MPFG Fraft QF: Gio vs Sjor

Who will win?

  • Total voters
    10
  • Poll closed .

Edgar Allan Pillow

Ero-Sennin
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-------------------------------------------------- TEAM GIO ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEAM SJOR --------------------------------------------------------



TEAM GIO


LEADING FROM THE FRONT
The attack is refreshed and reshaped through the introduction of Kylian Mbappe. His searing acceleration and devastating close control makes him dangerous in both tight and open spaces. Attacking from the left side is the posterboy of the golden age of Serie A, Beppe Signori. He elevated Lazio to title contenders up against some of the greatest teams in history. In a miserly era for attackers, he scored 188 goals in Serie A, achieving a goals-to-game ratio that was better than anyone else in the top 10 Serie A scorers of all time (with the exception of Meazza and Nordahl who both played in somewhat more open eras). Both forwards will relish the service and space provided by the inventive Roberto Mancini who drops into a false 9 role. While Sjor's Atletico/Anglo defence would have largely cancelled out our more physical/aerial Bettega-led attack from the first game, the greater threat posed by this trio on the ground is likely to ask them big questions.

TAKING CONTROL OF MIDFIELD
The midfield is built around the talents of Andrea Pirlo. As the playmaking heart-beat of Milan's Champions League wins in 2003 and 2007, of Italy's World Cup win in 2006, and the player of the tournament at Euro 2012, he is a serial tournament dominator who delivers against the best teams on the biggest occasions. His £60m price tag was perhaps somewhat of a bargain, but also reflects that building the right set-up around him is not straightforward.

With that in mind, we have paired him first with Edgar Davids whose ravenous ball-winning and recirculating abilities complement Pirlo's attributes. As a partnership it has shades of the highly successful Pirlo/Gattuso dynamic for club and country, but fired up a couple of levels. His other midfield partner is Claudio Marchisio with whom he formed a telepathic tandem as part of the tremendous Juventus midfield of the early to mid 2010s. What I like about Marchisio is his adaptability in different midfield roles - not only does he have the physical (see his side-shuttling roles) and technical (see him assuming the 6 role post-Pirlo) qualities - but he has the tactical intelligence to know how to best complete a midfield unit in the best interests of the team.

STRENGTH AT THE BACK
Franco Baresi leads a San Siro themed defence . To his left is his Milan counterpart Karl-Heinz Schnellinger who mirrors Maldini's ability to defend well centrally while also providing good quality on the ball. Baresi's partner in the centre is his national team counterpart Giuseppe Bergomi. Together Baresi and Bergom kept a clean sheet in two thirds of their games together (30 out of 50 matches), including a run of 11 clean sheets in 13 games up to and including the 1990 World Cup when they hit their peaks. Completing the back four is Javier Zanetti who, like Davids and other Duracell bunnies in the side, has the energy to jmatch Sjor's Atletico-themed unit and then inject a load of flank-dominating quality on top of that.

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TEAM SJOR


Tactics:
Low-balanced defensive block, defend as a unit with only Garrincha having a bit more freedom on the defensive end as potential counter and with Griez there to cover when needed.
Plan is to pretty much secure the back as much as possible with 2 GOAT PL defenders in Terry and Adams who form a natural partnership and should excel in this system. Two fullbacks that showed in a similar system they can perform at the highest level against all time greats level of opposition.
In the engine room two warriors, my defensive wall of Senna and one of the most underrated DMs in history - Gabi. Heart and soul of that famous great Atletico side.
Two wizards on the wing, Griezmann as the glue both offensive and defensive wise and Pele up front.

Conclusion:
Tough team to beat, great defensive wise and with Gray, Griez and specifically Pele and Garrincha in the offensive end, team always has a great chance to win, against anyone.
 
@Gio How much will Davids contribute on the left wing?

@Šjor Bepo Why didn't you play Pele as the more withdrawn striker? I don't really see him hitting it off with Griezmann.
 
Physiocrat said:
@Gio How much will Davids contribute on the left wing?

@Šjor Bepo Why didn't you play Pele as the more withdrawn striker? I don't really see him hitting it off with Griezmann.
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Few reasons actually:
  • No point of having Garrincha Pele combo if im gonna use 70 Pele
  • also, 70 version of Pele is a bit overused, its all we see this days so wanted to have him as a proper striker
  • Griezmann who is a lovely player on his own(more on that later) also rectifies the only weakness of this team and thats Garrincha's lack of workrate
 
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The man, the myth, the legend.
Where it all went wrong i have no idea, because of it he is already a forgotten man.....we dont even need to fast forward few years to achieve that. But what a player, what a spectacle of a player he was before it went south. Absolutely adored him as a player at his peak, pretty much a perfect forward player, every quality i look in a player - he had it. Even though he was a superstar, when on the pitch the team was at first place, worked harder of the ball then majority midfielders and fullbacks. On the ball he was fantastic but again not too a point where he would over do it or make it about him. Good decision making, good athletic capabilities, great awareness and technique + had a very good end product, personally dont care about that but its a plus!
At his peak he was a dream teammate and therefor striker version of Pele would love him and it also made him a perfect player for my team. Irrelevant i have good numbers of his old teammates but he offers exactly what the team needs. He will be the link man in all phases of play, one that makes this team special, one that will provide Pele and Garrincha the stage to shine.



He is also crucial on the defensive end as he is there to cover for Garrincha when needed. Seeing that flank is Schnellinger and Signori at LW there probably wouldnt be a need to do it often but when its needed. he is there!
 
Šjor Bepo said:
Few reasons actually:
  • No point of having Garrincha Pele combo if im gonna use 70 Pele
  • also, 70 version of Pele is a bit overused, its all we see this days so wanted to have him as a proper striker
  • Griezmann who is a lovely player on his own(more on that later) also rectifies the only weakness of this team and thats Garrincha's lack of workrate
Click to expand...

See I don't think Pele was ever a main striker even in 58: he played off Vava. His physical peak in 66 he was a playmaking forward.



Edit - this is from 58 final. His average positioning is further back than what you would want your main striker to do in a 442 IMO. I could possibly buy him as a false 9 (in his mid 60s incarnation) but not as the furthest forward main striker.

Btw I am unconvinced of Gio's left flank at present. Am on the fence.
 
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Physiocrat said:
See I don't think Pele was ever a main striker even in 58: he played off Vava. His physical peak in 66 he was a playmaking forward.



Edit - this is from 58 final. His average positioning is further back than what you would want your main striker to do in a 442 IMO. I could possibly buy him as a false 9 (in his mid 60s incarnation) but not as the furthest forward main striker.

Btw I am unconvinced of Gio's left flank at present. Am on the fence.
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He didnt just play for Brazil.....i wont pretend i know much about him, generally dont care about brazilians and Pele is the one GOAT i watched the least but from what i know he was gradually dropping down rather then being someone who was always a SS. Maybe @Invictus knows more, i remember he was sending me some vids about 4 specific peaks and IIRC even in mid to late 60s he was seen as a striker.

Also, he isnt here in a lone striker role he is as a part of two so will have freedom to drop whenever he wants but aim is to keep him closer to the goal.
 
gio literally has Signori and Mancini in roles they never played(and i buy both roles) yet we are somehow questioning Pele in a 2 striker attack
 
For me, it was a fairly straight forward vote.

Pele/Garrincha runs into Baresi-Bergomi/Schnellinger-Davids.

You can't better than shield in a restricted draft like this.

Pirlo was anyways always going to win my vote in such a great setup for him. Has to be a special team to steal my vote away from Pirlo this draft.
 
Gio said:
Sorry had a family emergency to attend to, will try to post later.

Will post later.
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Hope its all good in the end, dont worry about this crap i will only respond about questions on my team
 
Going with Gio or to be more precise Pirlo. Think he deserves to have a proper run in the draft and this is a wonderful set up for him to shine.

Altough, I really like Pele - Griezmann combo. Sjor knows how to put strange combos that on second thought should work brilliantly.

p.s. and there goes the queen...
 
Himannv said:
Give me the lowdown on Mancini, @Gio
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With pleasure. Technically very slick, creates good angles with clever movement and good vision. He didn't really do his talent justice at international level (though I'd part-caveat that it was a brutally tough era for creative players to shine, especially for Italy where they had to sacrifice themselves in more functional roles), but in Serie A he truly hit the heights. He was rated by the media as the:
  • 1st ranked second-striker in 87, 91, 93, 97.
  • 2nd ranked second-striker in 82 and 88.
If we consider the strength of the league at the time and the competition in his position, that is effectively 6 world-class seasons. Exceptional consistency up against the likes of Maradona, Baggio and Gullit.

And to make this relevant to this game, he can score like this, peeling off Adams and Bould for Sampdoria v Arsenal:



But was more renowned for assisting, like he did here for 2 goals at Highbury in the return leg (the second one is a beauty):

 
Physiocrat said:
@Gio How much will Davids contribute on the left wing?

@Šjor Bepo Why didn't you play Pele as the more withdrawn striker? I don't really see him hitting it off with Griezmann.
Click to expand...
On Davids - that Ajax '95 side had him and Seedorf in those hybrid CM / wide midfielder roles where they had to do a lot of flank work in addition to the middle of the park. He was always great at powering wide, peeling onto his left and gobbling up the space.

But Signori's pedigree on the left side of the attack is impressive. For Lazio on the left of attack he has:

21 games
11 goals
6 assists

This 4-0 demolition of Champions League holders Milan in 1995 is perhaps the best example:



He ghosts in behind Panucci to volley in a classy opener, scores a second via a penalty, and sets up another after a 1-2 cutting in from the left flank and smashing the ball off the inside of the woodwork for Di Matteo to tap in (which reflects Edgar's point in the previous match about Lazio's fluid front 3). Interestingly we also get plenty of snippets of him doing the conventional left-flank work whipping in crosses for Casiraghi and Rambaudi to attack.

And in an even closer representation of how he is deployed here, this is for Italy on the left flank with Baggio operating in the middle in a false 9 style role:



0.36 - Cuts in from the left and backheels it into Baggio's overlapping path for the first goal
1.26 - Is chopped down for a stonewall penalty (not given) skinning the right back
2.25 - A more conventional Signori finish, twatting home a bouncing ball in the penalty box

Bonus at 1.45 - how's that for a throw in?

Šjor Bepo said:
Hope its all good in the end, dont worry about this crap i will only respond about questions on my team
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Very kind.

I'm back now, so feel free to get stuck in again.
 
It was only in a friendly tournament, but this is another great Mancini assist.




Watching a lot of all-touch compilations recently with them, one thing i notice about the Italian trequartista's/second strikers of the 80s-00s - when they seemed to be able to produce one great in the position after another - is how much worse Del Piero often was on the ball compared to the others. they are all consistently very effective playmakers (including the less flashy non-final ball stuff further from goal) and better decisionmakers in general for open play, but he's far more of a "2/3 moments of high quality in the final third a game" player (often partially set pieces) that otherwise gives the ball away a lot/ can be a passenger. I don't think he would have coped in as many different systems/team situations as the others potentially would be able to.
 
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