Task 3 - Boardroom Page

Task 3

Using the 20 sides in the Premier i want you to make an 18 man squad using 1 player per team with a max of 2 people from the same nation in the 18. You will assigned a Manager to adapt a team around his play style

Team A
Olly (TM)
Marky
Hero
Manager - Mauricio Pochettino

Team B
Nadz (TM)
Trebs
Bam
Manager - Antonio Conte

You have until Tuesday at Midday as im busy next Wednesday

Lord Odnan x

whats the purpose of this team? like we're building a side, but for what? to win a one off game against the other?

Just loitering on this as there doesn't seem to be any chat on the Miky League

I have my own ideas on this task - it is pretty interesting what both teams have come up with. I think you have missed a trick though

What trick has been missed then Twist?

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:whats the purpose of this team? like we're building a side, but for what? to win a one off game against the other?

Something that would be able to compete in the PL over a 38 game season

Fernando wrote:

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:whats the purpose of this team? like we're building a side, but for what? to win a one off game against the other?

Something that would be able to compete in the PL over a 38 game season

Then I'm wrong. I thought the purpose was to create a team that best suited the manager and tactics they use. It didn't have to be the best PL XI but one that could seamlessly move from their current team to a team managed by Conte or Poch.

For that reason I would have looked at sides currently using the same tactics and then picked their best players. Not shoehorn in the current best PL players.

Just so you know I’m out in London today so Marky will be posting our submission - I’ll check in later to see how we get on

Using the 20 sides in the Premier League, I want you to make an 18 man squad using 1 player per team with a maximum of 2 people from the same nation in the 18. You will be assigned Mauricio Pochettino to adapt a team around his play style.

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Formation - We decided to go with 4-2-3-1. We think this is the best formation Pochettino plays with, as it's what worked for him so well at Southampton, and in our opinion, it’s what Spurs play best with. It also allows us to have a more balanced XI and squad overall, as we feel the alternative (3-4-2-1) would require us to have a lot of defenders in the 18.


Starting XI - Our theory was that we wanted to have the firepower in the front four to basically win us any game, but also a front four that fits Pochettino's style. Kane as the main striker is the obvious fit, and as Pochettino likes the wingers to cut in, we've picked Salah and Alexis, with De Bruyne behind Kane pulling the strings.

Kante/Doucoure offer us legs in midfield as well as Kante being able to sit and cover the FBs when they bomb on. Doucoure offers us pace and power in an uncompromising box to box role, someone who can provide a physical presence going forward, as well as being someone who can hold his own defensively alongside Kante.

As we’d used the majority of the big sides for attacking players, we’ve got a defence made of the best of sides outside the top 4/5. Coleman/Monreal fit the Pochettino style nicely as fullbacks who are solid defensively but also capable when it comes to attacking. Coleman has always been good going up and down the flanks, and Monreal while often viewed as a defensive LB, has shown lately that he has an eye for a goal or two as well.

Tarkowski/Evans are solid CBs who are also able to get on the ball and play out from the back. Tarkowski has been superb this season for Burnley, and a big part of why they are as high up the Premier League table as they are. And Jonny Evans hasn't been linked with January moves to Man City/Arsenal for nothing, he's a proven defender who has also delivered on the international stage for Northern Ireland. We also feel that Kante especially would provide enough protection to Tarkowski and Evans to make their lack of star power a non issue.

Begovic is in our opinion, the best goalkeeper outside the top 4/5 sides. He has big club and international experience, and commands his area well.

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Our subs bench features a lot of good backup from the lower table sides. Particularly having guys like Zaha to offer something different in terms of a direct winger, Mooy in a more creative CM role, Kenedy a more attacking FB than Monreal, and Okazaki a workhorse striker give us not only good depth but if needed different options too over the course of a season. Lemina is a great all round midfielder to have, and we feel Wimmer is underrated, used as cover by Pochettino at Spurs before leaving to get first team games at Stoke.

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Clubs used
Arsenal (Monreal)
Bournemouth (Begovic)
Burnley (Tarkowski)
Chelsea (Kante)
Crystal Palace (Zaha)
Everton (Coleman)
Huddersfield (Mooy)
Leicester (Okazaki)
Liverpool (Salah)
Man City (De Bruyne)
Man Utd (Sanchez)
Newcastle (Kenedy)
Southampton (Lemina)
Stoke (Wimmer)
Swansea (Fabianski)
Tottenham (Kane)
Watford (Doucoure)
West Brom (Evans)
Unused sides: Brighton, West Ham

Nations Used
England x2 (Kane, Tarkowski)
France x2 (Kante, Doucoure)
Bosnia (Begovic)
Republic of Ireland (Coleman)
Northern Ireland (Evans)
Spain (Monreal)
Egypt (Salah)
Belgium (De Bruyne)
Chile (Sanchez)
Poland (Fabianski)
Austria (Wimmer)
Brazil (Kenedy)
Gabon (Lemina)
Australia (Mooy)
Ivory Coast (Zaha)
Japan (Okazaki)

Squad
Asmir Begovic - Bournemouth
Cesar Azpilicueta - Chelsea
Jonny Evans - West Brom
Nacho Monreal - Arsenal
Antonio Valencia - Man Utd
Wilfried Ndidi - Leicester
Idrissa Gueye - Everton
Ryan Bertrand - Southampton
Mo Salah - Liverpool
Harry Kane - Tottenham
Leroy Sane - Man City

Matthew Ryan - Brighton
Kurt Zouma - Stoke
Kenedy - Newcastle
Aaron Mooy - Huddersfield
Manuel Lanzini - West Ham
Richarlison - Watford
Christian Benteke - Crystal Palace



Deciding the squad:

We quickly decided that the sensible thing to do was to select Conte's usual 3-4-3 formation.

We went through the sides and decided that Harry Kane and Mo Salah pick themselves, as well as Cesar Azpilicueta, who is possibly the best wide centre back in world football.

Our next priority was to ensure that we selected the best possible wing-backs as they are so integral to this formation. Hence, we settled on Antonio Valencia and former Chelsea star Ryan Bertrand.

We've gone for a midfield pair who have the physicality and energy to dominate without the need for a 3rd man in CM. Gueye to play the Kante role, while Ndidi is stronger on the ball and able to get our forwards and wing backs going.

Monreal is accustomed to playing in a 3 at the back system, and offers the flexibility to play CB in a 4 too. Evans is in great form, and is ideally suited to being the physical leader at the heart of our defence. Begovic is an excellent goalkeeper, arguably the best outside the top 6, and has played with Azpi/Zouma previously

We finished by ensuring we selected a few who Conte clearly likes, including Begovic, Zouma and Kenedy, as well as a backup target man in Benteke who we thought would work well attacking crosses and leading the line, and has the proven goal scoring record. Lanzini/Richarlison offer us alternative options, including the option of going to a fluid front 3 if Kane is out for any reason

Tactics to compete through the season:

Against the 'Big 6'
Allow our opponents the ball higher up, but get plenty of men behind the ball.
Looking to absorb any pressure put on with our back three and midfield pairing congesting the space.

In possession, break quickly with the pace of Salah and Sane, who effectively have free roles behind the striker. Kane to hold up the play, getting the others into the game.

Against the rest of the Premier League:

Attacking line-up, Valencia and Bertrand to get forward as much as possible to stretch out the opposition. Salah and Sane constantly drifting around the final third, looking for spaces in front of and in behind the defense. Looking to play the ball forward quickly, exciting football.

The central midfield pair should be high energy, looking to pressurise their midfielders quickly in possession. They are supported by our CB trio, who have plenty of pace to cover the midfield and play a higher line.

Teams not used
Burnley, Swansea

Nations used:

Good luck everyone. Looking forward to hearing the responses and debating the best submission.

