World Cup Draft Match Six: Bamboozling v SlickRic

The Volt

And match 6 is underway.

SlickRic

a tough game, but one I think I will come through.

here's how I will line out...



the strengths of my team lie in the experience i possess down the spine of my team, as well as the raw attacking ability down the sides; while gluing it all together is the metronomic wonder that is Xavi.

Attack:
my team will aim to pass the ball well, first and foremost. Gilberto's experience will provide the anchor in the middle (think an older Busquets, and less of a divisive figure amongst fans!), and Xavi, Cahill and Maradona can set out to dominate. i can't foresee much ugly football from this team, and as well as this, in attack, I'll have Pantsil, and in particular Salcido, willing to support when necessary. Krasic also provides a much needed spark on the right hand side.

Cahill can get goals, Maradona does the same, and Anelka, as he proved when Drogba wasn't in the Chelsea team in particular, is a more than adequate front man.

In Defence:
my team prides itself on possession; any team with Xavi as the fulcrum has to. so a pressing style accompanying that is of the utmost importance. all my midfielders have the energy to press, while Gilberto will mop up in front of the back four.

at the back, Nesta and Terry provide a solid foundation. Many will point to Nesta's age. Italians everywhere wanted him back after the end of last season, such was his form. he's not the Nesta of the Noughties, but he's still a high calibre player. And Terry, as I pointed out when I picked him, hasn't won Defender of the Year in Europe, and been England captain, for nothing. he is top class, and with Nesta's uncanny reading of the game beside him, and 'mopping-up' ability, it will be a difficult axis to penetrate.

Muslera is a more than apt goalkeeper, especially for a Round 10 pick. he's just had a great season for Lazio, and even though the 3rd place playoff was a dodgy day for him; every keeper has them, especially my opponents'.

The Opposition:



this is roughly, and he may alter his formation slightly.

i like de Jong and Matthaus in the middle, and they would give my midfield trouble, but my axis, i believe would wear it down. And when i get the ball to the front, i don't see anything but damage ensuing when my attack comes up against Pepe/Boateng or Godin/Johnson. I will target those key areas, and de Jong will have a tough time trying to cover; and such is Xavi's skill, he can switch the point of attack quickly.

what I have that Spain don't for instance, the one thing they've been crying out for, is natural width. as mediocre as Navas generally was this WC, when he came on, he was forever in one-on-one situations in a position to do damage. i have players who'll exploit that. much like Messi would for Barca. or Maradona in his pomp or Krasic, or Salcido. they would all have the potential to do damage, with Anelka and intelligent runner and finisher at the head of it all.

Cahill is also exemplary in the 'Scholes role' of arriving late and scoring, or seperately at set-pieces. this gives me another edge.

i must respect his attack, because on paper it is impressive. my problem with it is i don't believe Eto'o and Ibra would work well together, and along with Ribery, i think there are far too many players that will disrupt the team with their attitude.

Pantsil provides pace and strength that can give insurance, as does Salcido. i think i am in a position to handle his attack better than he can mine. Johnson is still a bit dodgy defensively for one.

i think while they'll threaten i think the experience, patience, then sudden explosiveness in attack of my team will win through.

2/3-1 for Slick.

sorry; that's a bit waffly.

bamboozling

SlickRic

Ok here's how I line out. Slick has a good team but i believe the pace, strength and skill of my team will ensure that I win.

I'm going to go through how I'll line out.

Goals; I have Neuer, one of the best young goalies in the world and a player who had an excellent World Cup, he is tall, agile, strong, an excellent shot stopper and he has a mammoth boot on him as seen against England in Bloemfontein. he can be suspect under crosses but is still an excellent, solid goalkeeper.

Defence; In defence i have Johnson, Pepe, Godin and Boateng. Again there is pace and youth in abundance here. Johnson is excellent going forward and often bombs down the wing with plenty of crosses and shots going into the box. At times his defending can be called into question but my plan would be that De Jong would cover him when he goes forward in the same manner that Mascherano does for Liverpool. Then I have the excellent partnership of Pepe and Godin. Pepe is lightning quick, plays the ball and an ace man marker. Pepe will undoubtedly be able to handle Anelka as he is as quick as him and that's Anelka's main attribute. Godin is far from slow and gives my defence a presence in the air with his height and physique. 40 caps by the age of 24 and a future captain of his country that did excellent at this world cup him and Pepe will be well able to hanndle anything the opposition throw at them. Then we have Boateng who offers plenty of solidity and is more than capable of venturing forward and giving options down the wing. As a rule of thumb with my full backs I want one to hang back as the other goes forward so we don't end up susceptible to the counter attack.

