........................ Team MJJ ................................................ Team VivaJanuzaj .......................
Team MJJ
Key points.
The perceived aerial dominance of D.Costa.
- Diego Costa has faced pique seven times, during this time barcelona played a central defense of pique and mascherano, and failed to score even once.
- Sokratis is a lot better in the air than mascherano, in the last three years, only two players have won more aerial duels than sokratis in the bundesliga.
- So while I will concede that costa is very good in the air, he has proven ineffective against a pique(not at his peak)-mascherano pairing time and time again whereas a pique-sokratis pairing is a step up.
- Having Hazard and Bale outwide means there will be a lot of space for my attackers, them attacking the space would in turn open up more space for kaka and torres who are pretty good at attacking the space themselves.
- In short, I have too many players capable of hurting vj from out wide and in through the middle for him to win this game.
- A common complaint might be that I wont be able to get ball to my attackers which would ofcourse be false. Matic is a very good, if often underrated, passer of the ball while essien will be playing his usual box to box role. Kaka is the best creative player on the pitch, next to hazard, so I will create plenty of chances.
- I will admit that vj's central defenders are better than mine but I dont think there is a lot between fullbacks. Both Clichy and Baines were the best lb in the league at their respective peaks, and both were better going forward. There isnt a lot between ivanovic and picszcek, ivanovic is better defensively but picszczek is quicker and more suited to my formation. Given that my wings and attack down the centre is stronger than his, I dont think he has a big advantage here.
- Keeper! The keeper is often overlooked in this draft but having neuer is a big advantage, neuer is an excellent sweeper keeper and a shot stopper. Proven at the highest level and able to keep his side in the game, time after time. Compare that to begovic who plays for stoke. STOKE! Thats the definition of average and there is a reason none of the best sides has gone after him at the age of 27.
Team VivaJanuzaj
Team Tactics:
Defense: My defense is marshaled by the most complete defender in the world at his prime, Thiago Silva, who will make any attacker suffer. Silva is partnered with the big man Mertesacker, and the beauty of Thiago Silva as a defender is that he is so complete he can be a classic complimentary partner to any type of defender, and here he'll make up for Mertesacker's lack of speed, and enhance any defending unit's abilities as an unit. To complete my balanced defense, I have Ivanovic as the reliable RB who can tuck in to CB when Clichy & Lahm are going very advanced, or help at the attack as much as the best RB in the league does for Chelsea. Clichy at his prime was a superb attacking full back for Arsenal, who didn't put a foot wrong defensively. Clichy will link up wonderfully at the left wing with di Maria to create heavy pressure on the relatively weak Piszczek.
Midfield: The team is based on midfield really who is built to perfection to get the maximum of the incredible Yaya Toure. Lahm in the DM role will start attacks and deny Kaka from space in the middle, if Kaka drifts either left or right like he loves, Lahm is the perfect DM to follow him as he's got proven abilities at both LB and RB. Lahm was descirbed by Guardiola as the "smartest player he has ever coached", which means Lahm is pretty much the perfect player to do such a complexed role. Pogba adds to the team plenty of tenacity which will be needed against Essien, Pogba has the physical and technical abilities to be a good matchup for Essien, and will both deny him some influence with his work rate and will surely trouble him offensively. Yaya Toure is a midfielder which isn't easy to build a setup where he can flourish - he needs hard working players around him(which he has plenty of) to cover for him defensively. In this setup, Toure doesn't need to defend as much as expected of him in Manchester City(where he is partnered with one CM) and he'll use that freedom to dominate the middle. Yaya at his 2013/14 season for Manchester City was one of the top 5 players in the world, dominating the PL with 20 goals and 9 assists in 32 matches thanks to his superb long shots and unique vision and passing.
Attack: With Yaya Toure & Lahm's creating, I've built an attack which has both on the ball skills and the abilities to burst forward with speed in the counters. On the right, I've got Pedro who is usually underrated by most people, but his influence to Pep's Barcelona was immense. Pedro's work rate is one of a kind, pressuring LBs into mistakes really often and thus creating chances. Moreover, Pedro provides tons of goal threat with his killer instinct, at his prime Pedro was a goal creating machine for Barcelona which provided plenty of chances to everyone around him thanks to his movement between the channels. On the left, I've got di Maria, not the United one, the Real Madrid one
. di Maria was one of the key players in RM's road to La Decima, moving around the front three to allow C.Ronaldo the free role. di Maria also played a crucial part in Argentina's WC final campaign, and his injury was a giant setback coming to the final, which was shown by their impotent attacking in that match. To complete the trio, I've got Diego Costa at the striker role, Costa's incredible form got him to 34 league goals in 44 matches for Chelsea & A.Madrid. Costa is perfect for my setup because he can play both in a counter as well as in a possession side.Key Points:
- Don't get carried away with MJJ's attack: MJJ's attack is, crazy good. I don't, won't and can't deny that. Will it score? It might, and it might not. Thiago Silva rallies a defensive line like no else like he did in PSG when he made average defenders like Van der Wiel, Maxwell, Alex and David Luiz form a very strong and formidable defensive line who wouldn't break easily against top teams. Thiago Silva is also surrounded with defenders much better than he's used to having - Prime Ivanovic is a monster defensively and is a very good fit against Bale, Clichy is better than any LB he played with, and getting extra protection from Lahm is a massive boost to any defense. With Mertesacker there I wouldn't count on MJJ to score from a Bale/Hazard/Baines cross.
- Lahm against Kaka: Kaka never flourished in that sort of setup and always preformed better in a diamond, but even if he'll perform in the 4-2-3-1, Lahm is the perfect player to stop him. Lahm is quick enough to track his drifts out wide and thanks to his abilities at both LB and RB he can be as efficient in these positions. Plus, Kaka's movement is one of his best qualities, and Lahm, who was described by Guardiola as the "smartest player he's ever coached", is the player who can do such thing with most efficiency.
- Defenses.. Oh dear my: Exactly the same way I admitted of MJJ's attacking brilliance you can't see his defense keeping a clean sheet here against my attack. Piszczek will have a very tough day against a primed di Maria on his favorite foot side. di Maria and Clichy are likely to setup plenty of crosses to Diego Costa, Yaya Toure and back post Pedro. Neither Pique nor Sokratis are nearly good enough on the air to contain that danger through an entire match. On my RW, Pedro vs Baines will be an interesting matchup. Baines was always stronger going forward, and Pedro has the workrate and pace to track him back and at times beat him on the counter. I can see Pedro getting some joy in that matchup, especially with Hazard not coming back to help.
- The Midfield battle: Kaka doesn't fit this setup, he needs a deep playmaker behind him, with Matic & Essien there MJJ isn't using his movement for the best, leading his team to be mostly dangerous on the counter and not through build up, perfect for my defenders. On the other hand, Kaka Hazard & Torres won't do much defending, leading for my attack to overload his very unimpressive defense.
Last edited:
