yes

yes, Magictrax took Ramos IIRC.

word!

Sorry missed the Gattuso pick.

OK we're taking

Hmmm, do I pick a DM or CB? Struggling with this one but will pick soon.

Not bad. He has looked spectacular at times in the last couple of years, but toward the end of last year he was absolutely shameful in a few games I saw. Hopefully he'll get back to where he was about 12-18 months ago.

****, nice pick with Evra. A good attacking piece that has improved his defense as well. Best LB in the prem last year.

players from list are getting drafted now!

/sigh, evra's a quality pick. real quality. yea his form wasn't the best the last half of last year, but he's quality and I'm sure that'll shine through again this year

I had overlooked Evra but he's a good answer to the problem of missing out on Alves and Maicon on the right side. He's a lot more balanced, but can provide some attacking options from the back. I'm surprised he slipped into the third round TBH.

Something that became clear when andre and I were talking is that before the next pick I need to go around and at least look at the guys for the big clubs, especially in England. I proposed (somewhat lesser known LB who will probably be taken toward the end of this round or next) and he said "what about Evra?" and it was obviously a great suggestion and for some reason I hadn't thought of him.

I was quite surprised he was on the board, but obvious guys are still slipping my mind. Same thing happened at CB, but we decided to go with Evra and I'm sure the guy we quickly settled on will be gone in the next 10 picks.

evra decent, but i prefer other left backs tbh

jared, you may want to put your pick in the actual draft thread. it just gets weird when there's a run of people posting their picks in this thread but are then out of order in the draft thread

oh, yeah. Sorry.

Round 3
Pick #53

Lassana Diarra



I am picking Lassana Diarra to anchor my midfield, I think he is one of a dwindling number of quality defensive midfielders left available so I don't want to leave myself short in this position. For 24 he has been at quite a few clubs in his career but since his move to Real Madrid he looks to be beginning to establish himself. With his tackling ability and calmness on the ball he will provide the bite to my midfield. He also looks a bit like Makelele which can't be a bad thing surely?

Highlights

Honours

Chelsea

* Football League Cup: 2007
* FA Cup winner 2007

Portsmouth

* FA Cup winner 2008

HMS Disturbance FC

Fernando Torres
Robinho
Lassana Diarra

diarra a solid pick imo, but i was never convinced by him when he was in the premier really.

may nip out for a bit later, so will anyone be on for a while should dkgo and geddy pick while i'm out?

dont like the diarra pick that much
a few little bit better players left in this position

send me your pick, I can do it.

Didn't play all that well at Arsenal or Chelsea, but also didn't play all that regularly, so it could be forgiven to some extent. I seem to recall him being used as a poor man's Essien at Chelsea, playing in a number of positions, even at RB. Was quite good when he got to start each week at Portsmouth. Haven't really seen him play for Real, so I can't comment on that.

I had a couple of other names besides Diarra but tbh none of them seemed truly outstanding, I think Diarra is yet to reach his full potential. Diarra made Guilleme Balague's team of the season which swung it for me

Diarra was on my list too!

hmmm still need a couple write ups for Marqeuz, Malouda, and I think Evra.

Heh, one thing's for sure my number 1 CB pick will be gone by my next pick.

Surprised at the Lassana pick.

I don't think it's bad necessarily, we just rejected the idea of taking him now because we thought it likely that he'd be available in a later round. Seems a little high in this spot, but it only takes one other team to want him to take him off the board I guess.

yes he will be.

Meant to comment on this earlier. RvP is ok.

I think taking a goalie here is pretty bad. There are two problems with it. One is that there is another goalie that is as good or better than Buffon and several that are a bit below. While you may disagree with the first part, I think it's clear that there isn't much if any dropoff for another two or three goalies.

The real problem I have with it is that goalkeeper is a position where being adequate is incredibly important but being excellent isn't a very big deal for most good teams. For most teams having the 10th or even 15th best keeper probably costs them a goal or two all season compared with the best in the world. Real Madrid is actually an exception to this because they have been bad defensively as a top team since (defensive midfield legend) left several years ago. That's with a big drop from the top goalie down. Doing the same thing with the 5th best goalie and the 25th best and I think it's a tiny fraction of a goal in expectation over a season. Naturally, this is just my opinion since there is no stat available to even comment on this, but most matches a goalkeeper isn't even put into a situation where an incredible save is possible.

People smarter than me disagree on this so take it for what it's worth (what you paid for it) but I don't like taking a goalie here, especially once the dropoff from Casillas has already happened. I think you would have been a lot better off taking (center back that several of us thought of taking probably).