EURO 2020(1?) football forum average draft

[Yuko]

16 hours ago, grff said:

http://www.footballuser.com/formations/2021/05/1850372_Fifa_Team.jpg

I'll comment on which teams I like the most at some point. (Besides mine, you shall kneel before the Keizer ) 

 

I liked your picks a lot, but the way you set them up does them no justice. 

Nainggolan is not a DM, he's a powerful central midfielder that likes to attack more than he likes to defend, he's a bad man marker but a good off the ball defender. He'd not even show up in the game if you tell him to play as lone DM :P 

It would look better if you flattened the 4-4-2 (and switched the CBs, Chiellini is a leftie). Still too attacking but beats the guy with 6 offensive players and Stojkovic as DM

[Yuko]

11 minutes ago, Jorg said:

http://www.footballuser.com/1850436/Dream_Team

 

Sforza was a central midfielder who liked to attack, he has no business in that left wing spot. 

Sousa was a playmaking deep midfielder and not a DM, while Scifo was an attacking midfielder. That team has no mid-line defense. All you have is Candreva running up and down

Your front 3 is the only functional thing I see there. Tymoshchuk is wasted there, at least spot him in the middle.

You basically have no full backs. 

You could try a YOLO formation of 3-1-3-1-2 which actually would be less YOLO than the current one

 

Basically your back 3 remains, with the Ukrainian in the middle. You get Paulo Sousa in front of them. Then you get Sforza in the middle, Laudrup out left and Candreva out right. Then Scifo behind Eidur and Van Basten. 

 

Anyway, don't mind me, I'm just confused by this

[Jorg]

12 minutes ago, Yuko said:

 

Sforza was a central midfielder who liked to attack, he has no business in that left wing spot. 

Sousa was a playmaking deep midfielder and not a DM, while Scifo was an attacking midfielder. That team has no mid-line defense. All you have is Candreva running up and down

Your front 3 is the only functional thing I see there. Tymoshchuk is wasted there, at least spot him in the middle.

You basically have no full backs. 

 

You could try a YOLO formation of 3-1-3-1-2 which actually would be less YOLO than the current one

 

Basically your back 3 remains, with the Ukrainian in the middle. You get Paulo Sousa in front of them. Then you get Sforza in the middle, Laudrup out left and Candreva out right. Then Scifo behind Eidur and Van Basten. 

 

Anyway, don't mind me, I'm just confused by this

I have read plenty of your posts in this thread and you are blunt to say the least.  Almost like a self appointed messiah of European football.  In saying that, I do agree with some of your points.  I'm not happy with Sforza there and it won't get the most out of him but sometimes needs must.  I think you are underestimating that great players can do a job when they are asked.  I needed a left back really and I'm sure I could have found a decent one if I spent hours looking.

I think you will agree though.  Candreva is brilliant at running up and down!  He will create his own groove on the pitch and that will be him happy.  Like I said, we will win every game by one goal and will entertain fans as we go.  You can apologise when we beat you 6-5 in the final!  

[Haguey]

3 minutes ago, Jorg said:

15 minutes ago, Yuko said:

 

Sforza was a central midfielder who liked to attack, he has no business in that left wing spot. 

Sousa was a playmaking deep midfielder and not a DM, while Scifo was an attacking midfielder. That team has no mid-line defense. All you have is Candreva running up and down

Your front 3 is the only functional thing I see there. Tymoshchuk is wasted there, at least spot him in the middle.

You basically have no full backs. 

 

You could try a YOLO formation of 3-1-3-1-2 which actually would be less YOLO than the current one

 

Basically your back 3 remains, with the Ukrainian in the middle. You get Paulo Sousa in front of them. Then you get Sforza in the middle, Laudrup out left and Candreva out right. Then Scifo behind Eidur and Van Basten. 

 

Anyway, don't mind me, I'm just confused by this

Expand  

I have read plenty of your posts in this thread and you are blunt to say the least.  Almost like a self appointed messiah of European football. 

This your first time interacting with Yuko? 

Be glad you didn't pick too many British players...

[Yuko]

4 minutes ago, Jorg said:

I have read plenty of your posts in this thread and you are blunt to say the least.  Almost like a self appointed messiah of European football.  In saying that, I do agree with some of your points.  I'm not happy with Sforza there and it won't get the most out of him but sometimes needs must.  I think you are underestimating that great players can do a job when they are asked.  I needed a left back really and I'm sure I could have found a decent one if I spent hours looking.

I think you will agree though.  Candreva is brilliant at running up and down!  He will create his own groove on the pitch and that will be him happy.  Like I said, we will win every game by one goal and will entertain fans as we go.  You can apologise when we beat you 6-5 in the final!  

Candreva running up and down is his bread and butter, sure. Ask @GunmaN1905 and @Marius_R about how lovely that is  I probably am one of the few from the Inter fanbase that rates him. 
 

As for players playing everywhere, sure, if I play with a scrub center back from a top side in a game with my mates I want that guy up front, he'll destroy everyone. But the whole purpose here was to create a functional team, even if the players weren't as great.

[Jorg]

2 minutes ago, Haguey said:

This your first time interacting with Yuko? 

Be glad you didn't pick too many British players...

Haha.  I actually thought about Tom Boyd at left back.  That might have tipped him over the edge!  I was also looking at a cult pick of Duncan Ferguson!  

