OneNil
MichaelF7
OneNil Tactics
Team Ten Nil to Pelé and Cruyff
This team obviously revolves around Pelé and Cruyff two players who would have loved playing together:
“People would always ask me, ‘Which players do you wish was Brazilian?’ I would say, ‘No-one. There are some incredible players, I admire watching them, but I don’t wish any were Brazilian. Then I saw Cruyff. I wished he was Brazilian. He was a joy to watch.” Pelé
"Pele was the only footballer who surpassed the boundaries of logic." Johan Cruyff
Tactically we are built around controlling the ball first. This means keeping it away from the opponent and minimizing any star player on the opponent's side by not allowing them to get going. With Xavi and Busquets we have the absolute masters of controlling the midfield and being press-resistant. Ballon d'Or winner Allan Simonsen is the perfect complement on the right wing with his dribbling, ball control, passing and excellent footballing IQ.
Defensively all of our players are both positioning sound and physical monsters. Yaya Toure, in his peak form, can go head to head against midfielder and Stam and Nesta have both the tactical nous and physical presence to counter any threat. Thuram and Pearce slot in nicely as being smart, physical defenders who can also get up the pitch and assist in the attack (Pearce had a whopping 16 goals from left-back in one of the seasons covered here).
The opponent has a phenomenal team but Pelé and Cruyff will deliver the victory here.
MichaelF7
My team will play a 4-2-3-1 formation. I will firstly outline some of the advantages/strengths that I have imo. Then I will give information on the players who do not have their career peaks before lastly providing info on the 3 less well known players in my line up (N'kono, Beattie and Chislenko).
Strengths/Advantages
Berti Vogts (Monchengladbach) - Played his entire career at Monchengladbach so this is effectively a career peak
Rainer Bonhof (Monchengladbach) - Spent 8 years at Monchengladbach between 1970 and 1978 during which time he was in kicker's Bundesliga team of the season 3 times (73/74, 76/77 and 77/78) as well as being in World Soccer's Overseas Editor Eric Batty's team of the year in 1975 and 1977. During this time frame with the national team Bonhof also won the World Cup in 1974 and was in the Euro 1976 Team of the Tournament as well as being in the World Cup Team of the Tournament chosen by sofascore for both 1974 and 1978 and by the Castrol Index for 1978.
Roy Keane (Manchester United) - Spent 12 years at Man Utd (1993 to 2005) being included in this time frame in the PFA Team of the Year 4 times (96/97, 99/00, 00/01 and 01/02) as well as being chosen by both the Football Writers and the PFA as the Footballer of the Year in 2000.
Dragan Dzajic (Red Star Belgrade) - Dzajic had 2 spells at Red Star Belgrade, the first of them 12 years (1963 to 1975) before returning for his last season (77/78). His 2 top 10 Ballon d'Or finishes (3rd in 1968, 6th in 1970) both occurred while at Red Star Belgrade as did his 2 inclusions in Eric Batty's World XI (1969 and 1973). During his Red Star timeframe, with the Yugoslav national team he was also both included in the Team of the Tournament and was the top goalscorer at the 1968 Euro's.
Player Profiles
Thomas N'kono was African Footballer of the year twice (1979 and 1982) as well as being chosen in 2021 by the IFFHS in their All Time African XI. N'kono's performances at the 1990 World Cup inspired Gianluigi Buffon to play as a Goalkeeper.
