Rivalries Draft: Group B

[aRdja]

Alex K

 

Sugar Ape

Lifetime Fan

 

Megadrive Man

 

Elite

[Bjornebye]

One vote or two per group @viRdjil

[aRdja]

1 minute ago, Bjornebye said:

One vote or two per group @viRdjil

Top 2 teams.

[Lee909]

Fuck this is the tougher side of the draw. Some might think it's a fix

 

Need more time

[aRdja]

19 minutes ago, Lee909 said:

Fuck this is the tougher side of the draw. Some might think it's a fix

 

Need more time

Haha, i did the draw at the very start of the draft!!!

 

 

[lifetime fan]

1 hour ago, Lee909 said:

Fuck this is the tougher side of the draw. Some might think it's a fix

 

Need more time

Big time. 

[lifetime fan]

Rapey and Alex. 
 

Although I’d have swapped Ronaldo and Ljungberg if I were Alex. 

[lifetime fan]

Alex: Great side. 
I’d have swapped Ronaldo and Ljungberg and the keeper/centre backs aren’t world class, but going forward that side would be a joy to watch. 
 

Rapey: Great side. 
If Kolo Toure and Batistuta are your ‘weakest’ links you don’t have much to worry about. 
 

Megadrive man: Very good side. 
Your defence and keeper just didn’t match how great your midfield and attack is though. 
 

Elite: Very good side. 
Love that diamond midfield. Feels fucking harsh but I never thought of van Bronchorst as a LB despite playing there for Barca. 

[Lee909]

Who the fuck saying Batistuta is a weak link? 

[lifetime fan]

5 minutes ago, Lee909 said:

Who the fuck saying Batistuta is a weak link? 

RELATIVELY, compared to some of the best sides most likely to win this draft. 

[Guest Alex_K]

42 minutes ago, lifetime fan said:

Rapey and Alex. 
 

Although I’d have swapped Ronaldo and Ljungberg if I were Alex. 

I think - may be wrong - that Ronaldo played in the right for United but moved to the left for Madrid. Put him there on assumption Madrid is his peak.
 

Almost went Ronaldo - Rooney - Kanchelskis but that may have been too Manc to handle. Loads of good Rangers/Celtic attackers left unpicked and several European Cup winning midfielders - not sure why everyone rushed there.
 

P.s. I'd argue Kohler was very much world class.. Won every trophy there is for clubs and country and was voted German player of the year. Not bad for a cb.

[Lee909]

16 minutes ago, lifetime fan said:

RELATIVELY, compared to some of the best sides most likely to win this draft. 

He's as good a central striker as anyone. 

Top scoring foreign player in modern Italian football. In a era when Serie A was the best in the world. 

[No2]

Life time Fan 1st, doesn't have a GOAT in there but it looks the best balanced side out of all of them. Could easily see it functioning really well.

 

Megadrive has 2 cunts as full backs, neither that good either. 

 

Alex K, love the full backs, my favourite 2 of all time. Can't see past your all left foot midfield and poor keeper.

 

Sugar Ape and Elite are the toss of a coin, Redondo on the right is careless so Sugar Ape takes it.

[Elite]

Got to be Alex K and Sugar Ape 2nd.

[aRdja]

This is real tough to choose. Not one weak team here.

 

Goalkeeper: Rapey

CHs: Lifey

FBs: Alex K

CMs: Elite

Wide players: Megadrive Man

Attack: much of muchness

 

Gonna have to think it through. 

[lifetime fan]

30 minutes ago, No2 said:

Life time Fan 1st, doesn't have a GOAT in there but it looks the best balanced side out of all of them. Could easily see it functioning really well.

 

Megadrive has 2 cunts as full backs, neither that good either. 

 

Alex K, love the full backs, my favourite 2 of all time. Can't see past your all left foot midfield and poor keeper.

 

Sugar Ape and Elite are the toss of a coin, Redondo on the right is careless so Sugar Ape takes it.

