Categories Draft - The FINAL

[Bjornebye]

Vote for your best team. Voting closes Wednesday 9pm 

 

No2

 

 

MegadriveMan

 

 

Stig

 

 

Rapey

 

 

 

[Bjornebye]

Cant vote for mine so its a toss up between No2 and MegadriveMan. As good as Rapeys midfield and attack are, that defence is too weak. Its actually come down to the keeper out of No2 and MegadriveMan and I can't believe I'm voting for a side with David fucking Weir in but MegadriveMan pips it. 

[No2]

35 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

Cant vote for mine so its a toss up between No2 and MegadriveMan. As good as Rapeys midfield and attack are, that defence is too weak. Its actually come down to the keeper out of No2 and MegadriveMan and I can't believe I'm voting for a side with David fucking Weir in but MegadriveMan pips it. 

Fuck you Stig, I only picked Scott Brown to get your vote.

[No2]

Went with megadriveman. Least weaknesses of the 3.

[Guest Alex_K]

Tricky. I think my order goes Sugar Ape>Bjornebye>Megadriveman>No 2.

For Megadriveman Barry and Tielemans are just a notch above journeyman players and Dino Baggio wasn't that good either. Fundamentally against either Bjornebye or Sugar Ape's team they simply don't get the ball. All well and good being 'balanced' but if you can't get the ball there's not much going on. Also David Weir seems to have had a bit of a renaissance on here but he was a yard dog of a defender who bounced around mid-table with Everton for a decade. Pepe has always been erratic & was squarely below Ramos/Varane at Madrid, while Glen Johnson never was a good defender (although scintiliating attacker for a few years), so the defense is actually pretty patchy imo.

 

Bjornebye & Sugar Ape teams are v close. I give Bjornebye 3 of the back 5 (Julio Cesar, Panucci, Umtiti). The  midfields are close - give Bjornebye Ballack & Schneider as the 2 best midfielders there but Sugar Ape wins the numbers game with 3 very good midfielders and Juninho (was he that good? scored free kicks but in open play .. not sure). Problem is the attack is weighted pretty clearly in Sugar Ape's direction - Eto'o>Falcao, and Richarlison again just isn't that good and not up to par against Vieri.

 

Good game!

[Sugar Ape]

I’ve gone for MM too over Stig. And while I have no issue with MM winning, Stig saying he can’t vote for my side because of the defence while putting a team with a two man midfield of Milner and Scott Brown above it surely proves once and for all that he’s blinder than Ray Charles when it comes to Celtic and their players. 

[Bjornebye]

11 minutes ago, Sugar Ape said:

I’ve gone for MM too over Stig. And while I have no issue with MM winning, Stig saying he can’t vote for my side because of the defence while putting a team with a two man midfield of Milner and Scott Brown above it surely proves once and for all that he’s blinder than Ray Charles when it comes to Celtic and their players. 

They are better than a defence of Matteo and Soyunku. 

[Sugar Ape]

3 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

They are better than a defence of Matteo and Soyunku. 

They are not. Both of them are miles better than Brown. 

[Bjornebye]

9 minutes ago, Sugar Ape said:

They are not. Both of them are miles better than Brown. 

Hahaha ok soft lad. 

[Sugar Ape]

[Bjornebye]

4 minutes ago, Sugar Ape said:

Hahaha who is that? 

[Guest Alex_K]

Dom Matteo had a lot of injuries but as a footballer was a completely different class to Scott Brown. Big part of Leeds getting to the CL semis.

[Sugar Ape]

25 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

Hahaha who is that? 

David Blunkett
 

2 minutes ago, Alex_K said:

Dom Matteo had a lot of injuries but as a footballer was a completely different class to Scott Brown. Big part of Leeds getting to the CL semis.

Yep, I’m not saying he was great or anything but no way Brown would have got anywhere near the sides Matteo played in. 

[Bjornebye]

Opinions lads but Milner and Brown is a better pairing than Matteo and Soyunku

[Guest Alex_K]

13 minutes ago, Sugar Ape said:

Yep, I’m not saying he was great or anything but no way Brown would have got anywhere near the sides Matteo played in. 

Yeah, I think a cursory look would show Brown's "biggest" link out of Celtic was to replace Kevin Nolan at Newcastle. Not like he's Paul Lambert or someone who could rightly be held up as having had bonafide success: Brown was part of the Celtic sides that have been battered left right centre in Europe (mid-00s Celtic before Brown's time had a decent European record). Matteo was key in the Leeds team that knocked Shevchenko/Maldini's Milan out of Europe, knocked Sven Goran Erickson's great Lazio team out of Europe, knocked Deportivo La Coruna out of Europe who were La Liga champions at the time etc. They're just totally different classes of players.

