2019 Draft Quarter Final Game 1 - Mr.Nice Guy vs Morzadec

IncognitoMan

The first of the Quarter Finals

Mr.Nice Guy vs Morzadec

If you want to use a site to set your side out these are good:

https://this11.com/#!/editor/

https://www.buildlineup.com/

Each poster can go as in detail as you wish in your write-ups including set up for your own side. Once the two posters have set out their teams they are allowed one post each to explain their gameplan against their opposition (exposing the other team's weakness or to draw attention to a player they think doesn't work in the other team etc).

If one team does not set put their side/tactics inside a 24hr period they will automatically forfeit the tie.

Anyone can vote, in the event of a close tie I will go through the tread and count the votes of people who posted and outlined their winner.

Do not cast a vote until both posters have submitted their teams.

Poll will close after 24 hours

Good luck to both posters.

Mr.Nice Guy

My team:





I explained the thought process behind my team in the last round here, for those interested.

This was Morzadec's team from the last round which I've based my thoughts on:




First things first, good luck to my opponent Morzadec.

It is a strong team to face but I believe my XI has the edge and I'll explain why below.

The midfield battle

There is a thoughtful shape in Morzadec's midfield which I like. Michael Carrick is a very classy player sitting deep, and David Silva is a magical player, but for me Olivier Dacourt stands out as a big weakness.

I was a bit peeved with the previous tie the draw gave me (against Lucas Hood) because, as I acknowledged at the time, my team's talisman, Frank Lampard, would have a lot of his attacking strengths contained by Lucas having the presence of Roy Keane in midfield. Now however, with all due respect to Morzadec, I simply don't see Dacourt being able to do likewise and I feel this is now the time for Lampard to show his stuff. For me, Lampard vs Dacourt is a massive mismatch. In Lampard you have a player that has more goals in midfield than anyone, most goals from outside the box in the league's history, and the 4th-most assists in the league, while in Dacourt, whilst a fine player, he was also someone with a very questionable temperament, and who was a card magnet.

His Leeds spell soured badly as Leeds' form tanked, with Dacourt blasting his teammates as a "disgrace". His then manager Terry Venables said about him that he was "a man who plays for himself", that "Everyone knows we are going through a tough time at the moment but Olivier clearly isn't too bothered about that. He really isn't too concerned about how it affects his own team-mates."

Venables added on claims Dacourt had been linked to clubs in Italy "If he wants to go to Italy - and if someone is interested - I will personally drive him there."

I think it's fair to say in a midfield battle, in tight games like these, we need players of a big mentality, who can be counted on when things get tough. I think Lampard vs Dacourt is too heavily weighted in my favour in that respect.

Even listening to Dacourt himself at the time, he blamed his poor disciplinary record on refs being out to get him, rather than his own faults:

"I got nine yellow cards in my first nine games," he said after taking his seat in the interview room. "And over the season I got one red card and 18 yellows. You could say I was unlucky, but surely you can't be unlucky all the time.

"Tell me if you have ever seen me make a bad tackle," he adds with a shrug of the shoulders and a roll of his unusually large brown eyes. "I never tackle from behind. English football is a very hard game and sometimes you just seem to get yellow cards when all you are trying to do is compete."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/4767845/Dacourt-back-in-the-pack.html

I can't see Dacourt going through this game against Lampard without picking up at least a yellow card, and providing he does, he then finds himself hugely restricted against the Premier League's all time goalscoring midfielder. I just think Lampard has a field day against him.

Forgive me for making a big point out of this but I really feel there's a huge disparity here in my favour. I'm sure Morzadec will say Carrick will provide the extra protection when needed, and I accept he will help Dacourt, but I can't see Lampard being contained in 90 minutes of play. Dacourt would be too big a hole to fill imo.

Wide areas

I think this is another area of the field where I have the edge. I have two wingers that love to attack in Duff and Robben, ably assisted by Rose and Finnan in behind. When I look at Morzadec's team I think it comes across as disjointed on his left.

I don't like Tevez in that position. He is not going to be able to offer any threat down the left and would be constantly cutting inside on his right. I think Steve Finnan, who was a clever player, would know full well that Tevez is always going to cut inside, and in Henchoz I have a dogged, tenacious player that can provide assistance when necessary. For me Tevez would struggle to impose himself on the game and would largely rely on long range efforts which I think Friedel can handle. Perhaps Morzadec would thus ask Clichy to provide a wide left outlet, but the problem with that is leaving huge space in behind for Robben to exploit. I therefore can't see Clichy being too adventurous, and I think that side of the pitch plays into my hands.

On the other side of the pitch, Nani would be capable of more diverse options of attack, but as a United fan I remember well that for every moment of quality Nani gives, there are moments of frustration also. And while I think he can cause Rose some problems, as a LB with back-to-back appearances in the PFA Team of the Year, I think Rose can hold his own.

In terms of my wide threat, I think Damien Duff can get at Lauren enough times with his pace and trickery to provide Van Nistelrooy space to exploit. And on the other side, while Clichy can hold his own against Robben in a sprint, the Dutchman has the technical ability to get past him too and head towards goal. I feel my team has more options out here.

Strikers

We both have top class strikers who can finish as well as anybody. I think it would thus boil down to which striker gets better service and I think on that score I have the edge. As touched on above, I think on the wings Morzadec would struggle and I believe my defence would be able to largely limit Tevez due to the predictability of his movement - and I think he and Suarez could be on top of each other at times. I can also see Suarez being frustrated by Nani.

By far my biggest concern would be David Silva feeding Suarez through the centure. To counter this my instruction would be for Fletcher to close down Silva as much as possible; if the great Spaniard is able to lose him on occasion – and I’m realistic enough to know it would happen a few times – I have the extra insurance of Didi Hamann there who reads the game so well and would further limit the space anytime he sees Fletcher needs a hand. As well as that Stam and Henchoz also have great instincts at reading danger.

It’s a dangerous channel for sure, but it’s one I’m confident my team can keep shut most of the time. Limit the supply and you limit the striker. I'm trying to be a fair man, however, and as Suarez is one of the great strikers, I can see him getting in behind with his talents. I really don't think it would happen more than once, though.

At the other end, I like Morzadec's CB pair but I think Van Nisterlrooy similarly has the skill to get in behind them. Morzadec has said previously that Vertonghen was the "Most consistent defender of the last 6 or 7 years". I think that's a big exaggeration tbh, and I say that as someone who likes the player, but for me he's prone to lapses. I would prefer Alderweireld of the two at Tottenham. Big fan of Desailly in his day but again I think Ruud gets enough opportunities over the 90 minutes.

Summary

TL;DR - I see the factors that decide the contest being: 1) the big mismatch of Lampard vs Dacourt, thus giving me the edge in midfield 2) the extra attacking options of my wide players and 3) the better ability of my team's spine to counter his central attack.

I think it would be a tough game but I'd back my players to come out winners in something like a 2-1 win. Thanks for reading.

Morzadec

Unfortunately I won't have time to do a detailed crotique of my opposition. He's got a good team with a good setup, but I do think I have a better team overall, particularly with a stronger back 4 and keeper and the magic of Suarez up front. Stam was a beast but even he might find the trickery of my front 3 difficult.

Summary from my last game:



Cech: Widely considered the best ever after Schmeichel, at his peak he never made any mistakes, commanded his area unbelievably well and made big stops. A vital part of the leagues best ever defensive unit

Lauren: One of the first modern full-backs - was a midfielder when he signed but was deployed as a strong and pacy full back. Part of the Invincibles defence, great both going forward and defending

Clichy: At his best at Arsenal but also won leagues with City. Made a PFA team of the year when A.Cole and Evra were both at their peak. Incredibly fast and excellent stamina, can cover the whole flank

Vertonghen: Most consistent defender of the last 6 or 7 years, 2 time PFA team of the year, classy on the ball, very strong off it

Desailly: Was central to probably the greatest defence of the turn of the century (France's '98 and '00 teams) while he was at Chelsea. Adept at midfield, a modern day centre back, very comfirtable on the ball and incredibly quick and strong off it, a world calss centre back

Carrick: Lynchpin of a United side that made 3 CL finals, consistent, very intelligent tactically, classy and confident on the ball.

Dacourt: Record signing for Leeds at the time, vital player in the middle of the park of the great '02 side which made it to the CL semis, tenacious and terrier-like off the ball, very comfortable and creative on it

David Silva Maybe the best creative central midfield player to grace the league, never loses the ball, can dictate and dominate a match as well as come up with defence splitting passes in the final third. Incredible work rate and pressing off the ball too

Nani: Pace and trickery and capable of a long range belter. Offers genuine width but can come inside too, possibly the leagues best player in 2010-2011 where he helped United win the league with 14 assists and 9 goals in 33 matches.

Tevez: 43 goals in 66 appearances in his two year peak from 09-11 at City - not many in the league with a record like that over 2 seasons. Superb at United too where he won the CL, ferocious on and off the ball, capable of individual magic

Suarez: His 13-14 season remains probably the most impressive of anyone's purely by numbers (31 goals and 12 assists in just 33 games, no penalties). A nightmare to defend off the ball, and simply unstoppable at his peak on it.


______________________



My team contains a mixture of players from all 3 decades of the Premier League, but it is one that will be set up to be modern in nature - technical and athletic across all areas of the pitch, with the main width provided from the full back positions.

I believe the team has balance throughout with each player complimenting each other and no obvious weaknesses to point to anywhere. With Suarez and Tevez I have real X-factor and Silva and Nani will create a lot for them. As will Lauren and Clichy bombing up the flanks - the width in particular of Clichy out left will allow Tevez to come inside more and unleash his right boot, and on the ball he will be more so a second-striker than a left-winger. The workrate and tenacity of Suarez and Tevez will make it very difficult for opposition attacks to start and may even create chances by winning the ball back up high. They will be supported by Silva and Dacourt pressing through the middle, both very used to this role.

Clichy and Lauren have the engines and pace to get back as well as go forward, but they will inevitably need cover. For this reason I have the tenacious and mobile Dacourt to cover ground, and one of the most consistent and intelligent holding mids in Carrick to sit back, cover space and make interceptions. My centre backs are both mobile and are very comfortable being pulled out of their set position - Desailly was adept in midfield and Vertonghen at left back - so they can be pulled wide without being out of their comfort zone. For this reason I believe my team is set up tactically to utilise the pace of my full backs while still ensuring the coverage is there both in terms of ability and positional comfort.

On the ball I'll ask my centre backs to split and Carrick to drop in to receive the ball in the centre. The left footed Vertonghen and right footed Desailly will make this natural and easy and all 3 of these players can take a short pass from Cech. Clichy and Lauren will advance further up to provide passing outlets. Dacourt is more than comfortable on the ball and then of course the real metronome and creative outlet on my team is David Silva who has the ability to both make the game tick from midfield as well as create game-changing moments in the final third.

Nani offers genuine pace and trickery and further creativity. Suarez will play as a "nine and a half" - there to finish chances, but also to come deeper or pull wider when needed - he has the intelligence and quality to know where the space is. This should open up space for Tevez coming from the left to get amongst the goals too as centre backs are inevitably pulled around from Suarez's runs.

Overall I think the team is strong and balanced throughout and I believe the tactical plan I have set up suits all the players very well, with all players complimenting each other - for me it's a side not just filled with superstars, but one that also gels together really well

redzerdrog

Out ilon the beer so can't go into detail but think morz takes this. It's very even overall but this k Suarez will get more joy out of stam and henchoz than rvn will out of vertongan desillie

RasTa

Close one, can't pick a winner yet.

dr.kenneth noisewater

Voted for Mr Nice Guy, just. Feel his midfield is slightly better and his wide men will cause issues. Get front 2 for Morzadec but not sure Clichy will get enough support to cover Robben. Defence is equal enough except for GK imo which Morzadec has the advantage. Very tight decision

RasTa

MNG, just.

bucketybuck

Two very even teams. I think MNG has the better attack but Morzadec has the better defence. So it would come down to midfield, but while they are both 3 in midfield they are different types of midfield 3, Carrick and Silva will play a different game to Lampards deep runs and late into the box goals.

When two very good teams with different styles play who do you go for? In this case I am voting for MNG based on a superior attack. Goals win games and Van Nistelrooy and Lampard in a team built around them with a good supporting cast are going to get goals. Suarez is a goal scorer but the others behind aren't as prolific, so Lampard will be the one shading it for me.

IncognitoMan

Bump this back up for the last 30 min. The poll is VERY close

Morzadec

Any argument for extending this as it's on the weekend? It's currently 2-1 on valid votes, very few votes, seems like very few have had a chance to see this

Also might have a chamce to read / respond to mng's points tomorrow.

Fair enough if not, just seems this has been a bit of a non runner cos of the weekend!

IncognitoMan

Morzadec wrote: »

Any argument for extending this as it's on the weekend? It's currently 2-1 on valid votes, very few votes, seems like very few have had a chance to see this

Also might have a chamce to read / respond to mng's points tomorrow.

Fair enough if not, just seems this has been a bit of a non runner cos of the weekend!

I don't think it being on during the weekend is the problem. Just interest is dying down in the draft, people who have been knocked out aren't returning to vote etc..

We have 3 more QF games, 2 semi and a final still to go and I'd like to get it finished before the season starts so we'll stick with the 24hr rule as was set out at the start

IncognitoMan

So we have our first bit of controversy in the draft.

Morzadec won the poll by 5 votes to 4.

Mr.Nice Guy won the thread votes 2 votes to 1

Mr.Nice Guy votes :

dr.kenneth noisewater wrote: »

Voted for Mr Nice Guy, just. Feel his midfield is slightly better and his wide men will cause issues. Get front 2 for Morzadec but not sure Clichy will get enough support to cover Robben. Defence is equal enough except for GK imo which Morzadec has the advantage. Very tight decision

bucketybuck wrote: »

Two very even teams. I think MNG has the better attack but Morzadec has the better defence. So it would come down to midfield, but while they are both 3 in midfield they are different types of midfield 3, Carrick and Silva will play a different game to Lampards deep runs and late into the box goals.

When two very good teams with different styles play who do you go for? In this case I am voting for MNG based on a superior attack. Goals win games and Van Nistelrooy and Lampard in a team built around them with a good supporting cast are going to get goals. Suarez is a goal scorer but the others behind aren't as prolific, so Lampard will be the one shading it for me.

Morzadec votes :

redzerdrog wrote: »

Out ilon the beer so can't go into detail but think morz takes this. It's very even overall but this k Suarez will get more joy out of stam and henchoz than rvn will out of vertongan desillie

We talked about it in the main thread and here is what ye said about hiding results

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

The first few matches had the results hidden and I think it's more absorbing when the outcome remains unknown. If people click on a thread and see a one-sided contest taking place they may not be bothered giving their thoughts.

SlickRic wrote: »

i concur. precisely my reasoning when I kept them hidden in the first few that I had to add a poll too.

IncognitoMan wrote: »

I'll leave the whole thing hidden so from now on.

We'll go with poll results unless it's very tight then I'll go through the thread to see who gave reasons etc..

The last bit is key as we said all along that we would give preference to votes that had explained their reasoning to combat any voting based purely on poster preference etc.

It's **** that one poster won a poll but people didn't feel the need to add a reason for their vote but those were always the rules.

So Mr. Nice Guy takes this by the slimmest of margins

brianregan09

I think Morzadec has a better side with a stronger spine for me

SlickRic

Not around all day today, so missed this.

The end of this draft will turn into a slight farce if there aren't more participants unfortunately.

Morzadec

Well done mng, bad timing for me this weekend being away and not much traffic coming through the thread (looks like if the last poster had been on 15 mins earlier I'd have taken it!), but them's the breaks, no complaints on the call IM makes sense. Minimum amount of votes could be good for the future for weekend matches

IncognitoMan

Morzadec wrote: »

Well done mng, bad timing for me this weekend being away and not much traffic coming through the thread (looks like if the last poster had been on 15 mins earlier I'd have taken it!), but them's the breaks, no complaints on the call IM makes sense. Minimum amount of votes could be good for the future for weekend matches

I think if we were to do another draft down the road I'd skip over the match ups altogether as it seems to be the part of the draft that most people lose interest in.

I'd say we do one big thread, Everyone posts up their sides and leave it open for a week of voting. Place teams then based on how many votes they got.

If two sides end up with the same number of votes do a final or something to pick an overall winner.

It's hard to keep people interested especially when they have been knocked out

Mr.Nice Guy

Morzadec wrote: »

Well done mng, bad timing for me this weekend being away and not much traffic coming through the thread (looks like if the last poster had been on 15 mins earlier I'd have taken it!), but them's the breaks, no complaints on the call IM makes sense. Minimum amount of votes could be good for the future for weekend matches

Good game, had a feeling it would be tight. Pity the interest level waned for our tie.

IcnognitoMan wrote:

I think if we were to do another draft down the road I'd skip over the match ups altogether as it seems to be the part of the draft that most people lose interest in.

I'd say we do one big thread, Everyone posts up their sides and leave it open for a week of voting. Place teams then based on how many votes they got.

If two sides end up with the same number of votes do a final or something to pick an overall winner.

It's hard to keep people interested especially when they have been knocked out

That could be a good idea.

I will say though from what I recall of the last one of these I did on the soccer forum, the interest does tend to naturally level off as the rounds go on. It may be just the way it goes with these things.

Hopefully folks will hang around for the final few games.

IncognitoMan

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I will say though from what I recall of the last one of these I did on the soccer forum, the interest does tend to naturally level off as the rounds go on. It may be just the way it goes with these things.

Hopefully folks will hang around for the final few games.

Yeah I remember a similar problem in other drafts. It's tough to maintain the interest levels over multiple ties and threads imo

Lucas Hood

I think timing plays a part too. I'd imagine lots of posters are on boards Monday to Friday while they're in work. They may be not as active on weekends especially when the season hasn't started yet.

Trigger

Lucas Hood wrote: »

I think timing plays a part too. I'd imagine lots of posters are on boards Monday to Friday while they're in work. They may be not as active on weekends especially when the season hasn't started yet.

You can see this here today too, with most votes coming in this evening as the weekend does out, I missed yesterday's match as I was out for the day and only got a chance to have a look today, restricting it to Monday-Thursday might help as I'd say there is more traffic, especially in the off season.. during the season you could have it weekends no problem