Brwned
Have you ever been in love before?
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2008
- Messages
- 50,937
So after a promising start to the game, I now see a trend that my midfield is struggling and letting Brwned into the game. Dzajic has not had any luck so far and as any great manager I am willing to act fast to change the game. I sub Dzajic for Essien leaving me with this.
I will play a 4-3-3 formation.
• In goal we have Neville Southall.
• My central defence will be Moore and Desailly who will form a great partnership, Moore with his phenomenal reading of the game together with Desailly with his physical presence.
• My full backs are both two very good defensive defenders who will have main focus on defending, this since I have two attacking wingers in Cruyff and Figo. Schnellinger will have the licence to go forward when the time is right since Cruyff will roam around throughout the pitch, but Burgnich will mainly have a defensive duty since that was his greatest aspect of his game and playing behind Figo
• My central midfielders are Redondo, Essien and Guardiola, they will dictate the play from deep and make sure that their presence in the middle of the park will give my team an advantage. They are tactically perfect players who will give Falcao and Keane a real match in the middle. Redondo has shown that he can boss a midfield against Roy Keane before. Essien brings a monster engine to my side in both defence and attack. Guardiola will thrive in a midfield three.
• I mentioned my wingers, Cruyff and Figo. Two attacking wingers who will have different roles. Figo will act as a real right winger while Cruyff has a free role to run the game starting out on the left. But he will roam around finding spaces, he will go deep getting the ball, he will cut inside and leave the left side for Schnellinger to work on and we all know how much creativity Cruyff brings into the team.
• And I have saved my goal scoring machine until last, Redondo, Essien, Guardiola, Cruyff and Figo. There is just so much creativity in there so Romario will get his chances and he will score from those chances.
Defence: A solid back four with Southall as my anchor. They will have a great shield from Redondo, Essien and Guardiola in front of them. Figo and Cruyff both had physique to help out in defence. Essien helping out Burgnich with Giggs.
Attack: Guardiola and Redondo have a passing range and vision that not many other central midfielders can offer, they will pick out the front three with pinpoint passes. Essien at his peak when given license to go forward is a threat with his shooting and powerful runs. With Romario they form a central threat. My wingers are offering my team the width with their wing-play together with mainly Schnellinger. As I see it I have threats from all corners of the pitch with my team.
Would like to get this into the OP.
Team EDogen (Changes made)
Original team:
Current team:
Team Brwned
Original team:
Current team:
Team Brwned
Teams Comparison
Right, let's go over a few things then.
Who is the worst player on the pitch? Essien. The only position he consistently played well in was in the "Makélélé role" but here he's being given more responsibility, in fact according to EDogen he'll be joining in the attack, again leaving Redondo and Guardiola to take on the most competitive, dominant, well-rounded midfield trio in the draft. There's no room for weak links in the middle against those three and at this level he very much is that. Is anyone going to be talking about Essien in 10 years time? Perhaps as a "what could have been" player, nothing more. He was a good player for a number of years for Chelsea with the occasional flashes of brilliance.
Di Stéfano was the heart of a Madrid team that won 5 European Cups in a row and 7 La Liga titles in 11 years. Keane was the hearbeat of a team that won 7 Premier Leagues, 4 FA cups and a Champions League in 10 years. Falcao was the brains of what many consider the greatest Brazil side outside of Pelé's 1970 team and the greatest team to never win the World Cup. Also the brains of a terrific Internacional side that won 8 league titles in a row.
Does his midfield really compare to that? Certainly not, so he's getting dominated. Giggs and Matthews are getting the ball constantly and taking on their man 1v1 and relishing the battles. Stanley Matthews, the first player to win the Ballon d'Or in 1956 (with 2nd place Di Stéfano supporting him), is up against a very tough German - it's certainly not a one way thing. Matthews will always, always be beating his man a few times a game though, there's just no way of completely nullifying a player with that kind of balance, dribbling and pace. Just look at Valencia last season and imagine him being so effective at what he does that he becomes a Ballon d'Or winner. And then with Cruyff on the same flank given licence to drift about as he pleases, that leaves Celtic's greatest ever right back to gobble up the space and take on Schnellinger 2v1. On the other side you've got Giggs up against one of the slowest players in the draft and he's constantly being dragged out into positions he doesn't want to be because 1v1, he's going to get roasted more than a few times. He'll want to tuck in and provide cover for his centre backs with excellent positional play but he's being dragged out wide to nullify a man who pretty much destroyed every fullback he came up against in the early 90s. Fio will be doing what he can to take care of Brehme but all he needs is a little bit of space and he'll be whipping in pin-point crosses to La Cabeza Mágica.
Up front all you need to do is look at the IFFHS Century selections - Alberto Spencer is named the 20th best South American player in history, Romario's 30th on the same list. I'm not going to talk down the little Brazilian at all. For me, he was a genius at his peak. Lightning quick acceleration, deceptively good dribbling, clinical finishing, terrific reactions and an outstanding eye for a run in behind. I'd even go as far as saying he's underrated by many. What I will say is Alberto Spencer possessed all of that along with incredible aerial prowess. You have to be a pretty special player to be 10 places above Romario.
