TEAM ENIGMA
Formation: 4-3-3, similar to Bayern around Robbery and Lewa. Exploit the flanks, press the opposition and control the proceedings in the middle of the park.
Defence:
Two great full backs in Cole and Zanetti, with the latter being the more attacking one in this game. Cole will be in his balanced role, providing support in attack. Dias and Cannavaro are at the heart of defence. Dias will be key in his distribution from the back, Cannavaro as a stopper and foil alongside him. Moderate to high defensive line.
Midfield:
The two midfield maestros - Gundogan and Thiago remain in the team with their box to box role. Souness is replaced by Voronin who is probably the best holding midfield left in the pool shielding the back four and also providing an additional defensive option and solidity at the back. Similarly like Souness he has the tactical and defensive nous to keep the line whilst Gundo and Thiago will act as two dynamic 8's like Gundogan playing alongside KdB and Thiago played with Kimmich or Fabinho as holder.
Attack:
The focal point of the team - one of the finest wingers the game ever seen, which also enjoyed great success playing together - Robben and Ribery. As a complete central forward we have Marco van Basten who would feed off the creativity behind him but also be what would be expected from modern #9.
Focal points:
- Robbery and Van Basten. A trio that had it all and would be very difficult to stop.
- Defensive line consisting of two of the most balanced full backs that are solid at the back and can keep things tight. In the Dias/Cannavaro is also IMO a very complimentary pair and as good as it gets given the theme of the draft
- midfield line that can control the pace and tempo of the game, but also each one of them can contribute in the defensive phase and harass the opposition and force them into losing possession.
A little bit of Marco magic:
Tactics:
- Building from the back. We have a midfield that is comfortable on the ball with of course the help of our midfield line dropping back like Thiago/Voronin/Gundogan do to offer passing lanes.
- Aggressive press. We aim to win possession back quickly. The aim is to keep the opposition passing lanes short so we are closer to the ball and win it back quickly. Our team is full of athletic players that can keep up with a high tempo and limit the opposition time on the ball.
- win the ball and stretch the opposition on counter. When we have three excellent passers in the middle it's easy to use the flanks and stretch the opposition flank especially when on counter or when the opposition loses the ball. Our aim is to both use the flanks to create superiority out wide when our winger beats the full back but also use van Basten prowess in the box.
- Ashley Cole vs Garrincha. Obviously having Garrincha in this draft is a bit of a cheat code, but there are very few full backs that can do better against him than Cole. Cole has the experience handling tricky wingers/wing forwards against Robben, Messi and the likes and he can hold his own. Obviously he will get support and Ribery is someone who also in a similar set up could provide a body there.
Little stuff on Gundogan:
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TEAM THE RED VIPER
We will play a 4-3-3 formation.
The core foundation of the team is its loaded defense. Vogts is arguably the best defensive right back of all time and on the other flank is Lizarazu who was one of the most consistent full-backs ever and one of the few top full-backs who was very good both attacking as well as defensively. Maldini and Belodedici form the central defense pairing. Whats there to say about Maldini other than he is the GOAT defender of all time. Partnering Maldini in the heart of the central defense is Belodedici. Only two Eastern European football clubs have won the European Cup/Champions League over its 68-year-long history. Romania’s Steaua Bucharest and former Yugoslavia’s Red Star Belgrade. They both had something in common that propelled them to win it. It was Miodrag Belodedici, who was the defensive general of both the teams. A fantastic sweeper who read the game as well as any and was so elegant he was called "The Deer" due to his ability to evade the press and break the lines with his mazing runs. Belodedici and Maldini would complement each other's game extremely well.
In midfield we are rolling a 3-man midfield of Petit, Davids and Nedvěd. Petit is the perfect holding midfielder because he was a master at plugging the gaps in midfield and in this role will be able to maximize his long range passing from deep. The man had a great eye for a pass from deep and will look to initiate swift counter-attacks from the back like he did in his Arsenal days. Alongside him is Davids. As the great Marcelo Lippi said, Davids was a "one-man engine room" in his prime who did the job of two people in midfield. His engine and tenacity combined with his superb close control of the ball in tight spaces will be vital in breaking the opposition press. Nedvěd rounds up the midfield. One of the best attacking players of the modern era, Nedvěd was such a complete player. Fantastic passer of the ball and a marauding runner with the ball, Nedvěd's driving runs from midfield would be vital in opening up and piercing through opposition midfield and defense. And if you give him room you are screwed because man has a history of scoring rockets with both his left foot and right foot. And last but not the least, Nedvěd's insane work-rate in midfield. With him and Davids, we have two midfielders who could run non-stop all game long without a break and cover up the space and gaps in midield allowing very little time on the ball for opposition midfielders and attacking players.
Up-front, we have an attacking triumvirate of Garrincha, Seeler and Son. Garrincha is the GOAT winger of all time. Not much more needs to be said about him really. On the opposite flank, we have Son, who is one of the best wide attackers in English Premier League history. A fantastic finisher who is a master at running between the lines and exploiting the space. With the attention Garrincha and Seeler would command, there would be lot of space that would be opened up in opposition defense and who better to exploit it than statistically the best finisher in modern era. Seeler would lead the line for us. One of the greatest strikers ever, Seeler was such a complete forward. A prolific goalscorer who was master of scoring all kinds of goals. Be it running the channels and finishing it off a pass from a through-ball or link-up with the other attackers in quick 1-2s and finessing it past the goalkeeper or rise above the opposition defenders and head it in. Even though Seeler wasn't the tallest, his ability in the air, due to his insane leap and anticipation would rival any attacker in the history of the game. Seeler is the perfect guy to lead the line for us as he can not only be a target for the likes of Garrincha, Son, Nedvěd and Lizarazu etc to look for but also with his ability to hold-up the play and bring others into the game, be it with link-up play or knock-downs.
Bigo > Robbery