I've already explained in a lengthy post so I'll just put it up once again and leave it for the voters to decide:
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Vogts played 270 minutes against Blokhin shutting him down.
Again we don't need Romario and Ronaldo to run like mad men to close players down. We're not playing tiki - taka Barca. I've provided a long, long post on Messi's creative side and it is not only about him in this game. There is no clash of characters, no overlapping in zones, but rather creative players and deadly finishers in our side.
You talked about pushing us wide as some kind of a master plan being to negate GOAT forwards, but let's break up the diamond you are sporting as some kind of Kryptonite:
Weaknesses
- Lack of Width: The Diamond is a very narrow formation due to the lack of advanced wide players. This means that the flanks can only be used during attacks by either a drifting center forward or midfielder, or a fullback. The first option reduces the potency of the attack by a great margin, so fullbacks are the only viable option.
- Exposure to Counterattacks: When the fullbacks go on the overlap to compensate for a lack of wide attacking players, the backline is left exposed to a potential counterattack. This is slightly mitigated by the defensive midfielder who sits back, but even a 3-v-3 counterattacking situation can easily go bad for the defending team.
- Physical Strain: The Diamond requires extremely fit central midfielders to cover ground, and fullbacks who can bomb up and down the pitch with ease. This may put a strain on the players, resulting in a possible decrease in efficiency over the course of the game or season.
To reiterate on above points:
There are a couple of main weaknesses to the diamond formation. Firstly, if the two central midfielders are narrow, it lacks a lot of width and
concedes dangerous overlap opportunities on the flanks(something you would happily do). However, should one of the central midfielders pull wide to cover the full-back, large spaces can appear in the middle of the pitch. This means that the formation can be extremely vulnerable defensively. Using Liverpool as an example (as harms did), it could be argued that a less cavalier formation might well have been the key to winning the title; using the diamond, the team
were counter-attacked ruthlessly at both Chelsea and Crystal Palace, both games proving extremely costly.
The diamond formation also demands a huge workload. On the full-backs, who are given the sole responsibility for an entire wing of the pitch; on the box-to-box players, who have to make a huge effort in both defence and attack; and finally, on the deep-lying playmaker. In this system, the deepest midfielder is the start point of the attacks, but often also has to act as the last line of defence – an auxiliary third centre-back. Once more, we can look at Liverpool (for the last time, I promise) and Steven Gerrard’s infamous slip to see how costly a mistake in this position can be.
Attacking fullbacks or wingbacks you use give you the width of your team. This, however, leaves gaps in the four-man defense, placing greater pressure on the central defenders and the lone defensive midfielder.
In essence you have much less margin for error:
- One mistake leaves huge opportunity for Romario, Messi, Ronaldo, Figo to exploit.
- Your side midfielders will be overworked and can't be at two places at the same time. The midfield domination you base your whole strategy on will need your midfielders to put a huge workload and again covering an absolute elite attackers.
- Very vulnerable on counter. One pass from deep overlaps your high up full backs leaving 3 vs 3 scenarios that could be easily exploited by our forwards.
And last but not least:
For all the comparison to Messi/Barca and other stuff Iniesta didn't play as a side midfielder in a diamond did he? He is not perfect in defensive sense - yes he will press he will contribute but he will not chase up and down players like a mad man, Davids style, to compensate for a player wide.
On top of that you criticized our CB pair due to being ball playing defenders, yet now you give it as a huge advantage having forwards that will press high. Having forwards that will press high against CB's that are very comfortable on the ball (the very best probably) will again leave huge gaps behind and if they are beaten you will easily be hit on a counter.
We aren't building this side around Messi and there lies the difference. Messi is integral part - of course but that doesn't mean he's our only source that would win us the game - far from it! It was never our intention. In terms of who is winning the game I'd say it's one way street and I just can't see you outscoring us.
You talk about Platini, but he comes in a zone where we have one of the best DM's in the game in Redondo, one of the best defensive box to box in Davids who will close him down in no time, and on top of that he's facing Figueroa and Baresi next and Buffon as the last line of defence.
Compare it on the other side where you have 2 full backs high up, Scirea combating Cristiano in the air:
and older Desailly fending off peak Romario:
You are doing a fantastic job defending your team and to me overselling your team, kudos for that, but proper encounter between the sides I just can't see it as well as not taking the likes of Messi, Romario, Baresi, Figueroa, Romario, Davids and Redondo in your side. I find that pretty hard to believe.