Team Sods

The task:
I want you to present to me a vision. A vision of what football really means to you. And to do that, I'm giving you £125m to spend.

With that £125m, I want you to buy a team of 18 footballers, using their TM values as of 25 January 2012 (prepare now but check the values don't go up when you submit). For this 18-man squad, I want you to provide a starting XI, and a briefing on how you want them to play. Not tactics as such, but I want you to inspire the players with a vision for how you want them to play the game.

Now, to help you, I am going to offer you the chance to purchase a manager. You can have another £25m for this - anything you don't spend can be put towards your squad purchases. The manager will be the person who will carry out your vision, who will put it into practice and get the players playing the way you want them to. Not to say that you're choosing the manager's vision of course, but if your vision is of lumping it to Andy Carroll, don't choose Wenger! Manager prices are as follows:

Pep Guardiola - £25m
Jose Mourinho - £25m
Sir Alex Ferguson - £25m
Roberto Mancini - £20m
Arsene Wenger - £20m
Guus Hiddink - £17.5m
Tito Vilanova - £17.5m
Jupp Heynckes - £16.5m
Andre Villas-Boas - £15m
Jürgen Klopp - £15m
Massimiliano Allegri - £15m
Marcelo Bielsa - £13.5m
David Moyes - £13.5m
Diego Simeone - £12.5m
Brendan Rogers - £12.5m
Antonio Conte - £12.5m
Manuel Pellegrini - £10m
Rafael Benítez - £10m
Michael Laudrup - £8m
Chris Hughton - £5m

I will be judging this task on three aspects:

1. The starting XI, including chemistry between players (ie, they have to complement your vision)
2. The substitutes, so you don't buy any old toot to make your first team look better
3. Your vision, including whether your manager is capable of carrying it off

The team with the best XI, subs and vision will win - the prize is still to be determined. Good luck one and all!

DEADLINE IS 2359 ON THURSDAY 24 JANUARY - FRIDAY 25 JANUARY WILL BE AZZRENTICE LIVE

How we start seems simple to me Sod.

I want you to present to me a vision. A vision of what football really means to you.

This is your task, which we are helping, so what does football mean to you. What type of football do you enjoy watching most? What style gets you on the edge of your seat. If you built a team, what style of play would you aim for.

We then build the team and manager around your vision

OOOOOSH

Morning chaps, thanks for the page Afro

I'm doing a bit of work with intermittent distractions to come on here, so I will be on and off

My personal preference is for incisive attacking football, played at a high tempo. Something like you see with Bayern, with two wingers such as Ribery and Robben to cut inside. Potentially I would want Jurgen Klopp as the manager because he has built a team and he plays that kind of game.

What are your opinions?

ANTI FOOTBALL FTW SODDY!

YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE, YOU ARE A WEST HAM SUPPORTER!

Soddy, for that style of play Marcelo Bielsa or Diego Simeone could save you a minimum of £3m.
They both have attacking style teams dont they? Winger or maybe more inside forwards with Bielsa

Bielsa is good, but he has a history of burning his players out, and also of neglecting the defensive side. Klopp seems to have a handle on both sides of the ball. Simeone is interesting.

Simeone could save you some cash which could end up being vital to signings.

Also would it be sensible to buy a player the manager has worked with before on a number of times E.G Mourinho takes Ricardo Carvalho everywhere.
Porto > Chelsea > Real Madrid.

A CB and Cm would be idea, form the spine of the team & would help the manager selected influence his style of play.
Edit: Like Rogers tried to do by bringing Joe Allan with him to Pool.

Also, how competitive is this team supposed to be?
As Azzy never stated anything im assuming the team must be competing for League & CL standards? As opposed to relegation battle standard or Europa Cup standard

Always need a solid defence to build off #cleansheets

It's probably supposed to be a good team but the overriding factor appears to be one that matches your personal vision. So cohesion will be important here.

If I went with the Kloppster then I guess a few Germans would be in order.

I can't believe Azzy has teased Chris Hughton there for that snip of a price

Soddy tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it babycakes xxx

A2M?

A2M?

It's your vision Soddy

So far I can see:

Attacking Football
Incisive (i.e. more direct and not patient Barcelona style)
Wingers who like to come inside

This sounds a lot like the style Moyes was employing at Everton this season

With Simeone the ideal players to "bring" would be his current Atletico captain Gabi, Godin & Falcao.
Thats the spine of the team to build round.

With Jupp Heynckes the ideal players will cost more.

Afro is right your view is a lot like Everton play and to be honest Everton have been the team I have enjoyed watching most this season.

If they could actually take there chances sometimes they would be right up there haha

This sounds a lot like the style Moyes was employing at Everton this season

Agreed & I do like a choice of Moyes manager.

Soddy, if you decide on your manager we can start working on a proposed list of player to put forward to you.

I think we should rule of out older managers like Heynckes, SAF, Wenger.

To build a vision takes a bit longer.

Olly wrote:A2M?

Don't google it.

Ok, so if we are saying Moyes fits the mould he is slightly cheaper than Klopp. One thing I like with Klopp is the emergence of youth talent and sometimes it seems Moyes is a bit cautious in that regard. I think my choice will be Klopp for £15m, as that was my first instinct.

