Rate based on peak abilities under manager.
Team MJJ
Tactics
My side will be employing the 4-3-3 used by lippi to great success. The midfield is defensively solid and sets up a base from for the attackers to exploit with their talents.
The forwards are going to move into spaces instead of being a static front three and exploit the gaps that open up with crappy's weaker defensive line. The defense and midfield are going to defend based on positioning, with a deep defensive line and not pressing anyone unless they had cover behind them hence negating one of the advantages of total football i.e. dragging players out of position.
While the front three are going to push on and press crappy's centreback and deepest midfielder thus winning the ball closer to goal and exploiting it to the maximum front. With both baggio and del piero capable of dropping deep, there wont be any significant gaps for between my midfield and attack and vieiri is going to aerially dominate the opposition backline thus providing another option for my side.
GK- One of the greatest italian goalkeepers of all time, peruzzi enjoyed great success under lippi. Winning Serie A keeper of the year twice.
Defense-
Zambrotta is considered as one of Italy's greatest pundits and was at the peak of his powers under lippi, getting into the Uefa Euro team of the year in 2004.
While inter under lippi were disappointing, there is no question that zanetti was as good as he ever was, captain under lippi, zanetti was one of the positives in a disappointing season for inter.
Ferrera and Thuram- Both excelled under lippi forming what was then considered then one of the best defenses in the world.
My defense is formed of physically imposing players who are good at the ball and wont be caught out by crappy's attack. Zanetti and Zambrotta in particular will enjoy running down the flanks and crossing it in for vieiri.
Midfield-
Deschamps- One of the finest defensive midfielders in world football, deschamps played under lippi from 94-99, winning the french footballer of the year(96) along the way.
Conte- Juvenus captain and one of the best midfielders of his generation.
Jugovic-One of the best serbian players ever and a top midfielder of his generation. Jugovic played a key role in the 96 Champion League Triumph.
The midfield is formed of some of the best players in history, all three of them are defensively sound and capable of transitioning defense into attack at a moment's notice.
Attack-
Baggio- Possibly the greatest italian player of all time, baggio was at the peak of his powers when lippi took over . Placing second in the Ballon D'Or and one year on from winning the european and world player of the year.
Del Piero- Juventus Legend, Del Piero played the majority of his career under Lippi.
Vieri- Vieri played for Lippi no fewer than three times in his career but his 1999 version is being used here when he won the serie A player of the year and signed for inter for a world record fee.
Key Battle
Gol alla Del Piero or the del piero zone. Del piero was a master of cutting in from the left and curling the ball into goal. With suurbier being very weak defensively, I can see this being a crucial matchup and something that will present a few goal scoring opportunities for my side.
TEAM MJJ-------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEAM CRAPPY
Formation:Total Football (2-3-2-3 / 4-3-3)
Total Football IS NOT tiki-taka. As our esteemed substitute Sjaak SWART, Mr. Ajax said - “In four passes we would be in front of goal. Nowadays they take twenty passes — backwards, sideways, backwards. We didn’t play like that. We went for the goal.”
Total football did not mean passing the ball into the net, Ajax team in fact scored a lot of goals via headers from crosses and even played long ball at times. In defensive phase, it would involve all players on the pitch closing the spacing as much as each player expanding it while in attacking phase.
Attack! Attack! Attack!
Up top Cruyff plays the pivotal role. Essentially he is the conductor of the whole attack, his position guiding the position of others. Some examples of fluid movement of players in attacking phase -
- If Cruyff moves to the left wing, Kiezer goes to the near post, Littbarski moving to far post, Neeskens moving to central attacking position
- Or if Cryuff moves to the left, joined by Krol, Kiezer drops back to cover the left wing, Neeskens makes a foray into the opposition box.
- If Cruyff moves to the CAM role, Kiezer (or Nesskens) moves up front, Littbarski stretches the play on the right.
- Then of course Cruyff stays up front himself, with others supplying him.
+++ Plus countless other combinations.
On top of that you add in the attacking full backs in Krol and Suurbier. Krol remains one of the best defenders full stop to ever play the game. His total footballing skills are bonafide proven by the fact that he went to play the role of a sweeper later on in his career. Suurbier, provides an excellent outlet on the right and is as usual maligned as other attacking full backs for being defensively suspect. Which ignores the fact that either of Neeskens or Littbarski are capable of covering for him. Krol, Kiezer and Cruyff's axis on the left is pretty much unstoppable.
