[Steppenwolf]

Stuttgarter Kickers


----------------Shevchenko-----------------
----Tevez---------------------------Giuly----
---------------------------------------------
-------------------Micoud-------------------
Sneijder----------------------------------Hleb
-------------Demichelis(Maduro)--------------
---------------------------------------------
--------Lucio---Mertesacker---Bordon--------
---------------------------------------------
------------------Buffon---------------------

Bench:
Kahn
Salihamidzic
Maduro(Demichelis)
Poulsen
Aissati
Barnetta
Makaay
Rebrov

The system is a bit of total football philosophy with some exceptions.

The defence is orientated towards man-to-man, with Mertesacker and Bordon as main defenders since their obvious strength lies there (Bordon came in at or near the top of tackle stats in the Bundesliga for the last years, Meresacker tops the list for the last WC [those stats are only tendencies, of course])). Depending on the opposition Lucio will cover faster forwards, but his extreme athletic ability should give him a little freedom to move forward. All this relies on Buffon staying in form and acting like a libero on counterattack situations.

Demichelis/Maduro may move back on defence to make it a more stabil 4 man chain, both of them have played CB in their pasts anyway. Since there are no really bad opponents Demichelis will start most games, because I feel he is the more capable defender. Maduro would come in against either slower or lesser CMs/AMs as he is better at switching towards attack mode.

The midfield and half strikers are relativly free in their play, they may change sides or positions, while Micoud orchestrates and provides the little touch of genius to make the chaos work. Since all five players are very secure ball-handlers and tactically aware (Tevez and Hleb not as much, but still good), the short/double passes should be a joy to watch. They also bring different thinks to the table in other ways, Sneijder with his precise and hard shot, Tevez with his eye and ball-holding and Hleb's dribblings. If necessary, Giuly switches a bit back and Tevez takes the second forward position, while Hleb moves more towards the middle, giving the team a more traditional 4-4-2 system.

Shevchenko can do whatever he feels like, as long as he scores.

My bench consists of utility players, young talents, a strong nerved striker, Rebrov for nostalgia and Kahn to motivate everybody.

The biggest weakness - besides the way too offence orientation - is the DM position. The switch between defence and offence may suffer from the space between Micoud and the backs, giving him a huge workload covering the field. But Tevez and Sneijder can take his role if his stamina went down. The defence could be a bit shaky against agile forwards and the offence is a rather weak body wise. Another thing lacking for a great team is a personality like e.g. Roy Keane and Effenberg were. Players who refuse to accept defeat and spread their ambition by pushing everybody to a higher level.

Overall, it's more of a video game squad than a real one, but it was fun putting it together.

[Turkish Delight]

----------------------------Francesco Toldo-------------------------------

Willy Sagnol------John Terry--------Ricardo Carvalho-------Asier del Horno

--------------------------Esteban Cambiasso-----------------------------

--------------Michael Essien-----------------Emre Belozoglu----------------


Shaun Wright Philips-------------------------------------------Damien Duff

-------------------------------David Villa-------------------------------------

Subs:
Antonios Nikopolidis (GK)
Halil Altintop (F)
John Carew (F)
Hamit Altintop (D/MF)
Giovanni van Bronckhorst (D)
Marcelinho Carioca (AM)
Nuri Sahin (DM)

[Kaas]

I was reconsidering what formation to use, but in the end I'll got with my original one. Vicente will be a very attack oriented winger, while Van Persie plays a withdrawn forward role, ocassionally moving to the right wing. I was planning on stealing Landreau, but I'm not sure which goalie to go with, since I rate them equally. In the end, I decided to go with Timo since I believe others rate him higher than Landreau.

-------------------------------Adriano---------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
--Vicente-----------------------------------Robin Van Persie-----------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------Pavel Nedved(C)-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------Xabi Alonso------------------
--------------------------Claude Makélélé------------------------------
-Levan Kobiashvili-------------------------------------------Daniel Alves
------------------Daniel Van Buyten---Gonzalo Rodríguez----------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------Timo Hildebrand------------------------------


Subs:
Mickaël Landreau (GK)
Sol Campbell (DF)
Antonio López (DF, MF)
David Albelda (MF)
Mancini (MF, F)
Sergio Aguero (F, MF)
Claudio Pizarro (S)

[Volcom]

-------------------------------------Fernando Torres--------------------------
----------------------Lionel Messi---------------------------------------------

Ze Roberto----------------------------------Tim Cahill-----------Sylvain Wiltord
---------------------------Cesc Fabregas-------------------------------------

-------------------------------Gilberto Silva(c)--------------------------------

-----------Johan Djouro--------Rafa Marquez-----------Lucas Neil-------------

-----------------------------Mark Schwarzer----------------------------------

Bench:
Roque Santa Cruz (F)
Theo Walcott (F/LW/RW)
Edu (M)
Yaya Toure (M)
Daniel Agger (D)
Lauren (D)
Carlo Cudicini (GK)

I'm quite happy with the team i've come up with. I thought I would struggle in the later rounds as I'd be the first to tell you I have not got the best knowledge when it comes to leagues other than the EPL & La Liga.

Obviously its a very attack based formation and team overall. Plan on using Torres as the lead striker supported by Messi who has license to roam and create.

Have Cahill playing his normal attacking midfield role making his great runs into the box to poach goals. Cesc running things in the centre, creating. Ze Roberto & Wiltord attacking down the wings and Gilberto playing the DM role in front of the backline, allowing Cesc & especially Cahill to concentrate on getting forward.

My backline players are pretty versatile and in the case of Marquez & Neill have great distribution skills. Both could play as DM's if needed. Not many people are high on Neill because he plays for Blackburn but he is a tough, top level defender and a great leader. He will be on the move in January to a big club. I guess my defence is more about guile than size and strength.

Schwarzer, the Aussie #1 is one of the best goalkeepers in the EPL in my opinion.

My starting lineup is pretty flexible as a lot of my players are quite versatile. Ze Roberto could slot back into LB if I needed a more defense oriented formation with Messi maybe moving out to the wing.

Pretty happy with my depth. Santa Cruz is a quality striker to have coming off the bench and Walcott has great promise and can fill in on the wings or up front. Edu has been injured but is quality in the middle of the park. Yaya Toure reminded me a lot of Veira like player at the World Cup and he can come on to provide a strong, towering presence in the middle of the park if needed. Lauren provides an old head to fill in at the back and in midfield while Agger shows good skill. Cudicini is a great keeper who would be starting if he played at most other clubs in the EPL.

Phew. Probably my biggest post ever lol.

[rocketeer]

starters(4-3-3):
------------didier drogba----------------------klass jan huntelaar------------
-------------------------------robinho--------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------simao sabrosa----------stephen appiah----------maxi rodriguez---------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--wayne bridge----sergio ramos-------christoph metzelder----emanuel eboue--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------edwin van der sar--------------------------------

bench:
khalid boulahrouz(d)
tim borowski(m)
ivan klasnic(s)
edison mendez(m)
pavel pardo(dm)
frank baumann(m/d)
oswaldo sanchez(g)

the team is very offensive minded with 3 starting strikers. robinho is listed in the middle but he really is free to do whatever he wants on the attacking end. he can drop back into more of an attacking midfield role or stay up as a pure striker. i think my midfield is solid and can get into the attack and defend. appiah is the captain. on defense i think my team is solid in the middle and both eboue and bridge should be threats to move up into the attack especially providing width the the attack and crosses into the box. van der sar gives me a very good goalie to clean up mistakes in the back.

on the bench boulahrouz can play any of the defensive positions and borowski can come in anywhere in the midfield. klasnic provides another solid striker and mendez gives me a guy that is good on either wing. pardo is a good defensive midfielder and baumann i think can help me in the mid or slide back to d if i need him to. and i really like oswaldo sanchez as my backup keeper.

my main formation should be the 4-3-3 i start with, i think the next most used formation would b a 3-4-3 (most likely with ramos, metzelder, and boulahrouz being my back 3 and borowski joining the midfield).

i feel my team would be a very exciting one that should create lots of scoring chances and goals even though i would also give up my share of chances with only 3 in the mid and having both outside defenders pushing forward into the attack.

[MonkeyBallZJr]

LiamBrady, you need to add another player to your starting lineup, I don't think you want to be playing with 10 players now do you .

Also I want to write up a final review on everyone's team so please post your starting 11/formation and bench.

[crazyfan]

This is my Newcastle starting lineup. I will give my analysis of the squad tomorrow.

GK: Iker Casillas

RB: John Heitinga
LB: John Arne Riise
CB: William Gallas
CB: Mikael Silvestre

CM: Parker
CM: Guti
AM: Julio Baptista

WR: Reyes
WR: Joaquin

CF: Samuel E'too

Bench:
Abbondanzieri
Anton Ferdinand
Edgar Davids
Ricardo Oliviera
Emmanuel Sheyi Adebayor
Valerei Bojinov
D'Alessandro.

[agoo101284]

I think its pretty clear that Real Madrid won the playin. I'll be putting out a schedule of the group stage tonight.

[Luedacris]

Starting Line-Up:

----------------Ochs--------------
Cafu-----Meira-------Cannavaro----Lahm
-------------Zokora------------
Diego--------Okocha------Schneider
------Klose------------Martins------

Bench: Akinfeev, Scholl, Ljungberg, Kuffour, Boateng, Trochowski, Koller

[E.Ville Von Love]

damn you Luedacris!!!!!!!