Enigma_87-Snow's Tactics
Updated write up:
Player profiles:
GK and defence: Van der Sar, Marcelo, Lucio, Helmer
and separate on Cafu ->
Midfield - Luka Modric
Midfield - Kaka
Davids
Attack - David Villa
Andriy Shevchenko
System is a bit of a lopsided diamond 4-4-2 formation interchanging to 5-3-2(
Gustavo dropping in) or 4-3-3 depending off or on the ball. Our team is set up with
Marcelo on the left flank who is very similar to his predecessor R.Carlos and arguably in peak form close to him in terms of quality(in attacking sense for sure). He's playing his natural Real Madrid position here, providing width and being a genuine attacking asset when we're in possession but also keeping tabs on the opposition right side. On the other side of the pitch we have the best right back in the draft and probably of all time -
Cafu. He will run up and down the flank as he always does and pretty much would own that flank with his impressive combination of skill, stamina, teamwork, strength and overall class. In the heart of the defence we have
Lucio who is one of the best defenders in the 21 century succeeding pretty much everywhere he played - tall, strong and excellent tackler but also a leader he'll neutralize aerial dangers and also those on the ground.
Thomas Helmer is his partner in defence - tough strong world class defender who spent most of his club career with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, and won the EURO in 1996, forming a perfect left-right CB pairing (LvG would be proud). Both will be responsible of stopping Skizzo/Pat's attackers and also neutralizing them in the air, considering one of Klinsmann main assets and he'll be the focal point of S/P attack.
In midfield we have Juve's
Edgar Davids. He was also known for his pace, strength, power, stamina, tactical intelligence, versatility and tenacity, as well as his ability to read the game, which, along with his technical ability made Lippi call him his "one-man engine room".
Davids will be in the LCM role and harass the opponents constantly and combine with
Modric.
Luiz Gustavo and
Modric compliment him in midfield. 2 midfield dynamos with high work rate.
Luiz Gustavo will do the running, and covering in that holding role behind
Davids and
Modric.
Modric will be on the RCM side and will provide us with the playmaking abilities, vision, work rate and basically his bread and butter RM role here.
Our midfield will press the opponent when off the ball to get it back, as all our midfielders can participate in the defensive line. We won't play too deep or too high defensive line, rather medium one, but having a team full of versatile players with high work rate I expect our team to push S/P's side most of the time.
Up the park we have
Kaka who is the best player on the pitch and truly unstoppable in his prime who will be our key player in a free AM role to do what he does best - supply
Shevchenko and
Villa but also finish himself. Our strike partnership is
Villa - one of the best goalscorers in Spain of all time (leading national team goal scorer as well) and
Shevchenko - another ballon D'Or winner who was one of the top striker in his era - hit 26 or more goals in 5 of his 7 seasons while in Milan. In those drafts we always think how and whether our forward lines will fit but this time round we have a
proven partnership in
Kaka and
Sheva. While we know that one will work,
Shevchenko has
Villa as a partner and arguably that's the best striker partner he'd have during his prime(maybe only Inzaghi comes close). The best thing about
Sheva and
Villa are that they are so versatile that they can adjust to each other playing styles as both have proven in the past working in with different set ups.
Our main strengths and why we will win and key battles:
Our main strength and focal point in our team is the Milan core from the early to mid 00's. We have
Cafu,
Kaka and
Shevchenko in our team. So most likely you'll be looking at this most of the time:
(apologies for the crap and in some even gayish music- all videos experienced better minus the sound)
All three of them are proven unit going forward and
Cafu can feed
Sheva in the box with his crosses as
Kaka and
Sheva will link brilliantly as in the above videos.
Edgar Davids - one of the best midfielders in the draft - he'll have a tough job ahead but who else can execute it perfectly but a player that has the tactical discipline, reading of the game, combined with great teamwork, dedication and tackling ability.
Midfield battle -
Gustavo, Kaka, Modric and
Davids in midfield will be a bit too much for S/P side. We have the steel, grit, technical ability and also great creative force behind them. I'd say the midfield is well balanced and really strong in both phases.
Flanks - obviously width won't be an issue with
Marcelo,
Cafu on either flank and
Villa running into channels with also
Davids/Modric putting a shift when needed depending where the ball and oppositions players are.
Defending and attacking in numbers - all but
Villa and
Shevchenko will contribute in defence as well.
Villa and
Sheva will most likely be our first line pressing Skizzo/Pat's back line when they try to get the ball out of their half. Apart from them all of our midfielders and defenders can participate in defending in our half negating any possibility of being outnumbered at the back.
Creativity and attack - I think undoubtedly we have better attack and more creativity than S/P's team.
Kaka/Villa/Shevchenko with
Marcelo/Cafu on the flanks and
Modric creating from deep with their passing in movement is more than enough to create and score couple in this game. Apart from that we have the proven partnership between
Kaka/Sheva and
Cafu with its synergy and combining between them.
Work rate and generally hard working unit - Having
Cafu and
Davids in the team will generally outlay what an excellent side we have in terms of stamina levels, defending and attacking in unit. We have players with high energy level with the ability to last throughout the game but also a lot of tactical discipline especially in midfield where all -
Kaka/Modric/Gustavo/Davids are brilliant in that sense and are trusted to make the right decisions in the key moments of the game.
Why we will win? - solid midfield and core. Excellent going forward in an well oiled
Kaka/Sheva duo complimented with one of the best scorers in the history of La Liga -
Villa. Lot of creativity coming from
Kaka, Modric, Villa, Sheva. Great engine in
Cafu, Davids, Gustavo and the ability to use both - flanks and attack centrally. Leader at the back in
Lucio who undoubtedly is one of the best CB in the draft and an excellent partner in both tactical, positional and defensive sense in
Helmer, who is also excellent in the air - qualities that will be needed to cope with Klinsmann's edge.
although I don't see how its as clear cut as you try and portray when we have Moller (leading BuLi assists) with Totti and Klinsmann, and Lizarazu/Zanetti on the flanks, and Luis Enrique bursting forward. I'm assuming you won't be relying on schneider to create from deep? 