[No2]

2 hours ago, Bjornebye said:

Opinions lads but Milner and Brown is a better pairing than Matteo and Soyunku

Anyone that can't see that is a clown. Soyunku has about 12 decent game in the bank and Matteo was a squad player for his entire career. That CB pairing is the reason he hasn't won. Even Johnny Evans instead of Soyunku might have been enough.

[aRdja]

Tough one this.

 

Goalkeeper - Megadrive Man

Defence - No2

Midfield - Stig or Rapey

Forward - Megadrive Man

 

I’m voting for Megadrive Man. Forward line too good.. and I think his team could carry Weir better than No2 would Brown and Begovic. Rapey’s centre half pairing is too poor IMO, and with Khedira not in his natural position patrolling in front of them, I don’t think they could get away with it. Stig’s team back 5 has two too many average players, even though his midfield is dynamite.

[Sugar Ape]

On 06/06/2020 at 01:26, aRdja said:

Voted for the two Germans as I feel they are the most balanced. Although if I was Rapey, I’d probably swap Veron and Khedira around, as Khedira has never played the holding role in his life I don’t think. 

 

John’s team has my favourite back 4 but I feel the midfield balance is off... Kante and Muntari are both roaming midfielders, the midfield is lacking a controller. Griezmann is also a forward I don’t think he could play as a wide midfielder in a midfield 4. Also GabiLOL.

 

Stig’s attack and midfield are great. However back 4 have three average players IMO. Umtiti IMO is overrated. He hasn’t done much at Barca and paired with Coloccini I think it makes for a weak defence.

Dynamite has great attack and defence, and best goalie in the draft. However, midfield has too many average players.

 

 

 

 

 

On 06/06/2020 at 02:00, Alex_K said:

Khedira literally won the World Cup and Champions League playing the holding role. Veron was a playermaker type who was covered by Almeyda at Lazio, Inter and with the national team (maybe Parma too? don't remember if their times crossed).

 

Umtiti won the World Cup as a starter centre back keeping 4 clean sheets at the tournament including against Belgium & Suarez's Uruguay. Has had a lot of injury problems (missed both legs against us).

 

2 minutes ago, aRdja said:

Tough one this.

 

Goalkeeper - Megadrive Man

Defence - No2

Midfield - Stig or Rapey

Forward - Megadrive Man

 

I’m voting for Megadrive Man. Forward line too good.. and I think his team could carry Weir better than No2 would Brown and Begovic. Rapey’s centre half pairing is too poor IMO, and with Khedira not in his natural position patrolling in front of them, I don’t think they could get away with it. Stig’s team back 5 has two too many average players, even though his midfield is dynamite.

Ardja “this thing never happened”

 

Alex “he’s literally won the biggest trophy in club and international football doing the thing you said never happened. 
 

Ardja “Lol, I’ll just ignore that and carry on repeating the same point”

 

You’re a strange cat. 
 

23 minutes ago, No2 said:

Anyone that can't see that is a clown. Soyunku has about 12 decent game in the bank and Matteo was a squad player for his entire career. That CB pairing is the reason he hasn't won. Even Johnny Evans instead of Soyunku might have been enough.

It’s ok mate. I’ll help you to get through it. Repeat after me:

 

” I picked the worst central midfielder in the draft and possibly the worst picked in any draft ever done on the forum”

[Guest Alex_K]

31 minutes ago, No2 said:

Anyone that can't see that is a clown. Soyunku has about 12 decent game in the bank and Matteo was a squad player for his entire career. That CB pairing is the reason he hasn't won. Even Johnny Evans instead of Soyunku might have been enough.

Really though?? No skin in this game but enjoy the discussion. Matteo was an ever-present through all of Leeds' Champions League games (Milan, Real, Lazio etc.) and remember him grabbing them a couple of goals including away in Milan that got them through. Most definitely was not a squad player. He was a very classy centre back but got fucked by injuries.

 

Soyuncu is debatable sure and Johnny Evans at his peak does have more accomplishments, but at least Soyuncu's played at a high level in England. I'm fascinated by this Scott Brown perspective - can someone tell me a couple of performances against decent opposition that I need to check out from his 18 year career? I'm seeing nothing from him at the moment that demonstrates he was ever any better than lower-mid table PL quality. Someone show me what I'm missing.

[aRdja]

12 minutes ago, Sugar Ape said:

 

 

Ardja “this thing never happened”

 

Alex “he’s literally won the biggest trophy in club and international football doing the thing you said never happened. 
 

