World Cup Draft Round 2: Mr. Nice Guy v Bamboozling

The Volt

Final day of round two matches.

Mr.Nice Guy

OK then this was my opponent bamboozling's team in his first round match so I'm assuming he'll line out in a similar fashion (if not he can correct me when he posts):

bamboozling



I think my opponent has a strong team here but one I feel has flaws that I believe can be exposed.

One of the solid advantages I felt I had in picking Beckenbauer in the legends round for my sweeper system was the flexibility he offers. As I said in my write-up when I picked him:

"If I'm playing teams I feel lack a major threat, I can lessen Beckenbauer's sweeper responsibilities, tell him to move forward alongside or just above Song, and effectively apply a 4-2-3-1 formation"

Without meaning to disrespect my opponent, this is what I intend to do against his team for two reasons:

1) While I think he has a solid strike partnership I don't think it warrants the extra protection of a sweeper. I feel confident my centre backs Puyol and Samuel can deal with his forwards without needing Beckenbauer behind for extra security.

2) The need to contain Lothar Matthaus. I have big respect for him and worry about his potential to dominate proceedings. I think by putting Beckenbuaer alongside Song I can more than match up with his central midfield partnership. I will let the two Germans clash in the centre of the park and entrust Matthaus's former boss to get the better of him. Here is an illustration of how I'll line up then for this one:

MNG


Using this system I would allow Elano a slightly more advanced role in front of the central pair and with my opponent's 4-4-2 system I think he would struggle to contain his influence.

Defence

I'm not convinced Pepe and Godin are great centre-back picks in this game and I think Drogba's physicality would cause them all sorts of problems. Godin and Uruguay did well defensively in the group stages but against Germany and Holland they did concede 3 goals in both games. As for Pepe, I thought he did just OK. We can't judge him much on league form as he missed 6 months with an injury.

As regards Glen Johnson, I think he would really struggle up against Arshavin who has a great record against Liverpool as we all know. Remember we're supposed to take league form into account and this past season Johnson had a nightmare against Arsenal while Arshavin stole the show. Here's the BBC report on it. Some quotes that stand out:

Andrey Arshavin was Liverpool's tormentor again as Arsenal secured a vital win at Anfield to close the gap on Premier League pacesetters Chelsea and Manchester United.

Liverpool's £18m full-back Glen Johnson, who suffered a torrid afternoon, unwittingly handed Arsenal a route back into the game when he turned Samir Nasri's cross past Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina five minutes after half-time.

I would be confident then of Arshavin giving Johnson another torrid afternoon. As for Boateng on the left, while I think he looks a good promising player, bamboozling has him at left-back and that is not his natural position. In fact it looks very possible that my left-back Kolarov will actually be playing there for City if the transfer saga involving him comes to an end. With that being the case I can instruct Lee on the right-wing to always try to get at Boateng down the flanks and I think Boateng would struggle (If I remember correctly he was taken off by Loew at left-back for Germany against Spain early in the second half when he didn't look comfortable). With all this being the case I think bamboozling will have big problems defensively.

Midfield

Pedro is a player I really like but I don't agree with him being used as an orthodox right winger and feel this is a poor way to get the best out of him. Kolarov is a talented left-back who likes to get forward a lot and I feel against Pedro, in that position, he could get the better of him. Ribery on the left is a concern. However it should be noted that he missed a lot of time with injuries this past season (just 20 games for Bayern) and France didn't see the best of him at the WC either. Lichtsteiner in contrast had a better World Cup with Switzerland and was part of the only team that managed to keep a clean sheet against Spain (successfully dealing with I think Silva's threat in that one). He also had a solid season with Lazio whose defence was the sixth-best in Serie A. So with that being the case I don't think Ribery/Lichtsteiner is quite the mismatch it might initially look on paper, by the rules of the game.

I believe as long as my team has the ability to break up bamboozling's rhythm, as I think it is well geared to do with great tacklers like Song, Beckenbauer, Samuel and Puyol in the spine of the team, then I feel I can really inflict a lot of damage on his team's shaky defence.

Attack

Interestingly we have here a Barca and Inter strike pair against a Barca and Inter central defensive pair. I would argue that Samuel and Eto'o would be quite similarly matched by the rules of the game. Even down to their WC performance since Samuel missed the knock-out stages through injury. As for Ibrahimovic, he divides many of course. Personally I thought he had a mixed season with Barca but think he can cause problems. The fact Puyol kept so many clean sheets and won the WC though I would argue gives him a bit of an edge.