Kevin Beattie was an English defender (mainly a CB although he could also play as a LB) who won 9 England caps between 1975 and 1977. He was originally offered a trial at Liverpool when he was 15 years old and impressed Bill Shankly enough that he was invited to sign for the club but the deal fell through when Beattie assumed that they had lost interest due to no-one from the club turning up in the hour after he arrived at the train station and years later Shankly would tell Beattie that it was one of the biggest mistakes that he'd made (Source). Shortly after this when he signed for Ipswich manager Bobby Robson told his cheif scout that if he missed him he'd lose his job. Kevin Beattie debuted for Ipswich on the openning day of the 1972/73 season and played at the club over the next 9 seasons during which time Ipswich only finished outside the top 6 once (in 1977/78 when they won the FA Cup but finished 18th in the league) which is a considerable accomplishment considering the fact that in the 4 seasons between Ipswich being promoted to Division 1 in 1967/68 and Beattie's debut their highest league finish was 12th. After his debut against Manchester United Bobby Charlton told Beattie that he reminded him of Duncan Edwards. Kevin Beattie was the inaugural winner of the PFA Young Player of the Year award in 1974 and was included in the PFA 1st Division Team of the Year 3 seasons in a row between 1974/75 and 1976/77. Following this Beattie had frequent injuries, particularly in his knees, and over the next 4 seasons (his last 4 at Ipswich), Beattie never made more than 26 appearances in a season. After leaving Ipswich, Beattie never played top flight football again although in 1987 he did score more than 60 goals in one season in the 4th tier of Norwegian football. The only major trophies Beattie won was an FA Cup in 1977/78 and the UEFA Cup in 1980/81 although he might have won the 1st division league title in 1976/77 if he hadn't gotten injured in the following way:
Following this injury Ipswich lost 4 of their last 6 games finishing 5 points behind champions Liverpool (this was in the era of 2 points for a win). This wasn't the only odd happening during his career as a BBC article mentions the following:
During his time at Ipswich, Beattie played many games in Europe against top opposition, some of which were as follows:
Bobby Robson also made the following remarks about Beattie's strengths as a player:
Beattie also got high praise from his teammates at Ipswich with Terry Butcher stating the following:
Butcher also said that:
Ipswich RB George Burley said that:
Beattie's CB partner and Northern Ireland international Allan Hunter said that:
Igor Chislenko was a Soviet RW who won 53 caps between 1959 and 1968. In the award for the Best 33 Football Players of the Season in the USSR where the best 3 players for each position were chosen by the National Coaches Council and confirmed by the Presidium of the Soviet Federation Chislenko finished 1st in his position in 1963, 1964, and 1966, finished 2nd in his position in 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1965 as well as finishing in the top 3 in 1967 (the top 3 were not ordered that year but he was the highest placed Soviet footballer in that year's Ballon d'Or finishing 9th). When they played against each other Chislenko generally got the better of Giacinto Facchetti who I consider one of the three best LB's ever. Chislenko's career effectively ended in June 1968 at the age of 29 when he injured his knee in an Olympic match against Czechoslovakia (link). Chislenko was described by legendary Soviet striker Vsevolod Bobrov (who also managed CSKA Moscow from 1967-69 and 1977-78) as follows:
Former USSR manager Konstantin Beskov describes Chislenko as follows:
He was also described in a 1994 Futbol Weekly article by Oleg Kucherenko as follows:
MichaelF7
OneNil Tactics
Team Ten Nil to Pelé and Cruyff
This team obviously revolves around Pelé and Cruyff two players who would have loved playing together:
“People would always ask me, ‘Which players do you wish was Brazilian?’ I would say, ‘No-one. There are some incredible players, I admire watching them, but I don’t wish any were Brazilian. Then I saw Cruyff. I wished he was Brazilian. He was a joy to watch.” Pelé
"Pele was the only footballer who surpassed the boundaries of logic." Johan Cruyff
Tactically we are built around controlling the ball first. This means keeping it away from the opponent and minimizing any star player on the opponent's side by not allowing them to get going. With Xavi and Busquets we have the absolute masters of controlling the midfield and being press-resistant. Ballon d'Or winner Allan Simonsen is the perfect complement on the right wing with his dribbling, ball control, passing and excellent footballing IQ.
Defensively all of our players are both positioning sound and physical monsters. Yaya Toure, in his peak form, can go head to head against midfielder and Stam and Nesta have both the tactical nous and physical presence to counter any threat. Thuram and Pearce slot in nicely as being smart, physical defenders who can also get up the pitch and assist in the attack (Pearce had a whopping 16 goals from left-back in one of the seasons covered here).
