Forum Tournament Group Stage - Group A

[Ted Lasso]

Code: Select all

                 Pts
kdawg32086         9
blkout             9
5DOM/Boognish      4
ZUDAMAGIC          4
britblazerdude     3

Round 1
blkout 8:3 britblazerdude
BoogDOM 8:8 ZUDAMAGIC

Round 2
kdawg32086 5:12 BoogDOM
ZUDAMAGIC 4:7 blkout

Round 3
ZUDAMAGIC 8:4 britblazerdude
kdawg32086 9:5 blkout

Round 4
blkout 8:7 BoogDOM
britblazerdude 5:8 kdawg32086

Round 5
kdawg32086 5:4 ZUDAMAGIC
BoogDOM 3:6 britblazerdude

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Voting begins (Match kicks off) at 6PM CET every other day & lasts for 44 hours. Please submit lineups prior to kick-off.

[blkout]

So this is obviously a hyper attacking creative force influenced by the unstoppable Brazilian tea...

This is a deep sitting, defensive wall of a team designed to frustrate the opponent into making mistakes, giving possession away cheaply and taking away the counter attack option by not pushing forward and creating chances via holding onto the ball and slowly breaking down the opposition defense. It's not pretty to watch but it is effective.

[5DOM]

Default


Extra man in midfield


Two attackers


Markovic the supersub.

Cabaye is our queen bee. His teammates exist so he can work his magic.

Atletico+Dutch+Dortmund

[kdawg32086]

[ZUDAMAGIC]

The main lineup... Subs aurier, Sterling. Enyeama as keeper forgot
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Defensive.
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Strong Middle Attack .. Subs, Aurier for a boost , and Vela.

[britblazerdude]

Substitutes:
Alexandre Lacazette (F)
Loic Remy (F)
Antonio Valencia (M)
Phil Jones (D)

Captain: Steven Gerrard

Defensive minded squad. Built to get stuck in and frustrate the opposition and pounce on the counter attack. The four defenders are strong counter-attacking players. All excel at passing, and hold decent to strong speed. They are good tacklers. Alves and Lahm are key to this formation. These quick fullbacks love to get forward and provide support for the midfield and attacking units.

The midfield I'm starting here includes three centrally inclined players, Ramires, Bender, and Gerrard. Gerrard will be a strong passing midfielder who will often link up with the attacking midfield. Bender will drop back behind Gerrard and Ramires. He is one of the strongest tacklers in the Bundesliga and will "rough up" the opposition. He will prevent the play from becoming "too open" and providing a safety net for when Alves and Lahm get too far forward. Ramires is my "all-rounder." He's a box-to-box midfielder that can find comfort spots throughout the pitch. He will do well playing off Gerrard, and can also switch roles with Lars Bender if the formation gets out of line.

The attacking third involves Dries Mertens, Ezequiel Lavezzi, and Fernando Llorente. These are the perfect fits for a counter attacking side. Mertens and Lavezzi are again high-motor players. They love to be on the ball and can either serve Llorente through the air or use their dribbling abilities to cut into the pitch and create opportunities for themselves or with overlapping play with Llorente. Steven Gerrard also has strong goal scoring abilities.

If this squad gets too defensive, then I have multiple attacking substitutes to bring on later in the match to provide speed and natural goal scoring ability.

4-3-3 can be used with Llorente, Remy, and Lacazette up front. 4-4-2 variations could be used as well.

[5DOM]

kdawg vs blkout is a fascinating matchup. Might as well get rid of the flanks.

brit vs blkout is a toughie

[britblazerdude]

0-0 written all over it haha.

[cgf]

This may just be cause I've seen more of joke through the middle than on the wing but that seems a little odd to me. If you had him and Schweini supporting Kebab through the middle and Markovic starting on the wing I'd have an easier time picking your side. Plus I'm not very high on that young Dutch center of defense and that gives me a lot of reservations.

That said I'm also not sold that zuda's got the best use of his talents. I like Neymar a lot more in a free-9 role either drifting behind a striker, or even more so as the most advanced player and free man, which would let Sanchez start in a wider area. I may have even saved Balo to use as a joker with an extra man coming in behind Sanchez-Neymar-Vela. With an extra body deeper and letting those three do whatever they want on the counter would be massively effective provided the d held up under some sustained pressure, which I'm not sure I trust Kolarov, and current Vidic to do. Zabaleta's great and Naldo's effective when he's playing deep and can just use his head, but those first two seem like a hole to take advantage of.

I'm thinking this game would be a coin flip in real life so I'mma vote for a high scoring draw in that match up cause I just can't sell myself on either team taking it and would not bet on this matchup if it were happening in real life unless one of them was a massive underdog with the bookies.



