Euro 2012 Draft Match 4: Copper Pipe vs ColeTrain

G.K.

This match is Copper Pipe vs ColeTrain. The match will last for 48 hours, in which time the participants will need to outline their team, basic strategy, and strategy against their opponent.

Also, the voting will take place during this 48 hour period. There will be a poll but only votes with answers developed in a post will be taken into consideration. This development doesn't have to be paragraphs long, even a single sentance is fine. But don't vote until the competitors have had a chance to outline their teams.

Guys, whenever you are ready, begin.

Jesus Wept

It's possible to vote for both. :pac:

ColeTrain

Defense.
Pletikosa has impressed me in this tournament. He is a quality keeper who spent years learning his trade in Russia.
Bouma and Abiol are both solid full backs, not world class in bombing forward but well capable of defending and providing runs to benefit my wingers. Pique is a top quality defender, according to Liam Brady he has more skill in him than any Irish players! I'd like to see Pique step out of my defense and deliver a quality pass forward, his distribution cannot be undervalued. Desailly brings raw brute force to the party. Good in the air, with a turn of pace and can play. I think my central defense is well matched.

Midfield.
Mark Van Bommel has years of experience. His job would be to sit in front of my back four and offer some aggression to the team. He is also very handy with set pieces and can play a pass. A very valuable player.

Marchisio brings a bit of class to the picture. A quality all round midfielder who loves to get forward.

Attack.

Shaqiri and McGeady are both tricky players with a turn of pace. Having them two in my team makes any full back wary of crossing their half way line. Two perfect players to provide a cross or cut inside.

Podolski and Rooney complete my attack. Podolski just playing off Rooney. Both clinical in front of goal and a huge threat to any team in the world.

Copper_pipe

In nets we have Manuel Neuer, a top quality keeper that had 17 clean sheets in the Bundesliga last season.

Defence

Pepe is a defender that most team would love to have in their line-up, he is often seen as a very much theatrical character but when the chips are down he often steps up to take charge from the back.

Mertesacker is a priceless asset at 6' 6'' when clearing away set pieces, He is also a very clean player by just receiving 2 yellow cards in his 21 appearances for Arsenal during last season.

Anyukov is a rock solid defender as seen during his euro campaign with Russia.

Midfield

Since Paul Scholes came out of retirement he has really bossed the Man Utd Midfield with a pass completion percentage of 92 %

Danny missed out on the Euros due to an injury but is doing well with Zenit, in which he has scored 24 goals in 74 appearances.

Eugen Polanski is a defensive midfielder that has played well for Poland during the Euro's.

Attack

Jakub Blaszczykowski ( Kuba) has also had a good Euro campaign for Poland in which we saw him score one goal, his crosses proved very dangerous especially is Poland's opening game vs Greece.

Michael Krohn-Delhi scored 2 goals for Denmark, 1 of those proved to be the winner vs the Netherlands.

Cassano is described as a player who is "skilful and intelligent on the ball" who possesses "excellent vision and also impresses with his eye for goal"

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's goal scoring record for club and country is very impressive, for Sweden he has scored 32 goals in 79 appearances and for Ac Milan he scored 28 goals in 32 games last season.




P.s Best of Luck to ColeTrain

Jax Teller

Coletrain for me think Podolski and Rooney will have to much Copper pipes 3 at the back and given one of them is a right back I think they'd struggle .

TheDoc

Coletrains front line looks to have too much for a very suspect back line of Copper.

Coletrains inclusion of Van Bommel essentially gives him a third centre half who I think can easily deal with what would become an isolated Ibrahimovic, who has a tendency to drift out of games when aggressively marked.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Gone for Copper Pipe myself. I reckon he would win the midfield battle easily enough and his attacking options are far better than ColeTrains. I'm also not convinced at all by ColeTrain's defense. Pique did not have a good season, Albiol is more of a CB and again didn't have a good season, and Bouma is quite old and is behind an uninspiring Willems in the Dutch squad.

SomethingElse

With the exception of Rooney, Coletrains attacking unit contains a number of overrated players. Van Bommel's effectiveness, while once unquestionable, is certainly not what it used to be. Likewise, Podolski has been somewhat fortunate to win a multitude of caps for Germany. His threat has diminished and, under another coach, he certainly would be facing much more difficulty in maintaining his position, with the likes of Marko Marin waiting in the wings. On the opposite flank McGeady and Albiol leave the team exposed with their defensive frailties. Krohn-Delhi's goalscoring prowess would certainly come into play here, and with Cassano and Ibrahimovic knowing each other from being clubmates at Milan, Copper Pipe's frontline would provide far greater danger. The inclusion of Scholes in midfield further boosts the supply to the frontmen. The back four, whilst stable if nothing more, are well supported by the inclusion of Manuel Neuer. Down the opposite end Stipe Pletikosa is a weakness in ColeTrains's XI - he has been unable to prove himself despite being highly rated a number of years ago, failing to win a contract at Celtic after a trial, coupled with no league appearances during his year at Tottenham a couple of seasons back. The danger and workrate of Rooney would keep Coletrain in the game, but for me Copper Pipe's XI would create more chances and thus they get my vote

whatawaster

I've gone for Copper Pipe

His main weakness is his back 3, and of those 3 I'd be very unsure about Mertesacker and Anyukov playing as part of a central 3.

However, I don't think ColeTrain has enough on the flanks to expose these weaknesses. I don't rate Bouma and Albiol is a centre-back. McGeady is just not good enough. Only Shaqiri poses a real threat imo.

Both forward lines are equal imo, and I think Copper Pipe shades it in midfield with the class and creativity of Scholes and Danny.

Copper Pipe 3-1 ColeTrain FT imo.

Dickerty

Cole Train for me. Cassano and Ibra are both very temperamental, could be a tricky partnership to make work. Rooney and Podolski are far more reliable. But defence is where he wins it for me. Van Bommel in front of Pique and Desailly is a quality trio. That could be there difference.

A very narrow win for Cole Train.

Ferris_Bueller

ColeTrain for me. Playing 3 at the back is a risk, and I don't think Copperpipes back 3 will be strong enough to cope with ColeTrains attack, especially considering Anyukov is a right back. McGeady and Shaqiri will give ColeTrain some real width and stretch the back 3 which will make it even harder to defend against Rooney & Podolski.

elefant

Not a big fan of Coletrain's defence. I can only remember Albiol playing right back when Valencia were nearly relegated by Ronald Koeman. Also would have zero confidence in Bouma to contain any sort of decent winger. Van Bommel has also looked totally out of his depth in Holland's last two games, not even showing the fight that made him a great leader in the past.

However, I quite like the look of Coletrain's attack, and would not hold much hope of Copper Pipe's back three being able to contain it. Despite the defensive weaknesses I reckon Pique and Desailly could handle Ibrahimovic and Cassano, and I wouldn't have too much fear of Blaszczykowski and Krohn-Dehli.

Coletrain for me.

Moneymaker

Two weak defences, I fancy Coletrains attack that bit more. They'll also work harder and try and help out a fragile midfield and defence.

Coletrain to win a 4-3 thriller.

Trippie

Desailly was an incredible defensive midfielder for the milan side of early 90's and a decent centre back when older. Pique has been shocking this season and the wing backs arent going to get a lot of help from the lightweight midfield. Mcgeady is not exactly going to track back to help out.

Cassano and Ibra when played together at milan this season have been incredilbe. His heart attack was the turning point in the league and the reason why milan lost it in the end in my opinion. If coletrain had come up with a way of pressuring Van Bommel & marchisio then I cannot see a way of them getting the ball forward to attack. Then again when playing three at the back you are supposed to have wing backs which help out not wide forwards.

