Categories draft 2: Electric Boogaloo; Group B

[Sugar Ape]

Vote for your 2 best sides. 

 

Try and give reasons why. Top 2 go through to the final. Poll closes on Saturday at 2pm. You can't vote for your own team.

 

Dynamite

 

 

Alex

 

 

3 Stacks

 

 

Elite

 

 

aRdja

 

[Bjornebye]

Alex by a country mile then I was torn between the aRdja and Dynamite for the other pick but Ronny Johnsen was fucking shite so aRdja 

[3 Stacks]

Every team in this group is good and well-constructed to the point where I don't really have anything bad to say about any of them. Alex is a definite pick. When Kyle Walker is your worst player in this, you've done really well and the formation makes sense. Other comes down to who has the weakest player out of aRdja and Dynamite and I think it's Dynamite. 

 

Therefore, my vote is Alex and aRdja. 

[No2]

Overall this is the weaker group but Alex has the best side in the competition. 

 

3 stacks - don't understand picking Stam when you had Cannavarro and Ramos already. Ramos at right full is just makeshift and unnecessary. Signori is not suited to the position who have given him, of you had gone for one one the many Ajax players in that position you would have been a contender.

 

Dynamite- Ronnie Johnsen is a weird one, Villa had 10 CB's better than him. Midfield and 3 behind Fabiano are good enough to get my other vote.

 

Ardja- good side, even the weaker players are good but over all not as good as those above.

 

Elite- front 6 excellent, the rest aren't bad but a bit meh.

[Sugar Ape]

Dynamite 

 

Balanced side but maybe one too many players below par compared to the rest of the team. Luis Fabiano possibly the weakest striker in the draft and Jarni, Emerson and Johnsen not the greatest either. Would have picked Southgate, Ehiogu or Cahill over Johnsen myself. Midfield would be a beast with two all times greats in it. 
 

Alex has got the best team in the group without a doubt. Kasper Schmeichel and Walker are the two weakest players in the team but a great centre back pairing, nice balanced midfield with a bit of everything in it. I don’t rate Aimar as highly as some others do but that barely matters with Suarez and Rivaldo up there with him. 
 

3 Stacks 

 

Really weak keeper but the rest of the decent would be great. Ramos might have played more in the centre but he was still a boss right back, superb centre back pairing as well. Good midfield, got a really nice balance to it. Agree with No2 that the front 3 is a little off with Signori better as an out and out striker but I think it’d work ok. Not a huge fan of Mandzukic though. 

Think Elite would have been a lot better dropping Higuain for a DM, he does that and his midfield and attack would be fantastic. As it is, I think it’s still good but maybe a bit light in the middle. Defence a bit too average, loved Mihajlovic and De Boer was class but not really sold on the other 3. 
 

Not a fan of Simic but the rest of aRdja’s defence is great. Vierchowod in particular is one of my all time favourite players. Cafu is obviously brilliant but Jankulovski on the other side is a drop in quality. Boss midfield two but maybe a bit too bombastic together and nice 3 up top. 
 

Going for Alex for certain and then aRdja just pips 3 Stacks into second. 

[Guest Alex_K]

Dynamite

• Love the Rijkaard + Gullit pairing - best opening picks in the game. Would have been fascinating to see those 2 in a midfield battle vs Xavi + Iniesta.
• Great full-backs. Wanted Jarni myself on that turn; Jorginho is a very classy pick I'd totally blanked on.
• Little bit let down by the attack relatively speaking & Johnsen is a bit of a hard player to place. Won a lot of trophies at United but was v. injury prone. Honestly can't approximate how good he was -- would be interested to hear others' views on him. The strikers are goal-machines whose reputations are probably unfairly undermined by not having been in elite teams (maybe Aubameyang will put that right when he leaves Arsenal).
• Overall really good team though and one of the picks.

3 Stacks

• First 2 picks really set this side up for success with 2 of probably the top-10 CBs of all time. The Stam pick may have been better invested into a superstar CF as Manduzkic looks a little out of place up top relative to quality elsewhere in the pitch, and it pushed Ramos out to fullback. Stam another great CB though, no question about that.
• Top marks for the Signori pick - goals, goals, goals.
• Di Maria / Milner positioning is probably a bit unconventional as neither position had those players at their best, but no question both did perform well there so quite inventive.

Elite

• Looks a bit unconventional due to the space in front/behind midfield 2, but functionally this formation probably works.
• In my mind's eye Higuain/Falcao are both more goal-scoring forwards than team-playing forwards (this may be inaccurate), which does however make this a pretty attacking concept especially with attacking wide players in Pires & Simao, combined with 2 more offensively minded midfielders in Ballack and Modric.
• The defense is a really good unit but given the above probably has a lot more stress put on it than others in the competition.
• Would perhaps have been good to see Falcao replaced by Petit/Fabinho as a Monaco pick, which would have made for a really epic midfield while retaining a great attack and overall just balanced things out a bit more.

Ardja

• Clever use of an unconventional formation in an effective way
• Always like to see real-life personnel be revived in this game. As with Gullitt/Rijkaard, Cafu/Jankulovski is a really smart choice and sets this team off.
• Schuster & Toure would also be a real handful in the centre. Denmark was the hardest team to choose from, and while Ericksen was objectively one of their best players there was so many great attacking midfielders available in this game that he perhaps looks a bit tame by comparison.
• Really like the forward line.
• Centre backs also really strong, though as there are 3 here would perhaps have shifted one of the Denmark choices here to allow for a truly world class playmaker. There always needs to be concessions though in this game and overall this is a really smart & cleverly constructed team.

Dynamite & Ardja take my picks.

[3 Stacks]

@No2 Ramos played like 5 years mostly at right back, how is that makeshift? Absurd criticism. 

[No2]

16 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

@No2 Ramos played like 5 years mostly at right back, how is that makeshift? Absurd criticism. 

He was a right back in the way lots of young centre backs are. He's not a shit fullback, I just can't understand using a higher grade pick for a position you had boxed off. Even someone like Reiziger would make a better back 4.

[Bjornebye]

Agree with Rapey. Southgate over Johnsen probably would have put Dynamite through. 

[Lee909]

Dynamite and Alex just pipping Ardja 

[aRdja]

Dynamite

 

Midfield is best in comp IMO in terms of pedigree. The double pivots are defensively sound enough to cover for the super offensive wide players... all 4 of them. Johnsen is an average pick and Luis Fabiano was a very good striker at the time, but in this context he’s a touch underwhelming.

 

Alex K

 

Well balanced team. I really like the midfield balance. Rivaldo also scored enough goals to get away with playing only one striker. Solid defence. Kasper Schmeichel the weakest pick but he’s a good PL standard goalie.

 

3 Stacks

 

Setup the team wrong IMO. Should’ve been 4-4-2, Di Maria on the right and Son on the left. 3/4 of your defence is world class, and Milner is a competent left back. Sorensen is a bit of a lol pick though,

 

Elite

 

Full of nice footballers. Midfield too similar IMO. I’m okay with the Higuain pick, because without him, the team would be lacking goals. The team could do with a bit of pace.

Really tough one this....