I'd like to clarify that as a team, we decided against doing any form of tactics or instructions for the players, as we had already been assigned someone named Mauricio Pochettino to be responsible for that side of things.

Conte already gets annoyed with people buying him players, imagine then telling him what tactics he had to use.

Well we just had to step in to make sure he wouldn't buy Crapayoko

I wanted to pick Bakayoko over Kante for bants

Questions for everyone

Why Nacho Monreal when better options at Arsenal at both CB & LB?
You both seemed to overlook a solid defence over a powerful attack why?
Weak link?


Team Olly
Why did you go for people that were names rather then players that suit Mauricio's style?
Why Okazaki rather then someone like Murray/Hernandez/Arnautovic?
Who was the weak link in your side

Team Nadeem
Why Ndidi?
Why not Marcos Alonso who's been a crucial aspect of a Conte side?
Why didn't you use Swansea/Burnley who both have players that are better then Ndidi?
Why did you write tactics you aren't the manager?
Who was your weak link?

To clarify, who can answer these questions

The top ones & weak link are for everyone

the team named one only team captains and if Trebs does it again im going to fire him on the spot

So I'm only allowed to answer the first two questions?

yes

Why Nacho Monreal when better options at Arsenal at both CB & LB?
Monreal is a converted left back. He has been a very solid left sided defender and is possibly the best LCB we could have gone for. I'm not sure about him as a left back in a Pochettino side though. Sure, we could have gone for say Koscielny but Monreal fits the system better.

You both seemed to overlook a solid defence over a powerful attack why?
I disagree - the attack is very powerful in our side - Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah are the top two attacking players in the Premier League. The main thing I'd have done differently is improved the CM pairing, putting in Matic and someone else. But the team decision was to focus on wingbacks.

Who was the weak link in your team

Why Nacho Monreal when better options at Arsenal at both CB & LB?

We needed a player who is comfortable playing in a 3 at the back system, and we think the wide CB role is such a specialist position that we wanted to pick someone who has proven they can play that way. Monreal has established himself in that role for a top 6 club, and offers the flexibility to play LB and at a push CB in a 4 at the back system too. Koscielny is not usually playing the wide CB role, and Kolasinac has not shown that he can play that role either

You both seemed to overlook a solid defence over a powerful attack why?

Generally, the top teams have superior individual attackers than they do defenders - thinking of Man City and Liverpool in particular here, it was relatively easy to pick Salah, then as the team was taking shape, Sane became an obvious choice too.

Spurs obviously have some very good defenders, but Kane just seemed to be the outright obvious choice as the starting striker in a very demanding role in Conte's system, we've seen that even a player with the pedigree of Morata has struggled at times, so went for the strongest striker we could get

Weak link?

I think we worked together well, and everyone had good input when picking a squad. If I have to pick a weak link, I would say it was Nads, as I didn't feel like he really led the team, and Trebs and myself probably drove the decision making process and the final submission.

I think this was particularly noticeable when picking the subs, it took repeated mentions by me for a bench to be considered when it is ultimately a sizeable part of the task

Why Nacho Monreal when better options at Arsenal at both CB & LB?
I personally suggested Kolasinac but Olly preferred a more defensive minded LB in Monreal. Which I understood. Kolasinac is definitely more of a LWB come LB, and Monreal a LB come LCB, so there's cases for both, but Monreal has been doing well with a few goals lately which maybe swayed it for us.

You both seemed to overlook a solid defence over a powerful attack why?
I disagree, I'd argue Burnley have one of the most solid defences and Tarkowski is a big part of that, we chose the likes of Salah and Sanchez as they are world class attackers but the defences of their clubs aren't exactly solid themselves.

Weak link?
By default, Hero but only because he wasn't able to contribute as much due to being abroad. We generally worked well, I felt I had to back down with a couple of differences of opinion, but that's how it goes.

