I have consulted the other members of the Draftilluminati and we have agreed that the chosen winners from this round are Elzar, PIM, Lastrador, and Kloppage.
I like Hazell's attacking trident - possibly the best in the draft? - but felt he ballsed up in defence when he overlooked Tommy Smith in favour of young gun Gomez. Laporte is also a bit meh. Good player, but with the legends on show here he feels a bit lacklustre. Although lacking a bit of width, Elzar's midfield has a bit of everything and just about edges this one. Greavesy and Bergkamp would have Gomez and Laporte on toast. Whereas Hansen is wiley enough that he could snuff out even peak Suarez, with Crazy Horse raging around picking up the pieces. So the defences is where this one was won and lost.
PiM's side is deservedly owning this one. I was surprised at how late Blanchflower and Giles went. Two steals. Very strong defence, though not too sure how those 3 would fair under a more stringent test. All three are essentially stoppers if I'm not mistake and they could do with someone a bit more creative at sweeper. But then this is the English game after all! So perhaps not too great an issue. Lobo has a decent team, but Desailly in midfield when he was a CB at Chelsea is what pulls it down for me. Also, Vidic would be turned inside out by Keegan and Law.
Lastrador wins fairly comfortably in game 3. Excellent side. Possibly the coven's favourite. Balance in spades, great attack, loads of creativity, power and robustness in midfield, and a very solid defence. Charlton and Stam would make a fearsome pair. Tubby has a good side, but just not good enough here.
Match 4 is the hardest. Went for Kloppage in the end. Even though his team is far from perfect, I can't fathom Callaghan playing left wingback. Right wingback, maybe! But taking two chances on him adapting his game is too great a stretch for me. It's a pity Vardy was picked really as I think he's surplus with the far superior Drogba up top. A left back for him and this side would probably be in the semis. Kloppage is just about pushed over the line by Ronaldo causing havoc on the left and Max's wingbacks getting lost at sea. Love Max's central midfield partnership though. An absolute dream.
Group think need not be conspiratorial to be effective. Nor does it have one locus of control.
Instead, it tends to revere the past with sentimental simplicity, while doing very little self reflection.
Assumed consent is manufactured in a variety of ways --- mostly by anointing a few voices at the expense of many others (often using persuasion techniques and deference to supposed expertise to assuage opposition).
This is well known in other fields like media, finance and cabinet level politics. This need not be confused with the various forms of individual bias, which also are present.
Lastly, what aggravates the most are uncritical, standard memes of dissent being elevated and exaggerated to
1. Conspiracies - this is "just a drafting thread mate, no need to wear your tinfoil hat" jokes
2. Overly competitive scapegoats "this is just for fun mate" (meaning this is for my fun at your expense)
3. Passive Aggressive explanations with appearance of being reasonable but really taking no responsibility for one's behavior (hollow apologies using denying language, reactive responses, and failed attempts at repair)
This complete lack of understanding of what the actual experience is like for people drafting with many of you is what is at issue.
How we treat those with the least power in any system is how you define a group.
Maybe anywhichwayyoucan left because of these issues, but a few here are too blind to see it or acknowledge it ---- as anything other than Trend having another "meltdown"
Time for some self-reflection, I would say...
P.S. I love that Max played a 3-4-3 and was challenging the status quo thinking of the group. In fact, 3-4-3 initial formation, quickly turns into 4-3-3 in transition (something our beloved Klopp plays) --- and if the opposite midfielder drops off when the other (Beckham or Callaghan) is high then you have an on-going outlet for playing quickly and defensive support. Not many of us have the time to really research the ins and outs of the 3-4-3 without co-mingling it with 3-5-2 (where the wingers are asked to do a great deal of work). And I think there should be a clear distinction between how a team sets up and the player organization over that game ---- something this drafting league finds difficult to separate. Its not like Sanchez and Ronaldo are going to be doing that much defensive work either.
Max, Bobby, Robbie and others keep fighting for your view of the beautiful game. That's what this is about.... developing a creative way to express your views of the game ------> not trying to fit into the culture BB tries to create here (which relies upon him being the final voice with a few others to immediately come in and confirm it like it was sent from the mountain on high.
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