vs
.............Team Skizzo ....................................................................................... Team Snow ............................................
Team Skizzo
The Team
Our team will be lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Samir Handanovic will be our man between the sticks. The back four is made up of three members of the great Athletico Madrid defence which has been so stingy over the last few seasons. Diego Godin and Miranda form the central partnership, a partnership which has been able to shut out opposing teams, and score quite a few themselves with set pieces. Patrice Evra and Juanfran take the full back spots.
In Midfield we have two dynamic, industrious midfielders in Blaise Matuidi and Lassana Diarra. Diarra would be the deeper of the two, basically hounding players who get close to goal, winning the ball back, and looking to spring us forward quickly. Matuidi would be slightly more advanced, but when defending, he would drop deeper and operate in a similar role of winning the ball back and getting stuck into the opposition.
The front four is made up of a fluid unit, consisting of Raheem Sterling, Thomas Muller, David Silva, and Robert Lewandowski leading the line. The three attacking midfielders are all mobile, and will look to constantly be moving, causing a huge problem for the opposition. Lewandowski has been called the most complete forward in the World over the last few years, and he would thrive on the movement, passing, and ability of the men behind him.
Why we would win
Quite simply, because he wouldn't be able to stop us scoring. We have a huge goal threat from all of our front 4, and their movement would cause chaos amongst his defence. Sterling on the left side, with his pace and direct running, would mean Srna would need to be at his best. Sterling has given defenders all kinds of headaches with his speed. On the other side, Silva is playing as an inside forward, looking to cut in himself, or find passes to link up with the other attackers. This would play into his strength's against someone like Azpilicueta, who may have the physicality to try and keep him quiet, but Silva is an intelligent player and would find openings against him. Muller will be all over the place. He has the ability to switch with Silva, and cause a direct threat, can ghost into the box and get on the end of crosses and pull backs, or link up directly around the box. Muller also offers the work rate and tenacity to drop deeper and hound the opposition midfielders when on the ball. Lewandowski runs. A lot. With a central pairing of Garay and Badstuber, they won't be comfortable against the pace and movement (which we have in abundance) of our front four, and will struggle to stop our attackers finding space and openings to exploit. With Matuidi and Diarra, they offer enough protection and cover for Juanfran and Evra to occasionally push up and overload the flanks when the occasion arises, and have the pace to cause problems, and track back on defence. Hazard won't offer much in the way of protection for Azpi, which was a major issue when Chelsea faced Athletico which led to Juanfran causing all kinds of problems, and being the MOTM.
On the defensive side, we're set up well to stop his attacking threat. With Modric and Thiago, he will likely look to hold the ball, and spring Hazard and Cuadrado when possible. With Matuidi and Diarra, we have two combative midfielders who will be on them near constantly, looking to pressure them into a mistake, and springing our own team forward. While Snow has an extra man in midfield (not counting Muller who would drop deep) they aren't a physical presence and lack steel compared to the physical forces they'll be up against. Evra has the pace to deal with Cuadrado, and on the other side, Hazard has struggled against Juanfran when Chelsea met with Athletico, and had little to no impact against him. Adriano up against Godin and Miranda won't be able to bully them like he would hope.
Good luck Snow!
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Team Snow
Goalkeeper: Lloris is a pretty cool guy. eh runs outside the box and doesn't afraid of anything. Because of the overall speed of my defenders and Lloris keen ability at coming out, my defense won't be sitting deep.
Defense: Both my CBs are good on the ball. They will look to pass it short to the sides or to one of the midfielders, preferably Busquets who's about as good at linking up the defense with the attack as anyone in this game. Garay everyone remembers by being the answer to our defender problems. Instead he went for the money in Russia after a good spell with Benfica in Portugal and in the CL. Oh, and he was also one of the guys who were responsible for Argentina's defensive force last WC. Next to him is the ever so unlucky Badstuber. Only 20 years old where he became a starter for Bayern München and the German NT. Been injured for the past two years but when slightly fit he always slots right back into their first team like nothing happened.
The FBs will get to go forward when space allows it. Srna will have more freedom to do so as his partner on the wing is Cuadrado who's used to playing as a wing back. As captain for club and country since before any of us were born, this is a responsibility he's known to and comfortable with. Both him and Cuadrad will be tireless down the flank in attack and defense. Azpilicueta will be more passive going forward and he will choose his runs more carefully.
Midfield: Busquets is the link. Think of him when Barca destroyed United and all the other teams under Pep. That's him. You know him. Modric and Thiago, along with Busquets, are going to control the possession in midfield. It's something they've done their whole careers and at their peak they've mostly dominated. This will be no different. Modric is going to Modric and Thiago will have more freedom to dribble and bring the ball forward. If the midfield is tight, all the better. These three move around on a penny and that just means more space for Hazard and Cuadrado.
Hazard is most dangerous man for this team. Well, actually Adriano is because the other team will be so focused on Hazard. Hazard is like a neon sign to the moth defenders. They can't help but to flutter towards him but it never ends well. His role is fairly free. As such he won't go all over the place, he'll just have the freedom to do what he does past. I'm not putting any restrains on him.
Cuadrado will be more closer to the typical winger of the past. That doesn't mean he won't cut in. He does when the time calls for it.
Adriano: When you've got this guy you might as well just play like Barcelona now with him up front and a player on each side. Other players don't really have to attack. This guy, in his prime, was the dream striker. Like Drogba with pace and more power and better technique. He was unstoppable. So unstoppable in fact that despite his body trying to weigh him down and his mind riddling him with depression and alcoholism, he still managed to be the best player in Brazil. He took over Vieri's mantle at Inter and then passed it on to Zlatan.
His peak stats (2002-2006) with Parma and Inter:
151 games - 84 goals. In those seasons only 1 team managed to score more than 70 goals.
With Brazil:
35 games - 25 goals. Including being the best player in Copa America 2004.
Just for show I've got Diego on my bench. He recently helped out Átletico to a La Liga title but in his peak he was the Bundesliga's best player for 2 season running. The cliché midfield maestro applies to him.
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