idmanager
VS
Lord SInister
TACTICS
idmanager:
VS
Lord SInister
TACTICS
Formation: 4-4-2, defend deep and hit hard on the counter
Defense:
Dietz, the Euro 1980 winning captain of Germany, is a great option here to face Messi. He played as a full back in the first phase of his career and as CB in the latter phase. He would play a very narrow LB staying very close to Aldair, almost like a tucked in LCB. Him being naturally right footed will be hugely helpful while facing Messi cutting inside.
Aldair, won the world cup with Brazil and reached a final in another, while being at the centre of defence in both. Apart from being solid in defense, his job would also be to initiate quick counters with his brilliant passing range
Costacurta, part of the greatest defense ever. Solid as a rock. Doesn't need any introduction.
Neville, will play the role he played in so many 4-4-2 setups at United along with Beckham. Both complement each other perfectly in both attack and defense. Neville's crosses from deep will be an asset.
Midfield:
If I had to choose a perfect central midfield for a 4-4-2 to work in an all time draft, I wouldn't have to look far beyond this pair.
Effenberg: Keep it tight defensively on his side, suffocate the opposition with his high energy, help out against Messi. And most importantly, use his passing range and long passes to initiate quick decisive counters
Matthaus: If there was ever someone to mark out Maradona in this draft, it is this guy. Has done it in the past and will do it again. Another high energy player who would be perfect in a counter attacking system with his defensive work and quick direct offensive counters.
Beckham: For a 4-4-2 to work against absolute elite players, you need someone like Beckham who would work their socks off for the team. Nothing needs to be said about his crossing and goal creating capabilities. What needs to be highlighted is his ability to drift in centrally and help out Matthaus and Effenberg in the midfield which is what he will be instructed to do here to add numbers to the midfield battle.
Attack:
Gento: The absolute best left winger in the draft and probably the fastest player as well. Perfect for a quick counter attacking team with his blistering pace and ability to create goals. His goal scoring rate was amazing as well.
Again, if you had to design the perfect front two for 4-4-2 in a all time draft, you wouldn't need to look far from these two. The inter play between the two should cause havoc.
Henry: Fast, can create, can score. Loads. Don't need many opportunities to score.
Ronaldo: Fast, can create, can score. Loads. Don't need many opportunities to score.
Opposition weaknesses:
1. His team is filled with shiny players who don't complement the formation and each other at all. Big names, but bigger mismatches in both attack and defense.
2. Messi never played in a 4 man attack setup as a RW, right from his starting season at Barca. Maradona would not have too much space as well and his best came in 3 man setups too. Two players who need lots of space, in the same areas of the field, bumping into each other simply won't work.
3. Beckenbauer in a 4 man defense with 2 attacking fullbacks, one of whom is terrible defensively and is going to be roasted in an all time context is a recipe for disaster, especially against a fast counter attacking setup which is probably one of the best, most fluid and most importantly, perfect setup wise in the whole of draft.
4. His defense and attack lacks what mine does. Cohesiveness. They simply don't work with the setup or each other. I don't have as many shiny names, neither does anyone else in the draft, but my players work perfectly with each other and against the opponents strengths.
Lord SInister:
I am playing a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Player profiles:
David de Gea: DDG is as complete as a modern goalkeeper can be. Blessed with world class command, distribution, shot-stopping and reliability.
Carrying a rather underwhelming Manchester United for years, he has cemented his status as one of the finest goalkeeper of this century, second to none when it comes to performances.
Eric Geret: What do you look for in your right back, boundless stamina, good defensive ability, good crossing and an able support to the attack, along with superb individual talent.
Eric Gerets is a man who had all these in him, along with a leadership quality.
Japp Stam: The greatest defender to put on the United shirt, Stam was a monster of a defender, blessed with everything a defender should have. Strong as anybody and tough as anybody.
Franz Beckenbauer: Well the greatest sweeper-defender of all time. A legit top 10 player of all time, leader, pioneer player. Nothing more to say.
Christian Ziege: One of the most underrated lateral defenders, great teams are not just build on golden boys, but also tireless workhorses. Zeige is one such player, alongside Gerets.
Ziege was a player who had excellent balance in both attack and defense with excellent pace, able to play almost all the roles of a left back whether a wingback, traditional defensive left back or an inverted left back given his comfort with the ball in the midfield(he played as a CDM/MF during his time in BM).
Jean Tigana: Well one of the very few midfielder who was as good defensively as he was offensively. Few people could combine combined stamina and acceleration, along with perfect technique, vision and passing as Tigana had. People remember him as the part of the second version of the "carré magique" where he had an defensive Fernandez to support him defensively, what many forget is in the original "carré magique", he had to do all the defensive duties, given the original magica had 3 #10s(Genghini-Platini-Giresse). Such immense was he.
Roy Keane: Call it luck or anything, like Tigana, Keane is also one of the very few midfielder who was as good defensively as he was offensively. Keane was a pure box to box who could move up and down.
Keane was a reliable and precise passer, a strong tackler and a player who could not be the support system and the man of the team.
Franck Ribéry: He is an tactical choice, as there are not many players who are as good as him on ball while being a support player who does the job offensively and defensively(tracking back and stuffs) with same intensity. He been the best left winger for long period of time for years, racking up double figure assists and scoring goals for free.
Diego Maradona: Well the name is enough.
Lionel Messi: look at Maradona's description.
Sandor Kocsis: Greatest header of all time, while being excellent with both feet, technically outstanding, well one of the greatest striker and one of the most underrated player, someone who should be talked along with Romario, Muller, Van basten and Ronaldo as the elite strikers of all time.
4-2-3-1:
The reason for choosing this formation was that the back four gives the adequate width for my with or without the ball, the two holding midfielders cover the space in the front of the centre backs and creative midfielders/wingers/strikers have enough cover behind their back to play their own game with freedom.
The Back-four and Goalie:
DDG will play the ball out from the back. and the four defender will position themselves to provide him with passing and throwing options.
Beckenbauer and Japp Stam, play a traditional sweeper-stopper central defense partnership.
With Beckenbauer at times(mostly during counters) playing his accurate long balls down the wings for Messi and Ribery to make their devastating runs behind the defends to either go at goal, or make plays for Kocsis to finish.
Eric and Christian have enough space to help the attacks on the flanks by overlapping the Messi and Ribery at times. This does create situations where we will double up the wings and will be used to get behind the idmanger's defence. They will safely run high on the pitch they will be protected by Tigana and Keane.
The Central defensive Midfield/Pivot:
In this formation, I will be using Tigana as defensive one, who will be more responsible for covering and playing simple passes. Keane is the more box to box one in my formation. But this does not mean, Tigana will always sit back, when in possession, Tigana will interchange with Keane for the box to box role. But he will primarily be the more defensive, simple play.
Central Play-maker and other attackers:
Messi, Maradona and Ribery have enough space and cover to show their individual skills as they have a the two MFs, two CB and one of the FBs staying deep to help them. one of the Gerets or can overlap the wide midfielders so they have to help them open up space. All three are world class at beating their man, while Messi and Maradona alone can beat 3-4 and finish, but I would advise them to move the ball more, rather than trying to do all by themselves, and both have during career have been good students of the game, always respecting the tactics over their individual indulgence. Same with Ribery.
Messi and Ribery will move towards the inside, and reason for having them play left and right. as in real life is because they both are opposite footed players playing in opposite wings(right footed Ribery|although he two-footed as one can be|. When they are on the ball when running towards the middle, either of the Gerets/Ziege(depending on who is on the ball Messi/Ribery) can make an overlap so they force the ID's f full back to decide who to go with. And all of my flankers have played in such roles, where they developed good wing partnership.
Another important thing will be Messi and his diagonal passes to the left wing to help Ziege/Ribery get behind and shoot, or Ribery/Ziege get behind and cross to Kocsis to head.
Maradona, our key playmaker, will always be ready to get between the id's lines and ask for the ball.
Once he is on the ball he will turn towards goal and either make a creative pass for Messi/Ribery/Kocsis or finish individually by striking on goal.
Kocsis will employ in a two-way role to confuse id's defense, with enough creative force to support him and enough space to move towards the wings when needed. Kocsis at one time will be in the middle dragging defenders with his east-west runs and confusing them while also at times moving towards the wings/get deeper to give passing options/keep possession. Does not mean he will drift from his main task, as he will always be on time, arriving accurately in the middle from wings to finish attacks, being played one-twos by Messi/Maradona/Ribery.
Pressing game/Central Game:
We will try to force the id's team towards the flanks and Kocsis will have an important role, as he will hassle ID's defenders to play the ball to the full backs and when the ball is given to his full backs, my team will suffocate the space around him. with us and cut every single possibilities for him, so he would rather play the ball or loose it.
And if the ball is played through the middle, Maradona and co will harass the midfield, as he is quite known in his playing time of doing it.
also at times when opposition might play the ball down the middle, we will drop back and organize the field. Since we are blessed to have 2 defensively adequate midfielders Tigana and Keane will be given different roles in defense according to the ball's actual position and id's team movement and possession status.
Both will have their zones to press and shutout the opposition from getting one-v-one or two-v-two against our defenders.
Kocsis will also in this scenarios should drop back behind the ball's line when Messi/Ribery will put pressure on their man with the ball. Our team's optimal length will always be between 20-30 meters.
But we will always be ready if id manager's team is trying to play a long ball in behind our defense, and since both Beckenbauer and Stam have adequate speed, there will be no trouble for that.
Counters:
When we will win the ball in the break, one of either Keane or Tigana(both have good long passing skills) and if Becks(he also had excellent long passing skills) wins it, will try to attack empty spaces created on the flanks. And I am blessed with two very fast/tricky flankers in Messi and Ribery. who can take the ball fast either go at the goal, play the ball quickly to Kocsis or Maradona.
Kocsis will play an important role here,he has to drag and occupy the id's CBs to open up space on the flanks. And he has the speed and tactical guile to play the role effectively
Almost impossible to upgrade if we're talking about 4-4-2. Ridiculously unlucky to come up against sinister's team so early.
