The Virgin League Draft - Final - GodShaveTheQueen vs. Šjor Bepo & Gio

[Ecstatic]

At this stage, good to see new faces.

Some years ago, I would have voted against any form WM and then also made one last year just for a change.

A WM is a system can be easily derailed if the opponent offers two typical wingers, which is not the case here.

GioBepo - Well built team, nothing wrong to say. I would have opted for different offensive players to take the most out of Pirlo. I really like the duos Gazza/Marcelo and Hidegkuti/ Mbappe/Sagnol.
Good that Pirlo is respected in this thread. Mbappe and Heynckes could be the star players in this game from your side.

GSTQ - Your right side is very balanced and Fontaine with Socrates would combine well. Regarding your left side, Unsure about the work rate of Sivori and Finney, can't check now so will give you the benefit of doubt. Socrates and Cerezo played together, which makes me think I should finally buy your story

Conclusion - Today is my idealistic and creative day so I will vote for the intriguing 3-6-1 team against the 4-4-2. Or maybe I just want Sivori to win it. Last but not least, the last football game I watched was PSG-Bayern. Mbappew as not fit and still suffering even if he played and score with France recently: already 35 caps at the age of 21, and the Euro is coming soon hopefully.

 

[Gio]

Congratulations @GodShaveTheQueen. Worthy winner. Admittedly I wasn't over-enthusiastic about the shape in the last couple of games, but the fact you were able to smoothly readjust the squad without missing a beat in order to freshen up the XI was testament to excellent drafting from the outset.

And well compered by @Invictus, showing us all how to run a draft without a hitch.

 

[Enigma_87]

Congratulations @GodShaveTheQueen. Worthy winner. Admittedly I wasn't over-enthusiastic about the shape in the last couple of games, but the fact you were able to smoothly readjust the squad without missing a beat in order to freshen up the XI was testament to excellent drafting from the outset.

And well compered by @Invictus, showing us all how to run a draft without a hitch.

I know Sjor probably was the stubborn one with Gazza, but have you thought about shifting that midfield as I think was the main point of criticism since the first game?

For the record I'm not overly enthusiastic either and don't really rate Gazza all that high.

Also agree with @harms that Mbappe seems more and more overrated these days in all time drafts. He's a great potential, but by far not a finished product and even in this pool there are wingers that are probably worthier to feature in the final.

Apart from that good to see Pirlo in a more prominent role alongside Kante, who I thought is a great fit and Hidegkuti getting a run in.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

GSTQ - Your right side is very balanced and Fontaine with Socrates would combine well. Regarding your left side, Unsure about the work rate of Sivori and Finney, can't check now so will give you the benefit of doubt. Socrates and Cerezo played together, which makes me think I should finally buy your story

Thanks for your thoughts.

On Sivori's workratre, since quite a few had questioned it, I had decided to capture them from any one high profile game.

Check the next post.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

So I decided to capture Sivori off the ball against the best team of that era, the Real Madrid team comprising Di Stefano, Puskas, Gento etc

I couldn't fully get through it as I didn't have enough time, but I managed to grab some clips from the first 30 minutes of that game. It gives you a general idea of what kind of a player he was off the ball

1. Tracking all the way back and eventually nicking the ball off Di Stefano

2. Following the ball everywhere it goes in the midfield and closing down the opponents

3. Aggressively closing down the defenders on the ball to force a mistake and win back possession

4. Tracking back and showing positional discipline off the ball in his own half in those leftward channels

5. Realizes the team is about to lose the ball, is the highest man in attack and yet the first one to immediately react and fall back

6. Aggressive bastard gives away a free kick

7. Follows all that up with an excellent goal in typical Sivori style

 

[Ecstatic]

Great efforts. Much appreciated

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

Congratulations @GodShaveTheQueen. Worthy winner. Admittedly I wasn't over-enthusiastic about the shape in the last couple of games, but the fact you were able to smoothly readjust the squad without missing a beat in order to freshen up the XI was testament to excellent drafting from the outset.

And well compered by @Invictus, showing us all how to run a draft without a hitch.

Congratulations on an excellent draft to @Šjor Bepo and you as well. Appreciate the clean debate as usual.

Really glad that the likes of Pirlo and Hidegkuti reached the final and wouldn't have been disappointed one bit if they won it instead.

Thanks @Invictus for running this. I wasn't too excited about the pool, but it wasn't as bad as it looked before we started.

Ideally, after so many drafts, the pool should be worse, which implies we have not given due credit to many players and about time we start to.

 

[harms]

Also agree with @harms that Mbappe seems more and more overrated these days in all time drafts. He's a great potential, but by far not a finished product and even in this pool there are wingers that are probably worthier to feature in the final.

I was talking about Mpabbe

 

[Enigma_87]

I was talking about Mpabbe

Both of them.

 

[Šjor Bepo]

Best wide forward in the draft, comfortably.

 

[Gio]

I know Sjor probably was the stubborn one with Gazza, but have you thought about shifting that midfield as I think was the main point of criticism since the first game?

For the record I'm not overly enthusiastic either and don't really rate Gazza all that high.

Also agree with @harms that Mbappe seems more and more overrated these days in all time drafts. He's a great potential, but by far not a finished product and even in this pool there are wingers that are probably worthier to feature in the final.

Apart from that good to see Pirlo in a more prominent role alongside Kante, who I thought is a great fit and Hidegkuti getting a run in.

Nah I think we were both minded to keep the midfield as a unit as we were happy with it from the outset. We knew it would get some negative feedback, but that's par for the course with Pirlo and nothing that we wouldn't happily debate given our in-depth knowledge of Gascoigne.

On both him and Mbappe, our drafting decisions hinged on the rule set out by Invictus that we were judging players based on 3-year peaks. And both players stood out really well in this pool when you focus in on their peaks. Naturally I agree in all-time drafts they will come up against players with more extensive portfolios, so they can look out of place, but in this pool and with that rule in force we both felt their quality really stood out. Before choosing Mbappe, we looked closely at a few match compilations of another famous wide forward on our shortlist and the Frenchman's technical quality and 1v1 ability was simply in a different league.

 

[BIG DUNK]

Congrats GodShaveTheQueen, I had you ranked #1 in the votes - a worthy finalist and winner.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

Congrats GodShaveTheQueen, I had you ranked #1 in the votes - a worthy finalist and winner.

Cheers mate. A great couple of drafts back to back for you as well.

 

[Jim Beam]

Appreciate the clean debate as usual.

Yeah, blah, blah... in the end my shit-stirring got us the closest score.

Congrats GodShave, worthy winner. I was closer here to gio/sjor as I think in real life they would be closer to win based on formations. Then again, counted points for innovative drafting and OP intro, so called it a draw.

Great concept @Invictus. Now someone please get Di Stefano over the line.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

Yeah, blah, blah... in the end my shit-stirring got us the closest score.

Haha takes a lot for me to concede defeat in a heated debate and run away, so well played

Congrats GodShave, worthy winner. I was closer here to gio/sjor as I think in real life they would be closer to win based on formations. Then again, counted points for innovative drafting and OP intro, so called it a draw.

Thanks mate.

 

[Synco]

So I decided to capture Sivori off the ball against the best team of that era, the Real Madrid team comprising Di Stefano, Puskas, Gento etc

I couldn't fully get through it as I didn't have enough time, but I managed to grab some clips from the first 30 minutes of that game. It gives you a general idea of what kind of a player he was off the ball

1. Tracking all the way back and eventually nicking the ball off Di Stefano

2. Following the ball everywhere it goes in the midfield and closing down the opponents

3. Aggressively closing down the defenders on the ball to force a mistake and win back possession

4. Tracking back and showing positional discipline off the ball in his own half in those leftward channels

5. Realizes the team is about to lose the ball, is the highest man in attack and yet the first one to immediately react and fall back

6. Aggressive bastard gives away a free kick

7. Follows all that up with an excellent goal in typical Sivori style

This is great stuff.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

This is great stuff.

Thanks!