[Yuko]

Just now, Jorg said:

Haha.  I actually thought about Tom Boyd at left back.  That might have tipped him over the edge!  I was also looking at a cult pick of Duncan Ferguson!  

Duncan Ferguson next to Van Basten would have looked epic actually  

 

[Jorg]

Just now, Yuko said:

Candreva running up and down is his bread and butter, sure. Ask @GunmaN1905 and @Marius_R about how lovely that is  I probably am one of the few from the Inter fanbase that rates him. 

As for players playing everywhere, sure, if I play with a scrub center back from a top side in a game with my mates I want that guy up front, he'll destroy everyone. But the whole purpose here was to create a functional team, even if the players weren't as great.

Ah right, so it isn't just meant to be a bit of fun?  

[Haguey]

Having said that, everyone judges teams differently. I went for a viable team and formation while others went for more great players. I could have played far better DMs than Oceano but they all were forward minded rather than holding players, for example.

[Haguey]

1 minute ago, Jorg said:

Ah right, so it isn't just meant to be a bit of fun?  

This is serious business 

[Jorg]

Yeah, that is a fair point and I have said I should have got a left back.  In hindsight I should have had a big long list of options but I was just taking it as a bit of fun and getting some of my favourite players in there.  It would be fascinating to see how some of these teams actually played!

[Yuko]

Just now, Jorg said:

Ah right, so it isn't just meant to be a bit of fun?  

Isn't that the fun of it?  I mean this is the sub forum of the Football Manager game after all, I'd expect more than half teams would have a balanced outlook. 

Unless you go with older CM versions where Id' put Ronaldinho as MC next to Totti and had 4 other strikers around them and it'd still do wonders 

[Yuko]

8 minutes ago, Haguey said:

Be glad you didn't pick too many British players...

I even picked Phil Neal  

[Marius_R]

Yuko is overthinking this. 

[managerdude_66]

For the knockout rounds, how about this (assuming that there are 27 teams):

Round 1: 14 straight knockout ties, 1 team gets a bye. No trades in this round.
Round 1.5: Out of the 13 losers, we set up a poll for the most popular ones. The top two make it to round 2.
Round 2: 14 teams from the Round 1, +2 from the Round 1.5. The 8 winners get trades.

Quarters, Semis and Finals as usual. 

[Marius_R]

And on Candreva, he'd have been rated slightly higher if he'd have a bit more footballing brain. He'd have been far more useful if he didn't take 496849245 shots per game, from everywhere, or if more than 5% of his crosses beat the first man. 

The funniest thing in Candreva is that once a season, he'd somehow score a long rage goal and that only encouraged him to carry on trying. But Yuko is right, he's not as bad as most Inter fans make him, he was a good player for a team just below the top tier. 

[managerdude_66]

19 hours ago, Yuko said:

 

Luis Suarez was a pure central midfielder. Maybe swap with Beckham or something. 

I'd also swap the CBs between them. 

I thought Suarez played as an Inside Right for the first half of his career. Does that not loosely translate to an Inside Forward on the right?
Anyway, I have Beckham and I can just swap the two without too much impact.

Didn't get the part about CBs. Was one of them left-footed?

[Yuko]

7 minutes ago, managerdude_66 said:

Didn't get the part about CBs. Was one of them left-footed?

Materazzi is left footed, yes. Actually hit a lot of free kicks and PKs in the past, he was quite good at it. 

[Marius_R]

6 minutes ago, Yuko said:

Materazzi is left footed, yes. Actually hit a lot of free kicks and PKs in the past, he was quite good at it. 

Holds the record for most goals scored by a defender in a Serie A season, with 12 goals for Perugia. 

[Baptista_8]

Yeah when there's a left footed CB in a pairing and they're on the wrong sides it really irks me

[Marius_R]

1 minute ago, Baptista_8 said:

Yeah when there's a left footed CB in a pairing and they're on the wrong sides it really irks me

I don't pay attention to this, not even in FM. 

[Citizen Sandman]

leave the **** teams alone. 

[Hazzaj]

I kind of want my own post of Yuko ripping my team apart now

[Yuko]

30 minutes ago, Hazzaj said:

I kind of want my own post of Yuko ripping my team apart now

I had all of them lined up for roasting but then I lost interest after being told off  

[Baptista_8]

And me...bring it on

[PaulHartman71]

2 hours ago, Hazzaj said:

I kind of want my own post of Yuko ripping my team apart now

Need to know my weaknesses  

[Sano]

@Scott1892 @PaulHartman71 @Hazzaj Your teams are not visible to me. 

[Yuko]

On 28/05/2021 at 14:45, Yuko said:

Game time

 

 

So, I'll start with mine  

 

My main concerns is that I have several players that didn't really see the better televised half of the 90s so guys like Rijkaard, Gentile and Katanec will be underrated, Phil Neal himself is probably the most underrated right back in English football and people will probably be sleeping on how amazing Beckenbauer was, a prime candidate for GOAT before Maradona came along and still a contender until recently, always associated with the likes of Cruyff in terms of legend status. Safe to say that people will know him, but maybe not how effective he could be from that spot. 
I have names that are recognizable, but perhaps there are other teams out there with names that would stand out more to the forum crowd.

 

On a football aspect, I tried to balance Riise's left side with Rakitic and Katanec who are two very hard working players that can defend and attack. Main problem is that my team may seem to lack the extra man in attack, but both Rakitic and Rijkaard are players that like to run to the box as well as join the defense, and both wing players were rather good at attacking, plus there's Beckenbauer who's always made big runs. 

Either way, I'm happy with the result, cannot say that I have an "average" player there, all of them were formidable players of great continental cup campaigns and/or international football. Hope people feel the same  

 

 

On 28/05/2021 at 15:23, Baptista_8 said:

 

And here's exactly a team that has great name value. You got Xavi, Bale, Pepe, Zambrotta, Barnes, Gallas, Kimmichand Van Persie who are probably very well recognized and rated here, plus someone like Ricardo Rodriguez will sit well with the FM playing crowd. You also have a working formation, the team is very well balanced and you have actually placed the left footed midfielder on the left side!!!  Balakov may be a name that almost no one will know of, but he fits the role you have given him and since your other players are household names, I wouldn't worry too much about it, it's one player, you can hype him up during the voting. 

 

I expect this team to do very well, depending on the setup we will follow of course.

 

 

On 28/05/2021 at 15:27, Marius_R said:

Let's do this. 

 

I was loving the start of this team, then the Simic pairing of Keown got to me. Overall, a well balanced squad, I maybe am not a big fan of Stankovic next to De Rossi there as neither was a playmaker, but you could assume that Eriksen would drop deep and that makes it all go away and you give him two extremely hard working midfielders that run to the goal, shoot from distance and do everything really. 

It's one of the better assembled teams. You have Robben, Klose, Alba, Eriksen, Klose, Stankovic, Pires, De Rossi and even Petrescu that people would definitely know of and most would have seen them play. 

Only weakness is the right hand side of the defense. I feel like Petrescu is too attacking and Simic is not really that comfortable as a center back there, so maybe that means your De Rossi role would be to cover more defensively than go forward, but I can see the trident of Eriksen-Petrescu-Robben working out fine if needed.

Solid side. 

 

On 28/05/2021 at 15:43, Citizen Kane said:

 

One of the teams whose picks I liked a lot and since he was picking right before or right after me, I was worried he'd get some of the players I wanted  

 

Arshavin on the left and Letchkov on the right may be wrong (they were playing on the opposite sides) but if it's a modern take on their playing style, I guess I can applaud it. 

 

What I don't like here is the defense. Pique is extremely overrated as a center back, he's only good with the ball and going forward (similar to Bonucci), so he always needed a defensive leader next to him (Puyol, Mascherano, Ramos with Spain) otherwise he was exposed. I don't think Agger is that kind of player. And there is no DM here, which would have been vital.

 

On the midfield, it may come to a surprise to some, but my nickname is essentially derived from a player that sits on this team, Vladimir Jugovic. He was a gem of a player, but he was mostly a playmaker and he's hardly a DM. I'd actually try and pull Scholes and Ballack at the height you have placed Jugovic and slot him slightly ahead of them, something like a 8/10 hybrid. All three are great at attacking, but Ballack was more of a box-to-box and Scholes can definitely play as a deep lying playmaker and hold the ground, especially next to Ballack. That's the only thing I'd change and I say that since you have players that thrive on possession, you shouldn't be worrying a lot on the central defense duo, but as the formation is now, I'd definitely be picking on that. 

Plus, you have Zlatan. That's extra points.

 

On 28/05/2021 at 16:11, PaulHartman71 said:

 

This would be an exciting team to watch, but it feels far too attacking. 

What I like is the player selection. It's a nice group of players. 

What I don't like is that Davids has to cover the entire midfield ground. Not that the dude couldn't pull it off, but it just doesn't sit well. 
I also do not like that you have opted to use Maldini as a center back. The guy is the best left back in the draft (and there's no competition as Facchetti wasn't selected) and I think you missed an opportunity here to go a different, more balanced direction. 

You're basically hoping to score a bunch of goals, while Maldini, Davids and Kahn hold the fort. Tough to sell, but you have some names that people love, those three, plus Lampard, Evra, Larsson, David Silva and a few others that are recognizable, so you may do well on account of that alone.

 

 

On 28/05/2021 at 16:16, MaxeyN17 said:

 

The defensive setup is good, but I don't understand some of the positional tinkering here  Why is Kovac so far away from Busquets? You should use both as the DMs if that's the plan.

Konoplyanka is a left side winger and it's in the modern era, so I wouldn't play him out of position. Van der Vaart was a #10. Michael Laudrup was a #10, an #8 or a false 9. Left side winger doesn't sit well for me for the greatest passer of all time. I'd look to sacrifice something to place your best players in their best positions. Kane as striker, check, Cannavaro at center back, check. Laudrup needs to also go to the #10 spot.

Maybe place Konoplyanka on the left and use Van der Vaart as an inverted winger/playmaker on the right? He played there at times. And also for the love of nitpicking, please slot Kovac next to Busquets. He also was a DM anyway  

 

On 28/05/2021 at 16:18, Barry Cartman said:

 

You have sick name value from the midfield and further up, plus Buffon. The defense is sketchy, the DM department is slightly non-existent. 

I rate Lothar Matthaus as the #1 complete central midfielder of the game with Frank Rijkaard a close 2nd. I think if you perceive Matthaus as some sort of luxury DM, you're wasting him there. He's very similar to Hamsik, in the essence that they'll defend only when necessary. Hamsik in fact is essentially an attacking midfielder. 
 

But given who you have on the team, that's maybe minor details as it will probably go far regardless of that, but for the sake of balance, a DM would have been preferred instead of two very attacking players in the middle that aren't reliant on possession, but actually thrive on the counter instead. Djorkaeff as your final player was a steal, but imo you should have gone for a DM at some point. Still, the team sheet alone will win points here, as all people will see is Matthaus, Rui Costa, Rooney, Buffon, Hamsik, Djorkaeff, Salgado, Duff and so on  

 

On 28/05/2021 at 16:31, Darius1998 said:

 

Switch Chivu with Sinissa and we have our main contender.

Also, tweak the attacking players a click to the left   

 

On 28/05/2021 at 17:08, adhikapp said:

There's so much potential for upgrades but I was too busy the past few weeks I cba to find better picks for a few slots. Especially after being demotivated that all of Modric, Hazard and Raul got picked just before my turn.

A well balanced team here, solid defensive setup, two DMs adding an extra layer of defense makes it super hard to penetrate this team, can attack from the wings as well and has a deadly trio in Platini-Gullit-Berbatov that would torment defences.

Issues here are: Vertonghen and Albelda are the only central players that can drive the ball to the attack and there's not enough quantity going forward, but having the two DMs means that both wing backs can join the attack at all times. 
Would be an extremely dangerous team for set pieces as well. 

 

[Citizen Sandman]

9 minutes ago, Yuko said:

 

So, I'll start with mine  

 

My main concerns is that I have several players that didn't really see the better televised half of the 90s so guys like Rijkaard, Gentile and Katanec will be underrated, Phil Neal himself is probably the most underrated right back in English football and people will probably be sleeping on how amazing Beckenbauer was, a prime candidate for GOAT before Maradona came along and still a contender until recently, always associated with the likes of Cruyff in terms of legend status. Safe to say that people will know him, but maybe not how effective he could be from that spot. 
I have names that are recognizable, but perhaps there are other teams out there with names that would stand out more to the forum crowd.

 

On a football aspect, I tried to balance Riise's left side with Rakitic and Katanec who are two very hard working players that can defend and attack. Main problem is that my team may seem to lack the extra man in attack, but both Rakitic and Rijkaard are players that like to run to the box as well as join the defense, and both wing players were rather good at attacking, plus there's Beckenbauer who's always made big runs. 

Either way, I'm happy with the result, cannot say that I have an "average" player there, all of them were formidable players of great continental cup campaigns and/or international football. Hope people feel the same  

 

 

 

And here's exactly a team that has great name value. You got Xavi, Bale, Pepe, Zambrotta, Barnes, Gallas, Kimmichand Van Persie who are probably very well recognized and rated here, plus someone like Ricardo Rodriguez will sit well with the FM playing crowd. You also have a working formation, the team is very well balanced and you have actually placed the left footed midfielder on the left side!!!  Balakov may be a name that almost no one will know of, but he fits the role you have given him and since your other players are household names, I wouldn't worry too much about it, it's one player, you can hype him up during the voting. 

 

I expect this team to do very well, depending on the setup we will follow of course.

 

 

 

I was loving the start of this team, then the Simic pairing of Keown got to me. Overall, a well balanced squad, I maybe am not a big fan of Stankovic next to De Rossi there as neither was a playmaker, but you could assume that Eriksen would drop deep and that makes it all go away and you give him two extremely hard working midfielders that run to the goal, shoot from distance and do everything really. 

It's one of the better assembled teams. You have Robben, Klose, Alba, Eriksen, Klose, Stankovic, Pires, De Rossi and even Petrescu that people would definitely know of and most would have seen them play. 

Only weakness is the right hand side of the defense. I feel like Petrescu is too attacking and Simic is not really that comfortable as a center back there, so maybe that means your De Rossi role would be to cover more defensively than go forward, but I can see the trident of Eriksen-Petrescu-Robben working out fine if needed.

Solid side. 

 

 

One of the teams whose picks I liked a lot and since he was picking right before or right after me, I was worried he'd get some of the players I wanted  

 

Arshavin on the left and Letchkov on the right may be wrong (they were playing on the opposite sides) but if it's a modern take on their playing style, I guess I can applaud it. 

 

What I don't like here is the defense. Pique is extremely overrated as a center back, he's only good with the ball and going forward (similar to Bonucci), so he always needed a defensive leader next to him (Puyol, Mascherano, Ramos with Spain) otherwise he was exposed. I don't think Agger is that kind of player. And there is no DM here, which would have been vital.

 

On the midfield, it may come to a surprise to some, but my nickname is essentially derived from a player that sits on this team, Vladimir Jugovic. He was a gem of a player, but he was mostly a playmaker and he's hardly a DM. I'd actually try and pull Scholes and Ballack at the height you have placed Jugovic and slot him slightly ahead of them, something like a 8/10 hybrid. All three are great at attacking, but Ballack was more of a box-to-box and Scholes can definitely play as a deep lying playmaker and hold the ground, especially next to Ballack. That's the only thing I'd change and I say that since you have players that thrive on possession, you shouldn't be worrying a lot on the central defense duo, but as the formation is now, I'd definitely be picking on that. 

Plus, you have Zlatan. That's extra points.

 

This would be an exciting team to watch, but it feels far too attacking. 

What I like is the player selection. It's a nice group of players. 

What I don't like is that Davids has to cover the entire midfield ground. Not that the dude couldn't pull it off, but it just doesn't sit well. 
I also do not like that you have opted to use Maldini as a center back. The guy is the best left back in the draft (and there's no competition as Facchetti wasn't selected) and I think you missed an opportunity here to go a different, more balanced direction. 

