-----------------------------------Team Jayvin--------------------------------------------------------------------------Team Enigma----------------------------------
TEAM JAYVIN
OVERVIEW:
- Balanced team with numerous avenues of attack.
- Strong defensive midfield with a mixture of energy, passing ability and defensive nous.
- Rock-solid, highly athletic defence in front of a man-mountain of a goalkeeper.
- Prolific goalscorers in every position in attack
My team will play a counter-attacking style in a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 formation.
Romario spearheads a fluid attack with his movement, dribbling and acceleration dragging defenders around the pitch and his deadly finishing always a danger.
Henry operates as a LWF/SS, cutting inside to support Romario and keep Enigma's central defenders on their toes. Facchetti provides most of the width on the left side with his overlapping runs, while on the right it is Jairzinho providing the width when needed. Michel Platini rounds off the attack, playmaking from an attacking midfield position and bursting forward into space provided by the movement of Henry and Romario.
Keane and Bozsik marshal the midfield, with Keane in his favoured box-to-box position while Bozsik will play a holding role, using his strong tackling to win the ball and create counter attacks with his accurate passing from deep.
The team is rounded off by a well balanced defence with plenty of physicality, pace and composure on the ball, with a complimentary partnership of Jaap Stam and Rio Ferdinand. Facchetti once again has license to get forward when he can, being well covered by Bozsik and Stam on that side, while Thuram remains in a more defensive RB role and Jairzinho provides the majority of the width on the right hand side.
SUBS: Sandor KOCSIS, Wayne ROONEY, Neymar, Arjen ROBBEN, Wladyslaw ZMUDA, David DE GEA
TEAM ENIGMA
GK: Edwin van der Sar - complete GK- cool calm presence in the box. One of the best keepers in the last 2 decades and right up there with Schmikes in terms of United history.
LB: Karl-Heinz Schnellinger - Balanced - defensive. Has played sweeper, center back and left back in his career. He can tuck in and carry the ball forward when in possession if needed.
CB: Marcel Desailly - Stopper - marker. "The rock" in his solid and dominant CB role.
CB: Paolo Maldini: Complete Defender. One of the best defenders in history. A ferocious tackler and the master of the perfectly-time sliding tackle, Maldini was also such an astute reader of the game that his positioning allowed him to go whole games without having to make a tackle, and yet he never looked out of place, not even when he retired at the age of 40.
Right Back: Dani Alves - Offensive. In his best Barca incarnation.
Holding Midfielder: Bernd Schuster - Complete Midfielder. We're using an older version of Schuster here. Jayvin's midfield will consist of Bozsik, Keane and Platini centrally and most likely the physical key battle will be in the center of the pitch with Keane and Souness squaring up against each other. Schuster will play in a deeper role where he can distribute the play and also look for openings and find Eusebio, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho in the final third and of course stuck in with physical battles against Platini when needed. With his excellent positional skills and also covering skills (he played as a libero or midfield in Toshak's Real - a team that scored 107 goals in one season) he'll fit pretty well in this position for todays game.
Central Midfielder: Xavi - Playmaker. Probably the best playmaker in history. Kept the best Barca and Spain sides ticking for a decade
Central Midfielder: Graeme Souness. the best tackler in midfield. He would give us the edge in CM and along with Xavi and Schuster - all of whom dominated their opponents throughout their career bring the flair, passing range and defensive edge over Jayvin's midfield.
Left Forward: Ronaldinho: Free role. In his best and ridiculously good peak form.
Inside Right: Eusebio: Inside forward. At his best Eusebio played inside right or inside left just off the main striker.He's in his natural position and with Ronaldo movement up front he'll get plenty of chances to add to his tally - which is staggering - 580 goals in 575 games or more than goal per game. He would stretch the opposition (just like he did against Di Stefano's Real - springing right past him), score the decisive goals or link with Ronaldo and Ronaldinho up front.
Complete forward: Luis Ronaldo: Goalscorer. The best #9 in the game. He combines the off the ball movement, clinical finishing and skill that are second to none.
Tactical layout
4-3-3 - lopsided
Normal defensive line, fast direct tempo, look for openings and set the stage for our attacking trio.
Solid and rugged defence, midfield three generals either one who can boss a game.
Pace, interchangeability in attack - unpredictable on the flanks and through the middle
Even better defence - with the addition of Maldini.
Defence:
Our defence is consisted of Desailly - an absolute rock in his favorite and natural stopper role, Maldini who will be up against Romario in the same LCB position that he used to play in that 1994 CL final against Romario's Barca, that Milan won 4-0. Maldini is a great fit to both Romario and Henry who are most likely to occupy that space. K-H Schnellingerwill tuck in when we're attacking on the right and Dani Alves is bombing forward shoring up the defensive unit and not making us vulnerable on counter. Schnellinger is pretty much in his zone against Jairzinho who is the exact type of inside cutting in forward that he usually plays against. Dani Alves himself will have more attacking role down the flank, along with Eusebio in the inside right position they will combine and look to expose the openings on that left flank when Facchetti goes forward.
Midfield - Schuster will be playing a holding role like he did in his later years. Xavi and Souness will be tasked to give us the edge in midfield. All three of them have the ability to boss the game and win us the midfield battle against Jayvin's midfield.
Attack - Our task is to control the midfield and give service to our forward line which at their peak were ridiculously good. Ronaldo is a one man attack who at his best didn't have the support he's getting here from peak Eusebio and Ronaldinho. Ronaldo and Ronaldinho is a combination that won't raise any eyebrows whether it will work, while we add Eusebio who can drop in space without the traditional DM in Jayvin's team. With great playmakers in the side capable of providing the killer pass we need runners in the team and Ronaldo and Eusebio are just that.
Main advantages:
Midfield: Schuster, Xavi and Souness - three midfield generals with all the big bollocks needed to put a stamp on any game. Davids was a real loss to Jayvin's midfield and I'd favor our midfield to gain advantage early on with the more static Bozsik in Jayvin's team.
Attack: Eusebio, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho is the best attack I've assembled in these drafts and I'd back them to get the better of Jayvin's defensive core. Ronaldo has faced Rio in that United - Real tie that ended with him bagging a hattrick and he also faced Stam and was really handful for the Dutch. I feel our striking due would have the upper hand here which essentially could give us the tie.
Defence: Maldini and Romario is a good fit and I expect both to neutralize each other. Maldini has faced in the same role peak Romario so I expect him to have a good game here.
Jayvin has constructed an excellent team with no clear weaknesses, what I feel is where our main advantage comes is having the better individuals(barring his excellent full backs) in both attack, midfield and central defence - who should give us the edge in the game ad outscore the opposition.
