Isotope
Pat_Mustard
Isotope Tactics
MAVERICK
Dejan Savićević – A genius dribbler who can float attacking from left, right, and center. His position here is closer to the goal, which is his best position with free attacking role. With this 3-5-2 / 5-3-2 formation, he can focus on being a brilliant attacker. Here he’s on a team full of skillful and mobile players that will stretch the play, and give him options or interchanging passes. He’s partnering David Villa, a striker with genius movement and proven willingness as a sidekick, while capable as the main striker. Their combo is probably too hot for John Terry and Carvalho to handle.
LIABILITY
Steven Gerrard – hth, he’s one of my younger-self favorite players. A flawed genius that wants to be Roy of the Rovers, probably because he’s never surrounded by better players. His drive often offset his team’s tactical structure and leave a gaping hole in midfield, especially when he played as one of CM in midfield two. Another weakness is his lack of playmaking skill. Here, he plays with teammates that arguably have much higher profile than him to calm him down. And playing in midfield 3 (or 5) makes up for his lack of tactical positioning, thus give him platform to showcase his ability with abundance energy to get up and down the field, or pulling wide. Then, he can leave the playmaking chore to Masopust.
Team advantage
Feels like hitting the (Draft) jackpot by getting Paul McGrath, Laurent Blanc, and Marius Trésor. Three excellent ball-playing centerbacks, with McGrath and Tresor as good as best stoppers out there also. The midfield also features Josef Masopust and his legendary sidekick in Pluskal. Masopust and Gerrard can also pull wide to left and right to enhance dynamic of play, and give Savicevic options and space.
Pat_Mustard Tactics
Formation/Style of Play: Counter-attacking 4-3-3/4-5-1. Defend deep, press aggressively in midfield, and counter at speed.
We're fortunate that both our maverick and our liability reached their respective zeniths in counter-attacking systems: Terry as the bedrock of Chelsea's historically miserly defence of the mid-to-late 2000s, Prosinecki as the young midfield maestro in the Red Star Belgrade team that conquered Europe in 1991. There was differences in the two setups of course, notably that Red Star played with a libero rather than the zonal defence we're fielding here, but it's a boon that both players find themselves in familiar terrain.
The Liability: John Terry
He's possibly second only to Sergio Ramos in terms of his dismal draft forum status being so utterly at odds with his wider reputation, but for me Terry is one of if not the most generous allocations from the liability list. My man-crush on him dictates that I'd take McGrath 10 times out of 10, but of a strong field of CBs potentially on the park today of Terry, Carvalho, McGrath, Blanc and Tresor, Terry has a fair argument to be regarded as the best of them. We've played to his strengths by playing on the counter with a deeper defensive line, and we've took the path of least resistance by pairing him with his greatest partner Ricardo Carvalho. Behind him is a GOAT GK in Buffon, and ahead of him is the suffocating, grimly effective midfield screener Deschamps. The FBs Lahm and Demyanenko have been chosen with the wider coherence of the team in mind rather than as an unnecessary further security blanket for Terry, but both are defensively responsible and there'll be few chinks in the armour there.
The Maverick: Robert Prosinecki
Most of us will have fond memories of the older Prosinecki, the archetypal luxury No. 10 who would saunter around gently for most of the match before possibly illuminating it with the odd flash of brilliance. The younger version though, before injuries and dodgy lifestyle choices took their toll, was an altogether more dynamic proposition - full of running and verve, always making himself available to receive the ball, and outrageously gifted as a technical passer and dribbler. While he'll contribute off-the-ball, defensive awareness wasn't his strength, so to that end we've partnered him with Deschamps and the B2B warrior Pirri. One of the reasons I wanted him as my maverick was his proven ability to thrive alongside other flair players such as Stojkovic and Iso's Savicevic, and so I've selected Neymar as his creative partner in crime.
Elsewhere:
Pat_Mustard
Isotope Tactics
MAVERICK
LIABILITY
Steven Gerrard – hth, he’s one of my younger-self favorite players. A flawed genius that wants to be Roy of the Rovers, probably because he’s never surrounded by better players. His drive often offset his team’s tactical structure and leave a gaping hole in midfield, especially when he played as one of CM in midfield two. Another weakness is his lack of playmaking skill. Here, he plays with teammates that arguably have much higher profile than him to calm him down. And playing in midfield 3 (or 5) makes up for his lack of tactical positioning, thus give him platform to showcase his ability with abundance energy to get up and down the field, or pulling wide. Then, he can leave the playmaking chore to Masopust.
Team advantage
Feels like hitting the (Draft) jackpot by getting Paul McGrath, Laurent Blanc, and Marius Trésor. Three excellent ball-playing centerbacks, with McGrath and Tresor as good as best stoppers out there also. The midfield also features Josef Masopust and his legendary sidekick in Pluskal. Masopust and Gerrard can also pull wide to left and right to enhance dynamic of play, and give Savicevic options and space.
Pat_Mustard Tactics
Formation/Style of Play: Counter-attacking 4-3-3/4-5-1. Defend deep, press aggressively in midfield, and counter at speed.
We're fortunate that both our maverick and our liability reached their respective zeniths in counter-attacking systems: Terry as the bedrock of Chelsea's historically miserly defence of the mid-to-late 2000s, Prosinecki as the young midfield maestro in the Red Star Belgrade team that conquered Europe in 1991. There was differences in the two setups of course, notably that Red Star played with a libero rather than the zonal defence we're fielding here, but it's a boon that both players find themselves in familiar terrain.
The Liability: John Terry
He's possibly second only to Sergio Ramos in terms of his dismal draft forum status being so utterly at odds with his wider reputation, but for me Terry is one of if not the most generous allocations from the liability list. My man-crush on him dictates that I'd take McGrath 10 times out of 10, but of a strong field of CBs potentially on the park today of Terry, Carvalho, McGrath, Blanc and Tresor, Terry has a fair argument to be regarded as the best of them. We've played to his strengths by playing on the counter with a deeper defensive line, and we've took the path of least resistance by pairing him with his greatest partner Ricardo Carvalho. Behind him is a GOAT GK in Buffon, and ahead of him is the suffocating, grimly effective midfield screener Deschamps. The FBs Lahm and Demyanenko have been chosen with the wider coherence of the team in mind rather than as an unnecessary further security blanket for Terry, but both are defensively responsible and there'll be few chinks in the armour there.
The Maverick: Robert Prosinecki
Most of us will have fond memories of the older Prosinecki, the archetypal luxury No. 10 who would saunter around gently for most of the match before possibly illuminating it with the odd flash of brilliance. The younger version though, before injuries and dodgy lifestyle choices took their toll, was an altogether more dynamic proposition - full of running and verve, always making himself available to receive the ball, and outrageously gifted as a technical passer and dribbler. While he'll contribute off-the-ball, defensive awareness wasn't his strength, so to that end we've partnered him with Deschamps and the B2B warrior Pirri. One of the reasons I wanted him as my maverick was his proven ability to thrive alongside other flair players such as Stojkovic and Iso's Savicevic, and so I've selected Neymar as his creative partner in crime.
Elsewhere:
- In addition to our reuniting Terry and Carvalho, Phillip Lahm renews his long and successful partnership with Thomas Muller on our right wing.
- Muller's supreme off-the-ball movement and utilisation of space will complement the on-the-ball genius of Prosinecki and Neymar.
- George Weah looks an ideal line-leader for a counter-attacking team: lightning quick, powerful, able to hold the ball up and create for himself, he also has a stellar record against Blanc, plundering 8 goals in 11 matches against him.
. Let's hope