Premier League draft Finale: Enigma87 vs Gio

[Gio]

I voted for Gio but I’m not convinced there is enough ball for his front 3. Needs a Bobby Firmino in the middle more than a Cantona.

Every attack would benefit from a Firmino.

Still Cantona has always been a provider as much as a goalscorer. His goals and assists totals were fairly similar which is quite rare among attackers.


The team has always been built around this man. What the highly watchable video above shows is how central Cantona becomes when he has runners and good technical players buzzing around him. And what it is also shows is, when he didn't have those options and things were sticky, he could, repeatedly, take matters into his own hands.

With Eric dropping into the hole, he brings in the midfield runners, with each of the trio capable of scoring from the edge of the box, with De Bruyne in particular lethal from there. But how many chances did he lay on for Andy Cole over the years? Absolute barrel-loads. Replace Cole, Choccy and Hughes with Salah and Ronaldo and Cantona becomes even more of a chance-creating hub. For example, he had 19 assists in 96/97 and you inject additional world-class quality into his attacking options and he could easily get another 5-10.

 

[Enigma_87]

I've already replaced Gio's formation picture from smaller to bigger.

any views on the game mate? Would appreciate some input.

 

[Enigma_87]

Tribute to the big man


Bossed the United defence for three years straight winning the treble and 2 additional PL titles.

He was tall, strong as an ox and quick as hell

 

[Enigma_87]

and of course, when you have the tightest of margins, this man can always be relied on:


Records set by Petr Cech
Premier League

• Most Premier League Golden Glove awards: 4 (shared with Joe Hart)
• Most Premier League clean sheets: 202 clean sheets
• Most away league clean sheets in a season for Chelsea: 11 in 2004–05 & 2005–06
• Most Premier League clean sheets for one club: 162 with Chelsea
• Most Premier League clean sheets in a season: 24 in 2004–05
• Fastest Premier League goalkeeper to reach 50 clean sheets: 82 appearances
• Fastest Premier League goalkeeper to reach 100 clean sheets: 180 appearances
• Only goalkeeper to have won the Premier League Golden Glove with different clubs
• Most UEFA Best Club Goalkeeper Awards for a Premier League goalkeeper: 3 awards

For Chelsea

• Most Premier League wins for Chelsea by a foreign player: 219 wins
• Most appearances for Chelsea by a foreign player: 494 appearances
• Most starts for Chelsea in a season: 63 starts in 2012–13
• Most major cup final appearances for Chelsea: 14 (shared with Frank Lampard)
• Most clean sheets for Chelsea: 227
• Most clean sheets in a season for Chelsea: 28 clean sheets in 2004–05
• Most consecutive clean sheets for Chelsea in all competitions: 7 in 2005–06 (shared record)
• Most consecutive home league clean sheets for Chelsea: 9 in 2009–10 – 2010–11 (shared record)
• Most consecutive home clean sheets for Chelsea in all competitions: 10 in 2009–10
• Most consecutive league clean sheets for Chelsea: 10 in 2004–05
• Most league clean sheets in a season for Chelsea: 24 in 2004–05

Obviously Alisson is a good fit for Gio, but this man can shut the goal better than few in history.

 

[Šjor Bepo]

Every attack would benefit from a Firmino.

No matter how it ends, gio knows how to buy love thats for sure

 

[Earvin Johnson]

Bergkamp also drops when we are off the ball. Also you are overestimating TAA, he is not as good as Dani Alves or ever was. Dani Alves is probably top 10 of all time in his position and even he was sometimes preferred as RM for Brazil with Maicon in his place.

We also have the better keeper in Cech who was phenomenal pre-injury and a pillar in what is probably the best PL defence of all time.

Also Keane/Becks were not dominated by a Juve side consisting of Conte, Zidane, Davids and Deschamps, having Butt instead of Vieira next to them.

