ATG Managers Draft - QF - harms vs Sjor(V. Lobanovskyi vs T. Ivić)

Who will win this game (also taking realisation of the tactical blueprint into account)?

  • Team harms (Lobanovsky)

    Votes: 6 66.7%
  • Team Sjor (Ivić)

    Votes: 3 33.3%

  • Total voters
    9
  • Poll closed .

2mufc0

Everything is fair game in capitalism!
Joined
Jan 8, 2014
Messages
16,992
Supports
Dragon of Dojima
Team harms


VS

Team Sjor


Team harms (Valeriy Lobanovskyi)

Inspiration/blueprint

Valeriy Lobanovsky's Dinamo Kiyv 1974-1977

My write-up on Lobanovsky's scientific innovations in football training can be read in full here:

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/all-time-great-managers-draft-write-ups-thread.455200/post-25694154

Here's a good video on Lobanovsky's tactics, albeit most of the examples are from his 80's team, but the key principles are the same

Formation

4-4-2/4-1-3-2



This is their generic set up, although sometimes Leonid Buryak played either instead of one of Veremeev/Muntyan or even as an additional midfielder in the place of one of the center backs.

Playing style, tactics

It's really Dutch totaalvoetbal combined with Soviet efficiency and discipline. While Michels gave his players more creative freedom (since he had better players, duh) and it was more of a controlled chaos situation, Lobanovsky actually created a template that was taking the automatisation on another level. Like Pep does now, he had divided different zones in attack, which always should contain one player — no less and no more; but he had encouraged positional interchanges and at their best Dynamo was just a marvel to watch. Considering the level of players that I bring in, it should add even more flair to this idea, although you've had enough beautiful one-twos, backheels, tricks and feints in the original version as well. Defensively it's a collective pressing all the way and a relative high line.

It's funny – when you try to compare and illustrate Lobanovsky's tactics on modern examples, your references include the complete opposites. It shows how influential he was – not always directly, sometimes it was through the likes of Sacchi, Lippi & Cruyff, all of whom had taken different things from his style, but still. For example, when I'm trying to explain the formation (drawn like a 4-1-3-2), the best example that comes to mind is Simeone's 4-4-2 (not of today, but the one with Saul and Koke "on the wings"), which is very different from your usual British 4-4-2... but then the pressing is more akin to Klopp's sides and the positional interchange and the interpretation of space (the strict desire to keep all of the designated zones on the pitch equally manned) of the game reminds more of Pep & Cruyff.



GK - Sepp Maier.
Pretty straightforward role for one of the positional GOATs.
RB - Cafu. For me, simply the best right back of all-time. He was exactly the type of player that Lobanovsky adored – a machine-like athletic monster with flair and creative vision, a combination that sounds to good to be true, but in Cafu's case, it is. He's also one of the few players who'll be able to match Blokhin's explosive acceleration.
CB - Lilian Thuram. One of my personal favourites. Almost unbeatable one-on-one and so comfortable in multitude of positions – center back in a back 4 and a back 5, right back – the type of player that you need in a formation as fluid and as adaptable as mine. A great choice against a formation with 2 inside forwards as well.
CB - Paul McGrath. When he was fit, it was quite hard to find a better and more natural defender. I'd also say that athletically and physically he's one of the most gifted center backs of all-time, but you should probably include his breaking knees in there, which takes it down a notch. I think alongside Vierchowod he's one of the toughest opponents that Gullit had ever faced – at their peak, playing for a significantly weaker international side McGrath shined against the Gullit - van Basten axis in both 1988 Euros and 1990 World Cup.

