harms vs. Arbitrium
harms
The idea behind this team.
A thread on the ideal XI built around Lobanovsky's tactics inspired me to try and build such a side in this draft. As a blueprint, I took his Dynamo Kyiv team from the 70's — a peculiar interpretation of a midfield diamond. Most of the creativity comes from my "side" midfielders (Schuster and Masopust), while in the hole I have goalscoring box-to-box instead of a traditional number 10.
General requirements from all of my players include stamina, versatility, willingness to press, good tactical awareness and an ability to beat any opponent one-on-one. The specifics will be discussed later.
Tactical notes:
- intensive pressing, where Blokhin and Boniek form my first line of defence. All my players have exemplary work rate and stamina and most have experience in pressing sides
- high defensive line. Alan Hansen is one of the most decorated defenders in history and a rare one that earned all his accolades by orchestrating a high line and doing aggressive offside traps. Schnellinger is just about perfect for his role as well — very fast and physical defender who excelled in all positions across the backline and in defensive midfield
- constant movement and positional interchange — my devastatingly quick forwards are equally comfortable centrally and out wide and anyone from my "attacking" midfield can break forward into the space that was created by their movement
My midfield will be the key to this game. The only way to limit Cristiano is by cutting of service to him — and Barca, for example, showed multiple times. He can, of course, create something out of nothing, but a midfield domination is still the best way to limit him. Thankfully, I have a huge advantage here.
Ballon d'Or winning Lothar Matthäus, arguably the greatest midfielder ever, is unleashed here to score goals and actively participate in the final third — as well as dominating his opponents in the middle.
Young maverick Bernd Schuster had just lightened up the 1980 Euros with his magnificent performance — a true force of nature, he organised Allöfs hat-trick in the game against Netherlands and pulled a master-class in the final. All while running around like a mad dog and chasing opponents all the way to the right back position.
Ballon d'Or winning Josef Masopust is another creator for this side, but he does it in his own fashion. Immaculate dribbler and one of the most graceful footballers ever to play, he fits perfectly in that inside-left channel with the overlapping Briegel. Masopust and Stielike are the ice to Matthäus' and Schuster's fire.
And, last but not least, Uli Stielike — a midfield general who will oversee the game's flow from the deeper position. His metronomic passing will help us gain the control of the game and his experience as a sweeper and a center back will help him cover for my backline when needed.
Where are the goals coming from?
I know that the absence of an orthodox number 9 will lead to questions about my attack's prolificacy. I want to answer them in advance.
Lobanovsky used different systems and employed different strikers, but that 70's team didn't had a classical target man/free-roaming forward partnership, both were completely interchangeable. Blokhin especially was one of the few roaming forwards that were capable of leading the line — Rummenigge also comes to mind. He was the main goalscorer for all his teams — unsurprisingly, with more than 300 goals to his name, Oleg Blokhin still remains the all-time top scorer for USSR, Dynamo Kyiv, Soviet Top league and Soviet Cup.
Then there's the big one. Lothar Matthäus won numerous league titles and a World Cup being his team’s top scorer (or, at worst, the second best). At his peak he scored close to 20 goals per season for his clubs and also scored a lot for his country (including incredible 7 goals in 1990). Bernd Schuster was very prolific as well — he reached double digits in goals in all 7 of his full seasons for Barca. I’m excluding 86/87, where he failed to make a single appearance due to his conflict with the management. This is the young Euro-1980 Schuster by the way.
Zbigniew Boniek spent half of his career in midfield or on the wings, but when he was played up front, most notably in Juventus European games, he developed a telepathic understanding with Michel Platini and scored many important goals from his incisive passes (hence the «Bello di notte» nickname). The variety of his finishing was highlighted by one of the best hat-tricks in World Cup’s history — against Belgium in 1982 he scored on a pass, on a header and on a dribble.
Bonus. Not to be underrated:
Antonello Cuccureddu. Throughout the 70’s he was a part of one of the best defensive lines in football history. With some alterations, Juve’s backline of the time consisted of Cabrini, Scirea, Gentile and Cuccureddu (their average lost goal per game in Serie A was 0.67 and the clean sheet ratio was 0.52, 78 in 150 games). An often overlooked player, he made more than 300 appearances for Juve, and still holds a particularly peculiar record — in 1975/76 season, at the time where your number was assigned to you on the basis of your position, he used 7 different jersey numbers. What a testament to his versatility. His best game came from the right back position.
Arbitrium
Aulam Famae - Hall of Fame FC
Theme: Mixing it up from previous drafts, I decided to use the element of hard luck that can potentially come with a sheep draft and aimed to build a "story" before building the "team". Luckily, I was able to fuse the two together seamlessly and have by far my favourite team i've assembled in any draft. The end Result is a 1-11 of absolute legends for their clubs, including the best version of the Barcelona 08-11 defence (widely considered the greatest club team of all time) and ahead of them, 4 inductees into the Roma hall of fame who all get what it means to play for the badge on the chest. The other 3 players on the pitch are all legends in their own right, some at several clubs.
Defence: Starting with Gianluca Pagliuca, he is absolutely perfect to play behind that legendary Barca defence and was hugely effective as a "sweeper keeper". Very accomplished with his distribution, he is also a legendary shot stopper and penalty saver, as demonstrated in the 1994 world cup final. Ahead of him really doesn't need much of an introduction. They know each other, there's no debate as to how they would play and in front of them they have players all comfortable receiving the ball and holding onto it if required. Which brings me to;
Midfield: The 3 Central players are all Roma Legends. Cerezo is one of the best deep lying playmakers in history, and one of the most intelligent players on the park. Either side of him he has the old and the new era of Roman Captaincy. Bernardini (plenty material on him to come) has the skillset to play a box-to-box role and De Rossi will thrive in this set-up and against the opposition.
Attack: Cristiano Ronaldo really doesn't need to be discussed in this game. There isn't a defender on the pitch capable of stopping him at his best, let alone a good enough right back. Totti slips into the False 9/Centre forward role and adds an additional layer of legend to that Roman Midfield, whilst Gregorsz Lato will absolutely thrive int his system, given his ability to stretch the play on the wings, move inside when required and thanks to his work ethic he'll be able to help with tracking back aswell.
Why I will win: The players suit the system. There's not a case of throwing shit at a wall and hoping it sticks. Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player on the pitch and up against a defence he can get the better of. There is just too much movement, too much passion and too much determination in my side for it not to work. Maybe Harms will spring a surprise, but at the moment it doesn't appear that there will be too much width to his side. If that's the case, then he is going to get absolutely mauled on the counter given the pace and dynamism I have on the wings.
Thoughts on the opposition: Yawn. Just joking Harms. It’s an impressive team as usual from you, though with your knowledge it will be nice if we can steer the conversation towards some of the players you haven’t really covered before.
and as you mentioned there they didn't face forwards like Zico/Romario on regular basis.
