Round 1: whatawater vs gonzovision

LuckyLloyd

whatawaster wrote: »

Team Discovery Channel

Planning

I began by trawling through wikipedia pages, club websites and various other sources, compiling an excel database of around 500 players from virtually every club who have played in the premier league. I then went through every name quickly and rated them all out of ten (there were 27 tens) and sorted them by position. Two things became clear: 1. I was only going to get one or two world class players into my team, and i had to make them count, and 2. There was a real shortage of top-class attacking players beyond the elite few. So my strategy was a no-brainer. Build from the front. Apart from the fact that there are fewer quality attacking players, I believe that it would be possible to build a solid defence around 5 average players (as it turns out I wasn't left with 5 average defenders), but it would be far more difficult to score goals and create chances with a mediocre attack.

My picks (in order chosen)

1. Thierry Henry - Centre Forward - 254 premier league appearances
My talisman and my captain. Phenomenal goal-scoring and goal creation record, and for me he's hands down the best attacking player the premier league has seen.

2. Steve McManaman - Right Wing / Free Role - 240 premier league appearances
He has it all - pace, engine, workrate, ego, dribbling and most importantly - delivery. Only David Beckham has a better assists to games ratio in premier league history, and no other Liverpool player has created as many goals as Macca.

3. Damien Duff - Left Wing / Second Striker - 320 premier league appearances
Damo will bring tremendous pace, the ability to beat players with ease, excellent workrate and tremendous versatility. Also a discount on Lucozade.

4. Dietmar Hamann - Defensive Midfielder - 268 premier league appearances
Rock solid, reliable, hugely experienced in the PL. He'll protect my back four by breaking up play and set off attacks with his accurate passing. Also strikes an excellent dead ball.

5. Robbie Keane - Centre Forward - 292 premier league appearances
I brought in Robbie because i think he'll complement Henry perfectly. Has wonderful movement, vision and works tirelessly for the team. Also has an excellent eye for goal.

6. Thomas Gravesen - Central Midfielder - 156 premier league appearances
Again brought in as he'll complement Didi beautifully. Will bring much needed aggression, fight and determination to the engine room and he is much under-rated in an attacking sense. He'll create chances, support the attacks and chip in with the odd vital goal.

7. Rob Jones - Right Back - 155 premier league appearances
Was my first choice right back from the start. Excellent all-round full-back. A very good defender and he loves to get forward and is good on the ball. He has also played a lot with McManaman so they should have plenty of chemistry on the right flank.

8. Stephane Henchoz – Centre Back – 233 premier league appearances
One of the best tacklers I’ve seen in the premiership, Henchoz was a key member of Liverpool’s treble winning side in 2001. He boasts decent pace, he’s good in the air and has an invaluable knack of getting away with handballs in big matches.

9. John Beresford – Left Back – 179 premier league appearances
Like Jones, Beresford is a fine all round player. Solid in defence and classy in attack he made his name as a pivotal member of Newcastle’s “entertainers.”

10. Alan Stubbs – Centre Back – 204 premier league appearances
A tough battling centre-half, who showed his leadership skills in leading Bolton to a league cup final in the mid ninties. Can be relied on to organize the defense well and is excellent in the air.

11. Thomas Sorensen – Goalkeeper – 265 premier league appearances
Hugely experienced premiership goalkeeper. Wonderful shot-stopper and good in all other areas. I couldn’t believe I got him in the 11th round.

The Formation(s)

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Sorensen

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Jones

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Stubbs

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Henchoz

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Beresford

McManaman

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Hamann

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Gravesen

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Duff

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Keane

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Henry (c)

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On paper it looks like your standard 442, but I see it slightly differently. The goalkeeper and back four are obvious, and Hamann will sit in front of them, only venturing forward on rare occasions. Gravesen will be the aggressor in midfield and will play box to box. These 7 will provide the team with excellent shape and solidity in defense.
The front 4 will line up as they are in the formation above, but I will try and base our attacks fluency of movement, making good use of the versatility of all four players. So you could see us line up as above, or:

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Duff

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McManaman

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Henry----

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Keane

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Or countless other variations. The opposition won’t know what to expect!

