Before the Arda Cup 2013 preseason madness of transfers and friendlies begin, ArdaCup.com writer Adam 'not the economist' Smith looks back at the worst and the best signings of Arda Cup 2012.
(The contents of this article have not been reviewed or endorsed by ArdaCup.com. All opinions expressed by Adam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of ArdaCup.com or its staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors. His sources are not known to ArdaCup.com and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an Arda Cup accredited member of the media.
Again, there's a reason we place this disclaimer only in his articles.)
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Contracts are everything in this new salary cap era of the Arda Cup. Once upon a time, teams with deep pockets could hoard most of the talent, promising a coalition that would steamroller all opposition before it (see 2011 Doriath, 2009 Armenelos, 2008 Formenos, who won the cup; 2010 Mithrim had a similar approach but stumbled during the semifinals). Nowadays teams can be built only around a few Arda-class talents, with a sprinkling of role players. 2008-11 Fëanor would never have asked the Edain to join a team he was building; 2012 Fëanor had no choice but to bring them in to stay below the cap.
Sign the wrong player for the wrong price, and you're looking at losses galore (both on the pitch and in the pockets--see Nargothrond and Valimar). But if you fail to sign any talent at all, and even teams with Arda-class players will stumble (see Barad-dûr and Hithlum).
To start off this two-part article series, here are the five worst contracts of Arda Cup 2012.
5. Ancalagon (Angband): $15 million
'But he scored five goals in four games!' you might protest. That's true, stats don't lie. But they didn't get past the first knockout round, either. Ancalagon disappears way too much to be the main source of a team's goals. Allowing an unnamed Ringwraith and, later, a bunch of Third Age Men (not even from the royal Númenórean line!) to outplay him is unforgivable for a centre forward of a presumptive top-eight team.
If I were Morgoth, I'd slash his wages and look for a second, more reliable goalscorer.
4. Legolas (Dwarves United): $13 million
3. Ilmarë (Valimar): $10 million
A lot of teams these days play lone centre forwards so they could pack the midfield to retain possession or defend in depth. What would one ask of a lone centre forward in a defensive team?
a) Hold up long balls from the defence so the midfield could advance and help on the counterattack;
b) Score from crosses sent by wingers after they have carried the ball past the opposition's midfield.
And now for a trivia question: how many goals and assists did these two lone centre forwards score and assist?
Hint: $13 million per goal, $10 million per assist.
2. Thorondor (Tirion): $14 million
He's probably not the reason they were eliminated with zero points (see Valinor, FC; Valinor, Real; Menelos, Ar), but he's the highest paid player in a squad that had to look to public investments for funds. You're allowed to expect that he should have done better. Tirion were eliminated because they were outscored. Thorondor is the only veteran defender in a team with newish defenders and goalkeeper. You do the math.
And the worst contract of 2012:
1. Glaurung (Nargothrond): $16 millionIn a team with Gwindor giving you quality crosses and Finrod feeding you quality through balls, how could you have scored just once?!
In his defence, he might have been playing out of position--2011 Nargothrond almost (well, not really) advanced to the knockout stage with him scoring all of Nargothrond's three goals from the midfield (with hardly any help, too). But seriously, only one freaking goal with one of the best wingers AND one of the best playmakers in your team?!
[The best contracts of 2012 will follow shortly.]