LB - Manuel Amoros. He's going to be responsible for the whole wing; like very few fullbacks before or after him he was absolutely natural at either side, so I went with him over Briegel as I rate his defensive side (especially one on one) higher.
DM - Valeriy Voronin. Konkov was pretty crucial to the whole system, as he was the foundation on which the whole midfield structure was based. Calm, composed and yet also aggressive and physical, he rarely made attacking runs (although his unexpected runs often led to dangerous situations) and was more involved in moving the ball forward, simply and efficiently. It's hard to find a better upgrade than Voronin for this role.
RM - Kevin De Bruyne. His role here a bit overlaps with his role at City. I'd say a central midfielder with tendency to lean towards the right side. Here's an interesting video about him by Tifo:

CM - Paul Breitner. Viktor Kolotov's role is one of the most interesting in that system. He was very different from your normal attacking midfielder or even a number 10 — but rather a box-to-box who often took advantage of Blokhin and Onyshchenko moving out of the way to clear the space for his runs. I needed a proper goalscoring center mid and there aren't many better than Paul Breitner himself. Their interplay with Cruyff and Seeler should be magnificent — both of my forwards had similar partnership over the years: Cruyff with Neeskens and Seeler, most notably, with young Franz Beckenbauer in 1966.
LM - Søren Lerby. A player with 3 lungs, who had literally played in 2 different games throughout the same day, insanely hard-working ball-winner, but also someone who had often acted as the main midfield playmaker in his teams (most notably for Denmark, with young Laudrup playing as a free-roaming forward).
FW - Johan Cruyff. The numbers are a bit different, but essentially it's still a totaalvoetbal system, and there's no one better than Johan Cruyff to led that side. He may not have Blokhin's blistering pace, but he well compensates for it with his other talents.
FW - Uwe Seeler. I needed a striker who can act not only as a striker, and there's hardly anyone better than Seeler for this weird task. Someone had even called this system a "formation with 2 false 9's", which sometimes was the case — but in different stages of the game Seeler can also act as a focus point of my attacks and his link up play with De Bruyne should be simply amazing.


Alterations from the original
  1. I'd say that De Bruyne is more alike Veremeev and Lerby is somewhat closer Muntyan, so technically I had switched their flanks, but in reality they all roamed all around. I also tried to make sure that my midfield unit had all the required qualities combined, creatively and defensively, and I wasn't as focused on finding perfect replicas for individual players per se
  2. Blokhin/Cruyff switch will slightly differ the way that this team would play, but ultimately this is an upgrade that gives me way more options than it takes

Team Sjor ( Tomislav Ivić )

Tomislav Ivić Portrait

Why Tomislav Ivic?

Because he is probably the greatest manager you’ve never heard of. Master strategist who is credited with developing the modern style of the game, and with having won eight league titles in six different countries.

At each post that he took on, the scrupulous Croatian instilled his high work ethic and used his boundless football knowledge. His quirks were what made him both iconic and incomparable. He had a strange habit of writing down everything he knew, and could be often seen in the dugout, arms outstretched, with a pen stuck to his hand like a cigar.
Journalists revealed stories on how he would rearrange chairs in their office to explain the Makélélé role. An acquaintance of mine told me how he was once on the same flight as Ivić: within minutes of introducing himself to the coach, he was presented with diagrams drawn on a piece of paper to explain how England should play if they wanted to have a chance of winning Euro 2004. To him, football tactics increasingly became something like a set of problems and equations which could be solved by proper analysis — something that can and needs to be mended. When, due to his deteriorating health, doctors instructed him to retire from coaching, he was always filling up his notebooks with tactical diagrams and new ideas on a daily basis. Even when he was admitted to hospital and banned from watching football on TV, he still drew his diagrams, straight from his head.

