King Kendrick.....................................................................................................................Michaelf7777777
..........VS...........
Team King Kendrick (Juanfran dropped A. Valencia)
Formation:
4-3-3 built on the '04 Jose Chelsea side, with a twist.
Defence:
Well rounded full back in De Boer and attacking fullback in Valencia who can get forward. Sergio Ramos and Virgil comprise the middle of the defense, two great defenders who compliment each other well. Sergio played as a ball playing CB under Jose to great effect, while Virgil is a colossus of a defender.
Midfield:
Three in the middle, with Socrates as the midfielder who pushes furthest forward. Ballack plays as a box-to-box, with Jansen in the holding midfield position. While not as defensively sound as that ‘04 Chelsea team, Jansen can still effectively drop back to fill in for Ramos when he moves forward with the ball.
Attack:
One of my favorite things to watch was that Chelsea team with Eidur in rather than Didier. Hazard plays the most reserved role dropping back to pick up the ball and dribbling forward, as an inverted Joe Cole. Cantona can play the Eidur role in being a creator while also fully capable of leading the line. All three can beat their men off the dribble, while Sterling also adds that devastating pace to get in behind, like Robben. All three can interchange positions as well.
Team Michaelf7777777 (M. Khurtsilava and L. Skoglund dropped for A. Zubizarreta and M. Owen)
My team will play a 5-3-2 formation with 4 players whom I would strongly consider for a first round pick in this draft in Bochini, Goncalves, Leandro and Charles (with Bulgarelli being good enough for this status in terms of quality but he is not as well known).
My Goalkeeper is Andoni Zubizarreta who was efficient and great at positioning and one of the best keepers in the history of both Spain and Barcelona. Zubizarreta won the Don Balon award in 1987 as the best Spanish player in La Liga (for context 1987 was the year in which Ruud Gullit claimed that Rafael Gordillo, a Spainard who played for Real Madrid should have won the Ballon d'Or instead of him).
My Libero is Gheorghe Popescu who was Romanian footballer of the year 6 times (1989-92 and 1995-96 in the era of Hagi and Belodedici) who was a tactically very good defender who could also start attacks from deep. My Right wingback is Leandro who was a great allround rightback being a great allround attacking player and running as much if not more than anyone else in the 1982 Brazil team while defensively being good enough later in his career to make the Brazil national team as a centreback and was one of the best 2 centrebacks in the Campeonato Brasileiro in 1985. My fright sided centreback is Carlos Gamarra who was named as the best defender in CONMEBOL in 1998 (a year in which he was also included in the FIFA World Cup All Star team). My left sided centreback is John Charles who was voted the greatest foreign player in the history of Juventus by Juventus fans in 1997 and finished third in the 1959 Ballon d'Or. Jack Charlton called Charles the most effective player he had ever seen and Nat Lofthouse named him as the best centrehalf he had ever faced. His attacking ability will also mean that if the team is trailing late on and needs a goal, that he can play as a striker with the team switching to a 4-2-1-3 formation. My left wingback is Tommy Gemmell who was two footed, quick, good going forward (being one of only 3 British players to have scored in two European cup finals along with Neal and Bale) and a good tackler.
My defensive midfielder is Nestor Goncalves who was very similar to his predecessor, for both club and country, Obdulio Varela, Goncalves was great defensively, was very tactically aware, extremely tough and also had a superb passing range to help start attacks from deep. My box to box midfielder is Giacomo Bulgarelli who according to Fabio Capello in 2009 was the greatest Italian midfielder ever and according to Sergio Campana (a teammate at Bologna and President of the Italian Footballers Association for more than 40 years) had the skills of both Gianni Rivera and Sandro Mazzola. My attacking midfielder is Ricardo Bochini who won the Footballer of the Year for Argentina in 1983 and finished third in the South American Footballer of the Year award in 1984 as well as being included in the South American Team of the Year in 1989 and being Maradona's idol. Bochini was a great passer and dribbler as well as being an expert at timing passes to leave forwards one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
On the right hand side of my front two is Mohamed Salah who has scored 94 goals in 152 games in his 3 years at Liverpool being premier league golden boot twice as well as being voted the best player in England in the 2017-18 season by fans, journalists and players. My other striker is Michael Owen who won the Ballon d'Or in 2001 and was twice the premier league golden boot (in the 97-98 and 98-99 seasons). Owen's pace will make him very effective at getting on the end of through balls from Bochini
Good luck @Michaelf7777777!