Copper pipe takes it in a high scoring game

Bounty Hunter

If Copper Pipe had 4 across the back id be going for him now, think the team would have better balance with an extra defender instead of say Danny as Scholes could fill the AM role and Ibra and Cassano would be a handful upfront. However one less Defender instead has me thinking Rooney could see some glory for ColeTrain in a narrow but goal filled encounter

G.K.

Right, a quick overview.

Copper pipe clearly on top regarding the keepers

Both team's defenses are very weak. ColeTrain has picked 4 centre-backs as his back 4, and neither Albiol nor Bouma have played FB for a long time (Nor were they that good at it. Bouma's not even 2nd choice LB for the Dutch, there's a DM ahead of him). Strong CB pairing though, even if Pique's not been at his best recently. Copper pipe's gone for a back 3 of 2 centre backs and a rightback. In a back 3 I feel you need pace, unless you sit your whole team deep - and I'm not sure, judging from the other players, that this will happen. Mert certainly isn't pacy. Pepe is fine for it though. Both defences will have protection of about equal quality from their midfield, though the strongest area here is the widemen of Copper pipe's team, those 2 are ridiculous workhorses.

Midfield-wise, ColeTrain probably has the better balance. Centrally I'm not sure that Copper pipe's team has enough defensive prescence, as both Scholes and Polanski are ideally partnered with a more defensive player. Having said that, I actually quite like the idea of them as a double-pivote. I think Danny is too deep, too.
Having said ColeTrain's midfield is more balanced that is only in principle. I think MVB is over the hill, I don't rate McGeady highly and Shaqiri is on the wrong side.

Up top, ColeTrain has a good partnership. I think Rooney and Poldi would compliment each other well. However, as SomethingElse said, Ibra and Cassano will know each other's game well and are as equally potent.

So, to examine the teams against each other.

Copper pipe will clearly get more posession but I don't think that matters for ColeTrain, he has clearly assembled a counter-attacking side. Copper pipe would probably win set piece battles

Copper pipe attacking:

Both defences, for differing reasons, are likely to be narrow. This means the wide players will have a lot of influence. Kuba will run the ageing Bouma ragged in my view, and he also has enough to track a wrong-side-Shaqiri (Who'll likely run down the touchline for most of the game). With no support from Albiol, however, he'll find it hard to beat both Bouma AND Shaqiri if the Swiss tracks back. Krohn-Dehli on the other side tucks in. He rarely runs the touchline. With no fullback supporting the Dane, Albiol will be safe to tuck in as well and move into a more narow central position that is more familiar to him and clog up the zone. As well, Krohn-Dehli wil hardly be moving into an unoccupied area - there'll be Cassano as well Danny, Scholes and Polanski who all have a propensity to push on. This will put a lot (5) of Copper pipe's men too close together, with Ibra just in front of them, and if MVB, Marchisio, Albiol, Pique and Desailly are in there too, as well as Rooney or McGeady tracking back, there'll not be much space for the attackers to work something or even pull off a shot. Don't forget, even if they do, they face a keeper, who despite not matching up to Neuer, has reflex shot stopping as perhaps his strongest attribute. So despite the strong individual qualities of the attackers, I don't think Copper pipe will score enough goals.

ColeTrain attacking:

With players who are not good going forward at fullback, ColeTrain will be attacking with his front 5 largely (Though MVB or even one of the CB's could break forward). ColeTrain's got 2 wingers playing on the side that favours their strongest foot, so he'll likely stretch the play and look to use the wingers - who both have a lot of running in them and are good for the counterattack. Shaqiri has a good cross while McGeady doesn't, but given the prescence of both Pepe and Mertesacker in Copper pipe's defense I doubt the aerial route will be used too often. Instead, the ball can be played to the feet of Poldi, Rooney, Marchisio, and the winger on the other flank, and I see them getting more joy here. I'm not sure that Polanski or Scholes will get back quick enough here. Krohn-Dehli and Kuba will track back well, but should the wingers escape into the middle or Marchisio/deep-dropping Rooney be fed in then the CB's will be up against it. Also critical is that Copper pipe has positioned Pepe, his best defender, on the left of his 3 men, while both Rooney and Podolski have a propensity to work more torwards their left, meaning they'll be more up against the slow Mertesacker and the out of position Anyukov. Marchisio or McGeady could definitely trouble Pepe at the same time. So due to several factors, I think ColeTrain wouldn't find it hard to score.

Conclusions:

Despite it being quite weak I think ColeTrain's defense is surprisingly well-equipped to deal with Copper pipe's attack. He'll be able to clog up the centre of the pitch where there will be a lot of Copper pipe's team, and cut off the supply to Ibra. In midfield Copper pipe will win the posession battle but ColeTrain's side is a counter-attacking one. Coletrain's attack will have a much better time against a frankly awful back 3 who I don't think will get protection centrally from the midfield quick enough. Pepe, the best defender in the back 3, being the furthest CB from the left-playing Rooney and Podolski is another big problem. I can see goals coming for ColeTrain more than I can for Copper pipe, even if the latter would do better at set-pieces.

So, ColeTrain to win by several goals.

redzerdrog

would be an epic match but cant have copperpipes backline so coletrain for me

IncognitoMan

ColeTrain for me here. two real leaders in this team with Marcel and Van Bommel with Rooney and Podolski two strikers who have had good goal scoring seasons. Can't say I've seen Abiol alot at full back and I think Bouma will be a real problem for you in later rounds. He was poor the last time I saw him at Villa wouldnt think hes improved since

Copper_pipe

I can see how this is going so I shall concede defeat. Well done ColeTrain and Best of Luck in the next round

eagle eye

I don't like either of these teams at all and I am finding it impossible to decide which is worse. Is it a decent back three with virtually no protection or a back four with Pique who has looked poor for twelve months and Bouma who is not nearly good enough and I don't like Albiol either. In the end I have to go for Copper_Pipe because I can see him scoring very regularly when he gets forward even though he is going to concede a lot of goals too.

LuckyLloyd

I'm not mad about Copper Pipe's formation, but I think Cole Train made a couple of weak picks. Bouma is a liability at left back at this advanced stage of his career, and Shaqiri will struggle to over the required end product against elite competition. I also think Marchisio and Van Bommel as a two man pairing will get overrun a bit here.

There are things to admire mind. Desailly and Pique is an awesome pairing, would compliment each other very well imo. And I think Podolski and Rooney might work well together.

But yeah, Copper Pipe gets the nod from me here.

yomtea98

Copper to win 3-0

G.K.

In our closest game so far, Copper_pipe just misses out, losing 7-10 to ColeTrain.

Congrats ColeTrain, best of luck in the rest of the game.

Commiserations to Copper_pipe.

Copper_pipe

An extra back would have probably made the difference, Best of luck to ColeTrain in Next round

ColeTrain

Copper_pipe wrote: »

An extra back would have probably made the difference, Best of luck to ColeTrain in Next round

Thanks man. Not much between the two.

Samich

Coletrain for me, his midfield would dominate and Scholes popping the passes around would be too much

ColeTrain

Samich wrote: »

Coletrain for me, his midfield would dominate and Scholes popping the passes around would be too much

i wish I had Scholes in my team, CopperPipe can I swap him for Bouma?!

Copper_pipe

ColeTrain wrote: »

i wish I had Scholes in my team, CopperPipe can I swap him for Bouma?!

Yeah no bother :pac:

G.K.

Samich wrote: »

Coletrain for me, his midfield would dominate and Scholes popping the passes around would be too much

heh, Samich, this vote is over. Coletrain won, but you're thinking of Copper pipe's midfield.

Samich

G.K. wrote: »

heh, Samich, this vote is over. Coeltrain won, but you're thinking of Copper pipe's midfield.

Am I? :pac:

Crap, it's hard to remember who's in which team. Hard to scroll up and then compare both :L

Whoever had Scholes I was going for :P