La Liga Draft Group B

[Bjornebye]

Usual rules. You can't pick for your own team if you played. Top 2 sides go through. Pick the best two sides. Voting closes at Midday on Saturday 

 

Elite

 

 

viRdjil

 

 

Lee

 

 

Rapey

 

 

Alex

 

 

 

[Bjornebye]

Elite

 

A good side. I always liked Cazorla, looked a boss player whenever I watched him but, Like Fabregas I think you could have had a better choice in there. Zambrotta was better at RB. Front 4 is great. 

 

viRdjil

 

Brilliant defence and keeper. I don't know a lot about Netzer to be honest but you have some ballers in there. Xavi releasing Torres and Griezmann is dangerous. 

 

Lee

 

Imagine watching a prime Di Stefano and Hugo Sanchez play together! Used to love Sanchez and Recoba when I was very young. I have never personally rated Davids as high as most and think you could have picked better but thats a decent side. 

 

Rapey

 

Excellent side. Not a huge Martinez fan, I have watched the game pass him by a lot when I have watched him but you are solid in every position. Possibly could have had a better striker than Costa but still a side with Zidane and Rivaldo in  is taking names. Love Brehme. 

 

Alex

 

Hard to knock Bebeto after 94 but he had a very short spell of being boss. We are judging on peak though so yeah, good pick. Romario too is a great pick. Cruyff obviously one of the greatest ever and defence is solid enough. 

 

I've gone for Alex and Rapey 

[Lee909]

Elite

Solid good quality and functional midfield. Preffered Zambrotta on the right. Not a fan of Kepa

 

ViRdjil

Not a fan of Almeyda, never cemented a place regularly in any team. Good pair of CB. Lauren average(all teams have someone) 

 

Lee

A bit average at fullback but wanted attack minded fullbacks who would go to wingback too if needed. Ended up not using my 3rd Barcelona pick ianf used 2nd on a keeper the end so with hindsight i could have upgraded. Aurelio would great when fit though. Happy with my wingers and the Gento-Di Stefano link is pretty proven with 5 European cups together. Gento won 6 European cups and 12 la liga titles in 18 years and is one of the fastest players in history. Rep would integral to the good Dutch side and Sanchez could lead any attack. 

Rijkaard and Davids just run the engine room. 

 

15 European cups between them all

 

Just explaining why I picked who I did 

 

 

Rapey

Think Rivaldo and Zidane could crowd each other out a bit in that formation. I'd drop Maryinez in as sweeper and go with wingback personally 

 

Alex

Only issue is its left Kaka in a weird position for me. Not a 10 but not a winger. I'd have swapped Beneto for a winger. Raymond Kopa should have been picked in this draft and would have been perfect, play as a old fashioned 10 or inside forward from the right. 

 

Kopa------Kaka-----Cruyff

---------------Romario

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure yet

Elite plus 1

[Sugar Ape]

Elite

 

Great front three and Vieri was always a big favourite of mine. Quality player. Iniesta is a good pick behind them in midfield but the two behind him are a bit weak. Cazorla was always better, for me, further forward than you have him and I think Mauro Silva would have too much to do and wasn't good enough to do it. Solid enough defence.

 

Ardja

 

Nice front two and the best player the world has ever seen, Netzer, would have plenty of joy trying to play them into space. Not sure on the rest of the midfield, Almeyda wasn't anything special and is a pretty weak anchor for the midfield. One quality fullback in Lizarazu and one not so good in Lauren and a great keeper and centre back pairing.

 

Lee

 

The two best centre back picks from the non Barca and Real players but the rest of the defence is a bit weak. I thought at the time Aurellio was a pretty bad pick so early in the draft and he wasn't even the best left back in the Valencia team he was a part of. I like the midfield two and think they'd compliment each other well. Up front is a bit hard to judge as well with the three behind but I loved Hugo Sanchez as a player. Great striker.

 

Alex

 

Good solid back four and I like them all. Your keeper though... actually he might be worse than Stig's, I can't believe Abiatti wasn't taken. Solid if unspectacular midfield two and I really like all four players ahead of them but I'm just not sure where Kaka fits in. Drop Kaka for another centre mid, say Essien, and put Cruyff behind the front two and I think you'd be onto a winner. As it stands I think the side is good enough to exit the group but not to win the whole thing.

 

I'm going to go for Lee and Alex.

