Sjor Harmsopoly - Final: Sjor vs Enigma_87

[Physiocrat]

Sjor

Enigma

Sjor Tactics

Football evolution or to be specific and move a bit from the picture, possession evolution. Went from the magic square to 433 all the way to Pep latest baby which is the modern version of WM.

Not that i thought of enigma when i was deciding on the tactic but while on first it looks like a bad fit against Best and Eusebio this tactic is actually super defensive(Arsenal and Man City perfect examples) as you almost always have 4 or 5 behind the ball so naturally you get more protection then in your classic 433 where at most you get 4 back and usually not in areas where you need bodies as you waste one player in a deep positon(second CB).

Looking at his team, its very direct so naturally id expect my team to have a lot of possession so with that in mind, i loved the Keane idea as he would spend majority of the game in midfield while when needed to defend wide he has all the natural talent as well as decent amount of experience there. As most b2b midfielders, he would have made a WC fullback if needed its just it was a waste of talent at that time - it still is but i loved the idea and Keano always said how he would have loved to play in a Pep team in that deep midfield role(im aware he meant Rodri role).

Enigma Tactics

Formation: 4-4-2, Direct, quick transitions and hitting the opposition with pace.

Defence:
At the heart of the defence we have one of Argentina's finest - Daniel Passarella, who is playing in his natural LCB role. Right next to him is Forster who is one of the best markers in the game, taking care of the opposition striker mainly. Ruud Krol will be playing in a balanced full back role, supporting the attack when proceedings are on the left flank and also holding fort in the defensive phase. On the right Zanetti will be in his natural attacking right back role.

Midfield:
Franz Beckenbauer and Bryan Robson will play at the heart of midfield with sharing the B2B role. On the leftish flank we will have Charlton who started his career as left winger and will drift out and in acting as a glue to the attacking third. Best will play his natural right wing role.

Attack:
A mouthwatering duo we have the Benfica's most renown player in Eusebio who will play in his natural SS role, probing the flank and also attacking the box. His natural instinct and goalscoring prowess will make it really hard to be contained especially with the service getting from behind. His partner is the complete #9 Gabriel Batistuta who will be spearheading the attack.

Focal points:
- all of our players are in their peak form. They either made their name in the team chosen or are in at their career peak.
- rock solid defence shielded by one of the GOAT's in the game.
- Sir Bobby, Eusebio and Batistuta have a lot of goals in their game each of them contributing with different aspects to the team. They are now helped by one of the greatest wingers that played the game in George Best.

Beckenbauer at his peak:
Midfield battle with Charlton - always worth a look
Excellent all round display by Charlton for the NT.

And a great compilation from @harms of Eusebio scoring a hattrick.

The new face George Best:

 

[Physiocrat]

@Šjor Bepo

@Enigma_87

Game on!

 

[Enigma_87]

Thanks for setting it up @Physiocrat !

all the best @Šjor Bepo

 

[Enigma_87]

First off Keane as RB in the defensive phase seems like a bit wild to me.

I gather the high press approach but also I do think we have press resistant defenders and midfield so whilst also our team is perfectly build for counters.

Stam is in his pre peak years here and Eusebio / Charlton when peeling wide will have joy against him or Keane depending on who defends wide.

Batistuta also should have some joy against Bossis who I rate more as a LB rather than CB.

on Stam, any info on his PSV days and covering wide @Šjor Bepo ?

 

[2mufc0]

How are you getting the best out of Batigol here @Enigma_87? He seems to be surrounded by goalscorers rather than creators. Otherwise I like your team.

 

[Enigma_87]

How are you getting the best out of Batigol here @Enigma_87? He seems to be surrounded by goalscorers rather than creators. Otherwise I like your team.

thanks, mate!

Tbh, Batigol played in similar 4-4-2 setups with one designated advanced playmaker in Rui Costa or Ariel Ortega and strike partner in Cladio Lopez, Flachi, etc.

he also did play with Zanetti who is also threat from outside. Eusebio is in SS role and whilst he is a goal scorer himself he will create space for him and draw the opposition defenders away from the box. Charlton is an excellent creator whilst Best is someone who can give you numerical advantage and find him in the box or outside of it.