Defensive strangulation
As Krol puts it - "When we defended we looked to keep the opponent on the halfway line. Our standpoint was that we were not protecting our own goal, we were attacking the half way line.”
Haan and Vasovic play a similar pivotal role as Cryuff in the defensive side of things. A defense that would be playing a high line to facilitate the off side trap in keeping with Rinus' model of providing no space to opposition to play with.
Vasovic has the honor of being the player that completed Rinus' model of total football. One of the pioneers of sweeper role, he could as comfortably play the role of defensive midfielder in modern game as the role of last defender. From the horse's mouth itself -
"When I came, I preferred to play a kind of total football. I played the last man in defence, the libero. Michels made this plan to play very offensive football. We discussed it. I was the architect, together with Michels, of the aggressive way of defending. I did small things, like make an offsde or stand in the wall to make a gap for goals. When you see examples from other players on field, you learn a hundred times better than in training,”
Haan, a complete midfielder, would drop back into defenses if needed to cover for Vasovic forays into the midfield with the ball. Known for his rocket shots, he would also pop up outside the opposition box in some attacking phases.
In attacking phase, you would normally have at least 3 men back line. While in defensive phase, a normal 4 one with Neeskens/Cruyff pressing the opponents on the ball, Haan and Asensi closing the space in front of back 4 and the two wingers tracking their runners.
A word on some lesser known players
Piet Kiezer, who some Ajax fans back in the day considered better than Cruyff. Together they were known as the royal pair with one creating and another scoring and vice versa.
Migueli and Asensi, two Barca legends. Migueli is frequently a part of all time Barca 11 and remains one of their best defenders ever. His physicality is typified by the fact that he played part of a European final with a broken collarbone.Asensi a complete central midfielder under Michels at Barca (stayed there for 10 years), a key player of their 74 league win and also scoring a goal in European final in 79.
Finally, the manager himself, Rinus Michels. For some, the best manager to ever grace the game. Architect of possibly the best club side of all time, a team he rescued from near relegation; architect of still discussed total-football. And also importantly, a winner who drove all of the club or national sides he managed to success.
To summarize, make no mistake this is very much an attacking football set up. It was after all pioneered as a response to notorious catenaccio. In attacking phase you can have at times as many as 8 players involved but at the same time the whole team works as a unit to close down space and win back the ball in defensive phase.
Team MJJ
Tactics
My side will be employing the 4-3-3 used by lippi to great success. The midfield is defensively solid and sets up a base from for the attackers to exploit with their talents.
The forwards are going to move into spaces instead of being a static front three and exploit the gaps that open up with crappy's weaker defensive line. The defense and midfield are going to defend based on positioning, with a deep defensive line and not pressing anyone unless they had cover behind them hence negating one of the advantages of total football i.e. dragging players out of position.
While the front three are going to push on and press crappy's centreback and deepest midfielder thus winning the ball closer to goal and exploiting it to the maximum front. With both baggio and del piero capable of dropping deep, there wont be any significant gaps for between my midfield and attack and vieiri is going to aerially dominate the opposition backline thus providing another option for my side.
GK- One of the greatest italian goalkeepers of all time, peruzzi enjoyed great success under lippi. Winning Serie A keeper of the year twice.
Defense-
Zambrotta is considered as one of Italy's greatest pundits and was at the peak of his powers under lippi, getting into the Uefa Euro team of the year in 2004.
While inter under lippi were disappointing, there is no question that zanetti was as good as he ever was, captain under lippi, zanetti was one of the positives in a disappointing season for inter.
Ferrera and Thuram- Both excelled under lippi forming what was then considered then one of the best defenses in the world.
My defense is formed of physically imposing players who are good at the ball and wont be caught out by crappy's attack. Zanetti and Zambrotta in particular will enjoy running down the flanks and crossing it in for vieiri.
Midfield-
Deschamps- One of the finest defensive midfielders in world football, deschamps played under lippi from 94-99, winning the french footballer of the year(96) along the way.
Conte- Juvenus captain and one of the best midfielders of his generation.
Jugovic-One of the best serbian players ever and a top midfielder of his generation. Jugovic played a key role in the 96 Champion League Triumph.
The midfield is formed of some of the best players in history, all three of them are defensively sound and capable of transitioning defense into attack at a moment's notice.
Attack-
Baggio- Possibly the greatest italian player of all time, baggio was at the peak of his powers when lippi took over . Placing second in the Ballon D'Or and one year on from winning the european and world player of the year.
Del Piero- Juventus Legend, Del Piero played the majority of his career under Lippi.