Midfield; In central midfield i have Nigel De Jong and Lothar Matthaus. This is arguably the strongest central partnership of the 20 teams in this competiton. De Jong is a scrapper and a water carrier but he is excellent at what he does. He kept Xavi fairly quiet last night and I have every reason to believe that the same would happen tonight. Then I have Lothar, my captain and in my view the greatest world cup player in the history of the game. 5 world cups, the only outfield player to do so, a world cup winner, twice runner up and an absolute legend of the game. He will work in tandem with De Jong to stifle the creativity of Maradona, Krasic and Cahill. Matteus has license to burst upfield and come into the box and score goals. He will also act as the heartbeat of my team, playing similarly to Xavi, keeping possession ticking over but he brings more to the table than Xavi with his ability going forward.

Wingers; Ribery and Pedro. A frightening prospect on the wings. Pedro is a world cup winner, the only man to have ever scored in 6 competitions in a season. Franck Ribery emerged as the previously unknown star of the tournament 4 years ago. He is a world class winger. Looking at Slick Ric's team the weak links appear to be Paintsil and Ribery. In my opinion both would be destroyed by Ribery and Pedro. Ribery and Paintsil do not play at the top level of European football and Paintsil is often shown to be quite limited in English football. Salcido is good going forward but leaves holes at the back and is not the best defender around. Ribery and Pedro can swap wings and I believe they would run riot, cutting in, getting to the byline and feeding quality ball to my strikers.

Strikers; Ibrahimovic and Eto'o. It would strike fear into the minds of any central defence in the world, let alone a one paced defence such as Terry and Nesta. Ibrahimovic will be the furthest forward of the two, using his size, presence and technique to score goals and lay on chances for Eto'o. I couldn't believe my luck when I picked up Ibrahimovic in the non WC round. He is a star player who changes games and has a special talent. Yes he's arrogant and brash but look it that's what makes him special too. I love him and believe he is vastly under rated by Englsih football followers. It's a testament to the man that in his debut season with Barca he scored 21 goals in 41 games, better than a goal a game, over 50% of his goals were the first one scored in the game and yet his season was considered one of vast underachievement. Then we move on to Eto'o. What a player. Look it I'm not going to go on about Eto'o. He's one of the best strikers of his generation. We all know that and he has consistently proven this on the world stage.

Captain; Lothar Mattaus
Corners; Ribery
Free Kicks; Mattaus/Ribery
Penalties; Ribery

Opposition; Muslera is a decent goalie but he is prone to errors, he had a very poor game in the 3rd/4th place play off.

Paintsil is not a quality full back, in fact he's far from it. He had a shocker against USA and is not a good full back. No doubt in my mind he will be shown up against world class wingers such as Ribery and Pedro. The same goes for Salcido.

The centre of my opponent's defence is slow. Very slow. Terry has been shown up in this past season and this world cup that he slow and one dimensional. He might have the heart of a lion but he's been shown to be a poor technical player.

Remember when looking at Nesta that this isn't the Nesta of the early 2000's. This is the slow and injury prone defender that he now is. He has been quite poor lately. Remember he played 1 league game in the 08/09 season and was a poor pick in the non WC round.

Gilberto is again not a patch on the pleyer he once was and again is slow and very technically limited. Xavi is a top quality player but amongst the limited players on the team I can't see him being able to dictate the game as he would wish.

Krasic and Cahill are decent players but again aren't really proven at the top level of club or international football. Both did very little at this world cup.

Maradona in my opinion is the greatest player that has ever played. But he's being played out of position. IT'S MADNESS!! Maradona never played as a left winger, he was a central attacking midfielder. The one ace that my opponent uses and he has thrown it away.

Nicholas Anelka. I don't think I need to delve into this hugely, he was the fulcrum of France's self destruction at the world cup. Anelka has scored less than 5 times since christmas. He's not in form and he's a destructive influence.

Anyway the time has come to rest my case. SlickRic talks about explosiveness in his side but I'm afraid I can't see much of it. If anything it's my side that has the pace, power and technique to win this game. I can't see my opponent scoring, 2-0 maybe 3-0 to me.

SlickRic

Maradona is in a free role; not obvious from my description, sorry for not thoroughly explaining that.

if my defence is slow, Bamboozling's is in experienced and error prone. Pepe never instills little confidence, Godin had a good WC, Johnson is weak defensively, especially at the highest level, and Boateng is largely unproven; very few caps at a very high level.

Pedro did very little at the World Cup in reality, and has had one great season for Barca.