Aguero is one of the(if not the) most clinical strikers PL have ever seen, so he doesn't need many chances to convert. On top of that our CB pair is well equipped in dealing with variety of threats both on the deck and in the air.

Ruben Dias is not the fastest CB's around either so you can't really pin it on VVD to be the one man show against such plethora of creativity that we have in our team.

Even if Bergkamp drops, it's still 4 vs 3 in the midfield.

I am not overestimating Trent. Offensively the season he is currently putting is as good as any of dani's and i watched prime dani alves every week. People aren't recognizing his worth since he is only 23 but this season he is the player in the PL with most xA and xA per90, even more than De Bruyne. He also tops the league in progressive passes. And as it has been established by Gio he improved a lot defensively.

Aguero doesn't need many chances to convert but so does Ronaldo and Salah, and they will get even more chances in this potential matchup.

You are right on Dias, but as i stated a Pique-Puyol backline was the best in Europe from 2009 to 2012 thanks to the intense Barça press. So i do not buy that the VVD-Dias backline will just crumble.

I think Gio takes it because he will create more chances and he has two elite finishers who don't need much. Your team might also bang in a few goals but i don't think it would be enough to win most matchups.

 

[General_Elegancia]

Congratulations to @Gio, great game from both of you
@Enigma_87 great job, mate

 

[General_Elegancia]

any views on the game mate? Would appreciate some input.

I’ve done a lot of works about my business today, so tired and don’t have much time to answer anything. Maybe Saturday(tmr), I can give some views.

Good Night

 

[Skizzo]

Congrats @Gio ! Well deserved overall!

i actually liked your team from last round more. I think it got a bit too messy with the midfield balance etc here and less of the blueprint you followed throughout. That’s also part of the problem of being so strong from the beginning and trying to upgrade.

Hard luck @Enigma_87 great discussions all round. Thanks for running the draft @Šjor Bepo @General_Elegancia

 

[Physiocrat]

The GuarGiola train marches on. @Gio Excellent drafting as ever. Good draft @Šjor Bepo @General_Elegancia

 

[Isotope]

If only Gio didn't put Gullit (I don't consider him PL great) or Enigma has better LF than Son; it would be a clear cut winner for me. Getting Giggs instead of Kun would be a bigger upgrade.

Still letting Gio to have Ronaldo is a big blunder, imho.

Anyway. Congrats @Gio . Looking back on Rd.1, didn't think you'd win this Draft. Just excellent picks along the way to Final.

 

[Gio]

Cheers guys and appreciate the efforts in organising from @Šjor Bepo and @General_Elegancia. To be fair to Enigma that was an absolute unit he assembled and the spine is just Premier League perfection.

Congrats @Gio ! Well deserved overall!

i actually liked your team from last round more. I think it got a bit too messy with the midfield balance etc here and less of the blueprint you followed throughout. That’s also part of the problem of being so strong from the beginning and trying to upgrade.

Hard luck @Enigma_87 great discussions all round. Thanks for running the draft @Šjor Bepo @General_Elegancia

Tbh I agree that the City model was purer. I thought Rio would max that out, but expected him to be blocked and was split between him and Ronaldo as top picks for the reinforcement. I didn't really expect to get Ronaldo, but thought it was worth a punt because it's Ronaldo, and, at the very least, would block the top attackers. But the combination of the criticism Trent received, Son's great counter-attacking record against City, and Enigma's central midfield juggernaut, pressed the need to reconsider things in midfield. It was also slightly niggling that Gullit hadn't seen any action when I was totally bowled over by the calibre of his performances, albeit for an admittedly shite Chelsea team. God their defence was honking at times, absolute comedy of errors and their keeper looked like he was cemented to the ground.

 

[Himannv]

Congratz @Gio - I like your R1 team a bit more than this version, but great drafting from the start to win this.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Fitting that two of the best R1 drafted teams made it here. Congrats Gio. Hard luck Enigma.

 

[Šjor Bepo]

Both teams got ruined in the process as they went for names rather balance, gios more so then enigmas.

