TEAM P-NUT
Total possession football, every single player is more than comfortable in possession.
The plan is to starve the opponent of the ball so much that they don't create anything, and when they eventually switch off chasing the ball we manage to score 1, before keeping the ball for the rest of the game.
Team harms
It's a 4-4-2 inspired by the era (mostly Sacchi's and Capello's AC Milan). It's built to maximise the influence of Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Ronald Koeman — the latter is especially underrated and underused because of his unique playing style. It will be a very direct team focused on quick transitions — I have outstanding playmakers from the back in Koeman and Schuster and blistering fast targets up front in Rummenigge and Weah. Savićević has freedom to move centrally to a number 10 spot.
Rummenigge's threat.
We all know and love the famous Breitenigge — a partnership so awesome that it has its own name. I've spent quite enough time watching Breitner and Rummenigge combining together and I think that Schuster and Koeman are more than an adequate replacement for Breitner's incisive long balls forward. With that base I can exploit Kalle's exquisite movement and inventive ball-control to the fullest, which can be a difference between a win and a loss. And don't forget that Rummenigge played with Schuster — and together they absolutely dominated the 1980 UEFA Euros. At the end of the year it was this German duo that occupied the very top of Ballon d'Or list — Rummenigge first, Schuster second.
Ronald Koeman — play to your strengths and hide your weaknesses.
We all know how Koeman played — he was an incredible playmaking asset as well as a consistent goal threat with his perfectly timed runs and thunderous shot. Yet, his skillset was unlike any other defender's — he wasn't particularly fast or agile so he had to rely solely on his positioning... and on his partners. I also want to highlight that he was not a player that was dependent on a particular system — we rarely use him outside of the Barca-inspired set ups but let's not forget that he had also won the European Cup with PSV and the UEFA Euros with Netherlands, teams that were not quite similar to Cruyff's Dream Team.
Back to the partners that will have to cover for Koeman when needed:
First, I give you Valery Voronin — arguably the best fit for this task after Rijkaard. At his peak years he played a very interesting role for that USSR team. Depending on the opponent, his role changed from a roaming box-to-box or holding midfielder to a man-marking center back. But the most unique role was given to him before the 1966 World Cup. Morozov experimented with the hybrid scheme that on paper only had three defenders, but Voronin, technically a midfielder, was forced to cover and orchestrate the entire unit. The most interesting thing is that he didn't only drop back as a center back — depending on the situation he found himself playing as a right and left fullback as well.
Second — Giorgio Chiellini. I'm not going to oversell him — I don't rate him as an all-time great center back, but he is definitely one of the outstanding defenders of this generation and a crucial part of one of the best defensive units of the last decade. His partnership with Bonucci is why I went with him. He compliments him very well — and he continued to do so even when Barzagli became too old to be a regular starter. The parallels between Bonucci and Koeman are pretty straight-forward for me — and I've compiled two quotes that further highlight my point:
