Question of the Week: Looking Back at the 2012 Draft

[Mandieta6]

Remember, if you have an idea for a question you would like to see, PM it to me, and each week one question will be selected based on the quality of the question and it's subject. I will not choose the questions on my own, but this is the best way to ensure that we don't keep discussing the same things.

Help save a baby from Sir_Didier_Drogba by sending a question.

This week's comes from O'Brien:

Now that a year has gone by, let's look at the draft teams from 2012 and decide who would have won (or simply fared better or worse than they originally did.

Past Questions:

2011

13/9 - What will football be like in 50 years?
19/9 - What are some rule changes that would improve the game?
3/10 - The European Super-League Discussion
11/10 - How would you spend 50m?
19/10 - Why does ____ underperform?
26/10 - How to stop Barcelona?
13/12 - What players have you come to respect/dislike?
20/12 - Who will win the Euros?

2012

2/1 - Should the Prem introduce a winter break?
9/1 - Who is the most two-footed player?
15/1 - What is the toughest position?
23/1 - Who is Portugal's Revelation Player for 2011?
3/2 - Should the Old Firm compete in the English leagues?
13/2 - Is Guardiola Overrated?
24/2 - Who are the German league's best players?
6/3 - Which players messed up their careers by switching clubs?
13/3 - What is the most shocking transfer of all-time?
16/5 - Your Favorite Player (NOT based on performance)?
10/6 - The 2016 Euro Expansion
12/7 - Best Goal Ever?
3/8 - World Cup vs. Champions League Discussion
13/8 - Yugoslavia
19/8 - Confederations Cup
25/8 - Standarized Pitch Sizes
27/8 - What Transfers Would you Like to See?
3/9 - Most Interesting Team of the New Season
10/9 - Cup-Tied Restrictions
18/9 - The Perfect Footballer
26/9 - Best One-Trick Pony
3/10 - Best Young Goalkeeper
10/10 - Best Goalkeeper Ever
17/10 - A World Without Football
24/10 - Best Utility Player
31/10 - Who will have a Breakout Season?
9/11 - Who will be the Best Players of the Future?
19/11 - Who Carries his Team the Furthest?
27/11 - Who is Exceeding Expectations?
4/12 - Who is Performing Below Expectations?
10/12 - How Young is Too Young?
20/12 - Cristiano Ronaldo - All-Time Great?
30/12 - The Winter Transfer Window

2013

7/1 - Italy's Wonderkids
18/1 - Messi at a Mediocre Club
29/1 - Greatest Transfer Successes/Failures
5/2 - Who are the Eredivisie's Best Players?
3/3 - Best Youth Products XI
8/4 - Homosexuality in Football
18/4 - Sexiest Footballer
26/4 - Expected & Desired Transfers
2/5 - Dawn of the German Era?
8/5 - Fergie's Retirement
19/5 - Seasonal Eurovision
19/8 - League's Best 11 (without Top Teams)
28/8 - Looking Back at the 2012 Draft

 

[Mandieta6]

The squads:

Angry Dragon

Subs: Ricardo Carvalho, Taye Taiwo, Daniel Sturridge, Joe Allen, Danny Welbeck, Rafinha, Rafael Varane, Kieran Gibbs, Steven Pienaar, Ki Sung-Yueng, Victor Wanyama, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Carlos Salcido, Donovan Ricketts

Zeinab Badawi's Twenty Hotels

Subs: Joao Pereira, Diego Godin, Hatem Ben Arfa, Theodor Gebre Selassie, Mario Mandzukic, Joey Barton (c), Christopher Samba, Mathieu Valbuena, Kevin Gameiro, Douglas Costa, Eduardo Vargas, Tim Krul, Ron-Robert Zieler, Emile Heskey, Richard Kingson

Qatar Foundation

Subs: Mourane Fellaini, Freddy Guarin, Ilkay Gundogan, Walter Samuel, Diego Milito, Kevin Grosskreutz, Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Glen Johnson, Juan Manuel Iturbe, Cristian Chivu, Jose Manuel Pinto, Nacho Monreal, Stephan El Shaarawy

Yoyo FC

Subs: Kolo Toure, Seydou Doumbia, Fernandinho, Ji Sung Park, Emre Belozoglu, Adriano (Barcelona), Juan Roman Riquelme, Dirk Kuyt, Bryan Ruiz, Salvatore Sirigu, Heiko Westermann, Gonzalo Castro, Alex Teixeira, Bogdan Lobont

Down Under

Subs: Sebastian Giovinco, Simone Pepe, Juan Manuel Vargas, Christian Zapata, Ronaldinho, Blaise Matuidi, Rafael, Rasmus Elm, Vital Da Silva (Dede), Giampaolo Pazzini, Benoit Tremoulinas, Charles N'Zogbia, Emiliano Viviano, Marco Storari

Dirty Seamen

Subs: Borja Valero, Javier Zanetti, Miroslav Klose, Jonny Evans, Eric Abidal, Stephane Sessegnon, Gervinho, Paul Scholes, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Deco, Teemu Pukki, Shay Given, Cristian Tello, Niki Maenpaa

Team KP

Subs: Christian Eriksen, Jakub Blaszczykowski, Rolando, Yuri Zhirkov, Javi Garvia, Tom Cleverley, Luisao, Diego Capel, Nikica Jelavic, Vassilis Torosidis, Roman Weidenfeller, Sebastian Kehl, Alexandr Kerzhakov, Carlos Butland

The Replacements

Subs: Luis Gustavo, Iker Muniain, Hector Moreno, Carlos Vela, Bruno Soriano, Joel Matip, Angel Rangel, Jonathan Dos Santos, Olivier Giroud, Henri Bedimo, Lewis Holtby, Guillermo Ochoa, Hiram Mier, Mohamed Diame, Jose de Jesus Corona

Tobias Fünke's Analrapists

Subs: Phil Jones, Lucas Moura, John Obi Mikel, Javier Hernandez, James Milner, Jeremy Mathieu, Tomas Rosicky, Francesco Totti (c), Martin Harnik, Kim Kallstrom, Julian Draxler, Stefan Radu, Dudu Aouate, Vicente Guaita

The Noob's All Stars

Subs: Marko Marin, Antonio Cassano, Roberto Rosales, Alessandro Nesta, Andriy Yarmolenko, Alberto Aquilani, Tomas Rincon, Diego Forlan, Andrey Arshavin, Didac Vila, Goran Pandev, Federico Marchetti, Paolo Cannavaro, Didac Vila

Sons of Pitches

Subs: Alvaro Arbeloa, Gareth Barry, Edin Dzeko, Adam Johnson, Yoann Gourcuff, Erik Lamela, Chris Smalling, Michael Dawson, Esteban Granero, Juanfran, Paolo De Ceglie, Bojan, Ali Al-Habsi, Sergio Romero

The Jailbirds

Subs: Lucio, Lukas Podolski, Ander Herrera, Pablo Aimar, Alvaro Negredo, Oriol Romeu, Aaron Lennon, Oscar de Marcos, Fernando Amorebieta, Jon Aurtenetxe, Thierry Henry, Abou Diaby, Costel Pantilimon, Christian Abbiati

Rovesciata

Subs: Theo Walcott, Gaston Ramirez, Danilo, Andrea Ranocchia, Yevhen Konoplyanka, Radja Nainggolan, Alessandro Matri, Isco, Matias Silvestre, Valon Behrami, Dusan Tadic, Dennis Aogo, Diego Alves, Andriy Pyatov

Team Awesomeness

Subs: Willian, Oscar Cardozo, Yuta Nagatomo, Brede Hangeland, Steven Defour, Loic Remy, Miguel Veloso, Fernando Muslera, Diego Perotti, Cristian Ansaldi, Moussa Sow, Ryan Shawcross, Sergio Canales, Diego Benaglio

Alpha Betas

Subs: Fabricio Coloccini, Lassana Diarra, Michael Carrick, Gylfi Sigurdsson, John Heitinga, Gio dos Santos, Clint Dempsey, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Victor Moses, Theo Janssen, Asamoah Gyan, Michal Kadlec, Tony Jantschke, Brad Friedel, Yann Sommer

Legio III

Nuri DLP. Anderson attacking B2B. De Rossi defensive B2B, oft dropping into anchor. Srna attacking wingback. Coentrão fullback. Belhanda in the hole, and roaming, behind Balotelli and Torres -- who will either storm the box, or work the channels.

