Coronavirus Champions League - SF 1st Leg - Sjor/Invictus vs Pnut/Jim

With players at their career peak, who would win?


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GodShaveTheQueen

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............................................SJOR/INVICTUS.......................................................................................PNUT/JIM



TEAM SJOR/INVICTUS

Formation: Up-tempo asymmetric 4-4-2.

DEFENSE

JOSÉ ANTONIO CAMACHO, DANIEL PASSARELLA, GUIDO BUCHWALD and ERIC GERETS form a robust and resolute platform for the team, with 3 World Cup titles, 2 European Championship final appearances and a European Cup between them. The instructions are fairly straight-forward — Camacho is well positioned to shore up the left flank given his considerable defensive and man-marking skills — which will enable Passarella to both organize the Back 4 and bring the ball out from deep zones...
He was called "El Gran Capitán" (the Great Captain, nickname of Argentine independence hero José de San Martín), "El Kaiser" (an allusion to Franz Beckenbauer) or "El Caudillo" (the Chief) because of his leadership ability, his passion, and his organisational prowess on the field. He was a defender who often joined the attack, and helped generate and finish offensive plays. He was the top scoring defender, with 134 goals in 451 matches His aerial game was effective both defensively and in attack. Passarella and Chilean Elías Figueroa are considered the best defenders in the history of South America.



On the extreme right Gerets is widely regarded as one of the top fullbacks from Europe, with his mentality and workrate earning him the nickname "The Lion of Flanders". And in the middle s Ferrara...who excelled as a quick and combative and defensively predicated centerback and peaked as the leader of the vaunted Juventus defense under Lippi,
First, I learned by watching the best. When I got to Napoli, I played alongside Ciro Ferrara — one of the greatest defenders in the history of Italian football. Fabio Cannavaro.

It is worryingly uncommon, even in the modern game, that we see a defender with considerable technical ability, so much so, that when such a player even shows signs of emerging, they’re a highly sought after commodity. Ciro Ferrara had this ability in abundance; often seen marauding forward out of defence with players in tow, or reading and intercepting passes as they were made; he was always several steps ahead of his opponents. Throughout his 20-year playing career, Ferrara made an impressive 500 appearances shared between Napoli and Juventus. A commanding presence at the back and a remarkable ability to turn defence into attack; Ferrara was irreplaceable on the team sheet.
In goal, LADISLAO MARURKIEWICZ was ever-present in Peñarol's unbeaten league and Copa Libertadores winning seasons in the '60s, was selected as the best goalkeeper of the 1970 World Cup — and was voted 12th in the World Keeper of the Century poll.

CENTRAL MIDFIELD

PAUL SCHOLES and VALERY VORONIN offer an exquisite blend of technique and up-tempo playmaking ability in the central portion of the pitch. Scholes reprises his fabled clockwork regista role — allowing him to regulate the proceeding in inimitable fashion given his vast experience in double pivot setups and form an exhilarating axis for the forwards.


Xavi is a long-time admirer of Scholes; in a 2011 interview with the Daily Mail he called Scholes "the best midfielder I have seen" in the last 15 to 20 years. "In the last 15 to 20 years the best central midfielder that I have seen — the most complete — is Scholes.
To his right and supporting the midfield base is Voronin, performing the holding role he perfected in his peak — capable of being a factor in possession as well as negating the influence of the likes of Eusébio, allowing the players alongside-ahead of him the freedom to exert maximum creative influence on the match.



WIDE ATTACKING MIDFIELD

On the right in a somewhat tucked-in playmaking role is KEVIN DE BRUYNE — who will seek to serve as a supply line for the attackers. A quick and elegant player on the ball, his positional sense, tactical intelligence, movement, workrate and direct style of play enables him to take advantage of spaces in the opposition's defense, and subsequently create chances and goalscoring opportunities for himself or his teammates. What he lacks in all All-Time stature according to some, he makes up for in terms of fit — in this setup, he should be able to explore the full extent of his simple yet remarkable playmaking skill set through the half-spaces as someone who is adept as co-existing with other playmakers without hogging the ball, and he should positively thrive in the presence of Batistuta and Ronaldo further up the pitch as they will gobble up a fair percentage of the chances he invariably creates.

