....................................... TEAM IDMANAGER ............................................ ....................................... TEAM TUPPET .......................................
TEAM IDMANAGER:
Defense and Midfield:
The defense and midfield were built based on the profiles of the players in the opponent's attack.
Finney constantly liked to cut in from the right. Blokhin was a wing forward who liked to come from the left wing and score. He was far from being an orthodox winger. Ronaldinho I think will be expected to impact the game centrally.
An attack like this IMO would find it tough to break a well organized narrow defense setup. And that is what I am going to use.
In defense I have Tresor in the centre with Forster on the right and Zebec on the left. All three of them were considered great CBs of their times.
In the midfield I have Davids on the left, Smistik in the centre as the anchor man and Andrade on the right.
The idea is to always have at least 2 players to cover for the opponent's front 4.
Blokhin - Andrade to close him down and Forster to wait for him when he comes centrally to try and score
Finney - Davids to close him down and Zebec to wait for him when he tries to cut inside
Ronaldinho - All of Smistik, Davids and Andrade to help shutting him down depending on where the game is being played.
Smistik while being a great DM was also amazing at starting attacks with his excellent passing (especially long passing) after breaking the opponents attacks. Davids will carry the ball forward as well as he so often did. And Andrade was a more than decent passer who played as a hybrid of a midfielder and right back in the 1950 Uruguay setup.
Attack:
The attack is pretty straight forward.
We have two of the all time great wingers in Gento and Matthews. Both were great out wide and coming inwards to score as well. Both were good at starting attacks running from deep as well.
In the centre we have Cubillas, Peru's all time great player. He will be in his element in this setup. Cubillas will try to overload the left side of the pitch along with Gento. We will try to hit the relatively weaker side of the oppositions defense (Sensini and Campbell) as hard as possible.
Upfront we have Alberto Spencer, considered one of the greatest South American Strikers of all time.
He was an ambidextrous striker with lethal pace, off-the-ball movement, heading and balance skills, and excellent finishing, that tore defences to shreds for over a decade
FAQs:
Q. Who are your out balls from the back?
A. Smistik, Davids, Andrade, Tresor and Zebec
Q. Was Zebec a CB? I thought he was a left back?
A. Zebec started his career as an attacking player and played as a left winger. He occasionally played as a little bit defensive CF. In one game against France he played as defensive CF, who had assignment to go back to defense, and guard Raymond Kopa . He did that so successfully, that it seemed that Kopa didn't played at all. On the same game he also played very good in the attack, and journalists gave him 10, for his perfect game.
After all that, he was transformed into a CB and he was very good on that position. During one of the most important games for the national team (qualifications for World Cup 1958), in which Yugoslavia played against Romania he played as CB. Many claim that this was his best game for national team at that position. Every high ball was his (very superior in the air), he won every 1 on 1 play against opposite attacker, also during the game he was in every place in the defense. In one word: Perfection! One of the coaches came to him after the game, grab his shoulder and said: "Are you a man or are you a beast? I've never seen anybody playing the whole 90 minutes so perfect and without any mistake!".
After his stints for national team in CB position , many foreign journalists and football experts wrote that he's one of the greatest discoveries in CB and that he played in those positions even better than on his original position. Many journalists, football experts, coaches and players, from 1950s, agree that Zebec was the best center-half during that era. Some of them even said, that he should be among Best 11 squad of all times.
Q. Why is Andrade playing there?
A. In the older setups, there were no dedicated full backs. There were half backs who were hybrids of defensive midfieders and full backs, who impacted both areas of the pitch. He is playing that same role here
Q. Can you tell me a bit more about Smistik and whether this role suits him?
A. Smistik played mainly as centre half back (DM in modern setups) but also as defender. Smistik worked as an animal, always in perfect condition, was master in breaking the opponents attacks and starting offensive moves with his trademark long balls, but also good ball control and dribbling.
He was most known for his fantastic long balls and speed, fighting spirit, great vision and intelligence, as well as powerful play, great endurance and good technique.
He formed the core of the great Austrian Wunderteam along with Sindelar and Nausch. He is playing a similar role as he played in the wunderteam.
Q. I know Davids is hard working as feck, but has he played a similar role before?
A. He played in a similar setup in the Ajax 1995 team
Q. Isn't Alberto Spencer the same guy whom Pele said had a better header than him and is widely known as Magic head? Was that all his game was about?
A. While he was amazing in the air, it was just a part of his game. You don't get to be considered in the top 20 greatest South American players of all time just for your heading skills. He was known to tear teams apart with his pace, dribbling, movement and shooting. He was very hard working as well. Below goal against Real Madrid in the 1966 Intercontinental Cup final shows what he was capable of.
TEAM TUPPET
We are playing in a lop sided 4-2-3-1 formation.
Attack:
Our attack is built around the genius of Ronaldinho, who at his peak is as good as any player in the draft. Ronaldinho is given a free role, starting in the center but allowed to drift all over the attacking third. He is also the main playmaker of my team providing unparalleled creativity and vision for my attack.
As striker we are sporting the greatest Italian striker of all time Luigi Riva. 3 times serie A top scorer and nominated for Ballon D'or ratings 4 times in his career finishing 2nd & 3rd in 69 & 70. Both powerful & technical Riva was a complete forward who can finish any chance but can also create for himself. Here he is instructed to play mostly on the shoulder of last defender, ready to utilize his pace and finishing.
On left side we have another Ballon D'or winner Oleh Blokhin, who is playing in a left forward role. A prolific forward with fantastic pace and dribbling, he would be instructed to cut in toward center, working the inside left channel.
Right winger position is occupied by Legendary Sir Tom Finney. One of England's greatest player ever and a gem of a winger who can play in all attacking positions, Sir Finney was a great dribbler. He'd be playing as an orthodox winger on the right side, providing width and crossing for Riva & Blokhin.
Midfield
Midfield is led by another Ballon D'or winner Josef Masopust who is playing as a B2B midfielder for us. Voted as the greatest Czech player of all time, Masopust was great in attacking, creating and defending. A complete midfielder he loved to go on runs on the left side, which would work well with Blokhin who can cut in when Masopust is with the ball.
Gerhard Hanappi is one of the most versatile player in football history, able to play any outfield position he spent most of his illustrious career in wing half position which roughly translate to defensive midfield in modern formations. He was a combative physical player with great anticipation but also good enough technical skills to qualify as a playmaker. Chosen as 3rd greatest Austrian player by IFFHS, Hanappi would be playing as the deepest midfielder, with disciplined defensive role.
Defense:
One of history's greatest defender in Daniel Passarella is leading the defense as the captain for my team. He'll be playing as a ball playing defender who is matched perfectly with Sol Campbell as the stopper partner. As a duo this partnership would be nearly unbeatable in air, which would come really handly against Spencer. Passarella helps us build the game from the back as well.
Both of my fullbacks are defense first player who are also instructed to mostly focus on defensive duties as they are facing two of the best wingers of all time. Schnellinger is probably the best defensive left back along with Maldini and should provide a good fight to Matthews. On the right side Sensini would be playing a conservative role, Sensini was a solid defender who played as center back quite a few times in his career and should be able to hold his own against Gento.
Finally I have an excellent goalkeeper in Mazurkiewicz, who is considered one of the very best to come from SA. Voted 12th in IFFHS world goalkeeper of century (5th in SA GK of century) he provide solid base for my defense to fall back in.