There's just no way Moore and Desailly can handle that kind of onslaught. As good as they were, they both played in teams that tended to have far more of the ball than they're likely to see here. They're up against the all-time top scorer in the South American equivalent of the Champions League and a man who scored Madrid's opening goal in 4 of their 5 Champions League finals - good luck.
Player Profiles
Brwned said:Full Player Profiles Part 1 and 2
Mazurkiewicz: IFFHS Uruguay Goalkeeper of the Century, 1970 World Cup Best Goalkeeper, named Yashin’s successor by the great man himself - his credentials are unquestionable. He kept 5 clean sheets in 9 World Cup games in ’66 and ’70 and kept 6 clean sheets in 8 in the corresponding World Cup qualifiers. Smaller than your average keeper, he made up for it with an outstanding “goalkeeping brain”, excellent reflexes and an imposing presence.
McGrain: Voted Celtic’s greatest ever right back, Scottish POTY 1977. Ultra-reliable in attack and defence, he’s said to have combined the best qualities of European Cup-winning fullbacks Jim Craig and Tommy Gemmel. Blessed with great balance, composure, speed and stamina to contribute in attack while he was a fierce competitor, an aggressive tackler and had excellent positional sense to provide that stability at the other end.
Germano: Captain of back-to-back European Cup winners Benfica, beating Kubala’s Barcelona and Di Stéfano’s Madrid in consecutive finals - need I say more? Voted 16th best player in Europe and 2nd best defender in Europe in the 1961 Ballon d’Or. One of the first of a new breed of defenders that were not only defensive colossuses but excellent playmakers, with Germano’s terrific range of passing making full use of Jose Augusto’s and Simões’ ability to stretch to pitch and beat a man 1v1.
Trésor: A real physical specimen, he possessed an impressive turn of pace and an imposing physique. Allied with his technique and footballing intelligence, he was capable of dominating the opposition at the back and then turning defence into attack with a swift gallop forward.
Brehme: Perhaps Germany’s most complete fullback in history, certainly their most two-footed player in history. 1989 Serie A POTY. Not known for terrific pace or strength unlike the majority of modern fullbacks, he was a cerebral player with great vision and awareness (which allowed him to play in midfield numerous times). A great passer and top class crosser, any striker would love to be on the end of his delivery.
Falcão: The brains of the much-loved Brazil 1982 team, and voted 2nd best player of the tournament. He was also at the heart of Internacional’s most successful period in their history. As you’d expect from a Brazilian he was a technical player first and foremost with his superb first touch, passing range and close control, but unlike most Brazilian playmakers he had the stamina and work ethic to get up and down that pitch all day long and provide balance to the side. Not only that but he went about his job without fuss, allowing Sócrates or Zico to impose their personality on the side while he quietly but effectively dictated the play.
Keane: His outstanding leadership qualities and incredible will to win go without saying, but he was also the team’s playmaker for roughly a decade with his metronomic passing and wonderful “footballing brain” at the heart of Manchester United’s remarkable level of success.
Matthews: Said to be the first international superstar, he was fittingly nominated the best player in Europe in the inaugural Ballon d’Or. Without any of the fancy rabonas or roulettes that so many modern players rely on today, his balance alone tore apart defender after defender. A traditional outside-right that just provided a constant supply of top-class crossing. In many ways he was the English Garrincha - their game was simple and predictable, yet no defender could get near them.
Di Stéfano: If not for his lack of international success he would be talked about as up there with Pelé and Maradona by everyone. And yet his lack of international success is only in comparison to his incredible success at level - he in fact won the Copa America in 1947 at just 21 years old, finishing as 2nd top scorer. After that he left Argentina due to political reasons and was only deemed eligible to play for Spain in the late 1950s. If not for a terribly timed injury in the build-up to the 1962 World Cup, he might well have inspired Spain to their first World Cup win almost 50 years earlier. At club level he was incredibly successful everywhere he went, but for the sake of brevity let’s just look at his record at Madrid: 396 appearances, 307 goals, 5x European Cup, 7x La Liga, 5x Pichichi winner, 2x Ballon d’Or, 4x Spanish Athlete of the Year. He achieved all that despite moving to the club at 27 years old, winning his last league title at a remarkable 38 years old. Bobby Charlton believes he is the most complete player the game has seen.
Giggs: The man’s a genius. Is there a right back he’s come up against that he hasn’t torn to pieces at least once? Famed for his unique style of dribbling, wonderful balance and searing pace, he also possessed a deceptively acute eye for the killer ball and a fantastic first touch. In fact I’d go as far as saying that Sir Ryan has the best first touch of anyone we’ve seen under Sir Alex.
Alberto Spencer: Copa Libertadores all-time top scorer, 113 league goals in 161 league games for Penarol, 445 goals in 634 games overall - the man was a born goalscorer. Searing pace, outstanding composure, top class finisher off both feet and absolute dynamite in the air. Nicknamed the “Cabeza Mágica”, the magic head, this man will gobble up every cross and long ball played to him, just ask Pelé: “Someone that headed better than me was Spencer. I was good (in heading), but he was spectacular heading the ball.”.