Subs: Carlos Wilshere, Ibrahim Afellay, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Mirko Vucinic, Mapou Yanga-M'Biwa, Urby Emanuelson, Marco Verratti, Juan Arango, Stephane M'Bia, Bafetimbi Gomis, Jefferson Farfan, Anthony Reveillere, Sebastien Frey, Carlos Idriss Kameni

FC Tinkerbell

Subs: Antonio Valencia, Angelo Ogbonna, Ganso, Andre Ayew, Raul Albiol, Paul Pogba, Pablo Osvaldo, Pablo Armero, Danny, Luuk de Jong, Danny Simpson, Jose Maria Callejon, Rene Adler, Stephane Ruffier

Massive Attack

Subs: Andre Schurrle, Michael Essien, Philippe Mexes, Miralem Pjanic, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Fernando, Milos Krasic, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Marco Fabian, Tino Costa, Christian Atsu, Juan Zuniga, Tim Howard, Diego Lopez

Dutch Deluxe Delight All-Stars

Subs: Maxwell, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Papiss Demba Cisse, Tom Huddlestone, Alvaro Dominguez, Clarence Seedorf, Vurnon Anita, Derk Boerrigter, Ron Vlaar, Ricardo van Rhijn, Michel Vorm, Hedwiges Maduro, Abel Hernandez, Kenneth Vermeer

Usain Phelps FC

Subs: Keisuke Honda, Maicon (Porto), Leandro Damiao, Kevin Strootman, Alex Sandro, Pablo Piatti, Carlos Rodwell, Johan Djourou, Rui Patricio, Eduardo Salvio, Rodrigo (Benfica), Adrien Silva, Samuel Inkoom, Mika (Benfica)

Feel free to swap players around to find the best 11 for each squad.

 

[Mandieta6]

OK...

So, I'd say Arnau owns this. He can field this:

Ibrahimovic
El Shaarway - Oscar - Alexis
Fellaini - Gundogan
Alaba - Rakitskiy - Boateng - Jonhson
Cech

While benching his first pick (I think this is ther best side he can feature, Pirlo or no Pirlo). No one else can match that.

 

[Arnau]

My team was so good i could bench Gundogan (should start), El shaarawy, Monreal and Fellaini. Very average CBs though.

 

[Mandieta6]

Yeah, none of your CBs are up there with the best, but very few teams had great defenses. Johnson is meh, too.

 

[Arnau]

Johnson is a very very good fullback!

The only "champions league" defence there is down under and Xifio's team.

 

[Mandieta6]

I disagree, I think he's inconsistent, suspect in defense and he's a ball-hog.

 

[Arnau]

He's a very good offensive fullback, poweful player, good 1on1 in attack and good crosser + can play in both sides.

 

[Dytza]

Johnson in for Isla, Fellaini and Gundogan for Keita and Witsel and none can ever equal that. Although the CBs are not world-class, Boateng is good.

 

[Arnau]

If Keita is still fit, Fellaini has nothing to do on him.

 

[Mus]

i Think Arnau's too

 

[Arnau]

Yoyo won bitches... you owe me some votes

 

[Mandieta6]

At the time Yoyo's looked better. Swap Cambiasso and Fernandinho and it is still very good.

 

[kp41]

Arnau team FTW

 

[Xaviesta]

 

[Arnau]

I rather play Fellaini as CB than this

 

[Mandieta6]

Yeah, that's horrible.

 

[Xaviesta]

With some quality CBs that would be good.

 

[yoyo913]

Which he doesn't have, so why post it?

 

[Mandieta6]

And the CBs he does have are well-suited to that role anyway, much moreso than playing Alaba as a CB. The formation itself is just bad.