At the risk of being fired on the spot, "Why did you go for people that were names rather then players that suit Mauricio's style?" is dodgy because we could only go for one Spurs player

Why Ndidi?
Ndidi offers energy in the middle. We needed someone that had the ability to drive forward with the ball and ndidi was the best option given his nationality and club he plays for.

Why not Marcos Alonso who's been a crucial aspect of a Conte side?
I think Bertrand is good enough to play in his stead. Azpi at CB was a more important position to fill as we needed someone that plays there irl and azpi is tge best choice in the prem there is.

Why didn't you use Swansea/Burnley who both have players that are better then Ndidi?
We didn't really consider players from those teams as Ndidi is better than them imo.

Why did you write tactics you aren't the manager?
We wanted to write something about the general consensus of our team. We are not trying to do Conte's job per se it was more of a short gameplan on how to play against weaker/stronger teams.

Who was your weak link?
I can wholeheartedly say there was no weak link in the task. Everyone did their best and put effort in.

If there was no weak link why is Bam trying to throw you under the bus?

I'm nitpicking in order to answer the question on who is the weak link

I don't think Olly is available to answer your questions Nando. Do you want me to answer?

no i shall wait for Olly to answer then deliver my verdict

Good Golly I'm Olly wrote:Just so you know I’m out in London today so Marky will be posting our submission - I’ll check in later to see how we get on

Could be a while, not sure his 7 fingered hands will cope with the Oyster card system

He's told me via FB that he won't be around til 2pm

Questions for everyone

Why Nacho Monreal when better options at Arsenal at both CB & LB?

In our view, Kolasinac is not a better option at LB than Monreal (he can't defend, thus why he's been behind Ainsley), and Nacho offers us some experience and solidity in the back four. We preferred the options for the lower league clubs at CB, than the options they had at LB too (also Koscielny sux)

You both seemed to overlook a solid defence over a powerful attack why?

I'd argue our defence is solid, especially taking into account our midfield pairing of Kante and Doucoure. Tarkowski and Evans could both easily play in a TOP 6 PL side. But we did decide to go for a powerful attack, because we wanted the firepower to go and win any game, which over the course of a season we think would be a better way to go (ie. City's tactic) than playing with a team that's only ever gonna score 1 or 2 goals a game

Weak link?
Hero - but only because he wasn't in the country. He did contribute when he could I should add.

Team Olly
Why did you go for people that were names rather then players that suit Mauricio's style?

We've taken into account the best players, and who fits into Poch's style. If you are referring to the CBs, both Tarkowski and Evans are very good on the ball and playing out from the back. Kante can play the Dier/Wanyama role with Doucoure taking on the Dembele role. The front four work as Poch likes to play inverted wingers, and picking Kane/KDB was a no brainer.

Why Okazaki rather then someone like Murray/Hernandez/Arnautovic?

Because he's better than them

Who was the weak link in your side

Answered above

Team Olly are victors in this task

After reading back through the pages the following people are fired....Nadeem you should of led them better & Bam you tried to throw Nadeem under the bus i don't like this Poopie so you are going under it too

You are both fired - If Hero wasn't on holiday he'd been fired too.


Lord Odnan x

Task 4 will be up tomorrow.

Utter bollox

No point asking who the weak link was if that then counts as throwing under the bus

Should have just done what Trebs did and ignored your question

BamBam wrote:Utter bollox

No point asking who the weak link was if that then counts as throwing under the bus

Should have just done what Trebs did and ignored your question

I completely agree. I have been very disappointed with the organization of this and feel that I have made a mistake in handing it over.

I am going to fall on the sword and resign. Partly due to the shameful decision to fire Bam, and partly as it was done without a chance to defend himself, even though in my opinion there is no case to answer.

I was also very disappointed at the lack of feedback on the previous week's task.

My decision stands on the basis he chose Ndidi yet have Mooy & Lanzini on the bench

You are welcome to take over Trebs if the others agree to an Impeaching

I agree that Bam shouldn't have been fired, he should be reinstated IMO.

