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
Formation
4-4-2/4-1-3-2
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.
Player roles
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. As Jack Charlton (R.I.P.) and pretty much every player or manager that had worked with McGrath said, he could play anywhere – at fullback, outside right, outside left, in an interesting midfield holder role or, of course, as a center back. I can't ask for anyone better here.
LB - Javier Zanetti. He's going to be responsible for the whole wing. Zanetti is the ultimate Lobanovsky player – an all-time great upgrade on Demyanenko; his experience and versatility gives me so many options.
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. I take his performances at the 1966 World Cup as a reference point. He was constantly peeling out wide and had played an incredibly prolific supporting role to Beckenbauer and Haller, while still providing a tremendous presence up front and being able to score in any way imaginable – be it a long-distance screamer, an overhead kick or a simple tap-in.
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. As Jack Charlton (R.I.P.) and pretty much every player or manager that had worked with McGrath said, he could play anywhere – at fullback, outside right, outside left, in an interesting midfield holder role or, of course, as a center back. I can't ask for anyone better here.
LB - Javier Zanetti. He's going to be responsible for the whole wing. Zanetti is the ultimate Lobanovsky player – an all-time great upgrade on Demyanenko; his experience and versatility gives me so many options.
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. I take his performances at the 1966 World Cup as a reference point. He was constantly peeling out wide and had played an incredibly prolific supporting role to Beckenbauer and Haller, while still providing a tremendous presence up front and being able to score in any way imaginable – be it a long-distance screamer, an overhead kick or a simple tap-in.
Alterations from the original
- 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
- 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 2MUFC0 (José Mourinho)
Inspiration/blueprint
Jose's first Chelsea team (04-06)
Playing style, tactics
Before his United stint Jose Mourinho was an incredible manager who took on some of the best teams and managers of all time and bettered them, sometimes even with lesser teams (e.g RM vs Pep's Barca and his Inter and Porto teams), he also built on and established a resurgent Chelsea team after Roman Abramovich took over.
Mourinho's best teams were pretty dominant, he also knew when to park the plane as he would say and when to just let the hand brake off. In terms of tactics and play style, much like Sir Alex it was pretty simple, direct, pacey and at times physical. However, unlike Sir Alex, Mourinho didn't particularly rely on traditional wing play, although he did utilise wingers he also had no issues with wing forwards and play makers playing out wide (Joe Cole, Robben, Eto'o, Ronaldo, Willian, Hazard etc).
The attacking play didn't have a particular focus, but playing off a centre forward who was good at holding up the ball was a key feature, allowing the wide men and attacking midfielders to push forward and get into goal scoring positions. Pacey wide men were also a feature making them deadly when running into space during counter attacks.
In terms of defence, he normally lined up with two physically dominate central defenders, he also wasn't afraid to use an attacking full back on one side and a more defensive on the other, the goal keeper is required to be a good shot stopper with good reflexes. The midfield normally required bundles of energy and tenacity but he also wasn't averse to playing technical play makers in the middle (Alonso, Motta, Fabregas etc), however a key feature is the attacking midfielder or 8 who is given more freedom to attack and push forward but still required to put a defensive shift in.
A strong spine is essential with organisers/leaders in defence and midfield required as the defensive system was a collective effort for Mourinho teams, keeping it compact with high work rate across the park and then being able to release the ball quickly and directly to the forward line.
The attack was normally spear headed by a more physical centre forward who is good in the air and able to occupy the centre backs allowing surging runs from the B2B midfielders to be more effective. As discussed above the wide men can be both traditional and play making wide-men, however he did expect work rate from all attackers.
Player roles
GK: Gordon Banks - one of the best goal keepers of all time, great shot stopper and great reflexes.
CB: Jurgen Kohler - Physical, dominant and had some decent pace, an upgrade on John Terry.
CB: Marius Tresor - Like Carvalho a great all round defender, physically imposing but good on the ball.
LB: Ruud Krol - One of the best left backs of all time, was better going forward than Cole but just as good in defence.
RB: Djalma Santos - A bit more defensive than Krol, but can also contribute when going forward as required.
CM: Graeme Souness- The best midfielder in that dominant Liverpool team, brings bags of energy, tenacity as well as creativity. Will be at home playing the B2B role.
CM: Fernando Redondo - Technically brilliant footballer but also a strong in the defensive phase, one of the best DM's of all time and is an upgrade on Makelele in every aspect.
CM: Lothar Matthaus - A beast of a midfielder who is totally unleashed here to maximise his attacking potential but also has the work rate to help out in the defensive phase. Frank Lampard was a great player but Matthaus in this system would be a few notches above - which is scary considering what Lampard achieved. Also a great leader to have in the middle of the park.
LW: Hristo Stoichkov - Attacking ability wise most would say he's up there with Robben, imo he's better, but offers a bit more work rate so would be home in a Jose team.
RW: Zbigniew Boniek - An excellent versatile winger able to cut in and go out wide, fantastic dribbler and great pace on the counter and has a great knack of getting into goal scoring positions, an upgrade on Joe Cole here. A hard worker off the ball with a great engine - the ideal Jose winger.
CF: Robert Lewandowski - like Drogba a striker that is great at being the target man, good in the air and physically strong and will keep the opposition CB's on their toes, also better on the ball than the Ivorian so offers that bit more up front.
