I need more input from managers here before voting.
@Raees - You seem to have bet it all on keeping Annah out and scoring one. That's a valid strategy but do you think you can mount a comeback if he ends up scoring first? Or is that a no-no as per your tactics. Unlike others I actually do think you can shut out Annah, it's just the scoring part that needs more convincing.
@Annahnomoss - i need to read up more on your defense I guess. That's the key part for me. If your defense is not a weakness then I can buy that Best or Mathews will create one at the other end, otherwise Raees can do you on counter and sit back even more.
Above their quality they are a brilliant trio - Mel Hopkins and Billy McCracken were brilliant in the one on one game thanks to their speed - while still being strong in the air and centrally a typical British hard man in George Hardwick who was an outstanding passer as well.
Mel Hopkins, who played with both Blanchflower and Burgess in the "push and run" team: The upshot, after spurning interest from Matt Busby's Manchester United, was a Spurs contract as an amateur in May 1951, duly followed by a professional deal a year later.
This was a period when Arthur Rowe's exhilarating push-and-run combination, which had lifted the championships of the Football League's top two tiers in 1950 and1951, was beginning to decline, so there was ample opportunity for promising rookies to make their mark. Accordingly, Hopkins made his senior debut as a 17-year-old at Derby in October 1952, soon emerging as a natural successor to the two men who had previously contested the left-back berth, the ageing Arthur Willis and Charlie Withers.
By 1954-55 Hopkins was the regular incumbent and when he earnedhis first cap for Wales, against Northern Ireland at Ninian Park, Cardiff,in April 1956, he was hailed as one of the best young flank defenders in Britain. Immediately he became an automatic selection for his country, embarking on a sequence of 23 consecutive appearances, including five in the World Cup finals of 1958 in Sweden, where Wales bowed out at the quarter-final stage to the eventual winners Brazil.
That day in Gothenburg Hopkins shone against his direct opponent, the brilliant but bewilderingly unorthodox winger Garrincha, known in South America as "The Angel with Bent Legs", a bamboozling dribbler with a deformed spine of whom the Welshman remarked: "His legs went one way and his body went the other. It was difficult to know whether you were coming or going." Jimmy Murphy's gallant side, shorn of their own star player, John Charles, through injury, and also facing the teenage genius Pele, lost by the game's only goal but covered themselves in glory for their spirited display.
Now Hopkins, who had helped Tottenham to finish second and third in England's top flight during the previous two League campaigns, while resisting what proved to be anominously persistent challenge from the erstwhile understudy Henry, was at his zenith. Standing an inch under six feet and with a loping, almostspidery gait, he could appear awkward, but that was deceptive. In fact, he was an accomplished all-round footballer, quick and tenacious, strong in the air, a perceptive passer and a brisk tackler."
George Hardwick:
Boro’s ferrous full-back was dubbed “Gentleman George” but it was more for his engaging lady-killing charm, rakish moustache and debonair dress sense off the pitch than anything polite in his demeanour on it.
His deceptive film star façade was totally at odds with a ruthless tenacity in the tackle that made even the hardest players of the day wince.
Football was an unforgiving game in the Pathe News era of bruising forwards, no-nonsense defenders and brutal midfield hatchet man.
But even in that era of hard men, the Boro skipper had a fearsome reputation.
He had already shown he was bomb-proof when he shrugged off shrapnel injuries to both legs in a German air raid on his Isle of Sheppey RAF base in the war.
The fear of Hardwick ’s crunching challenges made some household names fear the trip to Ayresome Park.
It was widely whispered that Stanley Matthews, the Wizard of the Dribble, was petrified of playing Hardwick.
Matthews’ trickery had seen him weave his way to fame, side-stepping weekly scything carthorse challenges.
But Hardwick was precise in the tackle, with an instinctive reading of body language and split second timing that trumped Matthews fleet-footed trickery.
He could also hit an opponent like a train. After some bruising early encounters in games and England training sessions jittery Matthews knew Hardwick had his number.
Matthews was conspicuous by his absence on the team-sheet whenever Stoke or Blackpool were pitted against Boro.
And Sir Stan wasn’t the only one to shrink when faced with a player who had learned his trade in the cut-throat local leagues of Teesside.
As a scrawny teenager he at South Bank East End he learned quickly to survive in physical sides peppered with cynical steelworkers and dockers out to bully the young upstart.
His toughness and an eye for exquisite pass soon attracted the big boys with Arsenal and Rangers being snubbed so he could sign for his beloved Boro .
He soon became a fixture at Ayresome where he honed his tackling art that was to take him to the top of the game.
“You always you knew when you had been hit by a tackle from George,” confirmed teammate Billy Day, who took repeated blows in training.
“He was firm and fast when he went in to the challenge and accurate too.
“He rarely missed a tackle and he when he got the ball he rarely wasted it.”
Hardwick’s incredible career was built on that efficiency.
When he won the ball – as he invariably did – he used it with great intelligence to pick out an incisive pass that brought the best out of the mercurial movement of Wilf Mannion.
In fact his ability to use the ball and his comfort in possession prompted Brian Clough to proclaim him a revolutionary.
“He was an attacking full-back before his time,” said Cloughie in his pomp, hailing the man who urged him to go into management.
“He could get the ball and play it ... normally they just kick it but George used it brilliantly.”
His strength in the tackle and his ability with the ball made Hardwick a red-hot property.
When he left Boro after 166 games in a war-disrupted spell it was to Oldham for £15,000 - a world record for a full-back.
He was the first man to make his England debut as captain and the only one to skipper the side in every one of his caps, all 13 of them.
He is also the only man to captain a Great Britain side in a post-war showdown with a combined Europe side.
And he later went on to work with the Dutch FA and PSV Eindhoven and is credited in Holland as being one of the architects of “total football”.
Billy McCracken
"Billy Mccracken - Belfast born - was one of the best but also most loathed footballers of his generation."
McCracken played for the English club
Newcastle United from 1904 to 1924, helping them win three League titles and the FA Cup. McCracken was so adept at catching the opposing teams forwards
offside that he forced a change in the rules of the game. By consistently keeping clean sheets - 6 goalless draws - in one season FA decided they had to change the rules.
He was one of the games "thinkers" and he realized that by organizing his defense perfectly he could catch his opponents in offside in a manner of consistency which was terrific. One of the few players to be so effective at something that he forced the FA to first change the throw in rule - so you couldn't be offside on throw ins - and later also the offside rule as a whole.
Almost every defense tried to copy McCracken - but none nearly as successful - which shows his great abilities as an organizer and tactician.
He's seen as one of Newcastles greatest players ever - with 400 games before retiring.
with Carter playmaking for Law is just fantastic. Just think its a bit too defensive and he only has a predictable central route which Annah's team is equipped to handle.
) capitalize on his threat going forward. No slight on raees because he has a great set up. .. but don't think he could shut out that offense... or do enough to get back into the game if they concede