Batigol was also threat out of the box and had a hammer of a shot. In a high line he would have pockets of space where he can face the goal similarly to the one he scored against us in CL.

all in all Batigol played in inferior sides and apart from one playmaker figure (Rui Costa/ Ortega) he didn’t have much creativity to do his work so to say.

If we compare it to the argie team with Veron, we also have Kaiser in midfield who can provide from deep so I don’t think this team lacks creativity but quite the opposite if we compare the other teams he played with

 

[Michaelf7777777]

Voted @Enigma_87 due to the stronger defense.

I'd also prefer @Šjor Bepo team if he played Maldini on the right and reversed the side where the DM moved to fullback (as Maldini was 2 footed and played on the right on occasion and if I remember rightly Voronin did play as a left sided defender occasionally) leading to a back 3 of from left to right of Bossis-Stam-Maldini and a back 4 from left to right of Voronin-Bossis-Stam-Maldini

 

[Šjor Bepo]

very much see this game being played like United Barca CL finals....no idea why engima moved to a 442 considering he knew my tactics and this pretty much going straight into my hand. Keane on the rare occasion he will actually play in the RB spot and on even rarer occasion he faces a winger rather then Krol its going to be Charlton not Best! While Sir Bobby is a better player, in terms of fit for Keano he would very much prefer to defend Charlton!
Also Eusebio moves more centrally against Voronin who has his number.

Batistuta is also pretty much a perfect striker for Stam, you cant find a better player to keep tabs on Best then GOAT defender in Maldini. On the other hand biggest strenght of Forster is man marking in a game where he has nobody to mark!
Seing my packed midfield, i just cant see how they gonna get the ball and team has more then enough creativity in the final third to break the opposition as well as the ultimate Big Game player in Don Andres.

 

[Enigma_87]

very much see this game being played like United Barca CL finals....no idea why engima moved to a 442 considering he knew my tactics and this pretty much going straight into my hand. Keane on the rare occasion he will actually play in the RB spot and on even rarer occasion he faces a winger rather then Krol its going to be Charlton not Best! While Sir Bobby is a better player, in terms of fit for Keano he would very much prefer to defend Charlton!
Also Eusebio moves more centrally against Voronin who has his number.

Batistuta is also pretty much a perfect striker for Stam, you cant find a better player to keep tabs on Best then GOAT defender in Maldini. On the other hand biggest strenght of Forster is man marking in a game where he has nobody to mark!
Seing my packed midfield, i just cant see how they gonna get the ball and team has more then enough creativity in the final third to break the opposition as well as the ultimate Big Game player in Don Andres.

The left wing is pretty much dynamic. I’ll have Eusebio stretching the flank when on the ball with Sur Bobby moving inside.

Especially on counter Eusebio pace will go straight into Keano as makeshift RB.

I expected you to go Maldini on the right and dropping Brehme was a bit of a shock. Seems like Brehme got injured and you opted for a makeshift defensive unit

Also this is young Stam so I expect Batigol to have a good game here and especially when Stam goes wide to cover for Keane when you lose the ball.

 

[Šjor Bepo]

IMO peak peak stam is only the united version but after that id take "young" stam over "serie a" stam any day of the week. I mean 98 WC version of stam is that pre peak stam you talk about.

 

[Himannv]

Went with Enigma although I was almost swayed by one of Sjor’s posts about defensive player fit.

I think that left flank can be overwhelming with Charlton, Eusebio, and Krol all potentially operating there. Keano has lots of work to do to cover that level of threat I reckon.

There’s also some crazy individual player quality in this Enigma team and the likes of Robbo and Best can decide the game as well. It isn’t easy to improve this side - better stopper than Forster maybe? Tough to match that level of player quality.

 

[Physiocrat]

@Šjor Bepo

Who goes to RM in the organised defensive phase assuming you go 442 for that part? Or are you keeping at 433 in that phase.

 

[Šjor Bepo]

@Šjor Bepo

Who goes to RM in the organised defensive phase assuming you go 442 for that part? Or are you keeping at 433 in that phase.

433 which is why that is in the formation pic...
if anytime 442 would be needed law would ho rm with hristo and zico being up

enigma built a brilliant team but very direct one and tactically is set up that suits my possession game so id expect big majority of the game tp have the ball and keane actually being in midfield to defend counters.

its an all time draft and a brilliant team so he can as easily win on the counter as i can through possession but for me there is no doubt how the game would look so we can only debate about who wins

 

[Synco]

Voted Sjor, stated some reservations about Enigma's team in the rounds before. Keane is the big open question in Sjor's side, and after thinking a while, I like it. I guess he'd be a better Kimmich at inverted RB, and on his day Kimmich is already world class in that role. Also find the OP graphic convincing.

