Harms - Trapattoni
What happens when anunstoppable force immovable object meets an immovable object? Probably nothing. Despite all the firepower on both sides of the pitch in Van Basten, Gullit, Baggio and Platini I fully expect this much to be decided by one or, maximum, two goals.
Edgar’s team is based on, probably, the greatest club team in history, but, as he chose Capello and not Sacchi, it is the same players, yet not on their non-arguable peak, which was a few years earlier. I just want to describe the situation – when Capello replaced Sacchi, Matthäus was the current Ballon D’Or winner and he will be a runner-up for the next one. In 1992 Van Basten won it, in 1993 it was Baggio and in 1994 Baggio was a runner-up. What am I talking about? Capello’s Milan was dominant in the league, but the best individual players from that time (who played in inferior teams) are, actually, playing against him today.
That Milan (both Sacchi’s and Capello’s) was the best side in the great Serie A of late 80’s and 90’s. The best players from all over the world played there and the games against Milan were a litmus test for them to prove their claims for a true greatness. Matthäus was the main inspiration for Inter to won the 88/89 Serie A title with a huge points gap, Baggio proved himself to be the best player in the world during their dominance, even on the bench I have Batistuta, who played for an awful Fiorentina side (8-2 defeat against Lazio in 94/95 comes to mind, for example) and still managed to score a couple of goals past Baresi, Maldini and Costacurta. He also tore apart Costacurta a few years later, when he was in the form of his life under Trapattoni.
Some tactical nuances. I changed my defensive strategy for this game. Gentile is moving on the right to man-mark Nedved and Kohler takes his place next to Scirea to help him and Bergomi to deal with physicality of Gullit and Van Basten. It was incredibly hard to score against me before – now it will be impossible.
Key points:
Capillows are fantastic because they are based on a real team – this is their strength and this is their weakness. It’s incredibly hard to upgrade that side, especially with the restricted pool – and Edgar made the best of it. But that side, as mythical as it is, was still beatable – and some of my players actually did it (both in one game and on the distance) with their teams being much weaker than mine. I would imagine it would be much easier with GOAT’s all around you. Stone-wall defence, hardworking and immensely talented midfield, free-flowing attack - it looks just like the team in the final of fantasy tournament should look like.
Some footage of my players against Capillows is posted below
PLAYER PROFILES
PLAYER PROFILES 2
------------------------------------Harms(sub after 3h)---------------------------------------------------------------------------Edgar
Edgar - Capello
Formation:
A conservative 4-3-3 or a attacking 4-5-1 depending on how you look at it.
Team Improvements:
Frank Rijkaard takes his place in the team, the man Sacchi had to fight with Berlusconi to get into this team. 'The Hurricane' with his power, pace, tactical nous became a defensive mainstay in the team and this along with his elegance in game play and willingness to push forward in open play and at set-pieces made him a threat to opposition as much as he was a shield to ours.
Gigi Buffon is widely considered by experts to be one of the most dominant and successful goalkeepers in history. There are no weaknesses to his game and he is able to deliver top performances consistently. An outstanding shot stopper, one of the best in world in dealing crosses, a master defensive organizer, this man has it all and despite having a legendary back line in front of him, his calm and composed performance will surely be appreciated by them.
Dynamics:
+ Rock solid back 4. Arguably the greatest defensive unit in history. As best as it could get. As a defensive unit, Maldini-Baresi-Costacurta are a shade better than what Scirea was part of. Talking about 1982 WC, I would argue that it was more on Gentile man-making that proved to be more effective rather than them as a defensive unit closing down opposition totally...something that Baresi's Milan were masters of.
+ From a defensive point of view, Redondo-Desailly-Rijkaard as just perfect. Positioning, power, pace, strength, elegance, their ability will inevitably dominate the midfield.
+ Moving up, Redondo and Rijkaard cannot be classified as simple DM's. Both are equally comfortable moving up to dictate play and are a threat to opposition on their own.
+ Nedved and Gullit roam the attacking midfield. Good workrate, technical ability, flexibility to cut inside or drift out, they will are perfectly poised to transition and support offence and defence as quickly.
+ van Basten. Best striker on the pitch. The proven partnership of playing with Gullit adds more to my favour.
Tactics:
+ Cafu is a better fullback than Cabrini. With simply unlimited stamina, he will motor up and down shoring defence when off possession and pushing up to provide width when in possession (allowing Gullit to move up as support striker). Baggio who would not contribute in tracking back that much (which Gullit will) and Gullit's presence there ensures Cabrini does not commit forward too much or too often... and... this creates a big link up problem there. Cafu/Gullit will function better and much more productive than Cabrini/Baggio. I hold a significant advantage that side.
+ Platini is the playmaker in harms team and the way he is st up, most of the plays will flow through Platini. The presence of Desailly will hamper Platini much. Marcel was immense under Capello and he has the power and pace to mitigate Platini to a great extent. Rijkaard and Redondo (who are world class and would complement each other perfectly) would simply sink back to form a 3 man shield in front of that already super efficient defence and comfortably handle anything Matthaus/Tardelli can throw at them. Bergomi's defensive role coupled with Nedved there would ensure that Boniek would be isolated. Without Platini to channel and Boniek isolated Baggio would be dropping deeper to create, blunting his threat upfront.
On the other hand, both Nedved and Gullit have the pace and work rate to effective bridge the midfield. they are excellent grafters. Off possession, they will hound after the ball as a 5 man midfield and when on possession, they just step up to increase the threat upfront. The versatility of the players provides for a much smoother transition for the team as a whole which would be highly difficult for harms team to handle.
What happens when an
Edgar’s team is based on, probably, the greatest club team in history, but, as he chose Capello and not Sacchi, it is the same players, yet not on their non-arguable peak, which was a few years earlier. I just want to describe the situation – when Capello replaced Sacchi, Matthäus was the current Ballon D’Or winner and he will be a runner-up for the next one. In 1992 Van Basten won it, in 1993 it was Baggio and in 1994 Baggio was a runner-up. What am I talking about? Capello’s Milan was dominant in the league, but the best individual players from that time (who played in inferior teams) are, actually, playing against him today.
That Milan (both Sacchi’s and Capello’s) was the best side in the great Serie A of late 80’s and 90’s. The best players from all over the world played there and the games against Milan were a litmus test for them to prove their claims for a true greatness. Matthäus was the main inspiration for Inter to won the 88/89 Serie A title with a huge points gap, Baggio proved himself to be the best player in the world during their dominance, even on the bench I have Batistuta, who played for an awful Fiorentina side (8-2 defeat against Lazio in 94/95 comes to mind, for example) and still managed to score a couple of goals past Baresi, Maldini and Costacurta. He also tore apart Costacurta a few years later, when he was in the form of his life under Trapattoni.
Some tactical nuances. I changed my defensive strategy for this game. Gentile is moving on the right to man-mark Nedved and Kohler takes his place next to Scirea to help him and Bergomi to deal with physicality of Gullit and Van Basten. It was incredibly hard to score against me before – now it will be impossible.
Key points:
- My midfield is going to dominate the game here – defensive change frees up Scirea to participate in midfield battle and I also have the best central midfielder on the pitch (and arguably in history). Matthäus’s runs will be my wildcard here.
- There is a story about Platini’s first weeks in Juve – he struggled do adapt due to his injury/fitness problems and disappointed Gianni Anielli supposedly said: "It's useless to have Platini, if the game goes through the feet of Furino". Furino (36 years old at this point) was dropped and Platini had one of the best spells of his career – he managed to lead the team to the second place in Serie A and the finals of European and Italian Cups (he won the latter) and to become a Serie A top scorer. Well, Platini didn’t set the world alight in this draft so far – but, with Furino on the bench, maybe we will see his magical transformation once again? Just a reminder – he is a playmaker that has 1 in 2 goal record overall his career.
Capillows are fantastic because they are based on a real team – this is their strength and this is their weakness. It’s incredibly hard to upgrade that side, especially with the restricted pool – and Edgar made the best of it. But that side, as mythical as it is, was still beatable – and some of my players actually did it (both in one game and on the distance) with their teams being much weaker than mine. I would imagine it would be much easier with GOAT’s all around you. Stone-wall defence, hardworking and immensely talented midfield, free-flowing attack - it looks just like the team in the final of fantasy tournament should look like.
Some footage of my players against Capillows is posted below
In the game that Juventus won 1:3, Baggio provided a beautiful assist (3:00) and a world-class goal (5:40)
Completely run the show in 1:3 win against Sacchi's Milan. Assisted a goal, won and converted the penalty. Trapattoni's Inter had a pretty good record against Milan in that years.
The first goal is just brilliant. Maldini, Baresi? Who?
And here is the humiliation of Costacurta, as I promised
And here is the humiliation of Costacurta, as I promised
PLAYER PROFILES
PLAYER PROFILES 2
------------------------------------Harms(sub after 3h)---------------------------------------------------------------------------Edgar
Edgar - Capello
Formation:
A conservative 4-3-3 or a attacking 4-5-1 depending on how you look at it.
Team Improvements:
Frank Rijkaard takes his place in the team, the man Sacchi had to fight with Berlusconi to get into this team. 'The Hurricane' with his power, pace, tactical nous became a defensive mainstay in the team and this along with his elegance in game play and willingness to push forward in open play and at set-pieces made him a threat to opposition as much as he was a shield to ours.
Gigi Buffon is widely considered by experts to be one of the most dominant and successful goalkeepers in history. There are no weaknesses to his game and he is able to deliver top performances consistently. An outstanding shot stopper, one of the best in world in dealing crosses, a master defensive organizer, this man has it all and despite having a legendary back line in front of him, his calm and composed performance will surely be appreciated by them.
Dynamics:
+ Rock solid back 4. Arguably the greatest defensive unit in history. As best as it could get. As a defensive unit, Maldini-Baresi-Costacurta are a shade better than what Scirea was part of. Talking about 1982 WC, I would argue that it was more on Gentile man-making that proved to be more effective rather than them as a defensive unit closing down opposition totally...something that Baresi's Milan were masters of.
+ From a defensive point of view, Redondo-Desailly-Rijkaard as just perfect. Positioning, power, pace, strength, elegance, their ability will inevitably dominate the midfield.
+ Moving up, Redondo and Rijkaard cannot be classified as simple DM's. Both are equally comfortable moving up to dictate play and are a threat to opposition on their own.
+ Nedved and Gullit roam the attacking midfield. Good workrate, technical ability, flexibility to cut inside or drift out, they will are perfectly poised to transition and support offence and defence as quickly.
+ van Basten. Best striker on the pitch. The proven partnership of playing with Gullit adds more to my favour.
Tactics:
+ Cafu is a better fullback than Cabrini. With simply unlimited stamina, he will motor up and down shoring defence when off possession and pushing up to provide width when in possession (allowing Gullit to move up as support striker). Baggio who would not contribute in tracking back that much (which Gullit will) and Gullit's presence there ensures Cabrini does not commit forward too much or too often... and... this creates a big link up problem there. Cafu/Gullit will function better and much more productive than Cabrini/Baggio. I hold a significant advantage that side.
+ Platini is the playmaker in harms team and the way he is st up, most of the plays will flow through Platini. The presence of Desailly will hamper Platini much. Marcel was immense under Capello and he has the power and pace to mitigate Platini to a great extent. Rijkaard and Redondo (who are world class and would complement each other perfectly) would simply sink back to form a 3 man shield in front of that already super efficient defence and comfortably handle anything Matthaus/Tardelli can throw at them. Bergomi's defensive role coupled with Nedved there would ensure that Boniek would be isolated. Without Platini to channel and Boniek isolated Baggio would be dropping deeper to create, blunting his threat upfront.
On the other hand, both Nedved and Gullit have the pace and work rate to effective bridge the midfield. they are excellent grafters. Off possession, they will hound after the ball as a 5 man midfield and when on possession, they just step up to increase the threat upfront. The versatility of the players provides for a much smoother transition for the team as a whole which would be highly difficult for harms team to handle.
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