Vieri- Vieri played for Lippi no fewer than three times in his career but his 1999 version is being used here when he won the serie A player of the year and signed for inter for a world record fee.
Key Battle
Gol alla Del Piero or the del piero zone. Del piero was a master of cutting in from the left and curling the ball into goal. With suurbier being very weak defensively, I can see this being a crucial matchup and something that will present a few goal scoring opportunities for my side.
TEAM MJJ-------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEAM CRAPPY
Formation:Total Football (2-3-2-3 / 4-3-3)
Total Football IS NOT tiki-taka. As our esteemed substitute Sjaak SWART, Mr. Ajax said - “In four passes we would be in front of goal. Nowadays they take twenty passes — backwards, sideways, backwards. We didn’t play like that. We went for the goal.”
Total football did not mean passing the ball into the net, Ajax team in fact scored a lot of goals via headers from crosses and even played long ball at times. In defensive phase, it would involve all players on the pitch closing the spacing as much as each player expanding it while in attacking phase.
Attack! Attack! Attack!
Up top Cruyff plays the pivotal role. Essentially he is the conductor of the whole attack, his position guiding the position of others. Some examples of fluid movement of players in attacking phase -
- If Cruyff moves to the left wing, Kiezer goes to the near post, Littbarski moving to far post, Neeskens moving to central attacking position
- Or if Cryuff moves to the left, joined by Krol, Kiezer drops back to cover the left wing, Neeskens makes a foray into the opposition box.
- If Cruyff moves to the CAM role, Kiezer (or Nesskens) moves up front, Littbarski stretches the play on the right.
- Then of course Cruyff stays up front himself, with others supplying him.
+++ Plus countless other combinations.
On top of that you add in the attacking full backs in Krol and Suurbier. Krol remains one of the best defenders full stop to ever play the game. His total footballing skills are bonafide proven by the fact that he went to play the role of a sweeper later on in his career. Suurbier, provides an excellent outlet on the right and is as usual maligned as other attacking full backs for being defensively suspect. Which ignores the fact that either of Neeskens or Littbarski are capable of covering for him. Krol, Kiezer and Cruyff's axis on the left is pretty much unstoppable.
Defensive strangulation
As Krol puts it - "When we defended we looked to keep the opponent on the halfway line. Our standpoint was that we were not protecting our own goal, we were attacking the half way line.”
Haan and Vasovic play a similar pivotal role as Cryuff in the defensive side of things. A defense that would be playing a high line to facilitate the off side trap in keeping with Rinus' model of providing no space to opposition to play with.
Vasovic has the honor of being the player that completed Rinus' model of total football. One of the pioneers of sweeper role, he could as comfortably play the role of defensive midfielder in modern game as the role of last defender. From the horse's mouth itself -
"When I came, I preferred to play a kind of total football. I played the last man in defence, the libero. Michels made this plan to play very offensive football. We discussed it. I was the architect, together with Michels, of the aggressive way of defending. I did small things, like make an offsde or stand in the wall to make a gap for goals. When you see examples from other players on field, you learn a hundred times better than in training,”
Haan, a complete midfielder, would drop back into defenses if needed to cover for Vasovic forays into the midfield with the ball. Known for his rocket shots, he would also pop up outside the opposition box in some attacking phases.
In attacking phase, you would normally have at least 3 men back line. While in defensive phase, a normal 4 one with Neeskens/Cruyff pressing the opponents on the ball, Haan and Asensi closing the space in front of back 4 and the two wingers tracking their runners.
A word on some lesser known players
Piet Kiezer, who some Ajax fans back in the day considered better than Cruyff. Together they were known as the royal pair with one creating and another scoring and vice versa.
Migueli and Asensi, two Barca legends. Migueli is frequently a part of all time Barca 11 and remains one of their best defenders ever. His physicality is typified by the fact that he played part of a European final with a broken collarbone.Asensi a complete central midfielder under Michels at Barca (stayed there for 10 years), a key player of their 74 league win and also scoring a goal in European final in 79.
Finally, the manager himself, Rinus Michels. For some, the best manager to ever grace the game. Architect of possibly the best club side of all time, a team he rescued from near relegation; architect of still discussed total-football. And also importantly, a winner who drove all of the club or national sides he managed to success.
To summarize, make no mistake this is very much an attacking football set up. It was after all pioneered as a response to notorious catenaccio. In attacking phase you can have at times as many as 8 players involved but at the same time the whole team works as a unit to close down space and win back the ball in defensive phase.
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