World Cup Draft Round 2: Necronomicon v Voltwad

The Volt

Match 2 of 5.

The Volt

We’ll line out in a 4-4-1-1 come 4-2-4 formation. With Aguero as the Trequarista style attacker and the wide players covering a lot of ground. Them two are pacey so that wont be a problem.

Goalkeeper: Since his flop at Man United, Tim Howard has become one of the most reliable goalkeepers in the world. In 08/09 he shattered Neville Southall’s Everton record for most clean sheets in a season (16). He’s also captained Everton on occasion and will certainly command his area impeccably. He boasts 55 international caps to date for America and it takes some goalkeeper to keep Friedel and co. on the sidelines.

Defence: Fucile played Left Back for Uruguay in South Africa but he started as a right back and is equally adapt at playing there. He performed consistently for them throughout the tournament and is justifiably attracting the attention of bigger clubs. Assou-Ekotto had a solid season in a Spurs side that qualified for the Champions League. A talented player who’s openly admitted his mercenary status but that doesn’t go for his country, Cameroon who he takes pride in playing for despite originally coming from France. At Centre Back I’ve opted for Alex as my non World Cup player. He was outstanding this season for Chelsea and was a crazy omission from the Brazil squad. He’s also going to give me a good option from set pieces to go along with his sheer reliability. His partner is the no nonsense Slovakian, Martin Skrtel. The marshall of the defence that saw Slovakia qualify for the second round and the tough as nails hard man who arguably still has his best years ahead of him at only 25. I’m confident that my defence won’t concede too many.

Midfield: Yaya and Iniesta will have bags of experience playing together and it’s pretty clear what purpose they’ll both serve. Yaya Toure is up there with the best defensive midfielders in the world and he’s also apt at playing the ball out from deep. He will add to the torrid time that teams will have playing against my defence. His partner is the man who scored the winning goal in the World Cup Final and is my number one pick. Iniesta will run the show in the middle of the park for me and will be at the centre of most of my positive play. With those two in the middle of the park I will aim to control possession and use it actively. Out wide I’ve opted for two young and quick guys. Gervinho didn’t shine as much as I thought he would have in this World Cup but he’s certainly got it in him to frighten the heck out of the best full backs in the game. Elia featured intermittently for the Dutch on their way to a runners-up spot. He has currently amassed 13 international caps in total, and has scored two goals since making his debut back in September 2009. He’s also quickly become a fan favourite at Hamburg since his big money move there last year. These two wide players will have the ability to join the attack very quickly and pose a big threat to the opposition’s goal. As a midfield four, I see them anchored very well by Yaya Toure and Iniesta’s familiarity with one another. This should give the wide men the freedom to express their creative talent. As well as this, I believe I have the key men in the middle to control possession.

Attack: Aguero didn’t get too many opportunities for Maradona’s men this World Cup and will be looking forward to 2014. For Athletico, he is youthful, powerful, and deadly in attack. He’s not that far behind Messi in terms of ability and is ideal to take advantage of Shearer’s hold up play as well as creating something from nothing. Shearer was my legend’s pick. A pick that received a bit of criticism which is fair enough as he was robbed of a World Cup appearance in 1994 thanks to a San Marino goal and an early retirement from international football. However, he had a fantastic Euro ’96 and had a record of one in two for England. He did it at the highest level for over a decade and it will take some beating to emulate his scoring record. Shearer is the complete forward and there are not many better finishers than him. He will also lead from the front, wearing the captain’s armband.

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Necronomicon lines up like this:



The immediate weak link in his side as far as I'm concerned is the two midfielders, Keita and Poulsen. Iniesta and Toure should come out on top in that battle without any real problems. This as a knock-on effect will mean that Zinedine Zidane would have to come back deeper to find the ball which will harm his attacking options. Without a goal in the World Cup, Necro's go-to guy, Lionel Messi would need to be on top form as Maxi Rodriguez doesn't necessarily have me quivering.

At the back, Marchena and Cannavaro as a partnership has mistakes written all over it as far as I am concerned. Had this been the draft of 2014, Fabio would have been a superb pick as a legend but given that he'd be playing in his current state (The kind who was ousted by Caleb Folan and worse), Shearer would easily have the beating of him there.

I think this would be a game decided by the weakness he possesses at the back and while he'd probably get on the scoresheet too, I could see my team winning this 2-1/3-1.

Necronomicon

Voltwad

As far as my own team goes, I'll just copy my write-up from the last match:

The above is my starting XI and formation.

I believe that the two criteria I played the game by are evident in my team: balance and experience. The team boasts a cumulative 787 national team caps, or just over 71 per player. 41 is the least amount of caps represented by a player (both Maxi Rodriguez and Pereira).

Defence
A highly dependable and experienced goalkeeper in Mark Schwarzer, representing good value considering how late in the game I got him.

I concede that my risk in drafting Cannavaro didn't quite pay off (I did it before Italy's first game in the WC) and I fully expect any opponent to point to his shortcomings in this tournament. The one thing I'd point to is that the entire Italian team was muck, so perhaps in a better team he'd fare better (as individual performances go he wasn't terrible, as a team they defended horrendously). Partnering him is Carlos Marchena, who despite losing his place to Gerard Pique, is a quality centre back and was pivotal in Spain's Euro 2008 win.

I couldn't be happier with my full-back duo - we all know how good Germany captain Philipp Lahm is, and his right-full counterpart is Uruguay's Maxi Pareira, who was outstanding in this World Cup. The pair of them are solid defensively, as well as great going forward.

Midfield
Behind Zinedine Zidane I have Barcelona/Mali midfielder Seydou Keita and Juventus/Denmark's Christian Poulsen (and as a bonus, the two played together for a season at Sevilla). The defensive onus will be on Poulsen as the holder; Keita has more attacking flair, more of a box-to-box all round midfielder. I feel the two are highly complimentary. Ahead of them is my legends pick Zidane. I wanted a legend who I had the pleasure of following in my time rather than basing it on research and hearsay; and certainly Zidane is the greatest attacking midfielder of my generation.

Attack
Flanked by Argentine team-mates Lionel Messi and Maxi Rodriguez, I have Uruguay's Diego Forlan. Consistently excellent at club level since moving to La Liga, Forlan showed the world just how good he is by finishing joint top scorer in this World Cup, as well as scooping the honour for best player. With this South American trio (not to mention the attacking prowess of Zidane) I need not worry about where the goals will come from.

As for this match: Firstly I'm interested in hearing why Voltwad perceives Keita and Poulsen as weak links - perhaps he'd like to elaborate rather than making a bare statement like that. Poulsen is a solid defensive midfielder and Keita has a terrific engine, very classy going foward; they are a very complimentary pair IMO.

Our defenses are even enough I think - Voltwad has a decent centre-back pairing, but I think my full-back combination is far superior (if Messi was played against Assou-Ekotto he'd tear him a new one). I consider my attacking options to be far superior to my esteemed opponent; he mentions that Messi didn't score a goal in the competition, but he was still spectacular, earning a nomination for player of the tournament. Aguero didn't get too much of a look-in for Argentina, and I feel Shearer was a relatively poor pick for the legends round (I find it amazing that Romario lasted until the last pick).

The Volt

In circumstances where Denmark conceded in every game of group E, Poulsen as a holding player doesn't strike me as solid. He also had a relatively poor season for Juve and hasn't established himself as a regular there. He's also a liability in terms of his tendency to commit numerous fouls, many of which are unnecessary. He's poor technically and relies solely on his work rate.

A feat that Keita is guilty of as well, over-reliance on his work rate. He's no more than a decent squad player at Barca although I'll admit he had a solid world cup.

Messi against Assou-Ekotto is of course only going to have one winner but like I said, he'll need to cover both sides as well as I don't think Maxi will offer much help.

Necronomicon

Voltwad

I actually didn't see an awful lot of Denmark at this World Cup I must admit, my admiration of Poulsen comes from his time at Seville. Apparently he had a decent enough season at Juve (after a poor debut season) though injury disrupted him from the turn of the year. I must correct you on Keita by the way, he didn't play at the World Cup (Mali didn't qualify) - I assume you're thinking of Ivory Coast's Keita. I think you're overstating their workrate as a weakness, and short-changing them by saying that they possess little else.

The Volt

Necronomicon wrote: »

I actually didn't see an awful lot of Denmark at this World Cup I must admit, my admiration of Poulsen comes from his time at Seville. Apparently he had a decent enough season at Juve (after a poor debut season) though injury disrupted him from the turn of the year. I must correct you on Keita by the way, he didn't play at the World Cup (Mali didn't qualify) - I assume you're thinking of Ivory Coast's Keita. I think you're overstating their workrate as a weakness, and short-changing them by saying that they possess little else.

I was thinking of the African Nations Cup actually where he did well for Mali, apologies.