This leaves £135m to build a squad.

Lets divide into areas!

Olly/Me will look to GKs and defenders and provide a list of proposed.
ZZZ/Afro will look at mids and forwards and provide a list.
(All with TM prices, please)

We'll meet back here after the weekend and discuss the pool of players we have and the best selections of each area. Including discussion of any that may have been missed in the initial search.

So based on Klopp, I am thinking it is:

FBs who love to get forward and attack almost more than they defend (e.g. Piszczek and Schmelzer)
CBs who are solid, but also comfortable on the ball (Subotic and Hummels)
CMs - one who is the lynchpin of the team, sits and protects the backfour (e.g. Kehl); a second who sits deep and passes the ball around (e.g. Gundogan, Sahin)
Wingers who like to come inside (e.g. Kuba and Gotze)
Forwards A deeper striker (Reus)
A proper centre forward (Lewandowski)

Perfect Afro, exactly how I like to play and see football. The deep lying playmaker is particularly important to me, so get some good ones...

Good news is your vision is exactly how I would like to play (and how Under Brescia have been set-up for most of season 1 )

One suggestion is that for each position, we come up with a split list. By that I mean, say 3 players upto £10m, 3 players £10m to £20m and 3 players over £20m.

That way we can play around with the positions and if we are short of cash, we have a ready list of alternatives.

BTW average price per player is £7.5m

So is this a possession based style or a counter attacking style?

Olly wrote:So is this a possession based style or a counter attacking style?

Neither yet both...
The players would be flexible enough to control a game but the capability to break quickly is there too, with the quick wingers. Much like Germany/Dortmund/Bayern/Everton etc etc

Dortmund play a good blend of both, but ultimately, when they get the ball they are looking to attack, not necessarily to keep it at all costs

BigFellasAfro wrote:Good news is your vision is exactly how I would like to play (and how Under Brescia have been set-up for most of season 1 )

One suggestion is that for each position, we come up with a split list. By that I mean, say 3 players upto £10m, 3 players £10m to £20m and 3 players over £20m.

That way we can play around with the positions and if we are short of cash, we have a ready list of alternatives.

BTW average price per player is £7.5m

Good idea on the split lists.

Make sure you and ZZZ co-ordinate your lists so you don't duplicate. Ideally we get seperate lists from each of you with a total of around 15 or so players to choose from, then we can cut down to 18.

If your going would Klopp ideal players would be:

Hummels
Kehl (captain) or Großkreutz or Bender
Lewandowski

Yep, all good suggestions

I'd like an element of youth to the team too, so try and get hold of talented young players in your selections too.

Marc Andre Ter Stegen

Posting here so I can check up on you all

Flying visit. Here is what I have managed. Got a mix of youth and leaders. In each case, I have got 3 expensive, 3 middlies and 3 cheaper options. I have also based it on players to fit the earlier mentioned style of play..

CMs - one who is the lynchpin of the team, sits and protects the backfour (e.g. Kehl); a second who sits deep and passes the ball around (e.g. Gundogan, Sahin)
Wingers who like to come inside (e.g. Kuba and Gotze)
Forwards A deeper striker (Reus)
A proper centre forward (Lewandowski)

For me, with Klopp as manager, Kehl is a must as he is his voice on the pitch at Dortmund.

Sitting Midfielders
Javi martinez 26.5
Sami Khedira 22
De Rossi 26.5

Lars Bender 17.5
Jeremy Toulalan 13
Igor Denisov 14

Kehl 2.2
Rio Mavuba 8.4
Bruno Soriano 7

Deep Lying Playmaker
Alonso 22
Moutinho 23
Xavi 22

Wilshere 19.5
Thiago Alcantara 19.5
Verratti 10.5

Benat 8.8
Maher 5.7
Sahin 8.8

Right wingers
Alexis Sanchez 24.5
Pedro 26.5
Lamela 19.5

Jeremy Menez 16.5
Kuba 11.5
Yarmolenko 11.5

Teixeira 9.7
Mirallas 7
Callejon 8.8

Left wingers
Lavezzi 24.5
Young 24
Schurrle 22

Munian 17.5
Rodriguez 16
Draxler 12.5

Afellay 8.8
Tello 7.9
Grosskreutz 5.7
Viktor Fischer 2.2

Attacking Mid
Kroos 28
Dzagoev 22
Hamsik 28

Hernanes 17.5
Mkhitarayan 15
Eriksen 14

Alvarez 8.8
Holtby 9.7
Martin 8.8


Centre Forward
Ibra 31
Llorente 22
Soldado 22

Huntelaar 17.5
Negredo 16
Mandzukic 14

van Wolfswinkel 9.2
Aubameyang 8.8
Milito 7

Top job Afro

Proving that #1 overall draft pick was well spent

I am trying to get cracking with real life work today but I will be looking at this again tonight during the footy

Looks good Afro. Id agree with that list. Ill see if I can add a few more later to it.

I've added Fischer in as I just remembered him when looking at CF releasing him.

Spoiler:

If you guys have any more to add it will be appreciated

I imagine I will get down to this tomorrow properly because I won't be here very long this afternoon

Just dropping in to check on you guys, I see Afro is earning his keep! Keep going lads

Have you abandoned this now then Sod