The opponent has a phenomenal team but Pelé and Cruyff will deliver the victory here.
MichaelF7
My team will play a 4-2-3-1 formation. I will firstly outline some of the advantages/strengths that I have imo. Then I will give information on the players who do not have their career peaks before lastly providing info on the 3 less well known players in my line up (N'kono, Beattie and Chislenko).
Strengths/Advantages
- The biggest advantage that I think I have in this match up is Diego Maradona up against onenil's potential DM choices (De Rossi, Busquets or Yaya Toure)
- Chislenko vs. Pearce particularly if it can be made a 1 on 1 match up by quick passes from deep by Figueroa and Beattie should be a match up that benefits me.
- My opponents goalkeeper Higuita was known as El Loco (the madman) and I might well be gifted a goal from him doing something silly like deciding to try and dribble near the halfway line is a good idea
Berti Vogts (Monchengladbach) - Played his entire career at Monchengladbach so this is effectively a career peak
Rainer Bonhof (Monchengladbach) - Spent 8 years at Monchengladbach between 1970 and 1978 during which time he was in kicker's Bundesliga team of the season 3 times (73/74, 76/77 and 77/78) as well as being in World Soccer's Overseas Editor Eric Batty's team of the year in 1975 and 1977. During this time frame with the national team Bonhof also won the World Cup in 1974 and was in the Euro 1976 Team of the Tournament as well as being in the World Cup Team of the Tournament chosen by sofascore for both 1974 and 1978 and by the Castrol Index for 1978.
Roy Keane (Manchester United) - Spent 12 years at Man Utd (1993 to 2005) being included in this time frame in the PFA Team of the Year 4 times (96/97, 99/00, 00/01 and 01/02) as well as being chosen by both the Football Writers and the PFA as the Footballer of the Year in 2000.
Dragan Dzajic (Red Star Belgrade) - Dzajic had 2 spells at Red Star Belgrade, the first of them 12 years (1963 to 1975) before returning for his last season (77/78). His 2 top 10 Ballon d'Or finishes (3rd in 1968, 6th in 1970) both occurred while at Red Star Belgrade as did his 2 inclusions in Eric Batty's World XI (1969 and 1973). During his Red Star timeframe, with the Yugoslav national team he was also both included in the Team of the Tournament and was the top goalscorer at the 1968 Euro's.
Player Profiles
Thomas N'kono was African Footballer of the year twice (1979 and 1982) as well as being chosen in 2021 by the IFFHS in their All Time African XI. N'kono's performances at the 1990 World Cup inspired Gianluigi Buffon to play as a Goalkeeper.
Kevin Beattie was an English defender (mainly a CB although he could also play as a LB) who won 9 England caps between 1975 and 1977. He was originally offered a trial at Liverpool when he was 15 years old and impressed Bill Shankly enough that he was invited to sign for the club but the deal fell through when Beattie assumed that they had lost interest due to no-one from the club turning up in the hour after he arrived at the train station and years later Shankly would tell Beattie that it was one of the biggest mistakes that he'd made (Source). Shortly after this when he signed for Ipswich manager Bobby Robson told his cheif scout that if he missed him he'd lose his job. Kevin Beattie debuted for Ipswich on the openning day of the 1972/73 season and played at the club over the next 9 seasons during which time Ipswich only finished outside the top 6 once (in 1977/78 when they won the FA Cup but finished 18th in the league) which is a considerable accomplishment considering the fact that in the 4 seasons between Ipswich being promoted to Division 1 in 1967/68 and Beattie's debut their highest league finish was 12th. After his debut against Manchester United Bobby Charlton told Beattie that he reminded him of Duncan Edwards. Kevin Beattie was the inaugural winner of the PFA Young Player of the Year award in 1974 and was included in the PFA 1st Division Team of the Year 3 seasons in a row between 1974/75 and 1976/77. Following this Beattie had frequent injuries, particularly in his knees, and over the next 4 seasons (his last 4 at Ipswich), Beattie never made more than 26 appearances in a season. After leaving Ipswich, Beattie never played top flight football again although in 1987 he did score more than 60 goals in one season in the 4th tier of Norwegian football. The only major trophies Beattie won was an FA Cup in 1977/78 and the UEFA Cup in 1980/81 although he might have won the 1st division league title in 1976/77 if he hadn't gotten injured in the following way:
Source
Following this injury Ipswich lost 4 of their last 6 games finishing 5 points behind champions Liverpool (this was in the era of 2 points for a win). This wasn't the only odd happening during his career as a BBC article mentions the following:
Source
During his time at Ipswich, Beattie played many games in Europe against top opposition, some of which were as follows:
- In the 1973/74 UEFA Cup 1st Round Beattie played in both legs of a 1-0 aggregate win over a Real Madrid team that featured Pirri and in the 1st leg Netzer. Beattie would play in every European match as Ipswich would eventually make the Quarter Finals beating Lazio (6-4 on aggregate), and Twente (3-1 on aggregate) before losing to Lokomotiv Leipzig on Penalties after a 1-1 aggregate draw despite Beattie scoring Ipswich's only goal in the tie as well as converting his penalty in the shootout
- In the 1975/76 UEFA Cup 1st Round, Ipswich beat a Feyenoord team that featured Wim Jansen and in the 2nd leg van Hanegem 4-1 on aggregate. Beattie also played in the 1st leg of the following round against Club Brugge which Ipswich won 3-0 but did not participate in the 2nd leg which Ipswich lost 4-0.
- In the 1977/78 UEFA Cup 3rd Round, Beattie plays in the 3-0 1st leg win at home over a Barcelona side featuring both Cruyff and Neeskens although he missed the 2nd leg due to a knee injury (even though Beattie insisted he could play) as Ipswich were knocked out on penalties.
- In the 1978/79 Cup Winners Cup Beattie played in both legs of a 2-0 aggregate win over an AZ Alkmaar team that featured Wim van Hanegem and John Metgod. He also played in the 2nd leg of the Quarter Final against a Barcelona team featuring Neeskens and Hans Krankl where Ipswich were eliminated on away goals after losing the 2nd leg 2-1.
- In the 1980/81 UEFA Cup which Ipswich won Beattie only played more than 34 minutes twice. In the 2nd leg of the 2nd Round he was man of the match in a 2-0 win over Bohemians Prague team that featured Panenka and he also played the full 90 minutes in the 4-1 away win in the first leg of the Quarter Final against a St Etienne team that featured both Michel Platini and Johnny Rep
Source
Bobby Robson also made the following remarks about Beattie's strengths as a player:
Source
Source
Source
Beattie also got high praise from his teammates at Ipswich with Terry Butcher stating the following:
Source
Butcher also said that:
Source
Ipswich RB George Burley said that:
Source
Beattie's CB partner and Northern Ireland international Allan Hunter said that:
Source
Igor Chislenko was a Soviet RW who won 53 caps between 1959 and 1968. In the award for the Best 33 Football Players of the Season in the USSR where the best 3 players for each position were chosen by the National Coaches Council and confirmed by the Presidium of the Soviet Federation Chislenko finished 1st in his position in 1963, 1964, and 1966, finished 2nd in his position in 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1965 as well as finishing in the top 3 in 1967 (the top 3 were not ordered that year but he was the highest placed Soviet footballer in that year's Ballon d'Or finishing 9th). When they played against each other Chislenko generally got the better of Giacinto Facchetti who I consider one of the three best LB's ever. Chislenko's career effectively ended in June 1968 at the age of 29 when he injured his knee in an Olympic match against Czechoslovakia (link). Chislenko was described by legendary Soviet striker Vsevolod Bobrov (who also managed CSKA Moscow from 1967-69 and 1977-78) as follows:
Source
Former USSR manager Konstantin Beskov describes Chislenko as follows:
Source
He was also described in a 1994 Futbol Weekly article by Oleg Kucherenko as follows:
Source