Ardja “Lol, I’ll just ignore that and carry on repeating the same point”

 

You’re a strange cat. 
 

It’s ok mate. I’ll help you to get through it. Repeat after me:

 

” I picked the worst central midfielder in the draft and possibly the worst picked in any draft ever done on the forum”

Khedira is a box-to-box midfielder. I genuinely can’t get my head around how anyone who’s seen him play more than a handful of times would play him as a holding midfielder. Sure Ancelotti, might have tried him there with Alonso suspended, but sure enough he subbed him off as soon as he got the chance to, that’s how much he stank the place out. Either Veron or Gini would play the holding role way better than Khedira would. Khedira being a holding midfielder is just a myth, it’s nothing personal.

[Sugar Ape]

14 minutes ago, aRdja said:

Khedira is a box-to-box midfielder. I genuinely can’t get my head around how anyone who’s seen him play more than a handful of times would play him as a holding midfielder. Sure Ancelotti, might have tried him there with Alonso suspended, but sure enough he subbed him off as soon as he got the chance to, that’s how much he stank the place out. Either Veron or Gini would play the holding role way better than Khedira would. Khedira being a holding midfielder is a myth, it’s nothing personal.

Not taking it personal, just pointing out you are wrong. Since you like quoting Transfermarkt for player positions, why does it name defensive midfield as his secondary position. Remember, you said he’d never played there in his life. 

Also, you can quite clearly see on his Wiki page he has played as a DM, and the description of him by Jonathan Wilson sure sounds like a DM to me. 
 

Also, he was was injured just before the CL final himself which is why he played 60 minutes similar to Bobby getting subbed against Spurs. Not to mention, when you’re pushing for an equaliser you sub the defensive minded players. Not rocket science is it. 
 

 

[aRdja]

In a 4-4-2 diamond you’d play him as a box-to-box or a “segundo volante“ but never as the anchor, as he just never has that in him. Like would you play Genaro Gattuso as your anchor? Of course not.. your team might have been able to get away with it with a better centre half pairing, together it’s just a step too far IMO. Also most of the words you highlighted Jonathan Wilson never actually wrote.

 

 

[Sugar Ape]

12 minutes ago, aRdja said:

In a 4-4-2 diamond you’d play him as a “segundo volante“ and never as the anchor, as he just never has that in him. Like would you play Genaro Gattuso as your anchor? Of course not.. your team might have been able to get away with it with a better centre half pairing, together it’s just a step too far IMO. Also most of the words you highlighted Jonathan Wilson never actually wrote.

 

 

Read the article again. Pay attention to what he says the role of Mascherano is as a ‘destroyer’ and then the bit where he calls Khedira a destroyer too. I think the Wiki line are a fair summation. 
 

Anyway, it’s so patently obvious you were wrong when you said he’d never played there in his life that if you won’t even admit that there’s little point in discussing it further.

[aRdja]

10 minutes ago, Sugar Ape said:

Read the article again. Pay attention to what he says the role of Mascherano is as a ‘destroyer’ and then the bit where he calls Khedira a destroyer too. I think the Wiki line are a fair summation. 
 

Anyway, it’s so patently obvious you were wrong when you said he’d never played there in his life that if you won’t even admit that there’s little point in discussing it further.

Behave, I already accepted that in my original discussion with Alex! Besides they only played him as the holding midfielder because Alonso was injured and they subbed him off as soon as they could. Feel free to play him there if you like, i was just informing you that he’d be out of position, anyone who’s seen him play more than a handful of times could tell you that and if that’s the risk you want to take then good on you.

 

Perhaps worth giving you guys the background that they took Khedira to the World Cup 10 years ago as a replacement for Michael Ballack... so that’s worth considering. Would you play Ballack as the anchor in a 4-4-2?

 

https://www.goal.com/en-india/news/140/world-cup-2010/2010/05/24/1940095/world-cup-2010-sami-khedira-likely-to-replace-michael-ballack-in-

[Sugar Ape]

I’d imagine almost everyone who takes part in the drafts has seen him play dozens of times. Just watching him in international tournaments alone you’d have seen him play 20-30 matches I’d have thought. I disagree with your assessment of him, I also disagree that Veron would be a better fit there. Khedira is eminently more suitable to DM than Veron. 
 

I also can’t see you admitting you were wrong to Alex but maybe I’ve overlooked it in amongst you calling him a cunt! And no one is denying he isn’t a CM or a box to box midfielder, only that he can play multiple positions to a high standard, like Henderson for example. Whether Ballack player DM isn’t relevant as he isn’t a Ballack type player either.