Edgar Allan Pillow
Ero-Sennin
................................... TEAM HARMS .................................................................................. TEAM ENIGMA ..........................................
TEAM HARMS
I decided to do something different this time as I got a little bored of my 4-4-2. Now, creating a proper 4-men midfield unit is not an easy task, but I feel like my personnel is actually a nice fit for this experiment — and using this set up will allow me to both put pressure on Enigma's team relative weak points & boost my defense to match up better against his attack.
Why the midfield 4?
So, how would it work? Needless to say, the structure of this midfield very roughly resembles both French carré magique & Brazil 82' set up, but with a twist — especially in terms of van Hanegem's role (more on it later).
I doubt that Jean Tigana's role requires an explanation, since he had literally peaked in this role, so I'll move on to more interesting topics. The only thing that I'm going to mention that Tigana is perfectly positioned to face Don Andres and there aren't many players that I would've chosen ahead of him for this task — unlike most typical midfield destroyers, Tigana was quite little (only 168 cm tall). While it may pose an issue against imposing physical players in the mould of Gullit, Tigana's agility and low centre of gravity, combined with his endless energy & almost complete immunity to pressure (which is Iniesta's main defensive skill — and it should help out against Robson or Blokhin if they try to harass him) would pose quite a challenge to the little Spaniard.
Moving on from Tigana, let's talk about Duncan Edwards. Not often can we have such a complete tactical profile on a player with so little footage remaining, but, luckily for us, he had managed to write a book (no doubt, with the help of some ghost-writers), which actually had a lot of tactical and practical insight for young players. I'll post more quotes in the thread itself, but here's how Edwards describes the role of a wing-half — his own role that he would more or less will replicate here:
But perhaps the most interesting quote leads me straight to our next hero — Wim van Hanegem. Edwards described United's set up not as an orthodox W-M, but as a more fluid attacking set up with only one inside-forward (the one that would be considered attacking midfielder instead of a forward today):Duncan Edwards said:These (the left and right half) are the link men, the men who make or break a side. Have a good defence, have a good attack, but have poor wing-halves linking them and the team loses half its efficiency. Their job is to stop the other sides inside-forwards fetching and carrying the ball – once they have done that the game is half won – and yet at the same time see that their own inside-forwards get as much of the ball as possible.
...
Yet obviously he cannot do it through close marking, in the way that the full-backs and centre-half do their job.
...
His dominance of mid-field is the deciding factor in any match. When a line of forwards is sweetly and smoothly mounting an offensive, notice where the move starts. Invariably it is with some enterprising wing-half. Conversely, if a side’s attack is starved of the ball, watch and see who is winning the mid-field duels. It must be the other team.
The wing-half needs all the defensive skill, power of recovery and hardness of tackle of the full-back, yet he must ally these to the enterprise of the inside-forward.
Van Hanegem is usually used deeper in midfield and it's quite understandable — after all most of us saw him play predominantly for Netherlands, most notably in 1974, when he was that side's main orchestrator from deeper areas with Cruyff occupying free-roaming creative role in attack. Yet I would argue that van Hanegem's peak performances came for Feyenoord and not for the Oranje, as he was the player the whole team was built around. Interestingly enough, van Hanegem's tactical evolution very much resembles the one of the above-mentioned Bobby Charlton — just like Charlton he had started his career as an outside left before being moved to an inside-left role (although it was already 4-2-4 and not WM at the time). And, even after Happel introduced 4-3-3 to Feyenoord, van Hanegem remained very much a Cruyff-esque figure at Rotterdam's club — the amount of offensive responsibilities that he had carried there are probably best illustrated by this stat: at his peak De Kromme had 8 consecutive seasons with 10+ goals, usually averaging about 15 goals per season.Duncan Edwards said:Our five-forward plan is a searching test of stamina and fitness. We play one inside-forward – generally Bobby Charlton – about ten yards behind the rest of the forwards to establish a link with the wing-halves. Once Charlton has collected the ball, or it has been passed to another forward, he immediately moves into line with the rest of the attack, so that from a goal-keeper’s point of view Manchester United on the attack must look like a red tidal wave
A player who should also feel at home in such a set-up is Omar Sívori, most often compared to Diego Maradona (the resemblance is often uncanny), but if we're talking about the tactical role, Zico's one from 82' fits him like a glove. Michel Platini was very a different player, but during that 84' tournament he significantly cut down on his usual playmaking routine (Giresse-Tigana-Fernandez handled it for him), focusing mostly on goalscoring — which resulted into his record-breaking tally of 9 goals! Sívori was this Zico-esque 9,5, whose Ballon d'Or winning peak came in a fluid Trio Magico frontline of Bonaperti, Sívori and Charles, so this free role that gives him full creative freedom without asking him to dictate the tempo is perfect for him.