You're basically hoping to score a bunch of goals, while Maldini, Davids and Kahn hold the fort. Tough to sell, but you have some names that people love, those three, plus Lampard, Evra, Larsson, David Silva and a few others that are recognizable, so you may do well on account of that alone.

 

 

 

The defensive setup is good, but I don't understand some of the positional tinkering here  Why is Kovac so far away from Busquets? You should use both as the DMs if that's the plan.

Konoplyanka is a left side winger and it's in the modern era, so I wouldn't play him out of position. Van der Vaart was a #10. Michael Laudrup was a #10, an #8 or a false 9. Left side winger doesn't sit well for me for the greatest passer of all time. I'd look to sacrifice something to place your best players in their best positions. Kane as striker, check, Cannavaro at center back, check. Laudrup needs to also go to the #10 spot.

Maybe place Konoplyanka on the left and use Van der Vaart as an inverted winger/playmaker on the right? He played there at times. And also for the love of nitpicking, please slot Kovac next to Busquets. He also was a DM anyway  

 

 

You have sick name value from the midfield and further up, plus Buffon. The defense is sketchy, the DM department is slightly non-existent. 

I rate Lothar Matthaus as the #1 complete central midfielder of the game with Frank Rijkaard a close 2nd. I think if you perceive Matthaus as some sort of luxury DM, you're wasting him there. He's very similar to Hamsik, in the essence that they'll defend only when necessary. Hamsik in fact is essentially an attacking midfielder. 
 

But given who you have on the team, that's maybe minor details as it will probably go far regardless of that, but for the sake of balance, a DM would have been preferred instead of two very attacking players in the middle that aren't reliant on possession, but actually thrive on the counter instead. Djorkaeff as your final player was a steal, but imo you should have gone for a DM at some point. Still, the team sheet alone will win points here, as all people will see is Matthaus, Rui Costa, Rooney, Buffon, Hamsik, Djorkaeff, Salgado, Duff and so on  

 

 

Switch Chivu with Sinissa and we have our main contender.

Also, tweak the attacking players a click to the left   

 

A well balanced team here, solid defensive setup, two DMs adding an extra layer of defense makes it super hard to penetrate this team, can attack from the wings as well and has a deadly trio in Platini-Gullit-Berbatov that would torment defences.

Issues here are: Vertonghen and Albelda are the only central players that can drive the ball to the attack and there's not enough quantity going forward, but having the two DMs means that both wing backs can join the attack at all times. 
Would be an extremely dangerous team for set pieces as well. 

 

appreciate the comments, Jugovic is strong and hard working, of course he can swap with Scholes. 

RE Pique a bit harsh.

I think i'm very dangerous from corners, Liza and Arshavin back.

Yes Arshavin and Letchkov are going with the inside forward/inverted winger vibe.

[Darius1998]

14 minutes ago, Yuko said:

Switch Chivu with Sinissa and we have our main contender.

Also, tweak the attacking players a click to the left   

Didn't Chivu play mostly as a left back? At least that's what I remember from from watching some Inter games during that time.

Also yes, it does look like the front 3 moved a little too much towards the right.

[Yuko]

On 28/05/2021 at 18:20, managerdude_66 said:

Pretty happy with how the draft turned out really.

Not sure why you have your full backs so far advanced. As mentioned earlier, switch Materazzi to the left side of the defence.

Cocu is not a DM, he was pretty much a player very similar to Steven Gerrard. You wouldn't put Gerrard as a lone DM, would you? 

If you switch Beckham with Luis Suarez and place Cocu at a similar height to Pogba, you'll have a more balanced team. Could have gone another direction and gotten a striker instead of Beckham and use a 4-4-2 diamond as well, but it is what it is.

Having Rummenigge, Hazard, Luis Suarez and Pogba is very helpful  

 

On 28/05/2021 at 18:53, Haguey said:

Solid at the back, attacking patterns down both sides, Totti dropping a bit deeper to help Iniesta creatively. Lichtsteiner sitting while Lahm advances from deep. De Boer hitting long balls and spraying passes everywhere. Oceano holding. Emlyn and Radu more cautious on the left as Perisic goes attacking.

I'm happy with this.

 

I cannot say that I know what Emlyn Hughes best position ever was (thought he was a midfielder), but Radu there doesn't sit well with me. Two many left footed center backs, don't mind it, just commenting  

I am having trouble understanding the setup as Lichsteiner is not a winger, yet you have him in front of Lahm. You say that Lichsteiner will sit while Lahm advances, but that's really the opposite of these two guys. Lichsteiner is an extremely attacking full back that will walk with the ball at goal, while Lahm typically lurks outside the opposition area. 

 

Imo, you managed to get a team with Iniesta, Totti and Lahm with your first three picks, build on that. Instead, you have what seems to be a crossing team and only Trezeguet is able to connect to those. You could have built a team that keeps the ball low and would be extremely hard to take the ball off, but with your group of players I don't see possession football. Missed opportunity, but still a good collection of talent which will not go unnoticed imo. Just maybe people will be puzzled at the way your formation is presented.

 

On 28/05/2021 at 19:08, bestbrother said:

GK - Lev Yashin in sticks, arguably the best thats ever lived.

DR - Ill have that Torricelli, nice hair, gets up and down

DL - Dimas, played for Juve, that will do

DC - Goughy, gets his head on it, gets his foot in the way

DC - Sanchis, dont mess with Sanchis, no striker will enjoy playing against my centre halves

MC - Zizou, nothing more to add

MC - Gazza, pre alcohol

MC - Seedorf, can dictate a game anywhere in the middle

AC - Boksic, powerful, strong, mule of a shot

AC - Mijatovic, that bit of niggle up top

AC - Voller, he will spit in your hair if you cross him

Club Mascot - Fernando Coutos' hair

Would be great to see this with the image. /

Definitely one of the contenders, albeit the defense could have looked better, but you have Yashin, you can argue that applications to concede goals are refused by the Black Spider. 

 

On 28/05/2021 at 20:03, Butts said:

This is hard work on phone but... 

 

Very nice group of players here, once more I don't get the assymetrical defensive setup, even if you argue that Thomas Muller allows for this there, it feels like a hole in the defense. 

the only thing I'm not a fan of is Tudor being the lone DM, he jsut cannot pull it off and that makes Puyol work for both him and Bonucci, plus he has to worry about Ashley Cole missing, while Coleman also likes to run forward.  But all that can be ignored when you see De Bruyne, Sneijder, Benzema while people still recognize Bonucci as a top CB for some odd reason. This team may go far, but it feels like it lacks something and it also feels far too attacking.

 

On 28/05/2021 at 20:14, Harryseaess said:

http://www.footballuser.com/formations/2021/05/1850369_Champions_League_Team.jpg

Two left backs, thta's all I can see in what seems a rather strong combination of players.

Not a huge fan of the two in the middle because I think their role is quite similar, even if Tugay would attack more. But it can work. You will get a lot of love for the Cantona-RVN combo and you have PL players with Euro 2000 hero Toldo on top. 

 

This team will probably do better than it should, but apart from not having a right back, there isn't much to say against it.

 

On 29/05/2021 at 01:21, Crispypaul said:

http://www.footballuser.com/1850394/Dream_Team

Picked more defenders than I would have liked

This looks odd  

 

Schweinsteiger holding the ford, the 3 at the AM spots are all just way off. Indeed, far too many defenders, not enough midfielders and one of the strikers out wide. Confusing setup, but cannot see how to improve it. The solid defensive trio with Van Der Sar and Torres up front deserved a better group there  

 

On 29/05/2021 at 10:02, trueblue.85 said:

 

This team screams "I have top players" and whispers "but I don't know what to do with them"  

 

You realize this is a 3-3-4 system, right? Takes guts and I applaud you for that. 

 

Stojkovic as the DM is just weird. He was an attacking midfielder, also played as right winger many times. Arnautovic is bang average, so fits what Gunman was hoping for. He's more of a forward than a right side winger. I don't know how this can be fixed, it's just far too attacking. I'd at least switch Gylfi with Stojkovic which would show that he's free to roam wherever he wants, whereas Gylfi is nowhere near as talented, creative and cocky with the ball. 

 

Shame, as this feels like a missed opportunity for an extremely good squad. 

I thought you had a good thing going when I was seeing your picks, then after the Arnautovic one you started to lose me. At least your team is unbalanced with some extremely great players around, so you may sneak some votes.

 

23 hours ago, Sano said:

Yeah, really surprised about the number of players played out of position. Balance was my number one priority during the draft:

 

 

Not many flaws here. Defensively the midfield is average, but this is clearly a possession based team, has creativity, long range shooting, a killer scorer, solid full backs, the greatest wing duo and has tactically astute players. Will definitely go far.

Edited May 30, 2021 by Yuko

[Yuko]

12 minutes ago, Darius1998 said:

Didn't Chivu play mostly as a left back? At least that's what I remember from from watching some Inter games during that time.

Also yes, it does look like the front 3 moved a little too much towards the right.

Chivu was a center back. One of the best of his generation while at Ajax and then Roma. At Inter, he also was a center back initially. He became a left back once he hit his head and couldn't duel with big strikers anymore. 

 

He was used a lot as a DM for Romania, the guy had mad ball skills and could hit free kicks as well as corners. But he was no Sinissa. 

 

Also, Sinissa was a winger, who became a full back, who later became a center back in order to meet wide runners with killer balls from the back. If you think what Mazzone did with Pirlo was cool, what he did with Sinissa was far cooler  

[Yuko]

23 minutes ago, Citizen Kane said:

appreciate the comments, Jugovic is strong and hard working, of course he can swap with Scholes. 

RE Pique a bit harsh.

I think i'm very dangerous from corners, Liza and Arshavin back.

Yes Arshavin and Letchkov are going with the inside forward/inverted winger vibe.

 

I just have trouble accepting the hype and rating of defenders like Pique, Bonucci, David Luiz etc  

 

These guys are always exposed when playing in a two man defense or next to guys who aren't astute man markers.

Bonucci was completely exposed at Milan in a 4 man system, he was a wrecking ball for them. 

Pique without Puyol and Mascherano is part of the worst showing of Barcelona defensively. I also don't rate Busquets as a defensive midfielder. He's a player that excels tactically and is super smart, great awareness, but he's not a man marker and his duel winning is not really that impressive for the hype he gets. 

[Yuko]

13 hours ago, Hazzaj said:

I kind of want my own post of Yuko ripping my team apart now

http://www.footballuser.com/formations/2021/05/1850357_Dream_Team.jpg 

 

For some reason your image doesn't show but the link is there

 

I like your team a lot but you have Poborsky at central midfield which kinda ruins it for me, you have Effenberg as a DM, which he was not, between Boban and Poborsky who neither was what we call an '8' and you also have Vermaelen as a left back, which I struggle to accept.

 

But you have Cruyff-Villa-Zola up front. Heck, I'd vote for that team as well  It's far too attacking, even if you opt for a 3-4-3 system, your 2 guys would be Effenberg and Boban, which looks greater than it would be, and you'd have to use Kyle Walker as a left wing back, but it's behind Cruyf, so who cares? Might have been something I'd try and see if it works out.

[Citizen Sandman]

21 minutes ago, Yuko said:

 

I just have trouble accepting the hype and rating of defenders like Pique, Bonucci, David Luiz etc  

 

These guys are always exposed when playing in a two man defense or next to guys who aren't astute man markers.

Bonucci was completely exposed at Milan in a 4 man system, he was a wrecking ball for them. 

Pique without Puyol and Mascherano is part of the worst showing of Barcelona defensively. I also don't rate Busquets as a defensive midfielder. He's a player that excels tactically and is super smart, great awareness, but he's not a man marker and his duel winning is not really that impressive for the hype he gets. 

who said I dont have the ball

[Yuko]

7 minutes ago, Citizen Kane said:

who said I dont have the ball

Your team is definitely a possession based one, true. 

 

Anyway, I'd like to see others do the same if they have the time, would be cool and interesting to exchange views on the teams. 

[Darius1998]

58 minutes ago, Yuko said:

Chivu was a center back. One of the best of his generation while at Ajax and then Roma. At Inter, he also was a center back initially. He became a left back once he hit his head and couldn't duel with big strikers anymore. 

 

He was used a lot as a DM for Romania, the guy had mad ball skills and could hit free kicks as well as corners. But he was no Sinissa. 

 

Also, Sinissa was a winger, who became a full back, who later became a center back in order to meet wide runners with killer balls from the back. If you think what Mazzone did with Pirlo was cool, what he did with Sinissa was far cooler  

Ah that makes sense. I only watched post-injury Chivu. Sinisa's one I know for the most part although of course, I didn't watch him live.

[Yuko]

1 minute ago, Darius1998 said:

Ah that makes sense. I only watched post-injury Chivu. Sinisa's one I know for the most part although of course, I didn't watch him live.

Must say, that makes your team selection even more impressive. Excellent job!

[GunmaN1905]

I never made polls before on here, this "add question" option basically means that I can add multiple polls to the topic?

3 polls per topic is the max number and it seems really convinient.

9 groups 3 with teams will be the easiest to do.

3 polls, team A vs team B, B vs C, C vs A.

9 first place teams go to knockout phase, with 7 out of 9 second place teams.
Vote difference being the deciding factor for which second place teams are eliminated.
Two worst vote differences are out.

One swap per team for group stage.
Top team in the group gets to pick first, then second team picks if they want to take a player from eliminated team.
All within the rules, of course.

Then for knockout phase we switch to the 2 swaps after a win rule.

[Butts]

1 hour ago, Yuko said:

Very nice group of players here, once more I don't get the assymetrical defensive setup, even if you argue that Thomas Muller allows for this there, it feels like a hole in the defense. 

the only thing I'm not a fan of is Tudor being the lone DM, he jsut cannot pull it off and that makes Puyol work for both him and Bonucci, plus he has to worry about Ashley Cole missing, while Coleman also likes to run forward.  But all that can be ignored when you see De Bruyne, Sneijder, Benzema while people still recognize Bonucci as a top CB for some odd reason. This team may go far, but it feels like it lacks something and it also feels far too attacking.

Ashley Cole isn’t meant to be that far forward I was doing it on my phone and then have had birthdays and family meals to contend with so haven’t been able to change it 

[Darius1998]

Updated team:

[GunmaN1905]

The groups have been drawn!

A: adhikapp, trueblue.85, XuluBak

B: Baptista_8, Yuko, Kawee

C: Haguey, Sano, Crispypaul

D: Citizen Kane, SRL88, Barry Cartman

E: grff, PaulHartman71, The Golden Boy

F: SouthCoastRed, Marius_R, Darius1998

G: Harryseaess, Butts, bestbrother

H: sjg11, Hazzaj, managerdude_66

I: MaxeyN17, Scott1892, Jorg

Rules:

One topic per group, 3 polls per topic for all 3 matchups.
9 first placed teams advance.
7 best second placed teams join them.
Total votes difference is the deciding factor on which two second placed teams won't make it. (Tough luck if there's a group of death, but what can you do, ask France, Portugal and Germany about it. )

After the group stage, teams that advance get a chance to swap one player from eliminated teams.
Group winner gets to choose first, then the second place team. You still have to comply the rules if you make a swap, no exceptions.

For groups where only 1 team advances, they can choose a player from either team. But just one player, not one from each.

When we get to knockouts, we go to 2 swaps after a win. I don't want teams to be too strong before the first knockout round.

All polls will be up for 24h, starting tomorrow. 3 groups per day so we're done with the groups by Thursday.
I'll post the first three groups tomorrow anywhere between 4 and 6pm British time.

