TEAM HARMS
I've switched to Cruyff-esque diamond for this one – Marquinhos moves back to defensive midfield with an option of dropping deeper in the defensive phase & Amoros takes up a place on the right side of my defense (I can't think of many defenders better suited for a one-on-one match up against Gareth Bale).
The midfield looks quite modern now with the addition of Kaká – it's even more direct now but it's still incredibly press-resistant (imagine playing rondo against Ardiles, Kaká & Gündogan!) & well-balanced. Even Marquinhos is very good with the ball, which is why he's often being played in midfield in the modern days – and then I have the likes of Thiago Silva and Amoros at the back to help out!
Futre & Juninho do what they do best – after my team creates isolations on the wings they beat their opponent one-on-one and create chances from there, be it a cut-back pass to Kaká or a cross to Larsson or even a continued dribble into the box. With Kaká I have one of the best transitional players of all-time and Larsson rounds my attack up as one of the best all-rounded strikers of his time – he may not hit the heights of van Basten but there was barely anything he couldn't do on the pitch.
TEAM PAT
Formation: 4-3-3
- Recber's big move to Barca ended in dismal failure, but he enjoyed a distinguished 12 season career at Fener and was, briefly, seen as one of the best GKs in the world, finishing third in the IFHHS Goalkeeper of the Year rankings in 2002.
- The distinguished defensive organiser Vasovic led Partizan Belgrade all the way to a European Cup final in 1966, even scoring in a narrow loss to Real Madrid. Carlos Mozer, the athletic powerhouse who hit his imposing peak at Marseille, partners him.
- Inter Milan and Italy colossus Bergomi comes in to bolster the defence, and should be invaluable in helping to deal with Harms' array of fleet-footed dribblers. That means a change of flanks for Danny McGrain, who handily was very comfortable at LB, and can naturally cut inside onto his stronger foot in possession given that he has two left-footers ahead of him in Bale and van Hanegem to use the outside channels. Fun fact, that may or may not actually be true: I'm pretty sure that there's more full matches of McGrain playing LB on footballia than there is of him at RB.
- I was deeply reluctant to drop Edmundo, but at this stage of the draft I felt I had to beef up the midfield, and van Hanegem was just too good to pass up on. He renews his telepathic, Europe-conquering partnership with Wim Jansen, who stated that the two were capable of 'blind communication' on the pitch. With the sublime Verratti capable of taking on so much of the deeper ball progression duties, and with no No.10 ahead of him, this is a relatively rare draft opportunity to unleash van Hanegem as the most attacking midfielder. His goal threat shouldn't be underestimated - he hit double figures in 6 out of 8 league campaigns between 1967/68 and 1974/75. All in all, it looks a highly capable unit both in possession and against the ball.
- A youthful Hernan Crespo, who fired River Plate to the 1996 Copa Libertadores with 10 goals in 13 matches, leads the line. Flanking him, Bale and Reus possess an impressive range of abilities to unlock defences, and have freedom to interchange and overload as they wish in the attacking phase. This ability to create dangerous overloads was a notable feature of Reus' performances under Tuchel especially.