[The Golden Eel]

So...

 

Elite - Not keen on the keeper - I don't think he looked any great shakes at Chelsea and that's all I have to judge him on. Rest of the defence though is good. Midfield I don't mind at all - I like it better than others seem to. The forward line is very nice.

 

Virj - a solid team overall. Very good defence, aside from Lauren, who you seem to rate more highly then most others do. Almeyda, as others have said, is a little subpar. Can't really judge two of the midfielders properly unfortunately. Attack is good but not breath-taking when compared to some others.

 

Lee - again, some judging issues here. I don't know about the right back at all and I get that you were trying to keep your options open but when someone like Torricelli was available, it just doesn't sit right. Good CM pairing. Zubizarreta is an interesting case - I remember him a bit but not especially but it's always kind of struck me that he's not that highly rated. Maybe I'm wrong about that. I'd have picked Reina ahead of him myself but I couldn't stand over that with any great conviction.

 

Ape - a good solid side overall with no obvious areas of weakness. Possibly lacks a bit of pace throughout the side and not a huge amount of goalscoring threat compared to some other sides in the draft. A bit of a strange situation where it's hard to be critical of any area of the team but at the same time it doesn't particularly excite me.

 

Alex - I agree with what some others have said - Kaka and Cruyff together - it's got a slight air of shoehorning. Don't know too much about Nkono or Ruggeri but I did watch Nkono's Youtube video one time before and I was quite impressed actually. Bebeto and Romario is a nice touch and the midfield two is a good combination. 

 

Will have to mull it over before voting.

[3 Stacks]

Same disclaimer as in the other thread. I essentially know fuck all about most players but I'll vote based on who I perceive has most weaknesses. 

 

Elite: Solid team overall. No one really sticks out like a sore thumb but I think this is the team with the fewest top, top players. Also, Suarez on the left is a bit meh. 

 

aRdja: Half the midfield is suspect. One player from the 60's and a one-dimensional, slightly above average holding player. 

 

Lee: I enjoyed the draft strategy of going "other" early. I tried to do the same thing, but Gento and Di Stefano again, is hard for me to vote for. 

 

Sugar Ape: Super solid team. Can't see a weak point, well balanced. Maybe the midfield 3 lack a bit of creativity but there's Zidane ahead of them anyway and they're all really good.

 

Alex: Couple average players. Don't know the keeper and Capdevila is pretty meh but the rest of the team is great.

 

Sugar Ape for me has the most solid team. Then it's between Elite and Alex. Went with Alex, just because his attack is better. 

[Bjornebye]

Im made up to see people giving explanations about each side. 

[Lee909]

I knew picking Gento and Di Stefano would lose me votes from people and I'm not really arsed about the voting its the picking players that's interesting. But in a all-time la liga draft they deserved to be picked. 

 

There records speak for themselves 

 

Gento 

[Lee909]

Di Stefano 

 

[Lee909]

2 hours ago, DimReaper said:

 

 

Lee - again, some judging issues here. I don't know about the right back at all and I get that you were trying to keep your options open but when someone like Torricelli was available, it just doesn't sit right. Good CM pairing. Zubizarreta is an interesting case - I remember him a bit but not especially but it's always kind of struck me that he's not that highly rated. Maybe I'm wrong about that. I'd have picked Reina ahead of him myself but I couldn't stand over that with any great conviction.

 

 

 

 

I thought about Reina and he's a far better modern keeper. Zubizarreta was one of the last of the older generation keepers and wasn't great with the ball at his feet, it's what got Cruyff wanting a change at Barcelona. He may have gone on a couple of years too long aswell if I remember correct. Still being picked by Spain into his late 30s and made a high profile mistake in the 98 world cup properly leaves some with a bad impression 

 

The RB I picked was bought for 40ml by Juve last year after a great year at Inter and making the Serie A team of the year, and City are trying to bring him in now. 

 

Honestly though Torricelli was a complete oversight and I didn't pick him up wjen looking through players to go on the list. 

[Guest Alex_K]

My view on these teams (in descending order as teams were posted):

 

Elite: Kepa totally passed me by: would have taken him myself. Full backs functional but not spectacular. Gimenez a decent prospect; Ramos probably goes down as one of the best ever in the history books. Midfield is pretty weak: Mauro Silva & Santi Cazorla both decent players but neither remotely approaching the top class midfielders chosen elsewhere. Iniesta very good: Vieri never really on the level of world class strikers (transfer fees saying otherwise!), although Suarez + Robben both probably go down in top 10 in history in their respective position. Ultimately good team with great wide players but soft centre.

