Edgar Allan Pillow
Ero-Sennin
....................................... TEAM SJOR/PAT ........................................................................................ TEAM GSTQ .................................................
TEAM SJOR/PAT
Formation: 4-5-1
How do you compete against a Murderers' Row of a forward line like the GOAT-fest sported by the opposition? For us, the answer is to prioritise collective team shape and workrate, and adopt the deeply unsexy but highly effective credo of Norway's 1990s arch-pragmatist Egil Olsen:
Team Motto: "å være best uten ball" ("be the best off the ball")
The general setup would be a "defensive" one, we have 10 players on the pitch that will work their socks of in defensive side of the game but in the same time they are all brilliant footballers, perfect combination. All are very disciplined tactically so going counter-attacking was a bit of a no brainer, specially considering opponents because if we open up we are dead and here we would be tough to break and we are confident we can hurt them on the break, the difference in work off the ball would just be too big.
The main tenets here are:
1) Collective Workrate: Simply put, every one of our outfield players will work their balls off. Our CF Denis Law typifies the ethos, allying all-time great finishing with a furious workrate and appetite for battle.
2) Pragmatic Formation: Brutally hard to break down when we get our men behind the ball, and hard to hit on the counter too with Rijkaard playing a screening role and such numbers and quality in midfield.
3) GOAT-quality defensive spine: Schmeichel in goal, Kohler as stopper and Rijkaard as DM are as good as it gets in their respective positions and for the task at hand. Throw in an excellent defensive organiser in Zmuda, two assiduous two-way FBs, and two ferocious B2B generals and it's going to be a tough nut to crack for any team.
4) Two-Way Midfielders: The obvious worry with a 4-5-1 formation is that the CF gets isolated. Law's own formidable attributes reduce that risk, and the nature of our midfield players mitigates against the problem further, with Robson, Gazza and Barnes in particular having the mobility, attitude and technical ability to bomb forward in support of Law all match long.
Gazza role
After the backheel came a nutmeg, Gascoigne on Matthäus. It was barely noticeable, because of the camera angle, the whirl of legs and its essential insignificance, near the halfway line and with Gascoigne losing the ball seconds later. But it was a reflection of his intrepid approach. “You would say, ‘You’re going to play against Rijkaard,’” recalled Waddle in Three Lions Versus The World. “And he would say, ‘Who? Who’s he?’ He didn’t care who he was playing against, and it wasn’t an act. He would say, ‘I’ll introduce them to Paul Gascoigne.’”
“Gascoigne had strayed in the match against Cameroon,” said Robson in a BBC interview years later. “I said to him, ‘Listen, if you do that against Germany Matthäus will come striding through our midfield and stick two goals past Peter Shilton from 25 yards, because that’s what he can do, so you can’t chase the ball.’ ‘Boss’, he said, ‘sit back and enjoy it, I know what I have to do.’ This is Gascoigne talking to me like this! So I looked at him and said, ‘I know you know what you have to do, but will you do it?’”
He did it. “The fact he was going to play Matthäus thrilled him,” said Robson. “He was going to adore that challenge and he was going to win it. And he did. He was better than Matthäus.” His defensive discipline was firmly evident after half an hour, when he blocked Völler’s cross from the right of the area with Shilton out of the game.
You would never associate Gazza with discipline going by his life but tactically he was superb and very disciplined, knew where to move and when to move and boy did he move, insane engine on him. He wouldnt be fazed by Di Stefano nor anyone in the opposition team, if anything that would motivate him even more as he was like that, whenever he faced top dogs and he faced a lot of GOATs he was always on his game, always. Baresi and his Milan entourage probably still have nightmares of Gazza running at them. Defensively he would help out midfield, when in possession he would go where ever he wants, Benarrivo would offer width on that side. Effenberg is also there to protect.
Individual battles
Team battles in our opinion we have in the bag, where queen has the edge is individual quality but we think we are ready for it and we have very good solutions to stop them.
Di Stefano vs Rijkaard - battle of GOATs, we can hardly ask for a better fit.
Garrincha vs Lizarazu - little frenchman was great defending 1v1
Kocsis vs Kohler - good luck with that
Puskas vs everyone - this one would require more of a team effort and with tactical awareness and workrates of our players we can confident we can push Puskas on fringes of the game.
TEAM GSTQ
Team Mentality : Score more goals than the opponent
Manager Mentality : Blame the mods for the rubbish last round of drafting in case the team doesn't do well
Specific player info -
1. Why is Czibor on the right - He was a free roaming player and although his best position was on the LW, he could play from anywhere in the front. He played on the right wing in the 1954 WC final and scored.
2. Why is Zebec playing the role of LCB - Zebec really was an immensely versatile player who played almost everywhere on the pitch during multiple phases of his career. In the late 1950's, he was considered one of the best CB's in the world.
3. Why is Zito mentioned three times - All other names are bigger and 4 lettered Zito was making the picture look asymmetric and ugly. Hence 3 times.