In the other match up I'm very stuck. I'm not sure what to make of blkout's team cause I feel like there's one too many players deep in the middle and one too few up front. I'd like this team a lot more if one of Herrera or montolivo where replaced with a wide forward cause there's already tremndous ball control deep with Hummels, Pique, Silva and Javi behind them. I just worry that there won't be enough up front for those great passers to pick out with long balls so teams will be able to push up high against them and cramp the short passing game as well. So unless you're taking tiki take even further than pep does, I'm not convinced, although I do have a hard time seeing them get beat in this match up.

Brit's also got himself a very good CB pairing to build his d around with a well assembled midfield...assuming he mis wrote the midfield and meant to have gerrard in the Pirlo role with Lars and Ramires running around in front of him...and two FBs that'll get up the pitch and give him great width, with Lahm also being great against the ball. My problem is is I'm not a big fan of Llorente and don't rate mertens and so would like your front three a lot more if Lacazette started either up top or off of a wing and Remy played the other spot. But even then having lavezzi as your 1b top attacking threat just isn't likely to crack a defense anchored by Thiago, Mats and Javi. Which is why I think brit's team would lose a very hard fought 1-0.

[5DOM]

This may just be cause I've seen more of joke through the middle than on the wing but that seems a little odd to me. If you had him and Schweini supporting Kebab through the middle and Markovic starting on the wing I'd have an easier time picking your side. Plus I'm not very high on that young Dutch center of defense and that gives me a lot of reservations.

I was like wtf until I realized you meant Koke, kokes. Koke's versatile but he and Turan usually play out on the wings for Atletico. Dutch defence was my suggestion, and I was basically gambling on chemistry (and WC hype) because that seemed like the way to go in the later rounds of the draft value-wise.

Boognish, it looks like this is the end of the road for us (unless you haven't voted for us yet). I obviously voted for the best teams in this group. I won't say who.

[blkout]

The Martins Indi/Vlaar/de Vrij combo is the only reservation I have about the BoogDOM team. I don't think that holds out Balo/Alexis/Neymar. Boog's midfield kills Zuda's but the mismatch between the attack vs defense wins it for Zuda barely. I want to vote draw but I can't imagine a team as attacking as that playing for a draw.

cgf is definitely right about my team, there's one too many guys playing deep. I think when I saw brit was saying he was going all out counter attack in the draft squad thread I over compensated a bit.

Ironically, 5DOM picking Koke really ruined my initial plans for the team. Had I thought to trade one of my 3,000 defenders for him I would have had more going forward, they would have had a higher profile defender and we'd probably both win

[5DOM]

Spain, Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica, Argentina and Brazil scored a total of 2 goals against them! and we gave them warriors like Koke, Turan, Schweinsteiger, Luis and Grosskreutz. Boog, tell 'em

Vidic and Naldo aren't all that either.

[DD12]

I have never seen koke playing AML.

[5DOM]

He plays pretty much everywhere, but he and Turan are Atletico's most wide players (although they play narrower than most), often switching positions. Hard to label him an attacking midfielder because he helps out a lot defensively.

[Ted Lasso]

This may just be cause I've seen more of joke through the middle than on the wing but that seems a little odd to me. If you had him and Schweini supporting Kebab through the middle and Markovic starting on the wing I'd have an easier time picking your side. Plus I'm not very high on that young Dutch center of defense and that gives me a lot of reservations.

Koke plays wide much more often than he plays centrally. He and Turan play on either side depending on the opponent, but he spent more time on the left last season.

[cgf]

Thanks guys, I've always just pictured him filling the Lahm role for bayern, since they were the one German club that's followed him closely and so would be my best chance to see him play regularly. Guess that tainted my thoughts. Still think shifting him there and bringing Markovic on makes you a more dangerous and efficient team, but that does make me feel more comfortable with your attack.

Though I still can't buy into that Dutch D too much, and feel that a draw would be the most deserved outcome, though it's hard for me to see these two teams ending in a draw given the opportunities each should be able to craft.

[kdawg32086]

kdawg vs blkout is a fascinating matchup. Might as well get rid of the flanks.

brit vs blkout is a toughie

It's ok. Eventually, I'll get a free kick and Srna will crank one in from 40 yards out.

[Ted Lasso]

30 mins left - We need a tie-breaking vote.

[Ted Lasso]

blkout has defeated britblazerdude.

I will incorporate a run-off into the next poll to decide between a BoogDOM & ZUDAMAGIC draw or a ZUDAMAGIC win.

[blkout]

I feel like Zuda's biggest weakness is in his central midfield. My attack can't compete with his attacking foursome but I can strangle his midfield and stop those four from seeing the ball.

Much like the last game, Blind and van der Wiel have limited attacking freedom in order to protect against the counter attack but I've sacrificed a defender in order to give Higuain some support up front in the form of Alessio Cerci, who scored 13 goals and added 10 assists in Serie A last season playing that exact same role with Immobile.