 

viRdjil: Good functional team but very light on world class players. There's 1 Balon d'Or player in this team dated 1960 - and its telling. Xavi is probably the best player out of the 11. A lot of good-but-not-world-class players -- including Lizarazu, Griezmann, Lauren, Almeyda. Time has not served Pique well. Hierro good but again, not in that historic top rung of defenders.

 

Lee : Can't pretend Ive seen much of some of the forward line. Rep was on my radar to pair with Cruyff, otherwise a very decorated attack but equally very removed from contemporary game. The full backs are very sub-standard: neither gets into a CL semi level team regularly, never mind an all-star draft. Centre backs good .. although there are other Argentinians better than Ayala. Keeper is an all time great.

 

Sugar Ape: Good solid team but few too many journeymen at the level we're discusisng. Diego Costa, Zabaleta, Javi Martinez, Carvalho .. variously good players but none of these are remotely making any all-time lists in their position. Good functional team but outside of Zidane & Rivaldo this lacks real world class power.

 

Alex_K: As many Balon d'Or players in 1 team as the other 4 teams put together. Interesting feedback on Kaka; his position isnt actually one I was worried about, as the 4-2-2-2 position was frequently deployed by his Milan side and he played in that role alongside Seedorf. Of my 11 players, 8 won a World Cup or started in a World Cup final. N'Kono a bit of an unknown relatively speaking .. but voted 2nd best African keeper of all time. Strike force who were top independently at domestic level (back to back La Liga league top scorers) but most importantly dominated as a pairing together at international level. 4 Balon d'Or levels in this side, including 3 in attack & 1 in midfield. 

[aRdja]

Its Elite +1 for me but I’m struggling with my final pick. Gonna read up on Lee’s forward line.

[Lee909]

23 minutes ago, viRdjil said:

Its Elite +1 for me but I’m struggling with my final pick. Gonna read up on Lee’s forward line.

 

https://thesefootballtimes.co/2018/06/08/johnny-rep-the-natural-total-footballer-who-weaved-his-way-into-legend/

 

https://thesefootballtimes.co/2019/04/08/johnny-rep-the-dutch-master-who-lit-up-french-football/

 

 

Not much written on Gento, there are reports he ran 100m with the ball in 10.9 seconds. Not sure the truth to be honest but he was rapid

 

 

 

[Elite]

Ardja

 

Solid defence and keeper, well apart from Lauren, two very good forwards but team is very narrow and not the strongest midfield.

 

Lee

 

Hard to judge the forward line but they are all legends before our time. Great midfield pairing and solid defence. I like Aurellio always thought he was a classy player.

 

Sugar Ape

 

Strong player choices throughout, a bit narrow and Diego Costa is one of the weakest forwards in this draft despite him being a good player but Zidane and Rivaldo make up for it.

 

Alex

 

Solid and functional team, no real weaknesses apart from the keeper.

 

Going to go for Lee and Sugar Ape.

[Guest Alex_K]

Functional team? I've got as many Balon d'OR winners as the other 4 teams put together and 8 World Cup finalist starters.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_N'Kono#Style_of_play

N'Kono:

"Arguably the greatest goalkeeper Africa ever produced .. N'Kono appeared for the Cameroon in three World Cups and four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments .. Buffon declared he decided to play in the goalkeeping position after seeing N'Kono's performances at the 1990 World Cup. In addition, he named his first son Louis Thomas in the Cameroonian's honour"

[Elite]

Have a minute mate. It's only an internet draft.

[Sugar Ape]

N’Kono hasn’t exactly got loads of competition for best African keeper... which is clearly Grobelaar anyway. I mean Lauren is probably the greatest ever African right back. Doesn’t mean he’s a great player. 

 

Pointless adding up Balon D’Ors as well. You could have four players who have won one each and another team has only Messi who has won five.

 

On another note I had no idea Rivaldo had won a Balon D’Or until I picked him and the year he won’t doesn't even look like his best season for Barca. 

[Bjornebye]

Still more need to vote lads 

[Allan]

Alex & Lee for me.

[Bjornebye]

Genuinely thought Rapey had the best side in the draft (again). What the fuck do I know.