Someone had to have been fired obviously, but to fire two, one for no real reason, is just silly and makes a mockery of the effort we've all been putting in.

Ultimately, if Bam is fired, and Trebs resigns, I'll resign too. Or, reinstate Bam and Trebs and I will stay on too.

For all Azzy's flaws, at least he grilled the losing team on who was to blame before making his (incorrect) decisions.

And like Trebs I'm disappointed by the lack of feedback from Task 2. He and I worked hard to save our teams and get a presentation each, and they were ignored. I know I won by default due to lateness, but no feedback on that is poor.

Fernando wrote:My decision stands on the basis he chose Ndidi yet have Mooy & Lanzini on the bench

You are welcome to take over Trebs if the others agree to an Impeaching

I did argue for Matic in the side, weakening other areas. But you said that his firing was for throwing Nadz under the bus. Had you gone through it properly and decided that Ndidi was the crucial mistake, fine. But the feedback has been lacking. You haven't even explained why the other team won!

If I could provide feedback for your side Trebs, I'd say that Kante was the obvious standout in Chelsea's success under Conte last season, not Azpilicueta. Him in the midfield and a different RCB would have strengthened you, instead of picking Ndidi.

Kante and Maguire (for example) > Ndidi and Azpilicueta in your formation.

in a 3-4-3 system how exactly would Lanzini fit in CM better?

Mooy is debatable, but I really rate Ndidi. His stats are probably not far off what Kante's were for Leicester, and he looks good every time I've seen them play

No one came up with a better suggestion, and I would love to know who the Swansea and Burnley players you rate over him in that role are

Marky, I somewhat agree, but think that Gueye already does 80% of what Kante would add, we needed someone who can drive forward from midfield.

Added to that I think Maguire is completely unsuited to playing as a wide CB

Marky wrote:If I could provide feedback for your side Trebs, I'd say that Kante was the obvious standout in Chelsea's success under Conte last season, not Azpilicueta. Him in the midfield and a different RCB would have strengthened you, instead of picking Ndidi.

Kante and Maguire (for example) > Ndidi and Azpilicueta in your formation.

I suggested Matic and Kante to my team, I actually agree with you.

Do appreciate your feedback but the principle is that Nando analyses the two submissions, before coming to a conclusion on the weaker team. Then we work out who was responsible and fire that person/s. There is no strategic thought in this process at all.

That's why we chose Doucoure tbf. He's like a young Yaya.

Trebs wrote:

Marky wrote:If I could provide feedback for your side Trebs, I'd say that Kante was the obvious standout in Chelsea's success under Conte last season, not Azpilicueta. Him in the midfield and a different RCB would have strengthened you, instead of picking Ndidi.

Kante and Maguire (for example) > Ndidi and Azpilicueta in your formation.

I suggested Matic and Kante to my team, I actually agree with you.

Do appreciate your feedback but the principle is that Nando analyses the two submissions, before coming to a conclusion on the weaker team. Then we work out who was responsible and fire that person/s. There is no strategic thought in this process at all.

Agree, hence you offered to resign, so have I, until Nando stops being a shambles.

Of the midfields, ours was better
Of the attacks, ours was marginally better (Salah/Kane/Sanchez (and KDB) against Salah/Kane/Sane)
Defence, yours was a bit stronger but we had two players the same as yours in Evans and Monreal, and I'm not sure Valencia and Bertrand are gamechangers.
Same keeper.
Benches, similar strengths and some players on both, like Kenedy, Zaha and Mooy.

We would have also had Zouma (instead of Wimmer) but already had our quota of Frenchmen.

I'd have also personally chosen Aubameyang, Alderweireld, Fuchs and Chicharito over Kane, Tarkowski, Monreal and Okazaki but luckily it didn't make a difference.

And I'd have definitely steered well clear of Benteke