The Oasis Draft - Physio/Synco vs Moby

With players at their career peak, who would win?


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2mufc0

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Team Physio/Synco



VS

Team Moby



Physio/Synco Tactics

Formation - 433/4411 in defense

Defensive Line Deep in the defensive phase, balanced but carefully positioned in the attacking phase - formation graphic shows movement in offensive transition.

Marking - Zonal

Style - counter attacking with fast transition attacks and a focus on the wings. The front three are hardworking, so they will engage in some counterpressing to allow the rest of the team to reorganise in defensive transition.

In the defensive phase we will play with a compact, low block in a 4411 formation, with the two terriers De Rossi and Gascoigne in front of the back four. This will crucially reduce the space for Moby's midfielders and forwards to operate in. Gascoigne will keep an eye on Matthäus, who he brilliantly subdued in the 1990 World Cup Semi-final. Best and Gullit will provide defensive cover out wide whilst Suarez will disrupt Rikjaard. Abidal's experience at CB will allow him to comfortably squeeze the back four when Moby's right winger cuts in, as will Lahm on the other side. Tresor and Stam are an imperious pairing who will be difficult for Moby's CF to breakdown. If anyone gets past these, they must pass Bayern legend, IFFS goalkeeper of the year '87, and FIFA All-star keeper Jean-Marie Pfaff.

In attacking transition, Suarez will drop to collect the ball and spray it wide to Best or Gullit, or as a through ball to Riva; Suarez starting further forward but then dropping deep will make it very difficult for him to be picked up.

If we slow it down, the attack is reasonable fluid. Riva, Gullit and Best are comfortable inside and outside, Abidal and Lahm can provide attacking outlets going forward (but usually only one of them at a time), and Gascogine & Suarez can take turns being slightly higher up.

Moby Tactics


Overall Team:
  • High intensity counter attacking setup.
  • Two Italian rocks as pillars of defense.
  • Two of the most famous man markers (both for marking Cruyff) man the flanks behind.
  • Greatest Defensive midfielder of all time in Rijkaard shielding the defense.
  • The best box-to-box player of all time in Matthaus running the show in midfield.
  • Netto completing the juggernaut midfield with his dynamic engine making it an unbeatable outfit.
  • Two extremely hard working, tenacious and flamboyant wide forwards on either side.
  • Stoichkov and Boniek both goal threats from out wide with tremendous dribbling, control and creativity.
  • Henry leads the attack with his searing pace, control, skill, teamwork and above all supreme finishing and an unstoppable goal machine.
Overall Tactics:
  • Relying on the strong defensive foundation and the defensive nous of midfield to keep teams out and play on the counter.
  • Both Camacho and Vogts are incredible man markers and defensive stoppers in defense, making it a watertight unit. We will be defending in a compact backline and expanding when going forward.
  • Great ball players across the park and at the back to launch quick counters.
  • Rijkaard excelled under Sacchi which was one of the best counter attacking outfits, similar to Matthaus at Inter which was as counter attacking as it gets with Netto's two way game suiting this tactic as well. Overall, the midfield is brilliantly suited to this tactic and it will bring the best out of their game.
  • Matthaus and Netto providing goal threats from midfield. Matthaus' late runs into the box and powerful shots will be a huge threat.
  • Wide forwards will be playing with their stronger feet towards goal, hence making the counter attacks more effective and both will be cutting in to score on their individual flanks.
  • Both wide forwards have electric pace and again well suited to a direct counter strategy.
  • Henry plays up front in a fluid front three will be a devastating prospect for the opposition (especially against Stam who was suspect against thunderous pace and turn). They three can easily interchange making them impossible to mark, and will be constantly creating goals for themselves and their teammates.
  • Stoichkov and Boniek are both supremely creative, and Henry racked up a bunch of assists during his PL career, which will enable the creativity to flow through all sides of the attack, which is deadly and will be constantly breaking through the defensive lines to create a ton of chances.
  • Massive amount of workrate in the front 6 making it impossible to keep up with them for 90 minutes. The likes of Rijkaard, Netto, Matthaus, Stoichkov and Boniek are all absolute warriors and will be out there to win this battle fighting tooth and nail for the whole game. There's no outmatching them in terms of the shift they put in, while all contributing heavily on the ball as well. The dual nature of the unit on and off the ball will be a mountain to climb for the opposition.

Overall a tremendous direct counter attacking outfit, bringing the best out of players like Rijkaard, Matthaus, Stoichkov, Boniek and Henry and suits them to a tee. It will be a huge task for the opposition to contain this unit throughout the 90 minutes and the firepower up front with the GOAT midfield behind them is going to be more than enough to win this game.
 
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2mufc0

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Is it our pic or that both teams are playing a deep counter attacking style?
Can you explain the formation pic?

You have a great attack, the way it is presented sells it short.

Best vs Camacho looks tasty for you though.
 

Physiocrat

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Can you explain the formation pic?

You have a great attack, the way it is presented sells it short.

Best vs Camacho looks tasty for you though.
It just shows our generally deep counter attacking approach, that's all. It's a 4411 out of possession. If it's unclear I can modify it a bit.

Suarez starts higher in a freeish role so then drops deeper on turnovers making him very difficult to track. This should give him space to put the front three in.

One thing to note with Best vs Camacho is that Best's crosses to the back post are going to be a problem. Vogts is 1.68m and Picchi 1.71m whereas Gullit is 1.91m. That's a 20/23cm height gap against one of the all-time great headers who also had an exceptional leap. Riva is 1.8m which gives a 9/12cm advantage in our favour.
 

Physiocrat

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@2mufc0 Please can you update the OP with this graphic. There's no tactical changes but hopefully should make more sense.

 

2mufc0

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Done.

You make some good points about height, will wait and see what Moby has to say.
 

Physiocrat

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Gullit out on the left wing?
Yup. He played everywhere and is highly versatile. He is on the left in the defensive phase but then has freedom to cut into the second striker position with the ball which is not going to be good for Picchi given the massive height difference.
 

Physiocrat

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The biggest mismatch in this game is Riva vs Chiellini and Picchi. Picchi will be uncomfortable when he isn't in the organised defensive phase given his odd peak role as the deepest defender who swept behind the defence. Our rapid counter attacks will expose him.

Chiellini is regarded as the worst of the back three of that Juve team who is up against the all-time great Italian striker. An all-round striker who can dribble pass and score a variety of goals.


Riva was also a big game player. He scored in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the 1970 World Cup in addition to the opening goal in the Euro 1968 final reply. At Cagliari at his peak, he scored 54 goals in 83 games in the miserly Italian league which averaged only 2 goals per game over this period compared with 2.8 goals per game in last seasons EPL.

He also started as a left-winger and can drift wide. The front three (Best, Riva and Gullit) is fluid.
 
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Physiocrat

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More on Gullit on the left

Ruud Gullit on the left wing and in CF position

Gullit has played practically everywhere over the course of his career (and during single matches), so he will be fine on the left. He can take on Vogts with his pace and dribbling, he can pass the ball to onrushing temmates in the center, and he is supposed to cut in & harrass poor Picchi (1.71m) as a physically dominant second center forward. The lack of height between Vogts and Picchi is a severe disadvantage when Gullit moves in to connect with far post crosses, which Best, Suarez and Lahm can deliver expertly.

Below are some examples of Gullit advancing down the left and moving into CF territory. But you might just watch the first compilation in full, it's ace.

Attacking from LW
2:09
4:17
5:03 (outside of the foot cross)
5:38
also 4:58, 5:11 (crosses with his left from RW)

Attacking in CF position
Lots - selected examples:
1:42
3:29 to 3:51
5:29
5:56
6:32
7:06
7:29 to 7:32

See also his performance in Milan's 1989 thrashing of Real:

Attacking from LW
6:22

Attacking in CF position
6:13 header
7:17 goal
9:27 assist

Gullit will also be important for his high workrate in defense, from which he will immediately turn into a supreme threat in offensive transition.
 
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Jim Beam

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Can't get past Moby midfield and offence here, but physio/synco have a team to go at him.

Only at team sheet, looks like it's conducted by Capello and restrict.
 

Physiocrat

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Can't get past Moby midfield and offence here, but physio/synco have a team to go at him.

Only at team sheet, looks like it's conducted by Capello and restrict.
Moby's front three are excellent but individually ours is at least as good and they are not facing Stam and Tresor at CB whereas Gullit and Riva have a huge height advantage over Picchi and Vogts, not to mention that Chiellini is clearly the worst CB on the pitch based on individual quality. I also don't see Moby picking up Suarez on the counter - who is going to do it when he moves through the zones during an offensive transition? A free Suarez and our front three against that defence means goals.

On Moby's midfield whilst we don't have the shiniest names we have the man who stopped Matthaus him at is pomp.

Gascoigne as a high octane two-way player & Matthäus's nemesis

In the 1990 World Cup semi-final, Gazza (in collaboration with David Platt) was able to contain a certain Lothar Matthäus in his absolute prime - while still being a menace to Germany's defense. He was voted into the Team of the Tournament and finished 4th in the Ballon d'Or that year, which was won by the man he battled so spectacularly in that game.
In this match we're going to release him on Matthäus again, albeit inside a more modern zonal marking & counter attacking setup. He's the right man for the job for sure.

@Šjor Bepo also compiled Gascoigne's actions from his EURO semi-final encounter with Germany six years later:

Gazza was again voted into the TOTT. His tireless off the ball work is extensively covered in both edits, which is exactly what we are counting on for our setup.
 

Synco

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New day, so we might post a bit more.

We want to put the focus on the overall dynamics of this game again. This is not an open battle, but a game where two cautious, defense-first sides meet. We feel that this setting gives us an advantage. We peeked into Atletico vs Conte's Chelsea 2017 as a blueprint for our encounter with Moby. This is what we expect:

Two counter-attacking sides face each other, neither is willing to grant the other much space. So they attack in limited numbers only, and without much love for prolonged possession phases & higher team positioning. As a result, attacks are mostly rapid & direct transition raids, largely carried by the forwards, with only a handful of other players joining in from behind. High risk, high impact, shoot or lose the ball, then get back into defensive shape as quickly as possible.

This overall situation plays in our hands in two ways: most importantly, our backline can deal with Moby's offense much better than the other way around. At the same time, Moby's biggest asset - his dominant CM - will be of less consequence than in a regular "midfield battle" over possession, as the midfield area is often bypassed & transition time has to be kept at a minimum from both sides.
 
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Synco

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To visualize what situations Moby's team will encounter:

Defense




Our basic defensive setup aims to deprive the opposition of their greatest asset - their offensive dynamicism - while allowing us to take advantage of our own speed and impact. Matthäus, Rijkaard, Henry, Boniek will be less effective when prevented to drive, pass, run into open spaces, so we will starve them of maneuvering room. They will run into a compact defensive block that will seek to divert them to wide areas, where they are far less threatening for their lack of a true aerial threat in the box.

Offensive transition

Our lethal counters will release our front three on Moby's backline. Not only Suarez, but our entire midfield three is able to deliver sharp, precise opening passes.

Possible routes to goal are crosses from the right for Gullit (or Riva) to exploit the glaring height mismatch on Moby's defensive right-hand side, or a sharp ball in from an overlapping Abidal for Gullit and Riva to connect. Gascoigne may join from behind to look for cutbacks and second balls. Our forwards have freedom to move and act according to the situation and their attacking instincts.

Illustrative example, Gullit sprinting to the far post to connect with a cross from the right; Suarez or De Rossi to play the opening pass:



Defensive transition

When dispossessed, our attackers will immediately engage in local counterpressing to prevent direct passes to the opposition forwards. They are all inclined to get stuck in (that includes Best). The aim isn't necessarily to win back the ball, but to prevent a direct ball out and slow down the opposition's offensive transition enough to get back into our basic defensive shape. Moby then faces that deep, compact block again.
 
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Synco

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Only at team sheet, looks like it's conducted by Capello and restrict.
I like that. Not that I'm too clued up on the finer details of Capello's tactics, but the basic idea is probably something like that.
 

Jim Beam

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I like that. Not that I'm too clued up on the finer details of Capello's tactics, but the basic idea is probably something like that.
More of a visual remark. As for the tactics, would prefer Suarez as DLP here considering you have Gullit and Best on the counter (while playing counter-attacking). I've read what you wrote about his role, but it's a bit different playing deeper or having to go deeper to collect the ball imo taking into account that you would be most dangerous in fast transition. De Rossi is a fine player, just looks slightly out of his depth here considering he is against Lothar/Rijkaard/ Netto.

Although, you aboslutely have a point with Picchi/Cheillini duo. Stam also has a good record against Henry from what I remember.

Like all other games in this draft, probably closer to a draw and very hard to separate.
 

Physiocrat

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More of a visual remark. As for the tactics, would prefer Suarez as DLP here considering you have Gullit and Best on the counter (while playing counter-attacking). I've read what you wrote about his role, but it's a bit different playing deeper or having to go deeper to collect the ball imo taking into account that you would be most dangerous in fast transition. De Rossi is a fine player, just looks slightly out of his depth here considering he is against Lothar/Rijkaard/ Netto.

Although, you aboslutely have a point with Picchi/Cheillini duo. Stam also has a good record against Henry from what I remember.

Like all other games in this draft, probably closer to a draw and very hard to separate.
Whilst Suarez starts in a 10ish position in the defensive phase he really wouldn't be that far forward so he would be pretty quick to drop back and spray it forward. It's important to note that De Rossi is a very good passer as well. He can easily play the first ball out, as can Gascoigne. Quick & precise opening passes are crucial to our fast transition strategy, and we are both stacked and flexible there.


De Rossi can be seen here pinging long balls - with both feet -, passing through the lines, and playing quick short passes to evade pressing.
 

harms

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I think Suarez is a good fit for an attacking role here, especially considering that he's relatively rare used there in our drafts. Gives the opposition's team another huge headache to deal with, as if the front 3 wasn't enough — and Gazza + De Rossi are already quite good at starting the attacks.
 

GodShaveTheQueen

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Surprised with the result. Would have probably voted for Moby. The midfields are enormously uneven. Don't like Gullit on left. Could play everywhere yes, but won't be his peak output wise.

Dissapointed with the Camacho struggling against Best assessment. Draft hyperbole I think where lesser often picked players are automatically considered weaknesses.

Result shouldn't matter much I guess as neither team is capable of beating Skizzo/Gio team yet IMO
 

Physiocrat

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Surprised with the result. Would have probably voted for Moby. The midfields are enormously uneven. Don't like Gullit on left. Could play everywhere yes, but won't be his peak output wise.

Dissapointed with the Camacho struggling against Best assessment. Draft hyperbole I think where lesser often picked players are automatically considered weaknesses.

Result shouldn't matter much I guess as neither team is capable of beating Skizzo/Gio team yet IMO
I wouldn't be too sure about that.