DP Draft 720p QF: Isotope vs General Elegancia

[Enigma_87]

---------------------------------------ISOTOPE-------------------------------------------------------------------GENERAL ELEGANCIA---------------------------------------

TEAM ISOTOPE

A nice 4-3-3 with robust attack, intense midfield, and watertight defence. Team settings are normal attack and defensive line, with slightly direct passing.

Marco van Basten leads the attack, and is flanked by Garrincha and Sir Tom Finney. The wingers can play as a traditional winger (including first rate delivery on crosses), who also pose significant goal threat. Finney provides industrious engine to the side.

Central midfield are controlled by three hardworking box to box / playmakers, with their rare elite combination of creativity and defensive ability. In Matthaus, we have a tour de force 10 with the combativeness to also contribute in general midfield tussles (Invictus, 2018). Coluna and Schuster will provide powerhouse support, and creativity from the back.

All-time great Gk Yashin is bulwarked by defensive beasts of Desailly and Shesternyov, a classic combination of power, speed, and elegant. Stam as right back, is taking Djalma Santos role behind Garrincha, as defensively astute fullback. Where Marzolini, greatest Argentina left-back, is guarding on the opposite side.


TEAM GENERAL ELEGANCIA
Goalkeeper: Pat Jennings one of the best gk in history of the game.His biggest strength are superb reflexes,commanding the box and positioning.

Defense: Bobby Moore and Nemanja Vidic will pair it perfectly both will support and make the best of each other.Moore's reading the game,anticipation and tactical awareness will cooperate with Vidic's superb tackling ability,heading and concentration.It's hard to deal with Van Basten everyone knows but if that person can match his incredible aerial dominance and on the ground,that person would be Vidic.

Left and Right back: Welcome back from injury Djalma Santos,one of the best rb in the history of the game.His biggest ability in his playing days was shutting down the left wing/attackers and he was not bad at offensive too. In this game he will deal with Sir Tom Finley one of the best wingers ever and it will be great match-up for both of them.Another one is Antonio Cabrini one of the best lb ever too,his biggest strengths was overlapping, crossing and supporting attackers. In this game he will support Seeler in the left flank and will make some great crosses.

My defenders are very solid in defense and in term of ball playing skills none of them are mediocre(even Vidic too).
Three of my defenders are World Champion and in term of team of tournament my defenders are in team of tournament for 4times(Djalma in 1954,1958 and 1962 and Moore in 1966)

Spoiler: Djalma Santos

"A great footballer, complete, he was the first modern right-back, and above all a great man" (Pelé about Djalma Santos)

Midfielders:I will not describe long.All of them are complete midfielders and have great workrates too.Van Hanegem in this game will be my team backbone,he will be b2b midfileder who control the tempo of the game,make great passes to my front three and assists Ronaldo.His role is the mix of Classic no 10 and b2b.Another man is Osvaldo Ardiles,in this game he will play his best role in the right side of central midfield.He will run up and down for defence and support attacks.The last one Graeme Souness great midfielders from Liverpool,another complete midfielders with great tackling skill,defense,support attacks and will bring mentality to my team.In this game he will be cdm,his role will screen the ball before defenders and will protect the other two(Ardiles and Van Hanegem).In his playing days he had great ball skills and often a lot of times started the attacks from the back/deep too.So in this game he suits best in this role and will start the attack from that position too.

Spoiler: Souness

my midfield strengths: All of them have excellent work rates and will run and down for my team.
-All of them have great ball-playing skills.
-All of them can exchange position during the game perfectly.
-All of them have great mentality.
-All of them will run and tackle like pitbulls when they lose the ball.

Attackers: Uwe Seeler one of the best strikers ever will be continue in my team,in this game he will play at left forward/wing forward.
Why I choose him to play at lw?
Ans Although Seeler was known for his heading abilties,scoring and selfless habbit he was known for great workrates and teamwork too.In this game in the right side Isotope's team has Garrincha and I won't let him isolating him Cabrini alone.So Seeler is the best suit for this role due to his great stamina and versatily to adapt the role.In this game he will run down a lot of times to help left flank to defense against Garrincha too.Just like Foden did last week against Salah,run down to defense against Salah and did attacking parts too.

Spoiler: Uwe Seeler role

Although I know that Seeler and Foden are so much different player but the reason I show Man City formation graphic because I want to show that lw role in Man City must help defense a lot of times and in this game Seeler plays at lw/lf and he must help Cabrini and teammates to track down against Garrincha.

Enzo Francescoli will be my creative force in this game.He will create my attacks to Seeler and Ronaldo,make some great passes,dribblings and scoring to my team.In this game he will have a lot of freedoms to drift to central area.

Ronaldo:I won't describe him,one of the greatest strikers ever.His biggest strengths are dribbling,speed and finishing.He will make your defenders in trouble.

Spoiler: Defending against Garrincha

First of all I would like to say there is no way to marking Garrincha out of the game and I won't use man-marking tactics agianst him too.I have a lot of better choices than man-marking ways,so let's start
1.Garrincha will also be zonally marked,he will step-out in zone of Van hanegem responsibility.
2.When Garrincha will get the ball,he will immediatly surrounded by 4/5 players(maybe Cabrini,Souness,Van Hanegem,Moore and Seeler) and he will lost the ball for sure.
3.When he try to drop deep,he will followed by one of the goat defenders "Bobby Moore" and sometimes Vidic will follow him too.
4.He will surrounded by 3-4 players who can all either close the passing lane to him,or press him when he receives the ball.
5.When he gets free Bobby Moore will take care him and Seeler will recover run to help defense.
6.My midfielders with excellent work rate will help each other to reduce the space as much as they can.
7.Bobby Moore vs Jairzinho changes to Bobby Moore vs Garrincha
8.Cabrini wasn't bad in defense during playing days.So he will not pass Cabrini easy too when in isolation scenerios.
9.When Garrincha has the ball,my center back will exhange the side(for sometimes not everytime).Moore from right to left (Garrincha's side) and Vidic from left to right.
Bobby Moore vs Brazil(Jairzinho was tackled by Moore)

Tactics: high pressing
-great workrates from my midfield players and front players
-zonal marking
-counter attacks
-fast transitions
-freedom in attack and creativity from Van Hanegem,Seeler,Francescoli and Ronaldo
-overlapping full back
-hardworking midfield battles
-strong backline and goalkeeper
-different varieties of attacking platforms ex. crossing from fullback,long balls,fast transitions,headers(from Seeler) and dribbling to operate space from Ronaldo
-All of my midfielders have playmaking skills(Souness had it too.)
-leaderships and intensities from a lot of captains like Souness,Vidic,Francescoli,Seeler , Moore or even Van Hanegem.
-midfielders battles against @Isotope

 

[Enigma_87]

@Isotope @General_Elegancia
all the best lads!

 

[Isotope]

Thanks for setting up, Enigma.

So let's the petty war started.

GE's has almost no one attacking on its right side.
Cabrini needs to tuck in, to protect Vidic against Garrincha's pace. Thus nullify it's left side attacking threat.

But still, have to admit, GE's striker/forwards can make something out of nothing. Although, Desailly has nice experience against Ronaldo.

 

[General_Elegancia]

Thanks for setting up too,Enigma

Everyone knows that pace is very important in football,yes it is very important you're probably right but it's not important as team efforts and tactical skills.
I show clip that Bayern Muchen won against FC Barcelona and they kept Messi quiet through the game.
It's not an isolation game,so I would not make Garrincha vs Cabrini happen easily.

This is my solution to defending against Garrincha
1.Garrincha will also be zonally marked,he will step-out in zone of Van hanegem responsibility.
2.When Garrincha will get the ball,he will immediatly surrounded by 4/5 players(maybe Cabrini,Souness,Van Hanegem,Moore and Seeler) and he will lost the ball for sure.
3.When he try to drop deep,he will followed by one of the goat defenders "Bobby Moore" and sometimes Vidic will follow him too.
4.He will surrounded by 3-4 players who can all either close the passing lane to him,or press him when he receives the ball.
5.When he gets free Bobby Moore will take care him and Seeler will recover run to help defense.
6.My midfielders with excellent work rate will help each other to reduce the space as much as they can.
7.Bobby Moore vs Jairzinho changes to Bobby Moore vs Garrincha
8.Cabrini wasn't bad in defense during playing days.So he will not pass Cabrini easy too when in isolation scenerios.
9.When Garrincha has the ball,my center back will exhange the side(for sometimes not everytime).Moore from right to left (Garrincha's side) and Vidic from left to right.

Every of my midfields will help Cabrini to cover against Garrincha , all of them are tough and have enough defensive skills to do that all the game and don't forget that when Garrincha have the ball Moore will exchange side to defend against him too.

I would say that my backline is probably better than English70 line up for sure and the best offensive side of all time(Brazil70) could only scored on Moore,Labone,Cooper.Wright and Banks only 1 goal.Jairzinho is inferior to Garrincha everyone knows that too but Jairzinho in 70 was probably peak Jairzinho and possibly one of the greatest performances in WC and he was eaten by "Bobby Moore" a lot of times.Jairzinho 70 was slightly on the level of Garrincha 62(although I think it's a bit inferior).

And I would say you have 3 box to box midfielders that all of them like to attack more than defense especially Schuster who someone can consider as half playmaker/half b2b and Coluna who in playing days had great defensive skills for sure but I don't think he would work well with Schuster due to some similar habbits like both of them like to conduct the tempo and usually made a lot of long passes too.Matthaus you bring him to cam(similar to Inter Milan's days), I think you should add more defensive oriented player instead Schuster.

Scuster is tough player and have some defensive work rates,sure but I still think if you want to bring best from him,you should have more defensive oriented player to your team.Again Coluna and Schuster have some similar traits that they would not bring each other to shine brightest.

Schuster and Coluna are more of b2b/playmaker.
Both of them like to spray long passes.
Both of them need more defensive b2b/ destroyer to shine brightest.
Both of them have some enormous ego

I'm sure they can play together but it would not bring each other shine brightest.

 

[harms]

Surely it would make sense to start Moore on the left of a central partnership in that case?

 

[General_Elegancia]

When it comes to defensive phase,it will be like this.Moore will exhange side with Vidic to deal with Garrincha.



When it comes to offenisve,I will use Moore at RCB because Djalma Santos will cover him when he joins the attack in this game.Another side is when Cabrini is in attack mode,Vidic will cover him.
@harms

 

[Šjor Bepo]

Id pay serious money to see that cb switch in the defensive transition.

Anyways, two lovely teams.

 

[General_Elegancia]

On Desailly, he could be a fraction rash and clumsy:
Desailly was sent off in both 1998 finals he played, both at the Coppa Italia final and World Cup final at the hour mark red carded. He was sometimes clumsy at the most important matches or some big matches against very top opponents.

1goal against Desailly in this match,Desailly was sent off

humilate Desailly and some other great defenders

 

[Physiocrat]

@Isotope Do you have another CB or right back? Your side really needs Desailly at DM.

 

[General_Elegancia]

@Isotope Do you have another CB or right back? Your side really needs Desailly at DM.

Yeah,@Isotope really need some defensive midfielder to break oppositions play(my team).It wouldn’t be nice to don’t have any dm against Ronaldo,Seeler and Francescoli(when he drift to inside).If you don’t have any dm,your cb will have a very tough time against Seeler and Ronaldo.

Matthaus,Coluna and Schuster all of them have great workrates and stamina for sure but you still need some dm to make your b2b/playmaker like Schuster and Coluna shine brightest and don’t concern too much defensive jobs.

Matthaus at Inter
He played as hybrid 8 and 10,he had Battistini to covered him as dm.

Schuster at FC Barcelona had 2 box to box that did more defensive jobs than him(Munoz and Alonso)

Coluna was a great defensive player and it's fine.


Ronaldo vs Netherland(Stam)

 

[Isotope]

@Isotope Do you have another CB or right back? Your side really needs Desailly at DM.

I think the general rule is you only need a dedicated DM if your "number 10" is not doing defensive duty. Here, all of them are strong defensively.
Schuster here is not the old one that become a deep laying playmaker. This is Matthaus that capable of shutting down Maradona and Platini, if needed. He's not here as a free role as in that Inter side, because that Inter side only had him as the creative force.

Look at his positioning here. As no. 10, he drops deep, making tackle, forward runs, and scoring.



Anyway, my team has more in plate to do damage to opponent. With those defence and those in midfield (and Finney too, if needed), i can see we dominate the game. While the opponent need to rely on individual performance (hmm.. sounds familiar), with those imbalance attack; and almost none existence width (Seeler and Francescoli providing width??).

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Both midfields are ..... Ok, I suppose, but lacks balance. Stam, Enzo are playing out of position, but still acceptable considering the respective opposition.

Cabrini expected to provide width esp when facing Garrincha tilts this in favor of Iso for me. Plus Iso team has bit more width and ability to stretch opposition defense, which I don't see with GE.

 

[Isotope]

There's also too much in plate for Moore. He needs to keep an eye on that Cabrini side, while not leaving Vidic one-on-one against Marco van Basten (one of the greatest CF). Marco van Basten, a 3 times Ballon d'or.

 

[Isotope]

Both midfields are ..... Ok, I suppose, but lacks balance. Stam, Enzo are playing out of position, but still acceptable considering the respective opposition.

Cabrini expected to provide width esp when facing Garrincha tilts this in favor of Iso for me. Plus Iso team has bit more width and ability to stretch opposition defense, which I don't see with GE.

Thanks, man. Stam was capable playing RB, as he's done it at Lazio and AC Milan.

 

[General_Elegancia]

I think the general rule is you only need a dedicated DM if your "number 10" is not doing defensive duty. Here, all of them are strong defensively.
Schuster here is not the old one that become a deep laying playmaker. This is Matthaus that capable of shutting down Maradona and Platini, if needed. He's not here as a free role as in that Inter side, because that Inter side only had him as the creative force.

Look at his positioning here. As no. 10, he drops deep, making tackle, forward runs, and scoring.



Anyway, my team has more in plate to do damage to opponent. With those defence and those in midfield (and Finney too, if needed), i can see we dominate the game. While the opponent need to rely on individual performance (hmm.. sounds familiar), with those imbalance attack; and almost none existence width (Seeler and Francescoli providing width??).

The reason I want Seeler to play at lf/lw because your right side have Garrincha and Dzajic,Salah and Sivori are injured too.Your side have Garrincha aka one of the best dribblers so I really must put hardworking forward to run down to play defense and help Cabrini and my midfielders to defense against Garrincha(Seeler have enormous workrare too).

First when I see my lineup I really think that my players is more suitable in 4-4-2 diamond like this.
Ronaldo Seeler
Enzo
Van Hanegem Ardiles
Souness

but then I see Garrincha and Tom Finley,I decide to put Seeler at lw/lf for the reason I mention above.On Enzo he will drift inside to central a lot of times but he still play at rw.

All of my midfielders have great workrates and some defensive skills,so they will help each other to limit the space to dribble for Garrincha and Finley plus my forward will track down to help my midfielders and my fullbacks at the both sides too.Garrincha will not have so much space to do his things(dribbling and crossing).

 

[Gio]

Id pay serious money to see that cb switch in the defensive transition.

Anyways, two lovely teams.

This. I reckon after Moore and Vidic try it once, Bobby decides "feck this, I'll play on the left and you can go on the right."

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

Iso's midfield is odd. Matthaus would be better than both Coluna and Schuster in the double pivot. Coluna and Schuster both would be better at No.10.

It also looks like an opportunity wasted to go for the WM as he has some great personnel there for the system (not sure who is on the bench), especially with the opponent having a narrow team as well.

Finney-----------Van Basten----------Garrincha
----------Coluna-----------------Schuster-------------
---------Matthaus---------------Desailly-------------
--Marzolini-----Shesternyov------Stam---------

Am giving this to GE just because the team looks more coherent to me.

 

[General_Elegancia]

Iso's midfield is odd. Matthaus would be better than both Coluna and Schuster in the double pivot. Coluna and Schuster both would be better at No.10.

It also looks like an opportunity wasted to go for the WM as he has some great personnel there for the system (not sure who is on the bench), especially with the opponent having a narrow team as well.