As well as that, and most importantlof all, I just don't see bamboozling's forwards getting enough service to threaten. That is why I feel by stopping Matthaus in the centre via Beckenbauer I can really undo a lot of his team's strength.

Summary

In my opinion if I stop Matthaus I stop the heartbeat of his team, and with Beckenbauer being instructed to follow him closely when he has the ball, and Song doing his usual dependable holding role, I feel I can allow my attacking players to pick apart the holes in his defence.

I think the midfield battle will be key and while he has tough guys in there, I feel I have the edge in terms of midfield vision. As Bobby Charlton has said, Beckenbauer's great strength was the vision he possessed. Song has it too playing in Arsenal's team which demands it, and Elano as we know is well capable of unlocking defences with his passing.

My gut feeling is that this would probably be a tight enough game, with maybe a lot of fouls due to the combative players on both sides. If that's the case though, another advantage I feel I possess over bamboozling is in having several players deadly with free-kicks: Drogba, Arshavin, Elano, Kolarov. This would present bamboozling with more problems.

To sum up I believe my defence would be able to successfully contain bamboozling's team and prevent him from scoring more so than his team would my attacks. I think my counter-attacking threat, as well as my set-piece threat, would get me at least 2 goals in this match. I would be quite optimistic that he would not score more than 1 against my team. Honestly I think if Beckenbauer is at his best then I don't think bamboozling scores at all.

On this basis I hope I get your vote for this game.

bamboozling

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. Let's not forget he is German no.1 at the ripe old age of 23.

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 but also strong as an ox, plays the ball and an ace man marker. Pepe will undoubtedly be able to handle Drogba as he is as quick as him and as strong as him. 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 will play on the right side of this pairing and will have special duty to shut down Arshavin. Johnson is not the best defensive full back in hte game but working in tandem with De Jong I see no reason why they cannot stifle Arshavin between them. 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 Arshavin, Elano and Beckenbauer. Matteus has license to burst upfield and come into the box and score goals. He will also act as the heartbeat of my team, dictating rythum, keeping possession ticking over but he brings more to the table than Beckenbauer or Song in midfield 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 M.N.G's team the weak links appear to be Lichtsteiner. In my opinion he would be destroyed by Ribery. Lichtsteiner does not play at the top level of European football and wasn't all that impressive at the world cup in what was an awful Swiss team. Kolarov 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 and also scoring goals which is something both are rather excellent at.

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 Samuel and Puyol. 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. He has bucket loads of pace and can tear apart Puyol and Samuel.

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

Opposition; M.N.G has devised a rather cunning plan to deal with Mattaus. However I don't see it being quite so easy as I see Song as being weak compared to the quality of players around him. I think that De Jong would be able to both close down Arshavin and quieten Song who has never ever stood out as a top player. Who would win in a midfield battle between Beckenbauer and Mattaus? It's a toss up and I think that Mattaus would just shade it. It will probably be the decisive factor in the match.

I don't forsee Pepe and Godin having a huge amount of trouble against Pepe and Godin. Pepe kept Drogba as quiet as a mouse when they played during the world cup and Pepe is one of the best man markers in the game, one of the few players in the world I believe who can tame Drogba. It's the up to Godin to win the defensive headers and mop up everything else that happens in and around the back.

I think that Lichtsteiner and Kolarov will have major hassle against Ribery and Pedro. Lichtsteiner is a poor player and Kolarov while one of the best going forward also leaves holes at the back. Ribery and Pedro could well have a field day and I can see plenty of balls into the box from out wide and possibly even a goal coming from the wings.

Then we have Ibrahimovic and E'too against Samuel and Puyol. If Beckenbauer and Song are going to negate Mattaus then they will have to push up the field, this in turn means that Puyol and Samuel must maintain a high defensive line. This would be suicidal. Both are slow and the pace of my two strikers would see them ripped apart. Both are technically very capable defenders and play with great heart and gusto but in modern day football there is no substitute for pace. Pace is something I have in abundance right throughout my team.

To summarize I believe that I will win this game. My team is the team of youth, pace and technique. Looking at my team I have real goalscoring threat in the shape of Ribery, Pedro, Ibrahimovic and Eto'o. My opponent has Drogba and Arshavin and possibly Elano but he doesn't score many goals. I am solid at the back, attacking full backs on either side, an excellent midfield and a real potent attack. I hope this is enough to get your vote. May the best team win.