The Immortals:
Iker Casillas, Giacinto Facchetti, Alessandro Nesta, Matthias Sammer, Javier Zanetti, Lothar Matthäus (c), Xavi, Zico, Maradona, Roberto Baggio, Ferenc Puskas, Karl Heinz Rummenigge
Coach:Rinus Michels
I think this is an incredible team. I love the defense. I love the midfield play. I love the attack. Very good goal-keeper. Very good manager. It has everything. A truly great all-around team.
I haven't looked at everyone's team yet but this is one that kept catching my eye throughout the draft and I love how it ended up.
DefenseI thought Facchetti was a great pick. One of the key players on those great Inter teams. Strong defensively with good size and quickness combined with excellent attacking play. He was my top rated left back in the draft.
I thought Nesta was a great defensive player. Excellent reading of the game. Great tackler. Great at interceptions. Very strong marker. A leader on the back-line. I thought Maldini's career (when he was starting to slow down) got a huge boost when Nesta joined. And even more recently, Thiago Silva, I thought Silva really benefited from getting to learn from Nesta while adapting to European football. A true leader at the back.
Solid defender at taking the ball out of the back but not a great one. Probably showed more passing skills at Lazio under Sven than he did at Milan. I also think Nesta gets a boost in this format from being considered at his peak rather than as the injury-prone player he was. If it was longevity / whole of career, I would rate him a bit lower due to all the interruptions to his career that injuries caused.
I love Sammer. I half-thought about putting him and Beckenbauer together. I love Sammer + Rinus Michaels (I worry a bit about Mourinho in this regard). I think that is a great combination. I think Sammer's passing and vision is a great complement to Nesta's tough defensive work. Great combination. To pick Sammer up so late in the draft was a great piece of business.
Javier Zanetti is a player I am lukewarm on. Good player. The opposite of Nesta's case, a player who was incredibly durable and would rate higher on the whole career rather than his peak. More of a midfielder than a right back but he was a fine right back (same with me with Neeskens).
I thought that right back spot was the most difficult in the draft. There were a couple of players I really liked but they went early and I was lukewarm on most of the rest. Why I drafted Neeskens (a central midfielder) and played him there instead of picking an out and out right back. I was also very interested in Steven Gerrard as a RB. I was disappointed when he got picked.
MidfieldI love Lothar Matthaus. A great box-to-box type midfielder who could function as an advanced midfielder or as a defensive midfielder.
I thought that holding midfielder spot was another tricky one in this draft. You want someone good on the ball who can keep the team-based attack going + someone with enough ball-winning skills and defensive discipline to keep your team's shape defensively. Finding someone who can do both was very tricky. I would've loved to have seen Matthaus have a bit more freedom going forward but I understand picking him as a holding midfielder and think he is a great option there.
Xavi is another brilliant passer to go along with Puskas, Maradona and Zico. That interplay between those players and then Matthaus filling hols is incredible. Exceptional. I am completely and wholly in love with that combination of talent.
AttackI talked a bit about the attack just above. Some concerns about how Roberto Baggio fits in but I love everything else. I thought this was one of the best attacks in the fantasy league led by Puskas, Maradona and Zico.
I particularly loved how they pulled defenders out of their comfort zones and made themselves (individually and collective) extremely difficult for opponents to pick up defensively. Combined that with the magnificent array of passing and strong goal-scoring skills and they are an absolute nightmare to play against.
OverallThis is an incredible team. Like I said earlier, I haven't looked at every squad yet but this is one that stood out to me all throughout the draft and is definitely a favourite of mine.
Amazing team.