On the left is the best winger on the pitch and one of the greatest ever, DRAGAN DŽAJIĆ...


“Džajić is the Balkan miracle – a real wizard,” said the legendary forward, after the two did battle in 1968, “I’m just sorry he’s not Brazilian because I’ve never seen such a natural footballer” — Pelé

A dazzling dribbler, Džajić was named his nation's Golden Player to mark UEFA's Golden Jubilee in 2004. He won more caps for the former Yugoslavia than any other player, 85 from 1964–79, and saved his best for the UEFA European Championship. Dzajic was in rampant form in 1968, clocking up 3 goals and 3 assists out of 8 goals Yugoslavia scored against France, England and Italy. Those defences boasted some top class personnel - he ghosted in behind Bobby Moore and lobbed Gordon Banks to knock out the world champions - and Džajić combined both productivity and the dazzling dribbling we fame him for in unlocking them. Top scorer in 1968 and again in the team of the tournament in 1976, this time giving Berti Vogts the runaround. Džajić's delivery with his magical left foot was a joy to behold and his attachment to Crvena Zvezda, for whom he scored 287 goals in 590 games.

ATTACK

Up top is the angelic GABRIEL BATISTUTA. The greatest lead striker Argentina has ever produced, he is was their All-Time leading goalscorer with 54 in 77 official matches, their All-Time top scorer in the World Cup 10 goals, twice Copa América Top Scorer and once World Cup Silver Shoe. A quick, hard-working, and powerful player, with an eye for goal and a good all-round game, Batistuta is undoubtedly one of the most complete, feared and prolific #9s of all time. Batistuta also possessed an excellent positional sense, as well as an ability to anticipate defenders in the area, score acrobatic goals from volleys or bicycle kicks, and strike the ball first time from tight angles while on the run...



Completing the attack as well as the team is the man, the myth, the legend — RONALDO.
Coaches recommended a second defensive line against him because everyone had the impression that Ronaldo would be able to lose his marker, whether it was with a sprint, or facing a defender directly — Marcelo Lippi
An extremely powerful, fast, and technical player, with excellent movement, as well as being a composed finisher, Ronaldo was highly regarded for his technical ability, and was able to use both feet, despite being naturally right footed, and is considered one of the most skilful dribblers in the game overall. Here he has the freedom to attack the opposition defense from all sorts of angles — a scary proposition given his ability to beat several players when dribbling at speed, and excellence in one on one situations, due to his ball control, acceleration, agility, balance and nimble footwork in his prime.

TEAM PNUT/JIM

A fluid 4231 set up.

Defence speaks for itself

Midfield

The deeper 2 are a combination of B2B and playmaker in Bozsik and Robson.

The 3 are made up of Croyff and Gullit out wide capable of roaming across the pitch and taking up positions where needed.

Rivera pulls the strings from the AM position and supplies Riva up top as the focal point.
 
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Šjor Bepo

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good luck @P-Nut
Great team, love everything apart the Rivera - Cruyff combo. In the final third Cruyff needs to be a main man so the combo with Rivera wont work and its not he can drop deep and control the game from there as you have Bozsik to do so.
 

Physiocrat

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Batigol and Ronaldo. The late 90s strike duo dream.

Both sides are seriously impressive. Look how a winger can transform your side @Šjor Bepo
 

Šjor Bepo

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Individually teams are brilliant, maybe even an edge to p-nut/drunky but what we did is we placed our star players in best possible position to shine.
Passarella with a lot of protection around him, defensive leftback on one side, stopper on the other with a defensive mastermind in front. If there was ever a setup for him to make a difference this is it.

Scholes surrounded with technically sound players that even though have a lot of quality they will let him to command the orchestra. Great defensive midfielder next tohim that is very similar to Carrick with who he had a great partnership and De Bruyne who is a selfless runner in all phases of play.

Dzajic - a lot of protection on his side which should allow him to do his thing, with Batistuta as the main target he should make a difference even though his opposition is elite tier.

Fenomeno - free role once again in his best position of a SS, lots of creative juices around and an absolute goal machine next to him, should be fun.
 

P-Nut

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good luck @P-Nut
Great team, love everything apart the Rivera - Cruyff combo. In the final third Cruyff needs to be a main man so the combo with Rivera wont work and its not he can drop deep and control the game from there as you have Bozsik to do so.
Harms didn't have any wide players, so Cruyff had to move out wide here and he can certainly make it work, he wouldn't play the position as a normal winger would and would be drifting inside to link up with Rivera rather than hugging his touchline.
 

Šjor Bepo

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Harms didn't have any wide players, so Cruyff had to move out wide here and he can certainly make it work, he wouldn't play the position as a normal winger would and would be drifting inside to link up with Rivera rather than hugging his touchline.
Exactly my point, Cruyff will play how Cruyff plays where ever you put him and thats by controlling the game, specially in final third(so no issue with Bozsik for example), Rivera was also the main man in his team, everything went through him so how will he do with both Cruyff and Bozsik i honestly dont know.
 

P-Nut

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Exactly my point, Cruyff will play how Cruyff plays where ever you put him and thats by controlling the game, specially in final third(so no issue with Bozsik for example), Rivera was also the main man in his team, everything went through him so how will he do with both Cruyff and Bozsik i honestly dont know.
I think he'd thrive personally, I think a bit too much gets made of players that wanted the ball not getting enough of it due to others also wanting the ball.

Not similar tactics as such, but take City for instance, before De Bruyne came in everything ran through Silva, now they run in together with differing styles to their games. I don't think Cruyff and Rivera are too dissimilar here, Cruyff the really aggressive direct style much like De Bruyne and Silva I see as a player in the mould of Rivera as the classical number 10. I think their styles would mesh well together.
 

Šjor Bepo

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I think he'd thrive personally, I think a bit too much gets made of players that wanted the ball not getting enough of it due to others also wanting the ball.

Not similar tactics as such, but take City for instance, before De Bruyne came in everything ran through Silva, now they run in together with differing styles to their games. I don't think Cruyff and Rivera are too dissimilar here, Cruyff the really aggressive direct style much like De Bruyne and Silva I see as a player in the mould of Rivera as the classical number 10. I think their styles would mesh well together.
Not every creative player can thrive alongside others of similar ilk.
D. Silva showed he can even with Spain and De Bruyne is as selfless as you can be(one of the reasons i rate him as highly). Maybe not fair but i tend to not give a benefit of a doubt to those type of players, if your game was a dominant one and you didnt have a selfless connection with another player of the same ilk i tend to stay away from using those in multiple playmaker setups.
Cruyff is one of the most dominant players ever, while he had Van Hanegem in the 74 team it has to be said that it was Wim that changed his game and played different then usual not Cruyff. No mather what Cruyff will play his game and IMO the partnership with Rivera wont work for those reasons as both want to be the main guy.
I mean you have Mazzola and Rivera example for national team, in theory both should work fine but coaches decided they wont match so wouldnt be surprised if that was more personality related rather then talent wise as as i said, both offer different things so in theory it could work.
 

P-Nut

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Not every creative player can thrive alongside others of similar ilk.
D. Silva showed he can even with Spain and De Bruyne is as selfless as you can be(one of the reasons i rate him as highly). Maybe not fair but i tend to not give a benefit of a doubt to those type of players, if your game was a dominant one and you didnt have a selfless connection with another player of the same ilk i tend to stay away from using those in multiple playmaker setups.
Cruyff is one of the most dominant players ever, while he had Van Hanegem in the 74 team it has to be said that it was Wim that changed his game and played different then usual not Cruyff. No mather what Cruyff will play his game and IMO the partnership with Rivera wont work for those reasons as both want to be the main guy.
I mean you have Mazzola and Rivera example for national team, in theory both should work fine but coaches decided they wont match so wouldnt be surprised if that was more personality related rather then talent wise as as i said, both offer different things so in theory it could work.
Yeah I know what you mean, but a lot of the players we see as only ever working in 1 playmaker systems, only ever really had the chance to do so in those systems.

