vs
.......................................... Team NoPace ............................................................................... Team TRV ..........................................
Team No Pace
My Player's Peaks:
Falcao - 2009-13, 144 in 178 for Porto and Atletico Madrid.
Reus - 2011-15, 75 in 147 for both Borussias, named in the last 3 Kicker Bundesliga XI's, footballer of the year in 2012 for Germany, most assists in the league in 13/14.
Di Maria - 2013-2015, UEFA and FIFA team of the year in 2014 and the CL man of the match.
Rosicky - 2001-2003, Beat out a 29 + 30 year old Pavel Nedved for Czech Footballer of the year twice in a row.
Kroos - 2013-15, UEFA and FIFA team of the year and IFFHS World's Best Playmaker in 2014
T. Motta- 2010-2014, Serie A Team of the Year in 10/11 and Ligue 1 Team of the Year in 13/14, directly faced off and beat Xavi in his prime during peak Pep in Inter's 2010 CL 3-1 home victory
Filipe Luis - 2012-2014, 2014 BBVA team of the year; He and Courtois leave and Atletico went from conceding 26 in 38 to 22 in 25 this year.
Debuchy - 2011-15, Ligue 1 Team of the Year in 2012
Ledley King - 2002-2005 (but really this exact moment)
Sergio Ramos - 2012-2015, UEFA and FIFA Team of the Year each of the last 3 seasons
Casillas - 2008-11, Best Keeper in the World every year from 08-12 according to IFFHS.
Why I'll win in a nutshell:
-The only serious gulf in quality here is in the engine room, where Kroos-Thiago Motta vs Ramsey-Hargreaves is a mismatch. Over 90 minutes, that will determine control of what should be a match played mostly at a high-tempo.
Basic Tactics:
-I want a quick tempo game, the better to take advantage of his slow centre backs and positionally adrift engine room and my solid midfield and speedy defense.
-Formation is sort of a 4-2-3-1 but with Reus more advanced than Di Maria. Motta will drop in at times; Ramos and King are both fast and comfortable if pulled wider. Fullbacks will defend slightly narrow since through balls between CB and FB are more dangerous than wing play with his personnel. They'll still contribute offensively with their crossing skills and judicious overlapping.
Why I'll score multiple:
-My offense just makes sense: Reus and Falcao looking to get in behind and score, Di Maria and Rosicky couple creativity and tireless running, Kroos is the best passing CM in the world these days, my fullbacks are excellent crossers who will be freed to get involved by Motta's defensive work and the CBs pace and comfort working in wider areas.
-Terry and Cahill won't have Mourinho or the protection of a Matic in front of them. Rosicky and Di Maria will drag Hargeaves out of position and the protection just won't be there; Lichsteiner has been known to get caught upfield and Sirigu is a good but not great keeper. Marcelo, as brilliant as he is going forward, is (along with the CM's) another who wanders positionally.
-All in all, it's a defense ill-suited to dealing with my versatile attack and a predatory striker who abused Cahill in the 2012 Supercup for a hat trick, when they were both 26 and at their peak. Whenever he comes forward, I think the break will be on, especially on my right side against a wandering Marcelo and a slow Terry. Even if Terry gets out there, it'll still be Falcao vs Cahill 1 on 1 in the box.
Why I'll defend well:
-I like his attack, though I wonder if Cazorla and Iniesta aren't a bit too similar to really thrive together. His forward players were dangerous at their peak, but I do think he'll have trouble getting them chances with that Ramsey-Hargreaves midfield and those Chelsea CB's.
-His best chance to score is Iniesta and Cazorla playing through balls to Van Persie and Neymar. It's a good avenue. However, both King and Ramos have the agility to deal better than bruiser CB's with prime RVP and Neymar's movement and Motta has had some of best games of his career against Iniesta and Barcelona and is an expert at stopping those sorts of linkups. My fullbacks can tuck in a bit to clog up through balls into the channels between FB and CB, since there's no real width from his front 4. Not sure I'll keep him out but do think my personnel is well suited to dealing with his attack.
-Iker Casillas was incredible in his prime and a great fit to deal with the low, accurate shooting of Van Persie and Neymar.
-Reus is such a threat from wide that he'll pin back Marcelo or Marcelo will get forward often, have a productive game and Reus will roast Terry repeatedly in his spot.
-Di Maria, Rosicky and Kroos are aggressive passers. When a move fails, it will fail quickly and upfield, not with my players trying to link up in tight space. I think the result is I'll give up less promising counters than he will. My CB's are quick and his being slow will lead to more counters even occurring when the game gets stretched.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team The Red Viper
THE TEAM
We will play a 4-2-3-1 formation. Salvatore Sirigu is the goalkeeper. The back four comprises of Stephan Lichtsteiner, Gary Cahill, John Terry and Marcelo. Lichtsteiner and Marcelo would play as full-backs who would overlap when needed. In central defense, we have the tried and tested combination of Terry and Cahill. Both complement each other's style quite well and have been amongst the best central defense pairing in the last couple of years.
Owen Hargreaves and Aaron Ramsey form the double pivot in central midfield. Ramsey would play in his natural box-box midfielder role while Hargreaves would play as a defensive midfielder/enforcer, who with his fantastic tackling and ball-winning ability, would help us win back the possession. Ahead of them is, the illusionist, Andrés Iniesta. Whats there to say about Iniesta? One of the best players in modern-era and as clutch as they come. He would play as the number ten in a free role and has complete license to roam all over the pitch. Alongside him on the right flank would be Santi Cazorla. Cazorla would play as the right sided-withdrawn attacking midfielder. A role, he played to perfection at Villareal, where he made a name for himself and won the Don Balón Award in 2006-07 which is awarded to the best Spanish player in La Liga.
Upfront, Robin Van Persie would lead the line for us, with Neymar playing off him as the left sided second striker/left wing-forward, the role he plays for Brazil NT and Barcelona currently. Van Persie would be the main striker, where he would play on the shoulders of their last defender and run the channels. Whenever Van Persie drops deep, Neymar would make those attacking runs and look to exploit the space between oppsition full-back and right centre-back.
THE TACTICS
We will play possession based football. The entire front six is extremely comfortable in possession and all of them are very good passers of the ball. We would implement the pass and move philosophy. In Iniesta and Cazorla, we have two fantastic passers of the ball. With Van Persie running the channels and Neymar attacking the space between opposition full-back and right centre back, we would look to feed them with the through-balls from Iniesta and Cazorla. Van Persie at his peak was a fantastic finisher and he only needs half-a-chance to score. Same with Neymar who is a brilliant finisher. Marcelo would overlap and provide the width down that flank. Both him and Neymar have fantastic understanding between them which would come in very handy to dominate that left flank. Debuchy isn't the greatest of defenders and we would look to exploit that with Neymar attacking him from inside and Marcelo overlapping on the outside. Ramsey would be the x-factor for us in attack. Iniesta and Cazorla are masters at creating space and they would do so here as well. This would allow Ramsey to make runs into the box and finish off chances. All in all, there is plenty of goals and creativity going forward which would be nightmare to any defense to deal with.
Defensively, we would deploy a deep defensive backline to ensure we don't leave too much space behind our backline for the likes of Reus and Di Maria to run at. Whenever Marcelo goes to overlap, Hargreaves would cover for him down that flank and ensure we don't get outnumbered on counters. Iniesta was a brilliant at pressing and he would look to do the same here against Kroos. Iniesta would press Kroos and ensure Kroos doesn't get too much time and space on the ball to initiate and orchestrate the plays for NoPace. We would do this to ensure NoPace's transition is slower so that we can regain our shape when we lose the possession. Hargreaves would also help Marcelo out against Di Maria. Ramsey would stay close to Rosicky. Meanwhile, Lichtsteiner on the other flank would have a reserved role going forward as he would be up against Reus. He has the pace and physical ability to keep up with Reus and ensure he doesn't get to exploit as much as he could.