 

[Physiocrat]

Both teams got ruined in the process as they went for names rather balance, gios more so then enigmas.

What do you think is unbalanced about Engima's side? Is it the Keane and Vieira partnership

 

[Šjor Bepo]

What do you think is unbalanced about Engima's side? Is it the Keane and Vieira partnership

Yeah, as well as the cb partnership. But its workable unlike gios so he got my vote.

 

[Jim Beam]

I loved Gio's team (well, most of it)

- Gullit wild card
- Modric as a change also who will just pass it around while not holding the ball much (what this team desperately needs); Modric strength is to always do what his team needs to make it better;
- TAA link with Ronaldo; you can have two towers in the centre, but the plan would always be to pull them out or stretch with the intention to isolate Ronaldo on that far post which is with all the danger around probably a tie breaker

I can't see Klopp blueprint though. Cantona and Ronaldo don't have the work-rate for that imo. That's why I would probably put Suarez in the middle. Still, great to see Cantona in a innovative set up winning the final.
This is more looking like Real Madrid Zidane's team especially as De Bruyne plays more directly for Belgium and Cantona being more in Benzema kind of role. The team does require a bit more imagination, but I can see it work mostly because Modric, De Bruyne and Cantona are/were so unselfish.

Enigma's team is also great and am a bit sorry as he probably feels am always voting against. If its of any consolation I do think I got my vote in the semifinal wrong.

 

[Enigma_87]

Hard luck @Enigma_87 great discussions all round. Thanks for running the draft @Šjor Bepo @General_Elegancia

Cheers, mate!

Congrats @Gio for winning it all, solid drafting as usual.

 

[sherrinford]

Yeah, as well as the cb partnership. But its workable unlike gios so he got my vote.

This seems to be a relatively popular notion on here, but it's one I'm struggling to understand really, given the praise for the ability of both. Perhaps it's because I always think of Keane as at his best as the deepest midfielder whereas others who watched a younger version may see him differently? As a pair, only the strategic quality that a Scholes, Modric or David Silva bring to a side with their passing is missing, and I can't think of a theoretical partnership which could provide that and still offer all of the defensive security, aggression and verticality that a Keane-Vieira midfield would. Bayern's Schweinsteiger-Martinez and Kimmich-Goretzka combos provide examples of the kind of midfield unit that pairing them would create and both were highly functional.

Similarly, Desailly and Stam were complete defenders who surely could have played together, no? Had it been two stoppers such as Terry and Vidic your concerns would make sense, but both centre backs here are physically well rounded and are great decision-makers so I'm not sure where they can go wrong.

 

[Šjor Bepo]

This seems to be a relatively popular notion on here, but it's one I'm struggling to understand really, given the praise for the ability of both. Perhaps it's because I always think of Keane as at his best as the deepest midfielder whereas others who watched a younger version may see him differently? As a pair, only the strategic quality that a Scholes, Modric or David Silva bring to a side with their passing is missing, and I can't think of a theoretical partnership which could provide that and still offer all of the defensive security, aggression and verticality that a Keane-Vieira midfield would. Bayern's Schweinsteiger-Martinez and Kimmich-Goretzka combos provide examples of the kind of midfield unit that pairing them would create and both were highly functional.

Similarly, Desailly and Stam were complete defenders who surely could have played together, no? Had it been two stoppers such as Terry and Vidic your concerns would make sense, but both centre backs here are physically well rounded and are great decision-makers so I'm not sure where they can go wrong.

Both are too dominant and too similar to play together, at least to a capacity where you get the absolute best of each.
Yeah its probably because of the different versions, i prefer the one that has freedom, he is too good of a player for you to put shackles of a holding role on him.

I see both as stoppers, complete cb is someone like Thiago Silva while both Desailly and Stam prefered agressive defending on the front foot.

As i said, both things are workable just not ideal so thats why enigma got my vote.