How old are you mate? 
 

Have you ever seen Baresi? 

[No2]

11 minutes ago, lifetime fan said:

How old are you mate? 
 

Have you ever seen Baresi? 

I loved Baresi, him, Maldini and Paul McGrath were my favourite players back then. But he's not mentioned when people talk about the best of all time, that might not be fair but it's true.

 

Btw I voted for you ungrateful cunt.

[lifetime fan]

18 minutes ago, No2 said:

I loved Baresi, him, Maldini and Paul McGrath were my favourite players back then. But he's not mentioned when people talk about the best of all time, that might not be fair but it's true.

 

Btw I voted for you ungrateful cunt.

He is by anyone who has a fucking a clue. 
 

*I know you did, you have great taste. 

[Bjornebye]

3 hours ago, No2 said:

Life time Fan 1st, doesn't have a GOAT in there but it looks the best balanced side out of all of them. Could easily see it functioning really well.

 

Megadrive has 2 cunts as full backs, neither that good either. 

 

Alex K, love the full backs, my favourite 2 of all time. Can't see past your all left foot midfield and poor keeper.

 

Sugar Ape and Elite are the toss of a coin, Redondo on the right is careless so Sugar Ape takes it.

Baresi is always in the top 3 greatest defenders of all time. For me only Maldini is better and Maldini played most of his career as a left-back. You can hardly get a more GOAT in his position in the whole fucking draft. 

[Guest Alex_K]

Review:

 

Sugar Ape: This is going to be an overall trending comment in this group but .. I find this team far too attacking. Laudrup occupied Ronaldinho's position really, so that kind of morphs into a front 4. Rakitic then is also more of a forward thinking attacking midfielder, which leaves poor old Claude having to pick up so much slack. To compound this both full backs are also super attacking, and neither Pique or Toure were shy about coming forward either! I'm surprised this one took as many votes as it has relative to the other teams to choose from.

 

Lifetime Fan: Less-attacking but still quite attacking. I figure this kind of enters Man City-formation territory, with Silva occupying his normal role, Petit anchoring and Gascoigne more attacking. In that sense it does make a lot of sense ..maybe its just lacking one of the GOAT-players in there (a Gerrard, Ronaldinho, Zidane, Messi etc. say). Lots of v good players though. CB pairing is epic. One of my 2.

 

Megadrive Man: Again .. v attacking team. Sneijder was an attacking mid while Figo + Barnes (great pic btw .. wish I'd remembered his eligibility!) are attacking wingers, so in reality you almost end up with a front 5 there. A lot of work for Simeone to do (who was good, but there are better). Not too into Numan (not sure why you went for him so early) and Neville. Weidenfeller most ordinary of the keepers in this group.

 

Elite: Takes my 2nd pick in interest of balance. Unlike another post I do think of van Bronckhurst as a LB - almost exclusively in fact. He was a very mediocre midfielder but a decent full back option. Defence + keeper is very functional but midfield shines - really good balance there. RVP-peak was almost as good as any PL forward (him + Rooney dominated those early-2010s years) while Kaka + Suarez were also majestic.

 

Alex_K: Few picks foiled by Dynamite (ideally would have taken Koeman as a CB + Sammer into midfield + Torres up top) but I think a very balanced team came out of this with 4 GOAT-tier players: greatest ever LB, greatest ever RB, then greatest modern day (00s) winger + attacking mid in Zidane + Ronaldo. Rustu was voted in a World Cup team of the year + UEFA team of the year - he was a quality goalkeeper. Failed at Barca due to cultural issues. Kohler was a top CB who won the World Cup, Euros, CL + leagues in Italy and Germany where he was player of the year. Adams was England captain + voted Arsenal's 3rd greatest player. Davids also has a glittering resume. Regret taking Cambiasso as early as I did (although another CL winning midfielder). Eto'o was a great. Ljungberg was very good (voted Arsenal's 8th greatest) .. though I think Kanchelskis was a better player at peak but eh ..

