Round 1 - KK vs Jkisthe1

Just a note guys, as well being next to each other in the alphabet. J and K are also next to each other on the keyboard. Please take extra care when casting your vote, we wouldn't want you voting for the wrong person now, would we? :wink:

My first thoughts when looking at both teams are as follows;
JK: Solid backline, Falcao superb, midfield good but perhaps not as good as others, Pedro is very good but Di Maria is well down the pecking order for me.
KK: Good marauding full backs, Pepe solid, Hummels either the best in the world or the worst. Iniesta the key, great passing ability in MF, Cavani a beast.

First I’ll go through KK’s tactics.

First things first
“Unanimously agreed upon as the best right back of the required interval”. Not by me. Lahm, Alves, Ramos?
“Widely seen as one of the most brilliant wingers of recent times”. Not a winger. His natural position is in CM/AM, where he has played most for Dortmund.

KKs lack of words, I’m not sure if it is lack of effort or just a really clever way of saying “Hey, these guys are class, I need to say no more”.

“Gotze and Iniesta will mainly cut inside to provide Cavani with back up and key passes which will make his role relatively easy to perform”

I think this will be a key tactic in the game. On Gotze’s side, if he cuts in I can see Maicon bombing on time and time again like he did with Inter and really putting pressure on Alba (and Pedro). This is an area where I feel a distinct advantage lies with KK.
As a RB I don’t rate Ivanovic at all, I think he is clumsy and will be under serious pressure keeping one eye on Iniesta and another on Ashley Cole on the overlap (although Cole’s final ball is questionable over the years). This is an area where I really can see KK hurting JK. Iniesta for me is the best player in the tie, and I think unless JK has De Jong specifically keeping an eye on him he will really hurt JK. KK’s middle five of Martinez, Kroos, Gotze, Hamsik and Iniesta is just a blur of passing class. As JK has quite an aerial dominant back 5 (excl Alba), I think KK will look for his team to pass their way into the opposition area.

“Martinez will also be given the specific task of man-marking Fabregas, arguably the engine of JK's team”
Again quite a solid tactic as in De Jong JK has a defensive midfielder who won’t get forward, so should Martinez stick tightly to Fabregas (not an easy job as his movement between the lines is phenomenal), it leaves a lot of responsibility on Marchisio’s shoulders. With Hamsik, Goetze, Kroos and Iniesta buzzing around I’m not sure he will be that effective as he is with Juve.

“Often called ‘The Man who made John Terry look good’” As far as I remember AB proved this theory to be incorrect during the last draft, and in the 08/09 and 09/10 seasons Chelsea conceded 35 in 34 with Carvalho in the side, and 53 in 72 with Terry in the side. So in this draft period I don’t think Carvalho was anywhere near as good as he was back in his prime in 2004 to 2007. This is a weakness in JKs defence for me, along with Ivanovic, and will be exploited by Iniesta and Cavani.

Onto JK’s team and tactics. A few things stand out straight away.
“Bar perhaps Barcelona there is not a team in the world that would not love to have Marchisio in their midfield” Not sure about this.
“Is there a better right-winger in football right now?”Robben? Di Maria has been good over the years but not in the same league as the best in the world for me.

JK has some very specific tactics that I think will work to good effect here.
“de Jong is position to hassle and harry”. De Jong will look to close down Iniesta and Goetze should they cut inside and get at Hamsik and not allow him time on the ball. But as I mentioned earlier, I think De Jong should have been specifically pencilled in to keep an eye on Iniesta; Ivanovic won’t be able to contain him imo.

“Fabregas will also drop a little deeper to help out allowing both de Jong and Marchisio to harry and harass Hamsik and Martinez and force them into errors”. I like this tactic as during the period Fabregas was highly effective with Arsenal in this role, dropping back into midfield and taking control of the games tempo and starting attacks.

“error prone Hummels”. I think JK has highlighted the weakness in KKs defence and targeting Hummels is a good way to hurt KK (remember Hummels errors in the Euro 2012 semi vs. Italy).

“In Di Maria and Pedro I have wingers who can punish a team with lightning fast counter attacks but are also highly capable of taking their man on and beating them, either by going outside and whipping the ball in, or by cutting inside for the shot or through ball. I also have the option of asking them to switch sides so that each is on his stronger foot and this gives Cole and Maico something different to think about”

I’ve already mentioned Di Maria above, but I do have a great love for Pedro. I don’t think he gets the praise he deserves. Has been a mainstay by and large in the 2 most successful teams in the draft period, Barca and Spain. I can see him being a great outlet on the counter and always seems to pop up with a goal/assist in games. Would perhaps prefer him on the right where he has played more for Barca and has Cole to contend with, who won’t get forward as much as Maicon on the opposite flank.

I find it very hard to separate both teams’ strikers. Cavani and Falcao are undoubtedly two of the more prolific goal scorers in world football right not. Both capable of scoring on any given day, and with the weaknesses in each player’s central defence (Carvalho and Hummels) I see both scoring at least 1 each.

Overall, I feel KK has a team that can hurt JK more than the other way around. JK has put a lot more time into his tactics and bio’s so it is unfortunate for him not to get my vote.

Verdict:

KK 3 (Cavani 2, Hamsik, Iniesta a few assists)

JK 2 (Falcao 2, Fabregas and Pedro assists)

Do wish KK could have given a bit more detail about his plans. Iniesta no comment is fair enough but Martinez - great player but doesn't quite fall into the no comment category.

Iniesta (and Gotze for that matter) is a great player but *slightly* wasted on the wing. He's still better than most left-wingers but I don't think you get 100% of the genius that is Iniesta.