Finney-----------Van Basten----------Garrincha
----------Coluna-----------------Schuster-------------
---------Matthaus---------------Desailly-------------
--Marzolini-----Shesternyov------Stam---------

Am giving this to GE just because the team looks more coherent to me.

I would agree with this although Matthaus can play at 10 and he played a lot at Inter Milan.Maybe not typical 10 but it looks like a modern 10 with superb workrates.
Maybe Coluna can play pivot with Matthaus and it will look like Kimmich and Goretzka levels upgrade.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

I would agree with this although Matthaus can play at 10 and he played a lot at Inter Milan.Maybe not typical 10 but it looks like a modern 10 with superb workrates.

Yea he did with great goal scoring numbers, but the 2 behind him don't make sense to me as a double pivot.

 

[General_Elegancia]

Yea he did with great goal scoring numbers, but the 2 behind him don't make sense to me as a double pivot.

And Schuster and Coluna were both conductors too,I think it maybe a bit similar to Di Stefano and Platini in another draft campagin or Didi and Di Stefano in real life.
But.....as I have watched young and dynamic Schuster(80s),he can play with Coluna really well but still don't bring best from him.Old Schuster(1990s)I don't think it would be work.

 

[General_Elegancia]

Congratulations on your great team,mate
You deserve it,see you next draft.
@Isotope

Anyway,good game

 

[Isotope]

Iso's midfield is odd. Matthaus would be better than both Coluna and Schuster in the double pivot. Coluna and Schuster both would be better at No.10.

It also looks like an opportunity wasted to go for the WM as he has some great personnel there for the system (not sure who is on the bench), especially with the opponent having a narrow team as well.

Finney-----------Van Basten----------Garrincha
----------Coluna-----------------Schuster-------------
---------Matthaus---------------Desailly-------------
--Marzolini-----Shesternyov------Stam---------

Am giving this to GE just because the team looks more coherent to me.

Wasn't it you that suggest a 10 with high workrate, wouldn't need a dedicated DM?

Anyway, I'm not familiar with WM formation. It looks good, though.

 

[Isotope]

Congratulations on your great team,mate
You deserve it,see you next draft.
@Isotope

Anyway,good game

Yes, good game. I thought it would be a breeze, but you had excellent due diligence.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

Wasn't it you that suggest a 10 with high workrate, wouldn't need a dedicated DM?

Nah, DM isn't the problem. Coluna was a top notch playmaker and so was Schuster. While both had decent work rate, neither was a B2B machine. You need at least 1 proper B2B there who wasnt primarily a playmaker.

I would rate both as better No.10's than Matthaus and then lothar is the goat B2B. So its weird to see them swapped. I guess Coluna or Schuster in the hole is not a great vote winner, but my best impression is that is how most real world managers would place them in your team.

Anyway, I'm not familiar with WM formation. It looks good, though.

It ticks so many boxes -

1. AMs who could drop in a midfield 3 when needed and offer work rate.
2. AMs who could chip in with goals
3. 1 DM capable of dropping in defense and transforming to a 4 man defense when needed.
4. A pacy central CB to deal with fast 1 on 1 situations

Only thing slightly off there is the wide defenders (mostly RCB). If you could get some good players there, it would be close to a perfect WM (Coluna in fact played at the exact same position in Bela Guttmann's Benfica which is why my head went there)

Spoiler: Bela Guttmann - Benfica formation

 

[Isotope]

Nah, work rate isn't the problem. Coluna was a top notch playmaker and so was Schuster. While both had decent work rate, neither was a B2B machine. You need at least 1 proper B2B there who wasnt primarily a playmaker.

I would rate both as better No.10's than Matthaus and then lothar is the goat B2B. So its weird to see them swapped. I guess Coluna or Schuster in the hole is not a great vote winner, but my best impression is that is how most real world managers would place them in your team.



