Not enough has been said about Elkjaer/Rummenigge though - that is the perfect partnership more or less. The Danish Dynamites where Young Laudrup has been upgraded with one of the most iconic Euro performer ever in Rummenigge. Not sure if upgrading Elkjaer is possible at this stage for Joga unless he then also changes system slightly.
Spot on about the Elkenigge going under the spotlight though, should be drumming them up more. Elkjaer perhaps in isolation might have been one who could have been upgraded with a more 'flashy' name, say MVB, but that combo of Elkjaer-Rummenigge is just
and perfect in so many ways. Simply put, I can't find a better alternative to supplant either of Elkenigge from that partnership in this draft.
You could replace Elkjaer with MvB here and it still wouldn't look that impressive a partnership. Elkjaer is unique in this aspect, be it tormenting defenders out wide with genuine trickery and pace or cutting in to be a legitimate goal threat or doing some of the more traditional centre forward work by being a focal point up top. There is someone similar in this regard who also happens to be on my team
; Rummenigge was the more electric one, with more threat down the flanks/channels but was less versed in the art of centre forward play than Elkjaer. They just complement themselves so brilliantly and I also won't be able to use the term Elkenigge anymore if I replace one of them
.
feck me, why didn't you start that way with Albert in the frame anyway?
@Joga Bonito
Surely you considered this?
Yes I did and I myself said I only would be using him as a RCB, but that's before I actually downloaded just about every Italian match from the 1988 Euro tournament, and watched the defense in detail to find out how the Maldini-Ferri-Baresi-Bergomi backline functioned. The fantastic defense (and the fact that I had Maldini and Bergomi in my team, making gifs of Maldini/Demyanenko) was the only reason I continued watching that awfully boring Italian team.
Bergomi played both the CB and RCB roles with Ferri functioning as a roaming CB (Gentile/Picchi) of sorts, plugging in gaps and doubling up on players out wide etc. Throughout the match you'd find Bergomi-Baresi being the central pair with Ferri roaming and Maldini as the LB. Or a settled back 4 of Maldini-Baresi-Ferri-Bergomi with Bergomi as the RCB. So there is no reason to not use him as a CB here as he did, more often than not, function as one for Italy in Euro 1988 although in a typically convoluted style that the damn Italian defenses seem to employ.