Team Gregginator

Introduction: For me football has always been
about entertainment and as I have grown up this has only strengthened.
With this in mind I was immidiately drawn to producing a team that would
be competitive whilst at the same time giving the fans something to
cheer about. With this in mind the real "Vision of what football really
means to me" was to create a team that gets the little kid inside me
excited. A team that can score out of nothing. In regards to formation
there are definitely arguments that can be made for traditional 4-4-2
with a big man and a poacher up front I couldn't get myself away from
the formation that has changed football with the good old 4-2-3-1 with
the wingers joining in on the fun. Likewise the ticka-tacka football of
Barcelona would easily come to mind but replicating that would lead to a
poor imitation and I don't believe spending £105million on Messi would
be a good use of the £125million player budget.

With this in mind
I wanted to create a team that reminds me of why I fell in love with
football, a team where the midfield can produce in a tick, a take on the
traditional strike partnership.

Manager: With the great
selection of Manager's on offer it was soon whittled down to two
frontrunners. Whilst arguments can be made for Mourinho, Guardiola and
Fergusson their price counted against them. This left us with a choice
of David Moyes and Guus Hiddink. Moyes for his management on a tight
budget and always getting the most out of his players and Hiddink for
the steller work he has done around the globe. For me this was a choice
between my head (Moyes) and my heart Hiddink and as this exercise is
about my vision within football then I had to go with my heart.
Therefore at £17.5 million the manager to lead this footballing vision
is Guus Hiddink.

Players: With £7.5 million left over from the manager budget we move onto players with a healthy budget of £132.5 million.

With
our footballing vision of exciting fan friendly football that would
excite the casual, neutral and hardcore fan alike. It soon became clear
that bringing in some natural freescoring players would be key. This
lead us to two "big" names.

Robin Van Persie
Luis Suarez


These
two together set us back a large chunk of our budget with RVP at £38
million and Suarez at £25.5 million costing us a hefty £63.5 million.
This left us a decent £69 million to put together the rest of our team.
Toni Kroos was also put forward but due to a price hike up to £28
million this was a gamble too far in the end (Note this change was made
last minute and I would have included Kroos had this price hike not
happened). Although this may appear a gamble given the massive amount of
money outlayed on two players but given the free-scoring nature of this
pair I believe it is worth it.

Now we will move onto each position in turn.

GK:
Brad Friedel and Vladamir Gabulov = £6.175 million

One
obvious choice and one, shall we say, less obvious. The obvious choice
being Brad Friedel who for £875k is an absolute steal! Brad is in my
opinion, and one shared by my team, one of the best goalkeepers of the
premiership over the past decade and shows no signs of slowing down.
Gabulov is someone who has impressed me for Anzhi and currently works
under Hiddink. In my opinion having players that already know Hiddinks
way of setting his team up. With these two keepers I believe we have the
tools to keep the world's best at bay.

FBs:
Ashley Cole, Angel Rangel and Erik Pieters = £17.6 million

Ashley
Cole is selected for a plethora of reasons. First of all he is the best
lb in the world, secondly he has won things under Hiddink before and
finally he has the ability to get forward. On the other flank we have
Rangel who has impressed me no end this season with Swansea and reminds
this Chelsea fan of the great Dan Petrescu, I wanted fullbacks who can
get forward and that is what we have. Also Rangel can play on both
flanks which gives him versatility if disaster strikes. Pieters is
selected as the fullback on the bench for similar reasons, the ability
to get forward whilst not forgetting how to defend. Finally at £3.5
million he was a bit of a snip.

CBs:
Phil Jagielka, Ashley Williams and Steven Caulker = £17.5 million

Again
we went with a trio for the defensive positions. Jagielka has been
potentially the best English CB for a while now and whilst Shawcross,
Lescott and Terry were considered in the end it had to be Phil. He has,
in our opinion, everything a true CB should have. Alongside him we have
two players who are both criminally undervalued on Transfermarkt in
Williams and Caulker. Williams has been a revelation for Swansea this
season providing leadership and the ability to make great tackles.
Caulker on the other hand has youth and energy on his side. This is
something that we feel is critical as it promotes the attitude of
building from the back with fan friendly attacking football.

DCM:
Victor Wanyama = £3.3 million

Another
critically undervalued player on TM who has proved this season that he
can mix it with the best. We fully expect Wanyama to be making the step
up to a major European team in the near future and that is what we
expect him to do in our team. He is to sit and allow the attacking
players to create. The Makelele role if you like!

CM:
Frank Lampard and Jonathan de Guzman = £10.1 million

An
easy choice for me with one of the CM options as one of my favourite
players of all time gets in and what's more he's still a quality player.
Super Franky Lampard. I could write and write about how easy a choice
he was for me to make especially as he has won under Hiddink before.
Lampard has shown this season that he still has it. Alongside Wanyama he
can still express himself and get forward. Our other cm option is de
Guzman who actually cost a little more than Lampard! de Guzman has been a
revelation this season at Swansea and fits in very well into our side
which contains no less than 4 Swans. de Guzman's style fits well into
our vision as he is always eager to get forward.

