Team Tuppet
Tactics:
Philosophy/Ideology of Tactical set-up:
We've set up in a similar manner to the Fergie's first great Utd team of 94. Its a 4-4-1-1 with a focus on fast attacks & counterattacks using wingplay, a strong double pivot in midfield and Litmanen as the heart of attack both as a playmaker and goalscorer.
Defensive line - Normal
Playing style - fast paced, one touch football.
Creative Freedom - More Disciplined approach, apart from Litmanen, Ribery & Kanchelskis, not many people are tasked to show too much flair. Litmanen is the hub of every attack and is the primary playmaker/trequartista. Not much roaming except from Litmanen.
Closing down - Less closing down generally with just Schweinsteiger and Lerby doing the leg work, allowing quick counter attacks down both flanks. Even though none of my attackers could be considered lazy, we are not trying to press from front.
Specialized roles - Lerby as ball winner/ box to box, Schweini in a box to box playmaking role. Voller as a target man.
Central Player: JARI LITMANEN
He was a special breed of playmaker, a player born out of Johan Cruyff’s counter-intuitive liberal theories. He was not the artist playmaker – Jari was the antithesis of modern art – but he was functional and brilliant. He was an everyman.
Litmanen is at best as a creative second striker / Attacking midfielder and flourish with both playmaking and goal scoring responsibilities. By 1995 Litmanen was the best attacking midfielder in the world. There is an anonymity to his brilliance: He seldom dribbles or flies in with a tackle or fires home from 30 yards. Typically he sends a precise ball to wings and then surges stiffly into the box to finish off. Passing and scoring, passing & scoring. That was also his gripe with classic playmaking number 10s.
He said - "Zidane is fantastic on the ball, he also defends well, but he scores too little. Veron passes with feeling, is an outstanding playmaker, scores too little."
He is fairly versatile and would work well in many formations, but I think a 4-4-1-1 with genuine wingers and a solid midfield platform would be one of the best way to maximize his talents. I obviously thought of replicating LVG's classic Ajax tactic, but don't want to do an exact remake. The idea in my current tactic is to have a squad which is very good in itself but needs a mercurial talisman in attack to take it to the next level, much like Cantona did for us or Bergkemp / Zola did for Arsenal / Chelsea etc. Once this was decided the rest of the squad was rather easy to pick -
Striker - Complete striker/Targetman - Voller
Voller is one of the top strikers in the pool anyway but its his all rounded-ness that makes him a perfect fit for our squad. Voller was good in air, had great pace, a ruthless finisher, can hold the ball, work well with another striker (e.g. his Klinsmann partnership), a decent dribbler who can participate in moves outside the box and is creative enough to fashion his own chances. He is a very good reference point around which the 3 of 4-2-3-1 can revolve, and can both create & put away chances for Litmanen.
Wingers - Ribery / Kanchelsiks
Ribery / Kanchelskis forms a classic wing attack with Ribery being the more playmaker style player on the left side and Kenchelskis being the more direct, fast & furious winger on the right side. The obvious comparison is Robbery (Robben/Ribery) partnership, which is one of the best winger partnerships of modern times. While Kan-Kan didn't have the Robben impact for very long, at his peak he was a similar player. A speed demon with great ball control and knack for scoring goals, Kanchelskis bring the ability to pin opposition defenses back and provide a lightning fast counter attack route.
Ribery is one of the best pure wingers in the pool and at his peak was best player in the world. His pace, dribbling, vision & passing would provide another playmaker in the team which would allow Litmanen to be truly in a free role, but at the same time he is not just a playmaker in wide role ala David Silva, he is a winger first and foremost and would strech the opposition defense creating space for Liti & Voller.
Fullbacks - Abidal / Sagnol
Since we are playing with 2 classic wingers and are not dependent upon our fullbacks to provide attacking width, we don't need flank dominating wingbacks e.g. - Maicon/Alves/Cabrini . What we need is 2 classic fullbacks who are good defenders first and can provide overlaps to help their wingers. Abidal / Sagnol fits perfectly in this description, both played together (along with Ribery) for France for many years, and came agonizingly close to a world cup win, with great defensive displays. They are also placed correctly on the field with the more adventurous Sagnol - who perfected the overlapping runs & has great cross on him - behind Kanchelskis. While more conservative Abidal playing behind Ribery, who would stay in wider areas more.
