Biggest All-Time Draft - QF: NM vs Mazhar13

[Physiocrat]

NM

Mazhar13

NM Tactics

Every single player is extremely comfortable on the ball (with the exception of Makelele but we all know what his role is). The goal is to control the game via Makelele, Neeskens and Charlton, and for the wingers to provide opportunities for Kocsis (one of the best ever in the air). Czibor, Hamrin and Charlton are all goal threats in their own right, and Neeskens is fantastic as box-to-box and a great playmaker in his own right..
The defense is marshalled by Scirea, with a Bergomi covering for when he decides to get involved in midfield. Gerets and Cole are both fantastic fullbacks that can cover that as well.

Mazhar13 Tactics

Spoiler: Attacking Shape

The team largely remains the same outside of a couple of key personnel upgrades and the return of Pep Guardiola for Valderrama. Pep's a more defensively astute player and can also drop back to form a back 3, allowing Djalma Santos to play a bigger part on the attack if required. Overall, though, he'll play a more conservative role at right back to allow Evra to play more aggressively and offer more support to Maradona on the left flank. With Guardiola anchoring and Conti offering more defensive support on the right wing, both Davids and Schweinsteiger will have more freedom to push up and play a bigger part on the attack. With Maradona playing in the same role as he did for Argentina in the '86 World Cup, he'll have more than enough support to be a major attacking weapon for us.

Given the huge amount of talent in NM's side, the team is set up to make the midfield as difficult to play through as possible. The flanks will have more defensive protection particularly with the addition of Djalma Santos and Pep anchoring the midfield. Pep's defensive nous and reading of the game will be very important in plugging the gaps hence his inclusion into this team. On the attack, NM's side will need to be incredibly wary of Maradona but can't afford to put less attention on the other well-rounded players in Weah, Schweinsteiger, and Conti.

 

[Physiocrat]

@mazhar13 @NM @Šjor Bepo

Game on!

 

[mazhar13]

@mazhar13 @NM @Šjor Bepo

Game on!

Thanks for setting this up. Unfortunately, you took the wrong image for my Attacking Shape. The image in the DM is this:

Spoiler: Attacking Shape

 

[Physiocrat]

Thanks for setting this up. Unfortunately, you took the wrong image for my Attacking Shape. The image in the DM is this:

Spoiler: Attacking Shape

Should be correct now

 

[mazhar13]

To kick this off, I want to acknowledge the immense quality in NM's side. This will be the toughest test for my team yet. With the ever-increasing quality in my opponents, this is where players like Djalma Santos and Pep can be key in offering that little bit extra on both ends of the pitch. Djalma's ability on the ball cannot be questioned unlike Gentile's. He was terrific in being able to bring the ball forward and also playing a part higher up if needed. If Conti needs help, then Djalma will be there to offer him that help and give him more space and time. On that note, this is where Pep becomes critical; he was terrific for the Dream Team in being able to fill into the back line and plug the gaps in the middle. When Djalma goes forward, Pep should be fine in filling into the back line with Piqué drifting out the right as he did for Barcelona whenever Busquets dropped back. On the defensive transition, both Schweini and Davids have the legs to keep up and also be able to close down the opposition in order to slow down the attacks and allow us to regroup.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

 

[Physiocrat]

That makes much more sense. Hamrin and Czibor can play closer to Kocsis meaning he's less isolated too.

 

[NM]

Sorry guys I've not been able to give this much thought due to personal stuff. I've never seen Charlton in a midfield but there are folks here a lot more knowledgeable than me imo. I think I have overall more quality across the park with the probable exception of Diego. Not much creativity other than him imo, and Makelele is probably best in the world to try and shackle him

 

[mazhar13]

This formation looks more pleasing on the eye, but in terms of how the match will play out, I don't see much changing for my team.

Sorry guys I've not been able to give this much thought due to personal stuff. I've never seen Charlton in a midfield but there are folks here a lot more knowledgeable than me imo. I think I have overall more quality across the park with the probable exception of Diego. Not much creativity other than him imo, and Makelele is probably best in the world to try and shackle him

I like Makélélé, but Maradona is a totally different beast to anyone else he's ever had to deal with. In the '86 World Cup, Maradona was man-marked by two different players when playing against Italy as well as having to deal with a back line containing both of your centre backs. Here's a full performance showing him still be a big threat despite having to carry the Argentina team on the attack:


His goal against them is a perfect encapsulation of the damage he can do, and that was in an Argentina side that was worse in overall quality than my team. Scirea had no chance against him. Whilst Maradona is the main creator in my team, this shouldn't downplay the attacking capabilities of my other players. Conti was more than just a shuttling wing back; he was one of the most creative right wingers and a huge attacking threat on the right. Weah was terrific in linking up with his teammates and will make my team more fluid and unpredictable going forward. Schweinsteiger was also an incredibly skillful midfielder with terrific passing, which is why the Bayern teams he was in still performed at a very high level even without Toni Kroos in the midfield.

Simply put, your team will need to focus on everyone, but that's where Maradona is at his most dangerous. To stifle him, you basically need to hope that the rest of the team isn't worth paying attention to, but you can ignore Weah and his goalscoring prowess, Schweinsteiger and his all-round game, Davids and his skill and dribbling, and Conti and his incision from the right wing.

 

[Synco]

I guess NM's team would quite naturally end up in this shape, no matter the OP graphic.

 

[Physiocrat]

There will be goals in this game. Mazhar's CB pairing let's him down a bit. Gone for NM.

 

[NM]

Sorry I could not be active guys. @mazhar13 great team meant to get the best out of Maradonna. I just think I have better overall quality.

 

[mazhar13]

Sorry I could not be active guys. @mazhar13 great team meant to get the best out of Maradonna. I just think I have better overall quality.

It's all good. Your team's terrific, and I hope that it goes all the way. I think my team's major crux was the centre backs; I took a chance on the more modern centre backs, but I guess they won't be as highly rated until further down the line. Personally, I rate both Piqué and Chiellini very highly as both have been hugely successful as well as incredibly consistent with their performances.

 

[NM]

It's all good. Your team's terrific, and I hope that it goes all the way. I think my team's major crux was the centre backs; I took a chance on the more modern centre backs, but I guess they won't be as highly rated until further down the line. Personally, I rate both Piqué and Chiellini very highly as both have been hugely successful as well as incredibly consistent with their performances.

I rate Chiellini highly too, but Pique is good but not "all time" good imo. Once the Barca midfield got old, I think that showed.

 

[mazhar13]

I rate Chiellini highly too, but Pique is good but not "all time" good imo. Once the Barca midfield got old, I think that showed.

At around the same time, Piqué himself also got older and lost the athleticism that allowed him to keep up with the opposition. On the ball, he was still terrific, mind you, but defensively, he needed more protection as he got older. At his peak, he was playing in Pep's highly aggressive 4-3-3 setups with Busquets dropping back to form a 3, two wing backs pushing high up, and both Xavi and Iniesta basically doing the work in the midfield along with Cesc on several occasions. He had no issues in keeping up with the more athletic players and used his smarts to deal with the more physical attacking players. Regardless, he has more protection here with Djalma and the midfield.

Anyways, I had a feeling that both Piqué and Alba wouldn't be so highly rated a bit after I drafted them in, so I was trying to replace/cover for them to the best of my abilities later on.

 

[Gio]

It's all good. Your team's terrific, and I hope that it goes all the way. I think my team's major crux was the centre backs; I took a chance on the more modern centre backs, but I guess they won't be as highly rated until further down the line. Personally, I rate both Piqué and Chiellini very highly as both have been hugely successful as well as incredibly consistent with their performances.

I rate Chiellini very highly, particularly in this role and in this sort of counter-attacking Mista system where he looks absolutely at home.

Pique looks fine there next to him, but him and Pep didn't feel quite as in tune with that system for me.

 

[mazhar13]

I rate Chiellini very highly, particularly in this role and in this sort of counter-attacking Mista system where he looks absolutely at home.

Pique looks fine there next to him, but him and Pep didn't feel quite as in tune with that system for me.

Yeah, in hindsight, I probably should've replaced both Pep and Piqué and persisted with Gentile and Causio. I still would've had a tough ask, but at least the players would be fully compatible.

 

[Demyanenko_square_jaw]

Neeskens-Charlton would work great in a square, but it's maybe too Roy of the Rovers for Makelele on his own imo.