Defense

It is said that all great teams are built on a great defense. Built from the back. Not mine. But overall I’m absolutely delighted with how my back 5 panned out. I think I got great value from my last 5 picks. I honestly don’t see my team shipping too many goals.
- My team is equipped to defend from the front. Keane, Duff, McManaman and Gravesen all have good engines and attitudes and will hassle and harass opponents on the ball high up the pitch. This, hopefully, will limit onslaughts against my defense.
- All my attacking players are good on the ball. I’d expect to spend plenty of time in the opposition areas, again easing the pressure on my defense.
- Didi Hamann. He has shown through his career, though particularly at Liverpool, that he is a super solid holding midfielder. He’ll sit, break up attacks, limit the space for the opposition’s creative players and play simple passes to start attacks.
- Full backs. I think I have two of the most under-rated full-backs the premiership has seen. Both have good recovery pace to help the centre backs
- Both centre-backs have lots of PL experience, both good readers of the game, good in the air and strong in the tackle. Neither is blessed with extraordinary pace, but make up for it with their strong positional sense.

Midfield

I’m very happy with my balance in this area. Hamann will have a calming influence on the whole team. Slowing the pace down when we are under pressure, laying it off to another player when we are starting attacks. Gravesen will be the opposite. Full of energy, making tackles and getting up and down the pitch. He will be vital both defensively and offensively to my team. Both midfielders are adept at winning back and maintaining possession and I feel confident that they won’t be over-run or dominated by even the stronger midfields they will come up against. Robbie will, of course, drop back to lend a helping hand when needed.

Attack

This is the area of the team I’m most pleased about.
- Jones and Beresford both have the will and the ability to get forward whenever they see the opportunity. Both are strong crossing on their respective flanks when they get past their winger. Both have the legs to beat their opposite player. Both are classy enough on the ball to pick out a player further infield when there is nothing else on ahead of them.
- McManaman I see as the main creative force in my team. He is an assist machine. His starting position will always be the right flank, but I envisage him often roaming infield with the ball, swapping flanks with Duff, or even playing through the middle behind Keane, with Henry drifting wide.
- Duff. Another versatile attacking threat. Experience on both flanks and up front for his country. I won’t shackle him the way Mourinho did at Chelsea. He’ll be allowed to express himself, hopefully showing the kind of devastating form that saw him light up the 2002 world cup.
- Keane. An important link man between defense and attack. His vision will hopefully see him set up Henry for countless chances, and his movement is excellent so he’ll make himself space for the wingers to find him in. He’ll play a pivotal role in my side. I expect him to lead the line on occasions (don’t worry, there’ll be no long balls up to him), but more often to drop deep, link up with the wingers, play one twos with Gravesen when he advances forward. And of course, chip in with some goals.
- Henry. My brother. My captain. My king. Undoubtedly my most important player. As an attacker he has everything. He has the movement to wait up top for a through ball, the intelligence to find space out wide and terrify full-backs and most importantly, he loves scoring goals. I expect chances to be many in my side. I think he’ll relish the attacking system I’ll play. As attacking as Arsenal were, but hopefully more clinical and direct. Like my other attacking players he’ll have the freedom to use his versatility. Dropping deep, drifting wide etc . . .

Overall

All in all, I couldn’t be happier with the way the draft has gone. At the start of this process, I set out what my dream side would be. Once I had decided on Henry as a first pick I tweaked this side, omitting obviously unrealistic players like Keane, Viera etc. In the end I managed to get three of them (Henry, McManaman and Jones). All of the players I picked were fairly high on my shortlists, and many of them became first choices after a couple of rounds. I’ll finish by analyzing my teams main strengths and potential weaknesses (and more importantly how I’ll overcome them):

Strengths –
- I believe I have the best attacking options out of all the teams in the draft. I love the balance of my attack. Two wingers, two overlapping attacking fullbacks. An intelligent linking striker and the best forward in premier league history.
- Experience. When I saw other teams including players with 40 or so appearances I knew I’d have an edge in this department. All my players have more than 150 premier league appearances between them. On average each of them has played 233 times in the league. I believe this is very important and I doubt many teams are as experienced.

Weaknesses
- My central defenders could be said to lack pace. There were certainly quicker full backs out there for me to choose, but I’m happy with Henchoz and Stubbs. The fullbacks both have the pace to help them out, Hamann will work tirelessly to protect them and they are both intelligent enough to position themselves in the right areas to snuff out threats.
- There have been doubts expressed over Henry’s captaincy in the past, but to defend him I think he is the right choice for my team. He will lead by terrific example and unlike at Arsenal he won’t be leading a team of kids, rather a side full of experienced premier league players.

Team Name:Team Discovery Channel
Captain: Thierry Henry
Free Kicks: Thierry Henry, Didi Hamann
Corners: Duffer, Macca
Penalties: Thierry Henry

vs

Gianfranco Zola
Paul Ince
Carlo Cuidicini
William Gallas
Micah Richards
Stewart Downing
Tony Hibbert
Kevin Campbell
Marian Pahars
Eddie Newton
Kenny Cunningham


will invite him to do a write up via pm...