The trophy harvest also inspired José Mourinho, one of the three greats who have come closest to matching his feat, winning four — albeit stronger — national competitions (the other two are Ernst Happel and Giovanni Trapattoni). He first met Ivić back in 1988.
“José was a student of sports science and he’d often come to watch my training sessions in Porto,” Ivić revealed in an interview with the Croatian daily newspaper Jutarnji list. Six years later, Ivić’s second term at the club came to an end as he was replaced by Bobby Robson and Mourinho, his interpreter. Another decade later, the two men met at the Stamford Bridge after Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Barcelona in the Champions League. Ivić was there as a pundit for Croatian television and, after the Special One had given him a signed copy of his biography, he showed it to the journalists. The inscription read, in Portuguese, “To the greatest coach of them all — I hope one day to win as much as you.”
He was also often accused of playing defensive football. This probably had something to do with his methodology. “It’s much easier to learn how to defend than how to attack,” he used to say. “It also takes less time.” Once he’d managed to fortify the defence, his teams would grow steadily and become more and more efficient in attack as well. In 1977-78, his Ajax team scored 23 goals more than in the previous season. But for various reasons, including his adventurous nature and in some cases money, he hardly ever stuck around in one place long enough to gain true recognition.

There is also a funny anecdote about him that i know from first hand:
Nearly after he retired he was on vacation in Portugal with his wife, at some point he says he must go to a certain game so wife went with him in the middle of vacation and they went to Amsterdam to see Ajax play a home game against someone. After 5 minutes Ivic says to his wife that they can leave, she was fuming as you would expect because they fecked up a vacation for a game where they only stay 5 minutes but legend said how he came to see one specific action and after he saw it he was ready to go!

Inspiration
Hajduk Split 1980

Formation
4-3-3
While this team was a blueprint as Ivic himself says that was a perfect presentation of his football, i took all the principles of play from it but didnt go toe to toe in terms of replicating same roles/players.

Tactics

High press, high tempo, quick transition
  • High line, offside trap: Dražen Mužinić, a long-serving Hajduk player in the 70s, admitted he became so infected by the habits he had learned that he began “catching people in offside traps” when talking to them in the street. “I couldn’t help it,” he explained. “It was a reflex action for me.” When Mužinić was transferred to Norwich City in 1980, he was so useless that Justin Fashanu remarked, “I don’t think we got Mužinić. I reckon they sent his milkman instead.” Besides not speaking a word of English, the player was immersed in Ivić’s logic and found it too hard to function outside it. When Norwich cancelled his contract, he retired aged 29
  • High press: Although his idea of playing football was all about modernity, Ivić drew great pride from the fact that he was a part of this historical line. Himself a Kaliterna disciple — like pretty much every football coach that emerged from Split up until the 1970s — he often quoted his master’s grains of ancient wisdom, like ‘See everything, look at nothing’ or ‘The play, not the player, scores goals.’ Whenever asked about his biggest influences, he’d always put Kaliterna first, then usually Rinus Michels and Hennes Weisweiler. Ivić said that Michels had chosen him as his successor because the way his Hajduk played suited the ideals of Total Football. That may not be entirely so — while he did use the 4-3-3 formation, interchanging positions and intensive pressing, his football was never quite so easy on the eye or as attacking. In part that was down to a lack of extraordinary individuals but Ivić favoured automatism and a great deal of running, so his teams weren’t as playful as the Ajax that conquered Europe. His was a more physical game.
  • Overlaps: Key feature in his game but interestingly they rarely involved fullbacks, they were mostly done by side central midfielders and wide forwards
  • Offensive patterns: outside of overlaps and quick counter-attacks his dream tactic would be something similar to Rinus Mitchels and he was often stating how the HSV game at Poljud was a perfect game of football - Hajduk flew all over the pitch: they played one-touch football and swapped positions so quickly that it was hard even for the fans to keep track, let alone Hajduk’s opponents. They moved in unison, contracted and expanded, as though all were controlled by some invisible brain or joystick. And they pressed the ball for the full 90 minutes.
    This was avant-garde football but it wasnt to be as the player who had been the most reliable for Ivić let him down, former Arsene Wenger AM Boro Primorac. To summarize, the offensive game was a mixed bag, and when i think about it its almost like Jurgen Klopps BVB and Liverpool sides combined into one as you had a lot of direct, quick transitions through combination play like BVB and very big influence of exploiting the wide channels to create space for a quality cross while keeping sides under constant pressure like his Liverpool side.
Player Roles
GK - Manuel Neuer - Keeper sweeper, most likely best ever in that role and this days its very hard to imagine a top team without it and most if not a lot of this teams have a lot of touching points with Ivic teams
CBs - Alessandro Costacurta and Jaap Stam, not only they both have all the qualities you need from a defender in a high line they also excelled in those systems
FBs - Ashley Cole and Philipp Lahm. Needed two balanced fullbacks that were intelligent in possession and are top defenders.
DM - Mathias Sammer, all-action defensive midfielder. Completes the 99 physicality midfield with 3 proper animals in it.
CMs - Ruud Gullit and Wim Van Hanegem. Both proper grafters used to a pressing system, both more then comfortable in wide areas, great footballers and most importantly given the character of both can see both utilizing the overlap function to the fullest.
LF - Oleg Blokhin, honestly cant find better player/fit for the role(only Stoichkov would be in his company)
RF - Denis Law, one of the most underrated United players ever, people usually talk and praise Best and Sir Bobby but Law was easily on their level. Absolutely magnificent footballer, provides work-rate but more importantly to this team he just gives that touch of class in the final third, calming presence alongside the obvious goal threat - original King of Old Trafford and King of this team
ST - Preben Elkjaer....oh mamma:drool: words cant describe how much i love this guy, one man pressing machine! Selflessness, teamwork, workrate - you name it, he mastered it.

Alterations from the original
see above (Formation)
 

2mufc0

Everything is fair game in capitalism!
Joined
Jan 8, 2014
Messages
16,992
Supports
Dragon of Dojima
Sorry @harms i couldn't get your quote to pull through when i copied your write up, the link is there, if you want me to copy past the post let me know.
 

Šjor Bepo

Wout is love, Wout is life; all hail Wout!
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
15,551
good luck @harms , great team!
Honestly dont have a bad word for it, you have a bit more class and guile in midfield then me and a clear match winner in Cruyff while IMO i think i have defence that is a bit more suited to play against the press and a midfield that is more powerful.
 

harms

Shining Star of Paektu Mountain
Staff
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
27,952
Location
Moscow
good luck @harms , great team!
Honestly dont have a bad word for it, you have a bit more class and guile in midfield then me and a clear match winner in Cruyff while IMO i think i have defence that is a bit more suited to play against the press and a midfield that is more powerful.
Yeah, the same – really likeable team that you have here. Interesting choice in fielding both Elkjær & Law, I expected Haßler to start.
 

Šjor Bepo

Wout is love, Wout is life; all hail Wout!
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
15,551
Yeah, the same – really likeable team that you have here. Interesting choice in fielding both Elkjær & Law, I expected Haßler to start.
Sadness for Haßler but it was always the plan to move Gullit in midfield once i can find the adequate replacement in the front three and after i decided on Law(was a long decision between him, Shevchenko and Robben) it made sense to go with Elkjaer as well.
 

Jim Beam

Gets aroused by men in low socks
Joined
Feb 10, 2017
Messages
13,013
Location
All over the place
Tomislav Ivic was a fantastic manager, but much more a tactician and defensive than it is portrayed imo. That is not a bad thing at all and a bit of that came when he got older and more cautious in his approach.

His tactics agains Italy is still stuff of legends. It was a qualifying game against Croatia in Palermo in 1994 and here was Italy lineup.

Italija : Pagliuca, Negro, Panucci, Albertini (od 54. Di Matteo), Costacurta, Maldini, Lombardo, D. Baggio, Casiraghi, R. Baggio, Rambaudi (od 46. Donadoni). Izbornik Arrigo Sacchi
It is not Italy from WC, but still highly respectable. Croatia took them fully apart by closing midfield and let their FB take the ball forward.

What I want to say and before bepo jumps on me is that I don't see Ivic as such a progressive manager he says, but a tactical masterminded who would exploit your weakness if he found any.

Yes, that HSV game is brilliant, but Hajduk always went super aggressive in their home games even after or before Ivic.
For example, he would imo went a bit defensive here, absolutely not playing a high line glueing Lahm/Cole and inviting harms FB's/even midfield up hitting them on the break. He did had fantastic transition as bepo said and it was one of his main weapons.

Bepo might have trouble with press on his CB's, but on the other hand has brilliant midfield and attack to respond. Never been a great fan of Sammer, but here he is a great addition in both direction. Gullit and Van Hanegem on each side makes him even more influential.

Lovely teams both, well done.

The answer for me aside bepo telling me to go to sleep is will he play a high line against that attack.
 

Šjor Bepo

Wout is love, Wout is life; all hail Wout!
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
15,551
I included that in the portrait but its also important to take the circumstances of certain situations. feck knows why(its a thin line between a genius and a lunatic and he was probably dancing between the lines) he never really stayed long at clubs even if he was doing a brilliant job at them and in his words(and just a widely accepted view) its much easier to teach a team how to defend then how to attack. On top of that you take a look at club he was at, their budgets etc. its not that he(and many others from back in the day)could cherry pick best players/fits from the market like modern greats can(Pep/Mourinho to be specific).

Regarding the Italy game, he said that the whole thing is a bit blown out of proportions(which is funny cause for what he needed to get credit, he didnt really got it(even to this day)). He said he was just helping out Blazevic(think it was him) and it was mostly his instructions with few added details from Ivic.

Regarding the progressiveness, at world stage probably not because you had guys like Michels before that used all the elements of the game he was using but in this areas of the world it was something we couldnt even dream of and tbf to this day i never saw a ex yu team(club or national team) perform to the level and style of Hajduk in that HSV game.
While we agree before and after Hajduk played similarly in home games for a certain period it was never on that insane level like it was with Ivic and tbf like Ivic majority of coaches from that area was learning and taking stuff from Kaliterna so it doesnt surprise a lot of them played in a similar style.

Hmm i thought both CBs and the whole defence as a package(Neuer, Cole, Lahm) would deal with a press a bit better then the counter parts on the other side.

and to end it, you are right he would probably never play like this against a team like harms but thats not the question here, question is to represent his footballing philosophy in most correct way and im 99,9% sure if you gave him a free pick to pick a team, build a team that it would be under this principles of play.
 

Jim Beam

Gets aroused by men in low socks
Joined
Feb 10, 2017
Messages
13,013
Location
All over the place
Regarding the Italy game, he said that the whole thing is a bit blown out of proportions(which is funny cause for what he needed to get credit, he didnt really got it(even to this day)). He said he was just helping out Blazevic(think it was him) and it was mostly his instructions with few added details from Ivic.
Nah, he clearly overloaded left side of Italy and left Paolo Negro free who wasn't a natural fullback. It is a bit blown out of proportion, but the amount of time he didn't know what to do with the ball was hilarious.

Regarding the progressiveness, at world stage probably not because you had guys like Michels before that used all the elements of the game he was using but in this areas of the world it was something we couldnt even dream of and tbf to this day i never saw a ex yu team(club or national team) perform to the level and style of Hajduk in that HSV game.
I watched the game, but as you said overlaps were not made FB's. The genius of him was that he did had a wall behind that ferocious attack and always made sure they had protection when they attacked in packs.

Hmm i thought both CBs and the whole defence as a package(Neuer, Cole, Lahm) would deal with a press a bit better then the counter parts on the other side.
Perhaps and you do have Sammer to drop back too. But, harms can play the same card with Voronin, Cafu, Amoros if you press him.

and to end it, you are right he would probably never play like this against a team like harms but thats not the question here, question is to represent his footballing philosophy in most correct way and im 99,9% sure if you gave him a free pick to pick a team, build a team that it would be under this principles of play.
His principle number 1 was to win. That is why I say I wouldn't put him in that progressive or attacking bracket. More Marcelo Lippi, early Mourinho tactical one. You won't agree I know, but for example early Mourinho was extremely aggressive and sometimes bold in his tactics.

I don't know, kill me, but I would let harms attack in this one and not go toe to toe. That midfield and attack is capable of so quick transition which he loved so much. Not talking about bunker here, just aggresive and direct football waiting for every chance to hurt opposition. And I think if you go with a high line you would lose with an away goal. As Hajduk always did. :D

@harms, sorry to not engage you more. not so many questions. Maybe about Amoros/Lerby with Cruyff or left side in general. Can see them prefer going center at times. Would prefer more width there, but maybe am wrong about Amoros and he can provide that.
 

harms

Shining Star of Paektu Mountain
Staff
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
27,952
Location
Moscow
@harms, sorry to not engage you more. not so many questions. Maybe about Amoros/Lerby with Cruyff or left side in general. Can see them prefer going center at times. Would prefer more width there, but maybe am wrong about Amoros and he can provide that.
Amoros didn’t alternate his game depending on the wing, so he’s mirroring Cafu here in terms of width. Plus, Lerby had often appeared on the left wing (he had a strong preference toward that side), and I don’t need to comment on Cruyff.

Look how often Lerby makes those overlap runs.
 

Šjor Bepo

Wout is love, Wout is life; all hail Wout!
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
15,551
Nah, he clearly overloaded left side of Italy and left Paolo Negro free who wasn't a natural fullback. It is a bit blown out of proportion, but the amount of time he didn't know what to do with the ball was hilarious.
Point is, this could easily be Blazevic instructions if we decide to believe Ivic himself, completely irrelevant to this though so lets drop it.


Perhaps and you do have Sammer to drop back too. But, harms can play the same card with Voronin, Cafu, Amoros if you press him.
Original point was that my CBs are a bit better on the ball and press resistant then his and having the best keeper sweeper of all time should help as well even if Maier was good on the ball as well.


His principle number 1 was to win. That is why I say I wouldn't put him in that progressive or attacking bracket. More Marcelo Lippi, early Mourinho tactical one. You won't agree I know, but for example early Mourinho was extremely aggressive and sometimes bold in his tactics.
We could have a hours long debate on this tbf, every half decent manager has the same n1 principle and thats to win. Did he "sacrifice" his own beliefs to win, sure. Rare are the ones that didnt have to but over time he would slowly but surely get there or at least to the point where he is close. And yes, i strongly disagree on Mourinho(not that familiar with Lippi so will leave him out), going back to that HSV game. Id put my hand in fire there isnt ONE game where Mourinho played even remotely similar to that, training games included.
I agree he wasnt always a defensive manager but there are huge layers between his level of boldness compared to someone like Ivic, speaking purely from the pitch point of view and their tactics. There is nothing wrong in being a bit cautious, in fact just look someone like Bielsa who is a perfect example of boldness or to be even more precise lack of cautiousness.
I don't know, kill me, but I would let harms attack in this one and not go toe to toe. That midfield and attack is capable of so quick transition which he loved so much. Not talking about bunker here, just aggresive and direct football waiting for every chance to hurt opposition. And I think if you go with a high line you would lose with an away goal. As Hajduk always did. :D
Both ways have pros and cons, sadly i couldnt be bothered to make another Ivic vid to showcase his cautious side and without that it didnt felt right to change it.
 

Jim Beam

Gets aroused by men in low socks
Joined
Feb 10, 2017
Messages
13,013
Location
All over the place
And yes, i strongly disagree on Mourinho(not that familiar with Lippi so will leave him out), going back to that HSV game. Id put my hand in fire there isnt ONE game where Mourinho played even remotely similar to that, training games included.
Barcelona at San Siro. Many of his Porto games. I will put again HSV game. It is certainly a bit distinctive from Mourinho games, I admit, but am just partly here in defence of Jose too (he would make you fear every time his team went forward at his peak).


You nailed that midfield and attack in this scheme and if you are really going toe to toe you couldn't pick a better personnel. Am out, we find a genius of Ivic a bit differently, but that is one of best teams you drafted and he would love to attack with that power upfront. Draw 4-4 I say. Or I will make my call in the morning, will see.
 

Šjor Bepo

Wout is love, Wout is life; all hail Wout!
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
15,551
Am out, we find a genius of Ivic a bit differently
Not really, i mostly agree with you but also there is another side to it. Its very difficult to portrait a manager with one team/system, specially the one that could dance easily between defensive football and total football. I decided on the latter as i believe Ivic prefered that way based on his interviews.
 

harms

Shining Star of Paektu Mountain
Staff
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
27,952
Location
Moscow
Original point was that my CBs are a bit better on the ball and press resistant then his and having the best keeper sweeper of all time should help as well even if Maier was good on the ball as well.
I'm actually not sure about that at all. None of the four were comparable to the all-time greats in that aspect but I'd have McGrath as the best out of the lot and the three of the rest in a group below him. Neuer is an advantage though.
 

Šjor Bepo

Wout is love, Wout is life; all hail Wout!
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
15,551
I'm actually not sure about that at all. None of the four were comparable to the all-time greats in that aspect but I'd have McGrath as the best out of the lot and the three of the rest in a group below him. Neuer is an advantage though.
Really? Dont know i had Costacurta as the best one with other 3 roughly at similar level.
 

harms

Shining Star of Paektu Mountain
Staff
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
27,952
Location
Moscow
Really? Dont know i had Costacurta as the best one with other 3 roughly at similar level.
Call it a personal preference. To be fair, all 4 of them were quite good with the ball without anyone of them being on a truly elite level, so I'd imagine that other managers would probably all have this list in a different order. But yeah, for me it's McGrath, with his ball-playing ability being quite evident in many times when he was used in midfield (both for United and for Ireland).

For example:
 

Šjor Bepo

Wout is love, Wout is life; all hail Wout!
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
15,551
Call it a personal preference. To be fair, all 4 of them were quite good with the ball without anyone of them being on a truly elite level, so I'd imagine that other managers would probably all have this list in a different order. But yeah, for me it's McGrath, with his ball-playing ability being quite evident in many times when he was used in midfield (both for United and for Ireland).

For example:
As you said, all 4 were decent/good just felt Billy was the most composed one and tbf to all 4, they all played in other positions where they needed to showcase their quality on the ball. Other 3 on fullback position, McGrath even in midfield as you said but id have that because he played at much lesser level then other 3 so you use your best player where needed more.
 

Synco

Lucio's #1 Fan
Joined
Jul 19, 2014
Messages
6,437
Late, but what made you put Law at right forward here @Šjor Bepo? Do you see his game there similar to Blokhin's on the other side, or is there a difference?

Otherwise impossible to decide between these teams for me. Just one thing, I really developed a liking for Sammer when I researched him for this draft.
 

Šjor Bepo

Wout is love, Wout is life; all hail Wout!
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
15,551
Late, but what made you put Law at right forward here @Šjor Bepo? Do you see his game there similar to Blokhin's on the other side, or is there a difference?
Not really that similar, Blokhin was direct as feck while Law was more of a complete player with a bit more finesse to his game. On paper he is on the right but with Gullit and Elkjaer in the picture he would have a lot of freedom so more often then not i expect him to either float without the ball in the space between midfield and defence or use/combine with Gullit on the overlap.
 

Šjor Bepo

Wout is love, Wout is life; all hail Wout!
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
15,551
good luck in the final stages harms, what ever you do dont take KDB out!
 

harms

Shining Star of Paektu Mountain
Staff
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
27,952
Location
Moscow
good luck in the final stages harms, what ever you do dont take KDB out!
Yeah, I'm not planning on doing it! Not sure if there's a player, who'd fit Lobanovsky's team more in that role. There are options like Beckham, Figo and Schuster, but I like de Bruyne the most here.
 

harms

Shining Star of Paektu Mountain
Staff
Joined
Apr 8, 2014
Messages
27,952
Location
Moscow
There's some nice stuff about McGrath's ball-playing ability. For example, from 32:55 on @Šjor Bepo