Transfer Muppet Fantasy QF: Balu vs MJJ

Whose team is more likely to win considering players in their prime

  • Total voters
    43
  • Poll closed .
Am jitna expecting him to constantly help him out but cover the space on the inside. Balu is going to be building the attack patiently per his admission so I will have men back. When del piero cuts inside, he will be in the area either Keane or nesta occupies.

Am not saying he will go out on tje right wing to cover.
crappycraperson said:
I don't think Keane can help out your full back here not when he has Cesc as a partner.
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MJJ said:
Am jitna expecting him to constantly help him out but cover the space on the inside. Balu is going to be building the attack patiently per his admission so I will have men back. When del piero cuts inside, he will be in the area either Keane or nesta occupies.

Am not saying he will go out on tje right wing to cover.
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When did I say that? I'll run counterattack through Del Piero whenever I get the chance to do that. It's by far the best way to expose your defense. A quick ball to Del Piero, get him one on one aganst Sagna, drag Nesta out of position and slip the ball through to Crespo or force Keane to help out and pass back to Simeone and Verón moving forwards, which gives them time to connect with Nedved against the defensively weaker side of your midfield. Del Piero is clearly the key to unlock your defense for me and he's the perfect player to exploit that. Great dribbler, dangerous goalscorer from that position with intelligence and creativity. And if you foul him in his zone, he's a huge threat with freekicks as well.
 
crappycraperson said:
As far as Keane, Davids argument goes. I don't think there is anything wrong in rating Keane higher.
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Course there's not. Keane being better than Davids would be the wider spread opinion as far as I can tell, it's certainly been my experience with non-United fans.
 
Voted for Balu. United used to be gung-ho in ´99 and MJJ has here replaced Beckham with another more Gung-hoo option in Cristiano. He has also replaced Scholes who I rate better offensively and defensively than Fabregas. The defense is similar in quality to the United '99 one, possibly slightly worse.

The United 99 side conceded 200% more league goals than the 08 one for example and they scored the same amount. I just don't think MJJ has found that perfect balance between offense and defense. Balu is set up to play boring counter-attacking football specialized at soaking up the pressure to then use Veron's passing to instantly counter. I would have preferred to see Emerson play this game MJJ, then the balance would be there and not just individual brilliance.

Cristiano/Giggs would score, no doubt about it in my mind. But I can't see Fabregas-Keane handling the defense when Giggs-Cristiano-Rooney-Shearer all moves far up the pitch.

MJJ is arguing his cause really excellent which is why this isn't a clearer victory for Balu in my eyes. Outstanding work in the thread from MJJ, but slightly off balanced in the tactic.
 
Annahnomoss said:
Voted for Balu. United used to be gung-ho in ´99 and MJJ has here replaced Beckham with another more Gung-hoo option in Cristiano. He has also replaced Scholes who I rate better offensively and defensively than Fabregas. The defense is similar in quality to the United '99 one, possibly slightly worse.

The United 99 side conceded 200% more league goals than the 08 one for example and they scored the same amount. I just don't think MJJ has found that perfect balance between offense and defense. Balu is set up to play boring counter-attacking football specialized at soaking up the pressure to then use Veron's passing to instantly counter. I would have preferred to see Emerson play this game MJJ, then the balance would be there and not just individual brilliance.

Cristiano/Giggs would score, no doubt about it in my mind. But I can't see Fabregas-Keane handling the defense when Giggs-Cristiano-Rooney-Shearer all moves far up the pitch.

MJJ is arguing his cause really excellent which is why this isn't a clearer victory for Balu in my eyes. Outstanding work in the thread from MJJ, but slightly off balanced in the tactic.
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Yes I would sub either Shearer or Rooney off for Emerson and play Cesc behind the striker.
 
Balu said:
When did I say that? I'll run counterattack through Del Piero whenever I get the chance to do that. It's by far the best way to expose your defense. A quick ball to Del Piero, get him one on one aganst Sagna, drag Nesta out of position and slip the ball through to Crespo or force Keane to help out and pass back to Simeone and Verón moving forwards, which gives them time to connect with Nedved against the defensively weaker side of your midfield. Del Piero is clearly the key to unlock your defense for me and he's the perfect player to exploit that. Great dribbler, dangerous goalscorer from that position with intelligence and creativity. And if you foul him in his zone, he's a huge threat with freekicks as well.
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You have davids sitting back and have said I wont have a lot of success counter attacking as your men will be sitting back and deep. That is you wont commit a lot of people to the attack so it will be easier to deal with it. If you do attack in numbers then I will have a lot of success counter attacking.
 
MJJ said:
You have davids sitting back and have said I wont have a lot of success counter attacking as your men will be sitting back and deep. That is you wont commit a lot of people to the attack so it will be easier to deal with it. If you do attack in numbers then I will have a lot of success counter attacking.
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How does that equal 'building the attack patiently, so that you have men back in time' ? That's what you said about my team earlier and that's what I disagreed with. I've never said anything like that, my team is very much capable of exploiting the defensive flaws of your gung-ho tactic with quick counterattacks.
 
Balu said:
How does that equal 'building the attack patiently, so that you have men back in time' ? That's what you said about my team earlier and that's what I disagreed with. I've never said anything like that, my team is very much capable to exploit the defensive flaws of your gung-ho tactic with quick counterattacks.
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I took that from what you said to VJ as well. Thats my understanding of your tactics, if you have players sitting in your half building the attack then my players will obviously wont be out of position.

If you do counter attack in numbers, then I can easily exploit that with the players I have on the break. I dont think my tactics are particularly "gung-ho".
 
Well, you commit more players forward than I do and you want to play pressing against my players in my half, use Keane and Rooney to close everything down quickly, so that Veron can't assert any control like you said in the op. I just can't see that working well enough to make up for the loss of protection of your defense. Del Piero, Crespo and Nedved will cause you all sorts of problems on the counter then.

Like I said before, in my opinion, you need Keane here in a more defensive role, but then you will struggle to keep Verón from gaining control of the match and dictating the pace of the game. You can't have both, imo.
 
Sorry MJJ, had to go for Balu as it stands. As I said earlier, if he scores first then he has the defensive chops to see it out even against your attack. I really think you should make that Emerson sub and switch to 433. That will free Keane to do box to box.
 
crappycraperson said:
Sorry MJJ, had to go for Balu as it stands. As I said earlier, if he scores first then he has the defensive chops to see it out even against your attack. I really think you should make that Emerson sub and switch to 433. That will free Keane to do box to box.
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No worries. I asked pol. but guess he hasnt been online since.
 
Suprised MJJ isn't winning this one.

He's well equipped to cause Balu far more problems. Well, apart from Del Piero v Sagna which is a horror show - but given Del Piero's more likely to be cutting inside you can bring Nesta into the equation a little and that balances things out. Ronaldo and Giggs would have a field day, and with Shearer and Rooney waiting in the middle (plus opposite winger), there is plenty there to capitalise. Any gameplan Balu does have is immediately hampered by having to play a really deep back line, because Febregas will pick them front 3 out all day long, each of whom have pace to burn. He's not set up strong enough to hit back on the counter to win it.
 
Updated for MJJ
Had told him abt giggs missing but he said to leave it
Maybe he is on the phone like me, someone in a pc cwn help him out?
 
You can use this.. if MJJ still wants the sub - @MJJ

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Balu said:
Well, you commit more players forward than I do and you want to play pressing against my players in my half, use Keane and Rooney to close everything down quickly, so that Veron can't assert any control like you said in the op. I just can't see that working well enough to make up for the loss of protection of your defense. Del Piero, Crespo and Nedved will cause you all sorts of problems on the counter then.

Like I said before, in my opinion, you need Keane here in a more defensive role, but then you will struggle to keep Verón from gaining control of the match and dictating the pace of the game. You can't have both, imo.
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Aarrgghhh!! MJJ's team is my favourite in the whole draft with his strong Utd theme and goal-threat but Balu's side has no weakness comparable to Sagna vs Del Piero, and as per usual he's been flawless with his tactics too, as in the quote above for example. MJJ had to roll the dice and change things but it probably confirmed my view that Balu takes this, as it removes his advantage in terms of goal threat.
 
Manchester Dan said:
Suprised MJJ isn't winning this one.

He's well equipped to cause Balu far more problems. Well, apart from Del Piero v Sagna which is a horror show - but given Del Piero's more likely to be cutting inside you can bring Nesta into the equation a little and that balances things out. Ronaldo and Giggs would have a field day, and with Shearer and Rooney waiting in the middle (plus opposite winger), there is plenty there to capitalise. Any gameplan Balu does have is immediately hampered by having to play a really deep back line, because Febregas will pick them front 3 out all day long, each of whom have pace to burn. He's not set up strong enough to hit back on the counter to win it.
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Agreed. Just similar to my thinking.

Not a big fan of the substition. Too little too late to make a difference now. But then I've already voted for MJJ!
 
I'm still a bit surprised that Nedved gets barely any credit here. I'm playing a 4321 here with Verón pulling the strings from deep and both del Piero and Nedved drifting around. I agree that Cole is a brilliant fullback, the best defensive fullback of the last 10 years and like MJJ said, he's especially brilliant one-on-one out on the wing, but that's not where Nedved will play most of the game. He's connecting with del Piero and Crespo in and around the penalty box.

Sadly all Nedved videos on youtube have really shit music, but here you go anyway. Not the best video, but it should give an impression, how Nedved excelled in all the attacking positions. He's not only a winger, he's a brilliant AM with the freedom to drift around.



Nedved isn't solely a problem for Cole, he's a problem for the entire defense. And I think that leads to the key difference between both teams here. My defense will work as a unit. It has the individual brilliance, no weak links and the perfect complementary partnerships and it has more protection from midfield. MJJ needs his strong defenders to bail out the weaker ones again and again and the individual brilliance of my players upfront will exploit it.
 
The beauty of my team is, that I have a brilliant creative player deep in my midfield and one on both corners of the penalty box and 3 players with great movement around them in Crespo, Davids and Simeone. It gives MJJ's midfield an impossible choice really, either pressure Verón deep and give Nedved and Del Piero space around the penalty box or have Keane in a more defensive role and let Verón pull the strings. I honestly can't see how Fabregas will gain any control here in midfield, Simeone has nothing to do in defense but to sit on him and limit his influence. Just watch his Atletico team play and you know what kind of player he was, tireless and tactically smart and disciplined and he's good enough on the ball to carry the ball forward, or connect my defense with Nedved on his side.

The change to an additional DM instead of Shearer would have made a lot of sense at the start of the game, but then MJJ should have played the Ronaldo of today, the one with the brilliant goalscoring record who could make runs inside the box with Rooney dropping deep and dragging defenders around. With tricky winger Ronaldo my centerbacks should comfortably control the box now, let's not forget I have two all time greats here at the heart of my defense, a proven worldclass centerback pair during their time at Juventus, the two best defenders of the worldcup in '06, who faced each other in the final. MJJ is chasing the game here, trying to get a goal and he's switching to more of a counterattacking set-up against a deep sitting defense. It's the wrong time to make that sub in my opinion (and it's the wrong Ronaldo now). The other way round would have made more sense, start cautious, contain my strength and then if necessary go full out attack if you need a goal late in the game.
 
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:lol:

What the feck. 17:12 to 17:20 less than 2 hours without a single comment within less than 2 hours.
 
One thing I would like to say is I really think rooney is being a bit underrated here. I changed the midfield to make it more defensively sound but I disagree with the statement that my previous team was as gung-ho as united 99 as neither yorke nor cole performed the role that rooney is going to perform here.
 
Poll closed, what a stunning comeback, Congrats MJJ, hard luck Balu
 
Hilarious game, really am in shock here. Congratulations MJJ, see that you used my idea with Emerson and completely turned the game around. Takes a great manager to try something new early enough to make a difference.
 
Wooooow! What the hell happened here? Reminds me of some of those awesome Boniek-inspired night time comebacks :D

Poor Balu, this must stand right next to 26 May 1999 :(

Glory Glory Mjjan United! :devil:
 
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