@Darius1998@Barry Cartman@Jorg@bestbrother@Baptista_8@Hazzaj@grff@Marius_R@PaulHartman71@Kawee@The Golden boy@Butts@Haguey@Citizen Kane@Yuko @sjg11@adhikapp@managerdude_66@SRL88@Sano@trueblue.85@SouthCoastRed@MaxeyN17@Harryseaess@Scott1892@Crispypaul@XuluBak

[trueblue.85]

amended team

 

[XuluBak]

Edited May 30, 2021 by XuluBak

[Marius_R]

4 hours ago, Yuko said:

Chivu was a center back. One of the best of his generation while at Ajax and then Roma. At Inter, he also was a center back initially. He became a left back once he hit his head and couldn't duel with big strikers anymore. 

 

He was used a lot as a DM for Romania, the guy had mad ball skills and could hit free kicks as well as corners. But he was no Sinissa. 

He played left back long before his head injury, he played left back in all 4 of Romania's games at the Euro 2000, and even for Craiova he played left back. The reason Mourinho moved him to the left was because  Lucio was signed and he preferred the Lucio-Samuel pairing. He is remembered as a centre back, and rightly so, but he didn't convert to left back because of his head injury, he had played there long before. 

And he played DM for Romania only in tough games under Pițurcă, because we were setup incredibly defensive, the tough games in the 2006 and 2008 qualfiers, and in Euro 2008. 

[sjg11]

http://www.footballuser.com/1850576/FC_St_Pauli
 

Here is my team! 
 

Really strong defence and central midfield pairing, Albert is a world-class CAM, Mandzukic is a high class international striker and McClair was a very good attacking player for United for a number of years. 

[Hazzaj]

6 hours ago, Yuko said:

http://www.footballuser.com/formations/2021/05/1850357_Dream_Team.jpg 

 

For some reason your image doesn't show but the link is there

 

I like your team a lot but you have Poborsky at central midfield which kinda ruins it for me, you have Effenberg as a DM, which he was not, between Boban and Poborsky who neither was what we call an '8' and you also have Vermaelen as a left back, which I struggle to accept.

 

But you have Cruyff-Villa-Zola up front. Heck, I'd vote for that team as well  It's far too attacking, even if you opt for a 3-4-3 system, your 2 guys would be Effenberg and Boban, which looks greater than it would be, and you'd have to use Kyle Walker as a left wing back, but it's behind Cruyf, so who cares? Might have been something I'd try and see if it works out.

Ye in retrospect the midfield is kind of unbalanced, a couple of times I didn't have the players I *really* wanted available. In retrospect I might rather have taken Albertini and Silva for the midfield spots instead (and not goofed by forgetting Kimmich played at Euro 2016) and reworked the forward line, but taking Villa and Zola was too tempting at the time. Poborský's a bit of a bodge but I saw him as more of a Beckham-esque wide player rather then a goalscorer first and foremost, so to me he'd fit more into the midfield as a creator than in the front three - I see my team as more about progressing the ball vertically rather than going wide and looking for crosses too.

Vermaelen was my last outfield pick and basically every competent modern fullback I could have chosen had gone by then; he's played a bit of left back at Ajax and for Belgium a lot at tournaments, and he was quick enough and good enough on the ball to not look like a total numpty there. Could have gone for Niclas Jensen as a more natural fullback but I only really remembered him from a rather naff spell at Fulham so I opted against.

My biggest annoyance was not being able to pick Dasayev by the time I got to my goalkeeper

[GunmaN1905]

I'm going to post everyone's teams now, if someone wants to change something in their formation they have until tomorrow morning.

A: adhikapp, trueblue.85, XuluBak

B: Baptista_8, Yuko, Kawee

C: Haguey, Sano, Crispypaul

D: Citizen Kane, SRL88, Barry Cartman

E: grff, PaulHartman71, The Golden Boy

F: SouthCoastRed, Marius_R, Darius1998

G: Harryseaess, Butts, bestbrother

H: sjg11, Hazzaj, managerdude_66

,

I: MaxeyN17, Scott1892, Jorg

 

Please post your formations so I can complete the groups.

If you don't pick by tomorrow, I'll make the formations myself and it won't be up for debate if those are your preferred positions for some players.

If anyone else wants to switch something up, they're can do it and post the new formation.

Edited May 31, 2021 by GunmaN1905

[Yuko]

1 hour ago, Marius_R said:

He played left back long before his head injury, he played left back in all 4 of Romania's games at the Euro 2000, and even for Craiova he played left back. The reason Mourinho moved him to the left was because  Lucio was signed and he preferred the Lucio-Samuel pairing. He is remembered as a centre back, and rightly so, but he didn't convert to left back because of his head injury, he had played there long before. 

And he played DM for Romania only in tough games under Pițurcă, because we were setup incredibly defensive, the tough games in the 2006 and 2008 qualfiers, and in Euro 2008. 

True that. 

I should have clarified that he was considered an elite center back before he was given a shout as a class left back. 

[PaulHartman71]

When I was picking I was trying at various points to pick versatile players I could move if I struggled to get someone good in that position. 
 

So with Maldini I was planning to use him at left back if I couldn’t get a left back, or centre back if I could get a better left back than 2 centre backs etc.

Had the same logic with David Silva and Mertens, was able to move them all around if I couldn’t get a decent CM, hoping it helps if I make it through and can make some subs. 
 

The main thing I wanted was a top striker who I could shift outwide if wingers I wanted ended up going, my main plan at one point was to take Van Persie then move him left wing and stick someone else upfront as one looking at previous squads it seemed there were more strikers than any other position.