 

[Pat_Mustard]

Love the Keane role personally, but struggling to separate the two teams.

 

[Enigma_87]

Good game @Šjor Bepo ! Thought the same really nothing between the sides.

 

[Šjor Bepo]

Good game @Šjor Bepo ! Thought the same really nothing between the sides.

likewise

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Missed voting, but Enigma missed a trick here. Best and Eusebio should be swapped, so Best can take advantage of lack of proper RB or even a RCB fully.

Would have given this to him by a slim margin, still.

 

[Physiocrat]

433 which is why that is in the formation pic...
if anytime 442 would be needed law would ho rm with hristo and zico being up

enigma built a brilliant team but very direct one and tactically is set up that suits my possession game so id expect big majority of the game tp have the ball and keane actually being in midfield to defend counters.

its an all time draft and a brilliant team so he can as easily win on the counter as i can through possession but for me there is no doubt how the game would look so we can only debate about who wins

Thanks for the explanation. I didn't see your response until after the vote closed.

 

[Enigma_87]

Missed voting, but Enigma missed a trick here. Best and Eusebio should be swapped, so Best can take advantage of lack of proper RB or even a RCB fully.

Would have given this to him by a slim margin, still.

Cheers, Edgar. At the end the decider was technicality because @harms didn't explain the vote (which was defo a strange way to win it)

If I knew Bepo would put Keane there I'd definitely have Best on the left, but no way of knowing that as he also had Brehme so I expected to see Maldini on the right.

 

[harms]

Cheers, Edgar. At the end the decider was technicality because @harms didn't explain the vote (which was defo a strange way to win it)

If I knew Bepo would put Keane there I'd definitely have Best on the left, but no way of knowing that as he also had Brehme so I expected to see Maldini on the right.

Karma. He deserved to lose it for introducing the snobbish rule

 

[Synco]

If I knew Bepo would put Keane there I'd definitely have Best on the left

Question is, how would people expect a Best/Keane duel going? Haven't seen remotely as much of him as others, but I reckon his defensive traits would make him a good fit actually?

 

[Šjor Bepo]

Karma. He deserved to lose it for introducing the snobbish rule

brilliant rule that made match threads interesting again

 

[Enigma_87]

Question is, how would people expect a Best/Keane duel going? Haven't seen remotely as much of him as others, but I reckon his defensive traits would make him a good fit actually?

То me it depends on the overall structure. If we're talking about cagey 4-4-2 with Keane being the RB but also getting help or additional presence(and let's be honest you always need one when the ball is shifted to the flank to Best) it might work as he has the defensive and positional acumen.

In a high press and generally fluid structure where there will no doubt be openings, I'd prefer someone like Walker, who is athletic and has the pace to regain position.

 

[Gio]

I liked each of Sjor's tactical variations, but ultimately would have preferred to see Brehme there in that gorgeous 4222.

Well played Enigma.

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

Bummed I missed this when it was live but hard to parse for me so maybe its good. I hate Sjors tactic in isolation but against this particular team selection I can actually envision it working mostly because of the precise personnel matchups and the fact enigma went with a 442 which I think works in Sjors favor. This would have been a fantastic match to watch.

 

[Šjor Bepo]

I liked each of Sjor's tactical variations, but ultimately would have preferred to see Brehme there in that gorgeous 4222.

Well played Enigma.

but it would be boring to go again with 4222

 

[Enigma_87]

I liked each of Sjor's tactical variations, but ultimately would have preferred to see Brehme there in that gorgeous 4222.

Well played Enigma.

Cheers, Gio. Indeed that 4-2-2-2 was hard to top.

Bummed I missed this when it was live but hard to parse for me so maybe its good. I hate Sjors tactic in isolation but against this particular team selection I can actually envision it working mostly because of the precise personnel matchups and the fact enigma went with a 442 which I think works in Sjors favor. This would have been a fantastic match to watch.

Thanks for the input. I went with the 4-4-2 exactly due to the flank overload. Would've been a grinder anyway as I do think our personnel also matches well with the opposition.