WG:
Wilfried Zaha, Raheem Sterling and Isaac Cuenca = £8.8 million

Back
to trios with our choices on the wings. Zaha and Sterling have both
exploaded onto the stage this year and hence are still undervalued on
TM. In the same way Cuenca is chosen for the explosiveness he provides
at a reasonably cheap price. Growing up I loved the likes of Duff and
Robben coming in, swapping wings and creating havok. This is exactly
what I want our young wingers to do. Zaha and Sterling are our first
choice with Cuenca able to fill in on either side.

CAM/SS:
Luis Suarez and Michu = £30.8 million

The
decision to include Suarez for us was a simple one, we wanted someone
who is able to create something out of nothing and can excite the casual
fans just as much as the hardcore ones. For all of his faults is there
anyone who fits this description better than Suarez? He is a prolific
goalscorer who arguably plays best just behind a true number 9 and that
is where he will play in our ode to football. The "bench" option is our
final Swan with the prolific Michu giving us something completely
different when we need it. The little kid in all of us knows exactly
what the opposing defences would be thinking knowing that someone like
Michu can come off of the bench if they have somehow negated Suarez and
our deadly number 9.

CF:
Robin van Persie and Didier Drogba = £40.6 million

The
little kid inside me has just gone into full wrestling mark out mode!
Are there two names that would send more shivers down a defences spine?
RVP is the luxury that this team deserves, yes he has set us back almost
a quarter of our budget but for the value that you get from that it is
an absolute snip. RVP is a player who can create something out of
nothing and is arguably the best CF in the world at least in regards to
being able to contribute assists as well. RVP and Suarez are dangerous
enough but with Michu coming off the bench as well? Finally we come onto
our secret weapon. A certain Didier Drogba. At £2.6 million we couldn't
say no to the man who won the Champions League for Chelsea last year.
He has known success through his whole career including under Hiddink
and although he may not be the man he was in his prime he is still able
to terrorize defences. Just ask any cb's who have faced him over the
past 5 years.

So to summarise we present to you the vision of
football through the eyes of a child, a team capable of bringing
together the Casual Fan, the Neutral Fan and the Hardcore Fan.

Introduction: For me
football has always been about entertainment and as I have grown up this
has only strengthened. With this in mind I was immidiately drawn to
producing a team that would be competitive whilst at the same time
giving the fans something to cheer about. With this in mind the real
"Vision of what football really means to me" was to create a team that
gets the little kid inside me excited. A team that can score out of
nothing. In regards to formation there are definitely arguments that can
be made for traditional 4-4-2 with a big man and a poacher up front I
couldn't get myself away from the formation that has changed football
with the good old 4-2-3-1 with the wingers joining in on the fun.
Likewise the ticka-tacka football of Barcelona would easily come to mind
but replicating that would lead to a poor imitation and I don't believe
spending £105million on Messi would be a good use of the £125million
player budget.

With this in mind I wanted to create a team that
reminds me of why I fell in love with football, a team where the
midfield can produce in a tick, a take on the traditional strike
partnership.

Manager: With the great selection of
Manager's on offer it was soon whittled down to two frontrunners. Whilst
arguments can be made for Mourinho, Guardiola and Fergusson their price
counted against them. This left us with a choice of David Moyes and
Guus Hiddink. Moyes for his management on a tight budget and always
getting the most out of his players and Hiddink for the steller work he
has done around the globe. For me this was a choice between my head
(Moyes) and my heart Hiddink and as this exercise is about my vision
within football then I had to go with my heart. Therefore at £17.5
million the manager to lead this footballing vision is Guus Hiddink.

Players: With £7.5 million left over from the manager budget we move onto players with a healthy budget of £132.5 million.

With
our footballing vision of exciting fan friendly football that would
excite the casual, neutral and hardcore fan alike. It soon became clear
that bringing in some natural freescoring players would be key. This
lead us to two "big" names.

Robin Van Persie
Luis Suarez


These
two together set us back a large chunk of our budget with RVP at £38
million and Suarez at £25.5 million costing us a hefty £63.5 million.
This left us a decent £69 million to put together the rest of our team.
Toni Kroos was also put forward but due to a price hike up to £28
million this was a gamble too far in the end (Note this change was made
last minute and I would have included Kroos had this price hike not
happened). Although this may appear a gamble given the massive amount of
money outlayed on two players but given the free-scoring nature of this
pair I believe it is worth it.

Now we will move onto each position in turn.

GK:
Brad Friedel and Jack Butland = £1.750 million

One
obvious choice and one, shall we say, less obvious. The obvious choice
being Brad Friedel who for £875k is an absolute steal! Brad is in my
opinion, and one shared by my team, one of the best goalkeepers of the
premiership over the past decade and shows no signs of slowing down.
Butland is less obvious but is one of the best young keepers in the
land, with Friedel to guide him and help him move his career forward
there is no reason this team cannot dominate for many years to come!

FBs:
Ashley Cole, Angel Rangel and Erik Pieters = £17.6 million

Ashley
Cole is selected for a plethora of reasons. First of all he is the best
lb in the world, secondly he has won things under Hiddink before and
finally he has the ability to get forward. On the other flank we have
Rangel who has impressed me no end this season with Swansea and reminds
this Chelsea fan of the great Dan Petrescu, I wanted fullbacks who can
get forward and that is what we have. Also Rangel can play on both
flanks which gives him versatility if disaster strikes. Pieters is
selected as the fullback on the bench for similar reasons, the ability
to get forward whilst not forgetting how to defend. Finally at £3.5
million he was a bit of a snip.

CBs:
Phil Jagielka, Ashley Williams and Steven Caulker = £17.5 million

Again
we went with a trio for the defensive positions. Jagielka has been
potentially the best English CB for a while now and whilst Shawcross,
Lescott and Terry were considered in the end it had to be Phil. He has,
in our opinion, everything a true CB should have. Alongside him we have
two players who are both criminally undervalued on Transfermarkt in
Williams and Caulker. Williams has been a revelation for Swansea this
season providing leadership and the ability to make great tackles.
Caulker on the other hand has youth and energy on his side. This is
something that we feel is critical as it promotes the attitude of
building from the back with fan friendly attacking football.

DCM:
Victor Wanyama and Mohamed Diame = £7.7 million

Another
pair of critically undervalued players on TM who have proved this
season that they can mix it with the best. We fully expect Wanyama to be
making the step up to a major European team in the near future and that
is what we expect him to do in our team. He is to sit and allow the
attacking players to create. The Makelele role if you like! Off the
bench we have Diame the destroyer, a completely different kettle of fish
yet still the great DM that this team cries out for. Between Wanyama
and Diame we believe we have the tools to stop any team from settling
whilst allowing our attacking players to impose themselves.

CM:
Frank Lampard and Jonathan de Guzman = £10.1 million

An
easy choice for me with one of the CM options as one of my favourite
players of all time gets in and what's more he's still a quality player.
Super Franky Lampard. I could write and write about how easy a choice
he was for me to make especially as he has won under Hiddink before.
Lampard has shown this season that he still has it. Alongside Wanyama he
can still express himself and get forward. Our other cm option is de
Guzman who actually cost a little more than Lampard! de Guzman has been a
revelation this season at Swansea and fits in very well into our side
which contains no less than 4 Swans. de Guzman's style fits well into
our vision as he is always eager to get forward.

WG:
Wilfried Zaha and Raheem Sterling = £5.3 million

Just
two choices on the wings but what a pair of explosive wingers they are.
Zaha and Sterling have both exploaded onto the stage this year and
hence are still undervalued on TM. Growing up I loved the likes of Duff
and Robben coming in, swapping wings and creating havok. This continues
to my love of the likes of Callejon today. This is exactly what I want
our young wingers to do. Zaha and Sterling are our homage to the great
wingers I loved watching as a kid.

CAM/SS:
Luis Suarez and Michu = £30.8 million

The
decision to include Suarez for us was a simple one, we wanted someone
who is able to create something out of nothing and can excite the casual
fans just as much as the hardcore ones. For all of his faults is there
anyone who fits this description better than Suarez? He is a prolific
goalscorer who arguably plays best just behind a true number 9 and that
is where he will play in our ode to football. The "bench" option is our
final Swan with the prolific Michu giving us something completely
different when we need it. The little kid in all of us knows exactly
what the opposing defences would be thinking knowing that someone like
Michu can come off of the bench if they have somehow negated Suarez and
our deadly number 9.

CF:
Robin van Persie and Didier Drogba = £40.6 million

The
little kid inside me has just gone into full wrestling mark out mode!
Are there two names that would send more shivers down a defences spine?
RVP is the luxury that this team deserves, yes he has set us back almost
a quarter of our budget but for the value that you get from that it is
an absolute snip. RVP is a player who can create something out of
nothing and is arguably the best CF in the world at least in regards to
being able to contribute assists as well. RVP and Suarez are dangerous
enough but with Michu coming off the bench as well? Finally we come onto
our secret weapon. A certain Didier Drogba. At £2.6 million we couldn't
say no to the man who won the Champions League for Chelsea last year.
He has known success through his whole career including under Hiddink
and although he may not be the man he was in his prime he is still able
to terrorize defences. Just ask any cb's who have faced him over the
past 5 years.

So to summarise we present to you the vision of
football through the eyes of a child, a team capable of bringing
together the Casual Fan, the Neutral Fan and the Hardcore Fan.