Ribery is largely overrated, and was more of a ring leader in the France debacle than Anelka could every to hope to be, thanks!

i also re-iterate that i do not trust Eto'o and Ibra together; i particularly foresee Ibra being contained easily enough. do not believe for a second the lies that Terry and Nesta are very slow and very easy to get at. once again, Terry is a multiple-time European defender of the year.

and if Muslera's dodgy, Neuer is just as much, if not more so.

my opponent's strength is central in the tough de Jong, and marauding Matthaus, but i don't think my opponent is paying enough attention to my team's strengths. Maradona, Cahill and Xavi have the ability to interchange far more than he is letting on.

his backline can be got at, so i have no idea where he's getting the idea that it'll be 2/3-0m to him.

as i say; 2/3-1 to Slick

be careful not to listen too intently to his over-exuberant confidence.

bamboozling

SlickRic

SlickRic wrote: »

Maradona is in a free role; not obvious from my description, sorry for not thoroughly explaining that.

if my defence is slow, Bamboozling's is in experienced and error prone. Pepe never instills little confidence, Godin had a good WC, Johnson is weak defensively, especially at the highest level, and Boateng is largely unproven; very few caps at a very high level.

Pedro did very little at the World Cup in reality, and has had one great season for Barca.

Ribery is largely overrated, and was more of a ring leader in the France debacle than Anelka could every to hope to be, thanks!

i also re-iterate that i do not trust Eto'o and Ibra together; i particularly foresee Ibra being contained easily enough. do not believe for a second the lies that Terry and Nesta are very slow and very easy to get at. once again, Terry is a multiple-time European defender of the year.

and if Muslera's dodgy, Neuer is just as much, if not more so.

my opponent's strength is central in the tough de Jong, and marauding r, but i don't think my opponent is paying enough attention to my team's strengths. Maradona, Cahill and Xavi have the ability to interchange far more than he is letting on.

his backline can be got at, so i have no idea where he's getting the idea that it'll be 2/3-0m to him.

as i say; 2/3-1 to Slick

be careful not to listen too intently to his over-exuberant confidence.

First of all Pepe is far from a poor player who instills little confidence, look at the manner in which Real Madrid's defence suddenly became creaky after Pepe got injured. Fast, strong and agressive Pepe is hugely important to Real Madrid and Portugal.

You can go on about Johnson being weak defensively, as I ahve acknowledged but Slick your own right full back is John Paintsil. Paintsil is a poor and very limited player. Boateng might not have a whole lot of caps but he was part of the team that lit up the world cup and finished third. Man City sought to pick him up prior to the world cup because they knew that his price world rocket and they know that he has the potential to be one of the best defenders in the world. He is only 21 let's not forget.

If you look at the centre of my midfield you will see that De Jong is on the right side of central midfield, in the defense Pepe is the right hand side of central defense. These players are vital to stopping Maradona as I think that if I can stop Maradona I nullify Slick's attack as Xavi can't pass to players if they are being kept quiet. De Jong will be able to move stop the ball coming from Xavi much the same way as he stopped the balls out to the wings yesterday night. Then himself and Johnson can double up on Maradona if the ball get's to him an we also have Pepe to rush off and tackle Maradona, as rushing to support the full backs is one of the many things he excels at. I would hope that these three would contain Maradona as I trust Boateng to look after Krasic and Godin to look after Anelka and I don't see Timothy Cahill being much bother to Mattaus.

John Terry is in wretched form at the moment and Nesta is not the player of yore. If Terry is so good why is it that Germany sought to attack Terry against England, drag out of position and run at him with pace. Or perhaps you could explain how Samuel Eto'o cleaned up against Terry in the second leg of their champions league last 16 game this season. You might not trust Ibrahimovic and Eto'o together but I trust that Eto'o can score goals against Terry like he has done before, I trust that Ibrahimovic will handle Nesta and score goals and finally I trust that my team will win. 2-0 I say.

SlickRic

you make it sound so easy

all i'm going to say is de Jong and Pepe aren't the world beaters you're making them out to be that they're going to nullify the threat of Xavi and Maradona as easily as you seem to say.

de Jong just needs a strong ref, and he could be gone very easily. also Spain weren't really struggling in getting the ball to the wings last night. it was the wingers that didn't do much with it, and had few targets in the middle.

and Pepe's done little at WC level.

Xavi, and Iniesta last night, had influence as the game wore on.

and you say i keep going on about Johnson, but his positioning at this World Cup in particular was bad at times. Maradona, supported by Salcido too, could have great joy with Pedro offering little protection really.

also Terry looked bad against Germany, mainly due to Upson, which has been well documented; he had been one of their best players up until that point in the tournament. that mistake you're thinking of for that first goal was extremely uncharacteristic of him. his from until February/March was poor enough, but he was vital in some of Chelsea's big games

my team's ability to keep the ball would make it more difficult for you than you suggest IMO.

SlickRic

just a public congrats to Bamboozling.

the imbalance of my team cost me at the end of the day; should've resisted Cahill, and played Maradona there.

that, and probably Gilberto being relied upon to sweep in front of the back 4.

i still think it'd have been close.

something like 4 times out of 10 Bamboozling wins.

2/3 times out of 10 I win.

3/4 times out of 10 a draw.