From the desk of onenil:
"With respect to Blanchflower, my assessment was based on that video alone. He could well have demonstrated a better range of passing but I didn't see it then. If you have more footage then that would be good to see."
If the standard is providing video evidence for every claim made then we win by default because you haven't posted any video evidence supporting any of your points.
Uwe Seeler offers more than a match for either opposing CB. He's been ignored when in fact he is a game changer especially against the lower quality CBs and DM opposing him here.
"It is a very modern debate as to whether or not players should receive awards such as the Ballon d’Or based on their own individual records, performances and statistics, or on reflection of their team’s trophy cabinet in a given season.
With limited success in the trophy cabinet during a period where Hamburg were the forever hard-luck story of domestic German football, Seeler stood firmly in the category of shining individual brilliance — himself coming third in the 1960 Ballon d’Or poll behind Ferenc Puskás and Spain’s Luis Suárez.
Seeler had the opportunity to move abroad on numerous occasions. Despite turning down offers from clubs such as Inter Milan, his legacy remains to be remembered as one of football’s greatest ever players and without conceivable doubt one of Germany’s favourite sons.
Seeler’s statistics are nothing short of phenomenal — 507 goals scored for Hamburg and 43 for his country in 72 appearances"
'“Uwe Seeler was deceptive,” wrote Uli Hesse in his book
Tor! The Story of German Football.
“One look at him and you knew he was probably good in the air, difficult to separate from the ball and possessive of a fearsome fighting spirit. Yet you would also maybe think he was pretty slow and lacked intricate ball skills.
“Well,
you would quickly find out that he could explode over the crucial first yards and perform scissors and bicycle kicks without batting an eyelid. But then it would be too late.”
The reason Seeler didn’t end up joining Inter, who would go on to lift the European Cup just three years after Herrera’s offer, was largely because of his unwavering, humble loyalty to Hamburg."'
We have a major tactical advantage in midfield. Three man midfields have a big natural advantage over 442 and 442 became so rare. This is the reason 442 went out of style in the top leagues. Much has been written how packing the midfield with 3 players offers an inherent advantage tactically. The Christmas tree is essentially a variation on the 433 format and thus has this inherent advantage over 442 in midfield. We've seen this happen numerous times in the last 20 years and its why 442 are so rare now because they do have a distinct disadvantage in midfield against more modern formations.
‘Look, if I have a triangle in midfield – Claude Makelele behind and two others just in front –
I will always have an advantage against a pure 4-4-2 where the central midfielders are side by side. That’s because I will always have an extra man. It starts with Makelele, who is between the lines. If nobody comes to him he can see the whole pitch and has time. If he gets closed down it means one of the two other central midfielders is open. If they are closed down and the other team’s wingers come inside to help, it means there is space now for us on the flank, either for our own wingers or for our full-backs. There is nothing a pure 4-4-2 can do to stop things’.
-Jose Mourinho
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/01/25/teams-of-the-decade-13-chelsea-2004-06/
Now just realize our extra man is Blanchflower who can control the match.
Raul and Crespo are passengers defensively. Physio mentions how he defends with 8 players. But then he forgets our side is built to defend with all 10 outfield players! Kaka, Seeler and Brady all offer much more in the defensive and transition phases than Raul and Crespo who are passengers on defense. So even if Barnes helps out his midfield, Brady helps out ours and maintains the man advantage 4-3.
Also modern 442 sides that have success (Atletico, 1 year of Leicester) are almost always defensive or counter-attacking sides. They can't maintain and win a possession battle against three man midfields as was proven across the European leagues in the 2000s when 433 and 4231 became the default formation.