Uwe Seeler and Jairzinho also look like the perfect partners for him up front — there are a lot of similarities between Seeler and Charles (size excluded) in that they acted as those intimidating line-leading target men but also heavily participated in the build-up and defensive phase of the game, and Jairzinho is a great upgrade on the goalscoring wide forward Boniperti. Jairzinho will obviously roam around often peeling out wide just as he was used to for both Botafogo & Brazil — and having Carlos Alberto on the right would surely boost his individual performance.
I'm going to wrap this up with a few words about my defense. Bennarivo gets to start ahead of Marzolini for this game — generally I rate them about the same but Antonio is a more expansive option which is quite important in this centrally-oriented set up. Willy Schulz and Pietro Vierchowod, with the additional cover of my two defensive midfielders & Big Pete behind them, are a very formidable unit. I'm a huge fan of Schulz, who often flies under the radar, but he was one of the most consistently brilliant defenders of the 60's and it takes some player to retain his starting place for many years with Beckenbauer as a competition — and Vierchowod's pace is going to be very useful against Enigma's most threatening forward. Not many can match Blokhin's top speed, but Vierchowod is one of the few defenders in history that can try to.
TEAM ENIGMA
Formation: 4-3-3
Style: direct, press in the middle, don't give opposition much time on the ball. Counter at will at every opportunity and turn defence into attack. Quick transitions and open up space between opposition wing backs and wide CB's with two fast and direct wide forwards in Robben and Blokhin.
Defence:
Lev Yashin is our last line of defence - one of Bayern and Germany all time greats is a complete keeper who had an enormous presence in the box and one of the greatest commanding his area. Alongside him is his partner in crime - Bixente Lizarazu who won it all at every level and was instrumental in both phases in the game. His overlapping runs will come in handy with Villa cutting in and attacking the box. Eric Gerets is another full back famous for his engine and stamina levels, that can allow him man the whole flank. He will be supporting Robben. Ciro Ferrara and Bergomi are familiar couple, each one of them pretty complete defenders being able to play in multiple positions and comfortable on the ball.
Midfield:
Toninho Cerezo comes to the fore and at the base is in his familiar role screening the defense and also start attacks from deep. Having Villa, Robben and Blokhin running behind the defence gives him a multiple targets to start quick and lethal counters when the opposition is on the backfoot. Alongside him we have our very own United legend and midfield general in Bryan Robson who provides us withe the engine and presence in the middle of the pitch, but has also the fluid passing game to get things ticking in the middle of the park. He plays with a lot of intensity that would put pressure on the opposition and force mistakes. Iniesta will be in his best and familiar role - break and move between the lines, drive the ball forward and link with the attack. His dribbling ability will give us numerical advantage in the final third an the ability to see the pass and release a team mate is appreciated, especially when we have a fluid front three with great off the ball movement. Cerezo brings more physicality to our midfield whilst not losing an eye for the pass from deep and alongside Robbo a lot of energy and bustling stamina levels to help our transition in both phases of the game.
Attack:
Fluid and interchangeable front three is a mix of goalscoring ability, off the ball presence, pace and technique can give any opposition a torrid time. Robben and Blokhin are absolutely devastating catching defenders on the backfoot and they have bundle of creativity behind them. Opposition will most likely field a 5-3-2/3-5-2 where the key to unlock that defence is the space left between the wing backs and the wide CB's and we have exactly the type of players to unlock that defence, whilst Villa is leading the attack with his incredible movement and ability to stretch the defence and move them drag them outside position.
Last edited by a moderator: