Bastian was born in 1984. By 2009-2012, he was 25-28 y.o. just the peak of his power.
Peak and age (let alone positional prak) are not the same thing, up until 2009 he hadn't even played as a CM.
Was mentioning 4-4-1-1 / 4-4-2 throughout all games. Check it. It was there at all OPs. I can't change them.
The picture man, even in this game it's hardly depicted as 4-4-1-1.
Man, you even have issue with Kaka - Ronaldo pair. That's something else, anto.
It isn't really. Two cracking players but actually you could find that Kaká overlaps with Ronaldo much like Djorkaeff did.
@Jim Beam was saying earlier how he could see Ronaldo pulling the defence all over the place ala Sheva.
That's not really how peak Ronaldo played though. One of the most striking things with peak Ronaldo was how he could start moves from deep and be a #10 and #9 rolled into one. In a way, similar to Eusebio, and a reason why once someone went down in flames for pairing Eusebio and Ronaldo. Everything Kaká did (exceptional as he was) was
part of what Ronaldo did. That's why he was O Fenómeno, that's why many of us reckon in that trajectory he would have been THE Goat.
You don't need to sell me Bastian, I was picking him in drafts back in 2013 and having a hard time selling him (recency, "maybe by the time he retires", yadda yadda).
I picked him initially and I can't really agree that there is a difference between 11/12 Schweini and 12/13 Schweini. Yes he accomplished more in the treble season and rose to the occasion, but it was the very same player that bossed Bayern midfield the year before, and the year before that and so on. You do know what you get within this timeframe.
Usually we take 3 year peaks in drafts and as I've said I'd take 10-13 as his peak missing that 13/14 season, because to me he wasn't as good domestically an in CL compared to any other of those 10-13 seasons before. He saved himself for that last occasion in the WC in 2014, but in 2010 he was also pretty much great as well.
All in all in the pointed timeframe 09-12 he played in various roles (was both holder and b2b), was at his physical peak and performed up to par to whatever best performance he had outside that timeframe, which for me means he's the same peak Schweinsteiger as he was during 12/13.
I said at the time I knew what I got, a slightly watered down version of the actual peak one.
2009-10 is his first season as CM. Actually, as a million things as LVG loved him and used him all over the pitch. That speaks volumes about his tactical nous and adaptability but doesn't take him anywhere close to his peak.
2010-11 was a more settled CM but Bayern weren't kicking into gear yet.
2011-12 I'd agree he wasn't technically far off 2012-13 level and Bayern themselves could have hit that level earlier too... but he spent about half the season injured, or at least it always seemed like he was either injured or working his way back into form after an injury.
So no, it's not peak Schweinsteiger. Doesn't make the least bit of a difference anyway clearly as far as him being a competent midfielder for a team that just needed that really.
I just keep going on with that case as it's immediately familiar to all, as opposed to the likes of Zubizarreta, Rijkaard, Baresi, Bergomi, Gascoigne and others which were clearly harder to nail down properly.
go back to your first game and see how I was screaming bloody murder that it was an obvious 4-4-1-1 and for some reason you dressed it up as 4-2-3-1.