Martinez/Kroos/Hamsik may not be the best midfield trio in this draft but it's bloody good and well balanced. Likewise Fabregas/Marchisio/De Jong is well balanced. I see the midfields as well matched - Fabregas is better than Hamsik whilst De Jong is worse Martinez. Marchisio (who I think is a bit underrated - he does his job and facilitates others tremendously well) is about on a par with Kroos.

I'd give Falcao the edge over Cavani but not by much.

One feature of JK's team I do really like is the Alba-Pedro connection, think this could be really effective and force Maicon to curtail some of his attacking instincts and limit his impact.

Unfortunately I really do not like the right hand side - Ivanovic and Di Maria vs. Cole and Iniesta. Only one winner there.

Hummels is very good even if prone to the odd mistakes, Carvalho was still quite good in this period but not at his absolute peak. Kompany also a superb defender who rarely makes errors and has games where he is the best player on the pitch by a mile.

I'd rather have Neuer than Cesar personally but not a huge difference in it.

On balance I'm going to vote for KK. Think the teams are relatively similar in having strengths and weaknesses but I think KK's strongest point is at JK's weakest and some will swing the balance of the tie.

1-0 to KK Cavani.

ok, 8 teams in this has simply cancelled out the smaller selection period and made it hard as hell to judge again.

Have mapped out both teams on the ever-reliable paint. They fuse. Cavani v Falcao maybe sums the match up, one day I prefer Falcao, the next Cavani with his slightly bigger repertiore.

Got 3 areas circled. One is simply Fabregas and Falcao despite 3 counter players in there in Martinez, Hummels and Pepe. Far from weak links I still fancy Fabregas to find the space and Falcao to find the half yard he needs once at least.

Another is Iniesta, Hamsik, Cavani Ivanovic, Carvalho and Marchisio. I think in this area Kroos could help ram home an already danger area. I think injuries caught up with Carvalho in this era, still better than most of course but I preferred Alex for example in this period. Ivanovic has struggled against far weaker opposition than Iniesta although I do think Iniesta's natural inclination to wonder inwards does in some ways play into Ivanovic's strengths. Overall though those quick-feet are too much. I like Marchisio but like Hamsik too, he arguably made Cavani what he is, more than he actually is, although that wont matter here as Cavani has his Hamsik. I think KK can find some joy here even with extra help from Kompany and De Jong (personally don't feel Man City missed De Jong really, won a title without him then lost a title without him due to attacking failings imo).

Now the tricky area, the Alba, Pedro, Maicon, Gotze wing. We know Maicon as this beastly attacking force but Alba is surely the same with a bit less muscle and a bit more touch. Will probably give Maicon the edge due to a dominant role in a less dominant club and country if that makes sense. I actually give Pedro the edge over Gotze for the Thomas-Muller-getting-the-job-done-factor. Gotze can spice things up more centrally of the pair though *goes back to KK's tactics section* and yeah KK does want this, it could be an interesting asset although it would make Alba a nice easy out-ball for an under pressure Kompany for example. I'm not sure how to call this wing, I think both sides will find some joy.

Set-pieces are tough to call too as outside of the usual suspects of CBs and striker JK has the incredibly dangerous Ivanovic to call upon whilst KK has Javi Martinez to call upon.

Overall you fancy KK's side building up attacks patiently but JK's side has serious counter-attack potential. Maybe ironic KK has the Napoli pair then and JK 'mr penalty box' Falcao. This is so tough, neither side really has elite names in the centre of the pitch but they're balanced specialists *(other than Fabregas)*.

Will revert back to which side has players I like more. It's KK's, think in attacking positions they are a bit more rounded so are more likely to find a way to get that extra opening. Sorry JK, sorry Cesc. 2-1 AET, Iniesta from a Cavani layoff.

ah right, must be the extra step word adds then fuzzing it up a bit.
Don't worry, once I recovered from my seizure I judged fairly still

Going to vote but firstly, some points about the bios!

KK:

"Hummels - Has proven himself as one of the most reliable CBs of recent times." - If anything this is exactly what he hasn't done, brilliant, but unreliable.

"Maicon - Unanimously agreed upon as the best right back of the required interval." - Agreed by who? Alves and Lahm would have something to say about this.

"Gotze - Widely seen as one of the most brilliant wingers of recent times." - Don't think this is true at all..


Anyway, back to the voting.

I think KK is stronger all over the pitch here. JK has picked some exceptional players, especially Fabregas, Pedro, Falcao and Kompany, but there a quite a few areas I see as weak, versus the other teams in this draft, and obviously KK's team.

Carvalho, as others have said wasn't at his best in this period. Ivanovic sticks out like a sore thumb for me. I don't think he's a very good full back at all, he offers very little offensively (aside from set pieces), he's slow and unreliable. That's my opinion anyway. I'd expect Iniesta to run rings around him from the left, going in & out and linking up with Kroos and Hamsik. Di Maria I do rate highly but I think he works best with outstanding players, like Ronaldo and Ozil, I'd expect Cole to be able to keep him quiet.

JK's strengths are in the offensive areas, especially like the Fabregas/Falcao connection. Would expect Fabregas to plate up a fair few chances for Falcao to try and gobble up, so I make that a goal to JK. KK has the obvious threat of Iniesta cutting in from the left, and then there's Gotze on the other side who I expect to cut in regularly and cause trouble for Kompany. Cavani is Cavani, explosive, capable of scoring from just about anywhere, and with his good mate (artistic license) Hamsik on the supply chain along with Iniesta and Gotze, I make it 2 goals for Big Ed. Iniesta will bewilder Ivanovic, cut onto his right to caress a finish into the far corner.

KK wins 3-1 (Iniesta, Cavani x2, Falcao)

6-0 it is beautiful football match