corner or a free kick. Mertesacker, Ivanovic, Thiago Silva, Yaya Toure, Pogba, Diego Costa all 1.80(and some over 1.90) and all brilliant headers on the ball.
Yaya Toure's free kicking abilities had him score 10 goals in the 2013-14 season with free kicks.


He would have definitely NOT score as much in a team that doesn't score 100+ goals every season, plenty of strikers face that much chances, that's why I didn't bring up Pedro's numbers to the equation.
As for Podolski, both Gotze and Pedro face much weaker defenders than Ivanovic, who is the best defensive RB in the draft, it's bloody Podolski, not Ronaldinho. If Ivanovic doesn't do more against Podolski than Gotze does against Zabaleta I don't know what's what anymore. Zabaleta is brilliant, and better than most at the offensive end, including Ivanovic, but he was never a great defensive RB. Solid? Yes, capable of both bombing the RW and stopping a free roaming Gotze? No.

Disagree with that assessment of Zabaleta. When Zabaleta and Richards rotated it was always Richards who offered the biggest threat bombing forward and Zabaleta's presence getting forward is an aspect of his game that he has developed hugely at City. Zabaleta's main strength at City has always been his defensive solidity and very few wingers have gotten the better of him; Hazard recently said he is his toughest opponent in the league. It is only really this season that there has been a reversal in Zabaleta's offering to the team as he has looked a bit uncomfortable defensively this season but remained a threat pushing up, and that is partly why Sagna was given the nod at Stamford Bridge this season. Offensively Zabaleta is very good, he's extremely intelligent with his runs, he has a great first-touch and is composed with a decent cross on him. However, if we are talking Zabaleta in his prime, I'd insist his defensive game is where his strength lies.

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

@harms I said a few times, Ivanovic isn't the best RB in the world, but he's the best one defensively and that's not overrating

 

[harms]

He'd be pretty much useless against a prime Starfish, in my opinion. There's a chasm between 'em in terms of quality, given the roles they're both given here. Prime Starfish in that role was a monster of a player, one who even a top notch, dedicated, man marking sort of DM would struggle with, if he had to track him and contain him. Song isn't anywhere near the required level - Starfish would eat him for breakfast.

Yeah, he is the only one that keeps me from voting for Viva. I'm now trying to imagine how his defence would work - Mertezacker is pretty much useless against an agile and fast Benzema, so he will probably be the one handling Gerrard here (with Song's help). But even with them both on him he can (and will) do some damage. The question is - will that be enough to win this game?

 

[VivaJanuzaj]

Disagree with that assessment of Zabaleta. When Zabaleta and Richards rotated it was always Richards who offered the biggest threat bombing forward and Zabaleta's presence getting forward is an aspect of his game that he has developed hugely at City. Zabaleta's main strength at City has always been his defensive solidity and very few wingers have gotten the better of him; Hazard recently said he is his toughest opponent in the league. It is only really this season that there has been a reversal in Zabaleta's offering to the team as he has looked a bit uncomfortable defensively this season but remained a threat pushing up, and that is partly why Sagna was given the nod at Stamford Bridge this season. Offensively Zabaleta is very good, he's extremely intelligent with his runs, he has a great first-touch and is composed with a decent cross on him. However, if we are talking Zabaleta in his prime, I'd insist his defensive game is where his strength lies.

If you say so I believe you as you are the City fan, but I stand behind my original claims, at his prime Ivanovic who originally was a CB is better at defending than Zabaleta