Coronavirus Draft - R1 - Skizzo vs Pat Mustard

With players at their career peak, who would win?


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    18
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GodShaveTheQueen

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......................................................SKIZZO.................................................................................................PAT MUSTARD...........................................



TEAM SKIZZO

Tactics

Apologies, doing all this from my phone so it’s pieced together as best I can.

The idea was to build a solid base for Diego to be free to work his magic.

we have a solid central core in defense and midfield that would be tough to break down, and with Moore and Cerezo we have players who can get the ball forward in to feet. Dasayev in goal also gives us a quick outlet to spring forward.

Crespo would look to be a nuisance in the box and stretch things vertically and occupy some attention, leaving Henry and Maradona to drift and probe as they see fit.

TEAM PAT MUSTARD

Formation: 4-3-3

The aim here was to build a team to allow our GOAT candidate Cristiano Ronaldo to thrive in. He's not exactly difficult to build around, given his supreme range of talents and the breadth of his achievements across different teams and leagues, but he has generally been strangely underrated in the draft forum. There are certain elements that will bring the best out of him though, and to that end we've provided him with:

- a familiar formation and role as a free-role attacker from the left wing
- a world class width provider from LB in Cabrini
- a selfless No. 9 with superlative creativity in Francescoli
- top-notch direct passing from deeper areas from Schuster
- excellent delivery from the right wing to utilise his aerial threat from Figo
- supplementary goal threat throughout the team, but no other single-minded goalscorer in the mould of RVN.

Elsewhere:

Off The Ball:

All-time great GK Shilton is bulwarked by the balanced Blanc/McGrath duo. Cabrini motors forward to support the attack in possession, but is one of the greats at providing a genuine two-way flank presence off the ball. Positional GOAT Carlos Alberto rounds out the defence at RB, and will play his usual game, stifling much of the attacking threat coming down that flank (Cole/Henry?) whilst providing classy support for Figo in possession. Our midfield is supremely industrious off the ball. Schuster was a formidable two-way presence himself, even post-injury, and Pirri and Neeskens will provide powerhouse support. The idea here is to defend narrow and invite the opposition to go wide, where they don't look quite as fearsome.

On The Ball:

Much of it has been covered above, but basically transition quickly, ideally to create an opportunity for Ronaldo on the counter, If not utilise Enzo and Figo's superb approach play in the slower build up and let him score that way. Pirri and Neeskens both provide excellent goal threats from deep in this scenario.
 

Šjor Bepo

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every team with Maradona is the same, should go on the permanent ban list and be seen as a Draft version of Cantona.
 

Skizzo

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every team with Maradona is the same, should go on the permanent ban list and be seen as a Draft version of Cantona.
i had a few different ideas originally, but ended up falling through pretty quickly with how I planned (or didn’t :lol: ) as we progressed through each round. I agree it ends up pretty cookie cutter with how he usually shows up though unfortunately
 

Edgar Allan Pillow

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Awful teams both.

Don't like Cole as wingback, but as a build around Diego, it works well.

Pat's team is more difficult to grasp. Enzo as F9 works OK, but Schuster-Neeskens is too similar and I don't like Schuster as pivot.

Between Sagnol and Burgnich, Skizzo looks well placed to stop Cristiano and so take the edge here.
 
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Pat_Mustard

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A never-nude? I thought he just liked cut-offs.
Awful teams both.

Don't like Cole as wingback, but as a build around Diego, it works well.

Pat's team is more difficult to grasp. Enzo as F9 works OK, but Schuster-Neeskens is too similar and I don't like Schuster as pivot.

Between Sagnol and Burgnich, Skizzo looks well placed to stop Cristiano and so take the edge here.
:lol:

Interested to hear what others think about Schuster and Neeskens being too similar because I don't really see it at all. They're both well-rounded players, but Schuster was first and foremost a supreme passer and playmaker, while Neeskens is the epitome of a B2B midfielder, with playmaking probably coming some way down on a list of his best qualities. Schuster was pure class as a midfield general/DLP-ish type as well.



^ courtesy of Harms

He wasn't the type to simply sit in front of the CBs and he still got around the pitch, so I can see how you'd ideally want a pure holder when coming up against Maradona, but with Neesekens and Pirri flanking him this should work well enough, and it's imperative to have a passer on his level imo to maximise Cristiano's threat.
 