Midfield duo - Schweinsteiger / Lerby
For a 90s 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 midfield duo, the norm is to have 2 fairly complete midfielders who can cover a lot of ground in a double pivot. Think Keane-Butt or Vieira-Petit. Schweini - Lerby partnership represents a terrifying cocktail of an impressive psyche, footballing ability and a will to win bordering on the brink of insanity. While both could be classified as box to box midfielder, Schweinsteiger would take more of a playmaking role and Lerby with his incredible stamina would be tasked with winning the ball all over the field. It seem to me an upgraded version of world cup winning Schweinsteiger - Khedira midfield duo. Its a solid foundation upon which Liti can work his magic.
Center Backs - Hansen / Perfumo
There is not much here, both Hansen & Perfumo are legendary defenders and compliment each other well with Hansen being more cultured on the ball while Perfumo playing as a more rugged stopper. Both are fairly complete though and can take each others role.
Finally Walter Zenga is an awesome shot stopper. An old fashioned defense first goalkeeper he was brilliant in Italy winning all sort of awards like IFFHS goalkeeper of the year 3 times and Serie A footballer of the year.
Overall I think we have a very functional squad with Multiple goal scoring routes in Voller & Kanchelskis and great passers all over the field in Ribery, Schweinsteiger & Hansen. This allows Jari Littman to be the conductor doing whatever he feels needs doing, whether it is working in the final third scoring goals, using his brilliant passing to create chances or fighting in the midfield battle. Its a lot of responsibility but this is what I feel would transform our squad to the next level.
Team Boris
This team has been designed to get the best out of the greatest Scottish and Liverpool player of all time, Kenny Dalglish. The principles of the team are based around the Liverpool teams he would have played in in the 70s and 80s that were a dominant force in English and European football, where during Dalglish's time there as a player he won 6 league titles and 3 European cups.
Therefore the style of play will be possession based, with one narrow wide player and a key emphasis on the front two. Unfortunately there are no pass backs, but this has been partly modified by having a goalkeeper who is excellent with the ball at his feet in Lloris, and an entire unit of players capable of playing out from the back. There is plenty of aggression and workrate in the midfield, combined with the technical quality to feed balls into King Kenny's feet in space, and the quality of movement ahead of him to thread balls through to.
A key feature of that Liverpool team was pressing from the front, however in van Nistlerooy and Moulijn I don't necessarily have the players to do that, therefore without the ball the team will sit back slightly and engage the press from behind the half way line.
This system will get the best out of Dalglish because it basically is the system that he got great success out of.
Defence
Defensive Line - The defence will play with a fluid line depending on the situation. Popescu had a good sense of positioning and anticipation and Lucio was extremely powerful and quick, so in terms of a central defensive partnership defensive wise they suit each other quite well and can play in any type of line. Lucio would tend to be the man to attack the ball with Popescu being a bit more reactive. Full backs wouldn't be tucking in that often.
One the ball - Popescu is an extremely good alternative to Hansen in the ball playing role, having played a lot of time in midfield he will have a role as a playmaker from deep. The full backs will look to support the attack from deep and fill the spaces vacated by inside movements from the wide players, particularly on the right. I can't imagine any manager would have a choice in the matter of stopping Lucio from engaging in one o his surging runs every now and then, which would obviously mean Cerzo and Ardilles dropping back slightly to cover.
Midfield
Shape - The great Liverpool teams usually involved some combination of a holding player who could protect the defense but also dictate play and a more roaming box-to-box player, with wide players cutting inside, and I have tried to replicate that here.
Cerezo was a key component of what was essentially a midfield two for one of the greatest world cup sides of all time in Brazil in 1982. He was capable of getting about the pitch, shutting out attacks, and had the technical ability to dictate play from midfield to world class level.
Beside him Ardilles was a complete box-to-box player who could basically do everything you would want in a midfielder, and with the protection of Cerezo would have the ability to support the front players. Slightly to the right Gerrard is in a hybrid right sided central midfield/right midfield role.
On the left I have Coen Moulijn who many say is the greatest Feyenoord player of all time. He was very quick and was an exceptional dribbler and a fantastic crosser, who played as both an inside and outside left, so brings a nice blend to the side.
On the ball - Depending on the state of play, the midfield and defense will operate to two strategies. If in a position of strength, the team will look to retain possession as much as possible and kill the game. Everyone from the keeper up is capable of playing smart possession football and taking the ball into feet. If chasing the game there is a huge amount of creativity and attacking ability in the side, and a much more aggressive approach can be taken with a mixture of short and direct passing.
Without the ball - The midfield will look to become narrow with Dalglish dropping off slightly into space more than as a defender as the out ball for counter attacks. Any opportunities of a press will probably revolve around Gerrard's side, the combination of he, Cerezo and Ardilles in a midfield would be extremely difficult to break through.
Attack
Clearly this is not exactly a like-for-like replacement for the Dalglish-Rush partnership, Ruud did not have the same pace or workrate as the Welshman. But Ruud was a better finisher, and while he may have lacked electric pace his positional sense, movement, and anticipation mean that this team, and Dalglish in particular, will create a lot of chances for him, and Ruud was clinical.
Point of Note
You can argue that this is not Gerrard's best position, but I would argue this is the perfect place to put him. His main weaknesses were a lack of positional awareness with a tendency to leave massive gaps when playing as a deeper centre mid, and a propensity to try stupid hollywood passes and shots. Although he will have a lot of creative freedom, from this position a lot of that is removed. In Popescu, Cerezo, and Dalglish there are three key playmakers, so all he has to worry about is making surging forward runs beyond Dalglish, picking out RVN in the penalty area, and dumbed down defensive duties getting back to the right of Cerezo.
Tactics:
Philosophy/Ideology of Tactical set-up:
We've set up in a similar manner to the Fergie's first great Utd team of 94. Its a 4-4-1-1 with a focus on fast attacks & counterattacks using wingplay, a strong double pivot in midfield and Litmanen as the heart of attack both as a playmaker and goalscorer.
Defensive line - Normal
Playing style - fast paced, one touch football.
Creative Freedom - More Disciplined approach, apart from Litmanen, Ribery & Kanchelskis, not many people are tasked to show too much flair. Litmanen is the hub of every attack and is the primary playmaker/trequartista. Not much roaming except from Litmanen.
Closing down - Less closing down generally with just Schweinsteiger and Lerby doing the leg work, allowing quick counter attacks down both flanks. Even though none of my attackers could be considered lazy, we are not trying to press from front.
Specialized roles - Lerby as ball winner/ box to box, Schweini in a box to box playmaking role. Voller as a target man.
Central Player: JARI LITMANEN
He was a special breed of playmaker, a player born out of Johan Cruyff’s counter-intuitive liberal theories. He was not the artist playmaker – Jari was the antithesis of modern art – but he was functional and brilliant. He was an everyman.
Litmanen is at best as a creative second striker / Attacking midfielder and flourish with both playmaking and goal scoring responsibilities. By 1995 Litmanen was the best attacking midfielder in the world. There is an anonymity to his brilliance: He seldom dribbles or flies in with a tackle or fires home from 30 yards. Typically he sends a precise ball to wings and then surges stiffly into the box to finish off. Passing and scoring, passing & scoring. That was also his gripe with classic playmaking number 10s.
He said - "Zidane is fantastic on the ball, he also defends well, but he scores too little. Veron passes with feeling, is an outstanding playmaker, scores too little."
He is fairly versatile and would work well in many formations, but I think a 4-4-1-1 with genuine wingers and a solid midfield platform would be one of the best way to maximize his talents. I obviously thought of replicating LVG's classic Ajax tactic, but don't want to do an exact remake. The idea in my current tactic is to have a squad which is very good in itself but needs a mercurial talisman in attack to take it to the next level, much like Cantona did for us or Bergkemp / Zola did for Arsenal / Chelsea etc. Once this was decided the rest of the squad was rather easy to pick -
Striker - Complete striker/Targetman - Voller
Voller is one of the top strikers in the pool anyway but its his all rounded-ness that makes him a perfect fit for our squad. Voller was good in air, had great pace, a ruthless finisher, can hold the ball, work well with another striker (e.g. his Klinsmann partnership), a decent dribbler who can participate in moves outside the box and is creative enough to fashion his own chances. He is a very good reference point around which the 3 of 4-2-3-1 can revolve, and can both create & put away chances for Litmanen.
Wingers - Ribery / Kanchelsiks
Ribery / Kanchelskis forms a classic wing attack with Ribery being the more playmaker style player on the left side and Kenchelskis being the more direct, fast & furious winger on the right side. The obvious comparison is Robbery (Robben/Ribery) partnership, which is one of the best winger partnerships of modern times. While Kan-Kan didn't have the Robben impact for very long, at his peak he was a similar player. A speed demon with great ball control and knack for scoring goals, Kanchelskis bring the ability to pin opposition defenses back and provide a lightning fast counter attack route.
Ribery is one of the best pure wingers in the pool and at his peak was best player in the world. His pace, dribbling, vision & passing would provide another playmaker in the team which would allow Litmanen to be truly in a free role, but at the same time he is not just a playmaker in wide role ala David Silva, he is a winger first and foremost and would strech the opposition defense creating space for Liti & Voller.
Fullbacks - Abidal / Sagnol
Since we are playing with 2 classic wingers and are not dependent upon our fullbacks to provide attacking width, we don't need flank dominating wingbacks e.g. - Maicon/Alves/Cabrini . What we need is 2 classic fullbacks who are good defenders first and can provide overlaps to help their wingers. Abidal / Sagnol fits perfectly in this description, both played together (along with Ribery) for France for many years, and came agonizingly close to a world cup win, with great defensive displays. They are also placed correctly on the field with the more adventurous Sagnol - who perfected the overlapping runs & has great cross on him - behind Kanchelskis. While more conservative Abidal playing behind Ribery, who would stay in wider areas more.
Midfield duo - Schweinsteiger / Lerby
For a 90s 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 midfield duo, the norm is to have 2 fairly complete midfielders who can cover a lot of ground in a double pivot. Think Keane-Butt or Vieira-Petit. Schweini - Lerby partnership represents a terrifying cocktail of an impressive psyche, footballing ability and a will to win bordering on the brink of insanity. While both could be classified as box to box midfielder, Schweinsteiger would take more of a playmaking role and Lerby with his incredible stamina would be tasked with winning the ball all over the field. It seem to me an upgraded version of world cup winning Schweinsteiger - Khedira midfield duo. Its a solid foundation upon which Liti can work his magic.
Center Backs - Hansen / Perfumo
There is not much here, both Hansen & Perfumo are legendary defenders and compliment each other well with Hansen being more cultured on the ball while Perfumo playing as a more rugged stopper. Both are fairly complete though and can take each others role.
Finally Walter Zenga is an awesome shot stopper. An old fashioned defense first goalkeeper he was brilliant in Italy winning all sort of awards like IFFHS goalkeeper of the year 3 times and Serie A footballer of the year.
Overall I think we have a very functional squad with Multiple goal scoring routes in Voller & Kanchelskis and great passers all over the field in Ribery, Schweinsteiger & Hansen. This allows Jari Littman to be the conductor doing whatever he feels needs doing, whether it is working in the final third scoring goals, using his brilliant passing to create chances or fighting in the midfield battle. Its a lot of responsibility but this is what I feel would transform our squad to the next level.
Team Boris
This team has been designed to get the best out of the greatest Scottish and Liverpool player of all time, Kenny Dalglish. The principles of the team are based around the Liverpool teams he would have played in in the 70s and 80s that were a dominant force in English and European football, where during Dalglish's time there as a player he won 6 league titles and 3 European cups.
Therefore the style of play will be possession based, with one narrow wide player and a key emphasis on the front two. Unfortunately there are no pass backs, but this has been partly modified by having a goalkeeper who is excellent with the ball at his feet in Lloris, and an entire unit of players capable of playing out from the back. There is plenty of aggression and workrate in the midfield, combined with the technical quality to feed balls into King Kenny's feet in space, and the quality of movement ahead of him to thread balls through to.
A key feature of that Liverpool team was pressing from the front, however in van Nistlerooy and Moulijn I don't necessarily have the players to do that, therefore without the ball the team will sit back slightly and engage the press from behind the half way line.
This system will get the best out of Dalglish because it basically is the system that he got great success out of.
Defence
Defensive Line - The defence will play with a fluid line depending on the situation. Popescu had a good sense of positioning and anticipation and Lucio was extremely powerful and quick, so in terms of a central defensive partnership defensive wise they suit each other quite well and can play in any type of line. Lucio would tend to be the man to attack the ball with Popescu being a bit more reactive. Full backs wouldn't be tucking in that often.
One the ball - Popescu is an extremely good alternative to Hansen in the ball playing role, having played a lot of time in midfield he will have a role as a playmaker from deep. The full backs will look to support the attack from deep and fill the spaces vacated by inside movements from the wide players, particularly on the right. I can't imagine any manager would have a choice in the matter of stopping Lucio from engaging in one o his surging runs every now and then, which would obviously mean Cerzo and Ardilles dropping back slightly to cover.
Midfield
Shape - The great Liverpool teams usually involved some combination of a holding player who could protect the defense but also dictate play and a more roaming box-to-box player, with wide players cutting inside, and I have tried to replicate that here.
Cerezo was a key component of what was essentially a midfield two for one of the greatest world cup sides of all time in Brazil in 1982. He was capable of getting about the pitch, shutting out attacks, and had the technical ability to dictate play from midfield to world class level.
Beside him Ardilles was a complete box-to-box player who could basically do everything you would want in a midfielder, and with the protection of Cerezo would have the ability to support the front players. Slightly to the right Gerrard is in a hybrid right sided central midfield/right midfield role.
On the left I have Coen Moulijn who many say is the greatest Feyenoord player of all time. He was very quick and was an exceptional dribbler and a fantastic crosser, who played as both an inside and outside left, so brings a nice blend to the side.
On the ball - Depending on the state of play, the midfield and defense will operate to two strategies. If in a position of strength, the team will look to retain possession as much as possible and kill the game. Everyone from the keeper up is capable of playing smart possession football and taking the ball into feet. If chasing the game there is a huge amount of creativity and attacking ability in the side, and a much more aggressive approach can be taken with a mixture of short and direct passing.
Without the ball - The midfield will look to become narrow with Dalglish dropping off slightly into space more than as a defender as the out ball for counter attacks. Any opportunities of a press will probably revolve around Gerrard's side, the combination of he, Cerezo and Ardilles in a midfield would be extremely difficult to break through.
Attack
Clearly this is not exactly a like-for-like replacement for the Dalglish-Rush partnership, Ruud did not have the same pace or workrate as the Welshman. But Ruud was a better finisher, and while he may have lacked electric pace his positional sense, movement, and anticipation mean that this team, and Dalglish in particular, will create a lot of chances for him, and Ruud was clinical.
Point of Note
You can argue that this is not Gerrard's best position, but I would argue this is the perfect place to put him. His main weaknesses were a lack of positional awareness with a tendency to leave massive gaps when playing as a deeper centre mid, and a propensity to try stupid hollywood passes and shots. Although he will have a lot of creative freedom, from this position a lot of that is removed. In Popescu, Cerezo, and Dalglish there are three key playmakers, so all he has to worry about is making surging forward runs beyond Dalglish, picking out RVN in the penalty area, and dumbed down defensive duties getting back to the right of Cerezo.