Take Cruyff for example, when he became a coach he didn't want just 1 playmaker on the pitch, showing that his ideal wasn't that. It's a weird one and something I'll probably explore again in future drafts, as I don't think it's as simple as saying they've never done it so wouldn't be able to.
 

harms

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Yashin was good but even he wouldn't be able to play in 2 different games at the same time. Especially for a manager who can't spell his name right :p

Interesting. P-Nut has an advantage in terms of the star quality, but there's something off about that whole attacking unit, not sure that Rivera and Cruyff would bring out the best of each other. S/I, on the other hand :drool:
 

Šjor Bepo

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Yeah I know what you mean, but a lot of the players we see as only ever working in 1 playmaker systems, only ever really had the chance to do so in those systems.

Take Cruyff for example, when he became a coach he didn't want just 1 playmaker on the pitch, showing that his ideal wasn't that. It's a weird one and something I'll probably explore again in future drafts, as I don't think it's as simple as saying they've never done it so wouldn't be able to.
not sure manager/player vision/game how ever you wonna call it has any connections, best example was Pep. The famous tiki taka his team played would be a terrible fit for Pep the player who was never a tippy tappy kind of player, his passing was always forwards - similar to Koeman.
 

Šjor Bepo

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Yashin was good but even he wouldn't be able to play in 2 different games at the same time. Especially for a manager who can't spell his name right :p
can you just say here which one you using @P-Nut , no need to change the formation picture
 

Šjor Bepo

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The rules said keeper was playing in both. If not then just band VdS in this one. Makes no difference really
yeah, no difference need it for something else :D
 

Jim Beam

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Aside from far more effort put in their thoughts and tactics (which also should be counted for something), it is nice to see people getting behind more balance in the team and collective than individual brilliance.

Well deserved wacko and weirdo, good luck in the finals.
 

GodShaveTheQueen

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Congratulations on the win @Invictus , excellent write ups throughout.

Nice choice on the AM @Šjor Bepo

@P-Nut @Jim Beam Whenever I play a draft, I consider it being a fun experience and wort my time if I could reach the semis at least. Tough luck on the result but that was a good run with some great teams.
 

P-Nut

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Congratulations on the win @Invictus , excellent write ups throughout.

Nice choice on the AM @Šjor Bepo

@P-Nut @Jim Beam Whenever I play a draft, I consider it being a fun experience and wort my time if I could reach the semis at least. Tough luck on the result but that was a good run with some great teams.
Yeah it was fun, think me and Jim both ran into real world crap at the same time, and although the change in reinforcements is needed I think it got to the point where there was no point looking further than the upcoming game and plan ahead to build towards a final creation.

After the initial drafting we wanted to get to a stage where Desailly and Beckenbauer where interchanging between midfield and defence. 2nd round that got blown apart so we brought in Cruyff and thought right we can perfect the Sachhi 442, then next round that had to be taken apart again.

It adds a degree of randomness to the draft which I like, but takes away the building element from round to round, which killed a bit of the enthusiasm for us I think.

Overall still one of the better drafts I've been involved in though, and appreciate the effort to keep the reinforcements fresh.
 

GodShaveTheQueen

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Yeah it was fun, think me and Jim both ran into real world crap at the same time, and although the change in reinforcements is needed I think it got to the point where there was no point looking further than the upcoming game and plan ahead to build towards a final creation.

After the initial drafting we wanted to get to a stage where Desailly and Beckenbauer where interchanging between midfield and defence. 2nd round that got blown apart so we brought in Cruyff and thought right we can perfect the Sachhi 442, then next round that had to be taken apart again.

It adds a degree of randomness to the draft which I like, but takes away the building element from round to round, which killed a bit of the enthusiasm for us I think.

Overall still one of the better drafts I've been involved in though, and appreciate the effort to keep the reinforcements fresh.
Fair points mate. Cheers.