 

[Sugar Ape]

Alex_K

 

The best pair of fullbacks in the draft and Kohler was a great centre back. Really weak keeper though, the worst in the draft by a considerable distance for me. Think the midfield two is lacking in creativity a bit but that's negated to a large extent by having Zidane ahead of them. Ronaldo and Eto'o are both top class picks with the attack only let down a bit by Ljungberg. Possibly picking Pires instead and swapping him and Ronaldo over would have looked better but overall a very good attack with a bit of everything.

 

LF

 

Fantastic centre back pairing and a talented if occasionally error-prone keeper in Lehmann. Alves is a top class right back and I was considering him before you took him. Aurelio is a weak pick I think and a bit of a waste of a Liverpool player. Just too injury prone throughout his career to show his talent consistently. Arbeloa would have been the one for me in that position. Good midfield and nice to see Gascoigne played in his natural position as he always seems to get punted out right mid or as a 10 for some reason in these drafts. Maybe not the strongest attackers in the draft individually but I think they'd work well together and be a real handful.

 

MM

 

Probably the second worst keeper in the draft and never really rated Numan much. Campbell was a really good centre back and Alderweireld and Nevillle are decent picks but the defence as a whole feels a little underwhelming. Two top class wingers but think you'd need a much stronger pairing in the middle than you have to get away with playing a midfield two. Sneijder would struggle big time in that role imo. Best striker in the draft and a very good player next to him in Falcao would cause other teams plenty of trouble.

 

Elite

 

Think this team should be getting a lot more love. Peruzzi was a very good keeper and Hummels and Kompany would be a fine centre back pairing. Never really a big fan of GVB but he'd do a job at left back and Babbel was a good right back. Three great players in centre mid but if I was being picky I think you only needed one of either Redondo or Mascherano and maybe someone a bit more box-to-box for the other midfield role. Kaka behind RVP and Suarez is very good as well. Maybe the team lacks a bit of width but the two strikers work the channels well.

 

Elite clear winner for me and between Alex_K and LF for 2nd. I'm going to plump for LF as I don't think his weakest players are as bad as Recber.

 

Just a note about my team, I think defensively it would be fine as Roberto Carlos dominated the whole left flank similar to what Cafu would do on the opposite side and Trent would be able to get forward on his side as he's got two quick centre backs covering him and a world class DM sitting. Midfield wise I don't think it is overly attacking. Laudrup played centre mid extensively during his career and has always been more of a central playmaker, often from deep, than someone like Ronaldinho or Rivaldo perhaps who were more forwards who never played centre mid. Rakitic too I wouldn't class as an attacking midfielder. He's one of the hardest working midfielders around and does plenty of defensive work and I've always thought of him as a dynamic box-to-box player. I generally try to set up my three man midfields with a DM, box-to-box and a playmaker which is what I see this midfield as.

[Guest Alex_K]

1 hour ago, Sugar Ape said:

Just a note about my team, I think defensively it would be fine as Roberto Carlos dominated the whole left flank similar to what Cafu would do on the opposite side and Trent would be able to get forward on his side as he's got two quick centre backs covering him and a world class DM sitting. Midfield wise I don't think it is overly attacking. Laudrup played centre mid extensively during his career and has always been more of a central playmaker, often from deep, than someone like Ronaldinho or Rivaldo perhaps who were more forwards who never played centre mid. Rakitic too I wouldn't class as an attacking midfielder. He's one of the hardest working midfielders around and does plenty of defensive work and I've always thought of him as a dynamic box-to-box player. I generally try to set up my three man midfields with a DM, box-to-box and a playmaker which is what I see this midfield as.

I think thats a bit disingenuous re: Carlos -- he was always considered to be a weak defender but outstanding attacker. If you like at the success he had with Madrid in Europe, in the 90s he was either playing as part of a 5 man defence with a further DM in front (alongside defensively minded Campo, Helguera, Karanka, Salgado & Redondo) or playing behind 2 outright DMs in Redondo & Karembeu. He was never close to as defensively sound as Cafu & he's going to be most effective in a team that has otherwise defensively minded players to cover.

 

Pique also isn't the covering sort of defender (he had Puyol for that) and we all know that Trent is a worldie going forward but has room to improve defensively. I think as a unit that back 4 would be falling over themselves conceding goals, especially with midfield cover of just Makelele (I know you're suggesting Laudrup could play CM, but for me that's like saying Zidane could play CM too -- sure, but you're not getting any of their strengths out of those positions & only exposing the weaknesses. I'd considered dropping one of my own 2 DMs to put Zidane back there and bring Bergkamp in but that would likewise be too attackingly minded.).

[Allan]

Col & Elite for me.

 

Good group this.

[lifetime fan]

1 hour ago, Sugar Ape said:

LF

 

Fantastic centre back pairing and a talented if occasionally error-prone keeper in Lehmann. Alves is a top class right back and I was considering him before you took him. Aurelio is a weak pick I think and a bit of a waste of a Liverpool player. Just too injury prone throughout his career to show his talent consistently. Arbeloa would have been the one for me in that position. Good midfield and nice to see Gascoigne played in his natural position as he always seems to get punted out right mid or as a 10 for some reason in these drafts. Maybe not the strongest attackers in the draft individually but I think they'd work well together and be a real handful.

The draft is supposed to be voted on players at their peak. Arbeloa had a better LFC career and I think he’s criminally underrated. 
But Aurelio is the better overall LB. 

 

Completely agree about Gascoigne, never understood anyone playing him as a right mid or No10 when he played his entire career as a No8. 

[Sugar Ape]

13 minutes ago, Alex_K said:

I think thats a bit disingenuous re: Carlos -- he was always considered to be a weak defender but outstanding attacker. If you like at the success he had with Madrid in Europe, in the 90s he was either playing as part of a 5 man defence with a further DM in front (alongside defensively minded Campo, Helguera, Karanka, Salgado & Redondo) or playing behind 2 outright DMs in Redondo & Karembeu. He was never close to as defensively sound as Cafu & he's going to be most effective in a team that has otherwise defensively minded players to cover.

 

Pique also isn't the covering sort of defender (he had Puyol for that) and we all know that Trent is a worldie going forward but has room to improve defensively. I think as a unit that back 4 would be falling over themselves conceding goals, especially with midfield cover of just Makelele (I know you're suggesting Laudrup could play CM, but for me that's like saying Zidane could play CM too -- sure, but you're not getting any of their strengths out of those positions & only exposing the weaknesses. I'd considered dropping one of my own 2 DMs to put Zidane back there and bring Bergkamp in but that would likewise be too attackingly minded.).

I’ve never considered Carlos a weak defender tbh. Clearly much better going forward, certainly the best attacking left back in my lifetime, but I can’t really recall him being exposed defensively and I don’t think that’s down to way his sides set up. I think the comparison with Cafu is apt. 
 

Incidentally, I was looking at Cafu the other day and didn’t realise that apart from 16 games with Zaragoza he was 27 before he moved to Roma and started his career proper in Europe. His longevity was amazing. 
 

I don’t agree on Laudrup at all. He played at centre mid loads. Pretty much any profile of him you care to look at will confirm he played there. I don’t think the comparison to Zidane is a particularly good one as simply put Zidane didn’t play centre mid and Laudrup did. While I think Zidane was a better player than Laudrup (close though, but Zidane was a lot stronger mentally) he wasn’t as versatile. 
 

No doubt Laudrup would spend his time attacking from that position which is why I purposely put Rakitic next to him as he’d do his leg work for him and provide cover defensively if Makelele needed it.