Edgar Allan Pillow

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They're both well-rounded players, but Schuster was first and foremost a supreme passer and playmaker, while Neeskens is the epitome of a B2B midfielder, with playmaking probably coming some way down on a list of his best qualities.
I meant both were specialists in bringing the ball up from the deep and neither suited to be a pivot. Schuster regularly moved up and down and even wider in flanks during his peak...similar to Neeskens. If you're looking at him as a DLP staying deep, not sure if that's playing to his strengths.
 

Pat_Mustard

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A never-nude? I thought he just liked cut-offs.
Anybody who hasn't seen this really should give it a watch if they want to learn more about Enzo. This match was a revelation to me as regards his tenacity and the quality of his hold-up play.

Here's Enzo vs Scotland in the 1986 WC. For context, Uruguay needed a draw to qualify for the next stage, and Scotland needed to win. Uruguay managed to get a player red carded in less than a minute, so Enzo was left playing as a lone centre forward. Some quotes from his opponents stolen from @Joga Bonito :
Sir Alex Ferguson said:
As soon as the Uruguayans were down to ten men, we became nervous and revealed the old Scottish inability to produce the killer thrust. Enzo Francescoli was magnificent for them, playing up front on his own with endless resourcefulness and composure He stood out in a team notable mainly for their malice and shamelessness of their tactics.

Craig Brown said:
A player who gave the greatest performance I've ever seen. Francescoli played our entire back four on his own and, although we finally managed to put some pressure on the Uruguayans later on in the game, we were eliminated.
High praise for a striker in a match that ended up 0-0.

 

Pat_Mustard

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A never-nude? I thought he just liked cut-offs.
I meant both were specialists in bringing the ball up from the deep and neither suited to be a pivot. Schuster regularly moved up and down and even wider in flanks during his peak...similar to Neeskens. If you're looking at him as a DLP staying deep, not sure if that's playing to his strengths.
Ah, that's fair enough, I see your point now. Definitely looking at him playing his natural, expansive game here rather than just sitting in front of the CBs all match. It's not as defensively secure as having a limited but full-time holding player there, but it adds so much in terms of our attacking threat. Also, as stated in the OP, the midfield will attempt to stay narrow and compact, and Neeskens (integral part of the Dutch Total Football positional interchange carousel) and Pirri (played CM/DM and libero) are well-suited to plugging the gap when Schuster roams.
 

Gio

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Cannot fault how either team is constructed, they are both pretty much on the money.
 

Pat_Mustard

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A never-nude? I thought he just liked cut-offs.
Between Sagnol and Burgnich, Skizzo looks well placed to stop Cristiano and so take the edge here.
For once I'm not meaning to berate you on every point you make :D , but just quoting because it's pertinent to my point. I was looking for a great post on this by managerial icon and general demigod peak Beam but couldn't find it, but the basic thrust is that 3-5-2/5--3-2 seems to offer this incredible strength through the centre (true to a large extent) but is still seen as strong defensively against advanced wingers due to the side CB/wing back double whammy (not as true). Skizzo's back 5 is excellently constructed in terms of quality and fit (Cole mightn't be ideal in the attacking sense but the proven partnership with Henry makes up for that a bit and he's superb defensively), but the space between the wing backs and the side CBs is the clear vulnerability in a 5-3-2 and Figo and Ronaldo are a wet dream for exploiting that.
 

GodShaveTheQueen

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Interested to hear what others think about Schuster and Neeskens being too similar because I don't really see it at all.
Yea, I think its fine. Older Schuster and peak Neeskens were two completely different players and very complimentary in a 4-3-3 the way you have setup with a DLP and 2 B2B's.

Against a great No.10 though, I would have slightly reshuffled the midfield like below.

-------Schuster-------Neeskens------
--------------------Pirri-----------------------

While Pirri is an excellent B2B himself, he was an excellent DM too.

I think Schuster will be a liability time and again, even though flanked by two hard working midfielders who will have their own contributions to make on the ball as well.

The reason I still voted for you is the flank battle.

While your flanks are way too strong, Skizzo's wingbacks aren't really wingbacks. They should provide ample cover defensively and moderate support offensively, but I don't think it will be enough going forward. That leaves it easier for your team to defend narrowly.

I'd probably called it a draw if Kohler started at RCB and Burgnich at LCB.
 

Jim Beam

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What GSTQ said, would probably prefer Pirri at DM (still, not so much of an issue), but the reason I voted for Pat are Skizzo's wingbacks who won't contribute so much going forward.

Hard to vote as that Diego - Henry combo is just :drool: