Michaelf7777777
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- Joined
- Aug 27, 2018
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Pat_Mustard
Formation: 4-3-3
The injury round robbed us of the greatest player in the draft in Pele but the subsequent reinforcement round was kind to my squad, with Djalma Santos, Stanley Matthews and Luis Suarez Miramontes substantially improving the quality and balance of my XI. It's an odd situation to contemplate, as I'd clearly vastly prefer to have Pele available, but this is probably the first match of the draft where I'm more or less happy with the balance of the team, after two rounds of the ultimate drafter's luxury of trying to balance the conflicting requirements of accomodating various positional greats.
Daniel Passarella marshals a strong defence, and with two defensively excellent FBs, a rugged, resolute stopper alongside him and a three-man midfield ahead of him, he'll have the freedom to step into midfield and even gallop forward when the occasion presents itself. In terms of supporting the attack, I see our backline operating somewhat similarly to the great France 98 defence. Gio made a great post on that dynamic in a previous draft that I'll try to dig out during the match thread, but effectively all of Lizarazu-Desailly-Blanc-Thuram would burst forward from time to time, with the others adjusting their role accordingly. As the last full match I recall watching of his was an appearance at RB for Sampdoria where his crossing was generally Smalling-standard, Vierchowod can stay in defence full-time however .
The addition of an all-time great DLP in Luis Suarez should address the questions from my previous matches about the balance of my midfield. Flanked by the B2B powerhouses Robson and Neeskens, his positional nous and workrate will provide them with more freedom to support the attack and maximise their considerable goal threat, and moreover his playmaking qualities will greatly enhance the quality of our build up play. As a specialist creator with superlative dribbling ability, Matthews coming into the team for Hamrin seems a huge stylistic upgrade in terms of maximising Kocsis' goalscoring threat, as well as providing space for the onrushing B2B players. This could be a funny and awkward debate as I've generally defended the merits of more recent FBs while Enigma has strongly favoured the classical legends, but Matthews should have the beating of Roberto Carlos fairly often in 1v1s, and my right wing looks well-poised for him with arguably the GOAT defensive RB behind him, and Neeskens as the RCM who will provide a substantial level of support for him in both the attacking and defensive phases. Cannavaro is a tough loss for Enigma/KK in this match; Baresi and Thuram/Perfumo look more than strong enough in most contexts but I'm not sure that either possess that elite-level aerial ability that you'd ideally want to deal with probably the most prolific goalscorer from headers in history, who is partnered with one of the greatest pure creative wingers on the right wing and an all-around genius on the left wing in Best.
Enigma_87/King Kendrick
Formation: 4-4-2
Style: High energy, press and push the opposition outside our area and limit the time and opportunities on the ball.
Defence:
Marshaled by no other than the great Franco Baresi we have two full backs that are able to contribute going forward in Dani Alves and Roberto Carlos. Carlos and Alves are similar in their style - have great impact going forward, fast and have the ability to recover position quickly when we lose the ball. Nimble and strong with also a low center of gravity they are good options to face a agile and tricky wingers in the mould of Matthews and Best. Baresi and Thuram are the central pair, that compliments very well in terms of ability in the air and also on the deck. Thuram is a strong, physical defender who is also very fast and quite suitable counter of Kocsis, whilst Baresi as the best pure defender the game has ever seen sweeps behind. Both our full backs will get plenty of support from their hard working wingers in Stoichkov and Figo to prevent Pat's main weapons on the wings get numerical advantage. And as a last upgrade in the previous round we got the best sweeper keeper in history to add to our theme in Neuer.
Midfield:
Voronin comes to the fore to form a impeccable central unit alongside Matthaus, that is full of energy, steel and defensive anchor to allow Zico to run the game and cover the space when we're on the backfoot. Matthaus is at the heart of the midfield with his great motor and in classic B2B role, able to impact both phases of the play. Zico spearheads the midfield in his natural 10/9.5 role, offering playmaking, creativity and ability to score ton of goals. As the whole team, he will also be engaged in the press, being our first line of defence and poking the ball out and forcing opposition defenders into mistake.
Attack:
Zico and Law are a natural pair in terms of utilizing each other's strengths. Law is a complete forward with a great off the ball movement that can exploit Zico's creativity and be at the end of the passes, whilst he will also open up spaces for Zico to exploit his goalscoring capabilities.
On the flanks we have two full backs that are one of the best in their offensive role, alongside wingers that can be dangerous both cutting in or staying wide. Matthews and Best are not the most industrious wingers so we might exploit some 2 on 1 situations when in transition.