It ticks so many boxes -

1. AMs who could drop in a midfield 3 when needed and offer work rate.
2. AMs who could chip in with goals
3. 1 DM capable of dropping in defense and transforming to a 4 man defense when needed.
4. A pacy central CB to deal with fast 1 on 1 situations

Only thing slightly off there is the wide defenders (mostly RCB). If you could get some good players there, it would be close to a perfect WM (Coluna in fact played at the exact same position in Bela Guttmann's Benfica which is why my head went there)

Spoiler: Bela Guttmann - Benfica formation

Thought that you'd need two hardworking wingers. I have Zcibor, but then he's less lethal than Garrincha (who actually has decent work rate).

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

Thought that you'd need two hardworking wingers. I have Zcibor, but then he's less lethal than Garrincha (who actually has decent work rate).

The beauty of Coluna-Schuster is you dont really need hard working wingers. Its not like you are playing Baggio and Kopa there. So its already super balanced. Its all the same players as your current team, so you are not adding anything new, just a different shape.

Its a high risk high reward strategy though, you essentially go into the game looking to score more than your opponent.

The wingers with work rate part can be worked around as long as your opponent has a narrow setup (wing forwards instead of proper wide men - which was the case here). Of course run into a team with Figo and Alves on the flank and you are fecked. Good thing is you have huge squads and can decide based on opponents.

 

[Gio]

To be honest I thought the midfield would naturally have gravitated towards Coluna dropping into the pivot, Schuster to the RCM role and Matthaus springing from the LCM.

Matthaus - Schuster
Coluna​

 

[Isotope]

To be honest I thought the midfield would naturally have gravitated towards Coluna dropping into the pivot, Schuster to the RCM role and Matthaus springing from the LCM.

Matthaus - Schuster
Coluna​

That would then make people questioning Coluna's role? Almost every the Caf draft that I've checked, it has Schuster or Coluna as B2B. Even that harms's thread on best 30 B2B/DM has Coluna there, with the role as enforcer.

The beauty of Coluna-Schuster is you dont really need hard working wingers. Its not like you are playing Baggio and Kopa there. So its already super balanced. Its all the same players as your current team, so you are not adding anything new, just a different shape.

Its a high risk high reward strategy though, you essentially go into the game looking to score more than your opponent.

The wingers with work rate part can be worked around as long as your opponent has a narrow setup (wing forwards instead of proper wide men - which was the case here). Of course run into a team with Figo and Alves on the flank and you are fecked. Good thing is you have huge squads and can decide based on opponents.

It's risky for sure. I have to be 100% of what the opponent's formation would be.

 

[Šjor Bepo]

The beauty of Coluna-Schuster is you dont really need hard working wingers.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

Even that harms's thread on best 30 B2B/DM has Coluna there, with the role as enforcer.

Funnily enough, harms suggested to place him as a playmaker and I insisted on him being a B2B which is what led to a change if I remember correctly. My rationale was he was capable on the defensive side yet more of an attacking B2B. You place him alongside say a Davids there with Matthaus as a No.10 and I would be okay with that. But Schuster/Coluna is a no from me.

Yeah. Same goes for Coluna in my book, he was huge but I don't rate his defensive game highly; it's his dribbling, shooting and passing that stand out.

For me Coluna falls in the Neeskens category. The attacking B2B's. Obviously great going forward but more than decent on the defensive side.

Now Masopust not in the B2B category I can understand. He was way more of a playmaker. Not Coluna. Has to be a B2B for me.

 

[GodShaveTheQueen]

There, have your laughs, let me know if you need more

 

[harms]

 

[Šjor Bepo]

There, have your laughs, let me know if you need more

nah we good, rest im saving for next scheduling of michaels game

 

[General_Elegancia]

Funnily enough, harms suggested to place him as a playmaker and I insisted on him being a B2B which is what led to a change if I remember correctly. My rationale was he was capable on the defensive side yet more of an attacking B2B. You place him alongside say a Davids there with Matthaus as a No.10 and I would be okay with that. But Schuster/Coluna is a no from me.

In present days…put Coluna on some teams and I’m sure he would have started at deep lying playmaker.As much as I have watched him ,I’m sure he can play that.
Maybe put b2b with decent workrate like Milan00s in front him and It would be like this
Seedorf(more attacking b2b) Gattuso(more defensive b2b)
Coluna
or even in this draft change from Schuster to Keane or something that more defensive b2b
Matthaus. Keane
Coluna
@GodShaveTheQueen