........................... Team @VivaJanuzaj ....................................................................................................... Team @antohan .........................
Team VivaJanuzaj
Tactics:
My team is a team who is capable of playing in two ways - either possession or counter attacks. My midfield is built from three complete box to box midfielders, the idea behind it is to have 3 players who have an incredible work rate to cover huge parts of the pitch and dominate the midfield using their strength and work rate, when all three of them are equally comfortable in going forward as defending.
My team won't have a strict tactics in terms of possession or counter attacking, and it will shift around it as the game goes on, most real life teams do that and aren't being dependent on a single route to goal, so that will work superbly. My midfield is facing a difficult challenge in Neeskens-Sammer-Baggio, but I think it's a fair challenge that my team could triumph with strength and work rate.
Attack - My attack just screams goals against any defense to be honest. Romario is the most prolific goalscorer in this draft, and he has amazing distribution here with Breitner-Rummenigge pulling the strings on the right and Kalle's movement to draw defenders away from Romario leaving him 1v1 with T.Silva more than once during the match. Francescoli is the main creating player in the final third, and he will pull the strings moving from LiF to LAM and having a somewhat of a free role to use his incredible understanding of the game to pull the strings and passing balls to one of the lethal strikers in Romario and Rummenigge.
Antohan's defense is his relatively "weak part". He does got great shielding on his defense from his midfield with all of Sammer, Neeskens Nedved and Boniek known for their defensive work rate, but if Nedved will want to help Abidal on the left against Breittenge(and he would) it will take an amazing toll of his attacking, and the same goes for all other players.
Abidal, as highly as anto ranks him, is the worst defender on the pitch. T.Silva is a close second, and as many Baresi comparisons quotes anto will pull here, he's still played very little time in the real highest level of football on a weekly basis, and has yet to prove himself in big tournaments constantly. Just take the 7:1 beating against Germany or the 3:0 against the Netherlands in the recent WC, T.Silva had a great defense next to him as the leader of it but he just couldn't marshall it, before that Brazil didn't face a proper attacking team with top class players. Place Romario and Rummenigge against him and he be as good as he is on PSG against average strikers. I think T.Silva is really complete and a superb man marker and good on the ball, but between him and Abidal I don't see antohan's defensive line being up for the task.
Midfield - The midfield battle is a very interesting one, you've got Breitner-Seedorf-Keane in my side, a midfield trio which is built behind a vision of 3 box-to-box midfielders with plenty of power, work rate and stamina to just run around frustrating the opponent because they're all over the place. You know the midfielders you see everywhere across the pitch? Think of three of them, with great defensive awareness and very good on the ball. Important - Keane is not in a DM holding role, as opposed to his time with Scholes in United, Keane has two much better midfielders defensively next to him, so he will definitely not get restricted to "watching Baggio". Keane will get his chances to roam and either one of the two other CMs cover and stays back or the full backs won't roam, leaving Keane as the most defensive midfielder, because he's the best of them defensively, but not as a defensive minded midfielder as he's got more defensive cover than he ever got throughout his career.
I concede that I might lose the midfield battle here, anto has created a superbly balanced midfield from Sammer's defensive abilities to Neeskens' complete package and Baggio-Sammer-Neeskens on the ball linkup, but I think I just might be able to nick it although anto is the favorite in midfield, thank to my work rate. I was considering playing Veron at first, but against a midfield of this calibre when I need to defend, the only way to do it is by having three hard working horses to simply frustrate the hell out of the opponent, giving them no room to breath in midfield, and that's the plan in order to nullify this better midfield.
Defense - I have the better defense. No question about it. I already explained which of his defenders are the weaker deal, but my defense is just as good as it comes. antohan will need to decide wether to play Vieri or Raul, which decides on his playing style. If it's Raul, than jee, you don't get any better to man mark a quick tenacious player like Raul than Vierchowod. If it's Vieri, Kohler is just taller than him and incredibly commanding on the aerial battle. Anto has much more tools going forward, from Boniek and Nedved to Baggio and Neeskens, but I think that since my full backs won't roam constantly, and only do it when they've got Keane/Seedorf/Breitner covering for them, plus my midfield trio's solid shielding of defense, I'm not sure if anto's forwards will get too many chances of breaking the deadlock. Again, like in the last game, when you've got players of this calibre in the opposition's attack, it's ignorant to say they won't score for sure, but it will definitely take something special from Baggio or one of them to break my defensive line here.
Why I will win the match:
- Romario and Rummenigge - These two scream goals. Both can create their own goals or to play one another to goal, add to that the proven combination of Breitner-Rummenigge, or the passing from the free moving Francescoli, or the fact that their facing the side with Abidal(and I guess T.Silva too), and you've got a winning formula of goal route. And that's the biggest mismatch of the game to be honest. Even with the protection from Nedved on this wing, which is huge, Nedved can't be expected to threat that Reuter wing while always defend here, and is bound to get a few times off defensive position.
- Defensive lockdown - When I defend, I have a brick wall in midfield. With Baggio-Vieri/Raul I don't think there's a real route to goal from the middle with Keane-Vierchowod-Kohler, I mean seriously, you can't get any better defensive wall in the middle than that, and Raul/Vieri are simply not good enough to break that Vierchowod-Kohler partnership which is as good as it gets. Give me five more reinforcement rounds and I won't change it. The only real route to goal from antohan is wing play. Lucky for him, he's got superb wingers in Nedved and Boniek, but there's two reasons why I'm not sure he'll score from the wings. The first one is that I have great players in the middle to cut out crosses, and I can even afford to have a CB go to the winger if he cuts inside and beats the full back, with the second CB sticking with the striker(both Vierchowod and Kohler can comfortably deal with Raul/Vieri. They're not Romario). The second reason, is that I really trust my full backs. Zanetti is playing in the LB and not RB role, yeah, we know, but Zanetti played several seasons and was one of the best at both RB and LB. Versatility shouldn't be used against him. Reuter is partnered by his German associates with Kohler and Breitner helping him against the threat of Nedved. Reuter might have his hands full here with Nedved, but with the cover he'll have from Breitner or Kohler incase of need he'll cope. The second reason, is that I think Boniek and Nedved are going to be instructed to help out a lot in defense using their work rate. A solid tactic because of my dangerous wings, but it might backfire as it will take a toll of their attacking duties. Yes, they will still be incredibly dangerous, but just not as much. You can't expect them to do both at the same level.
To be fair, at the final stage there's no real an absolute weakness, only relative small weaknesses. As I conceded antohan has the better and more complete midfield here(although I still might win the battle), the relative weakness for this stage are his defenders. I have a much, much better defensive quartet, and with both of us having tremendous protection from our midfields, it's just a matter of who has more chances to score against the opposing defense, and I'll put my money on my team. Romario against T.Silva/Hierro/Ferrara, or Rummenigge against Abidal? I know where my money is.
*If antohan decides to play 3-5-2 with Silva-Hierro-Ferrara in CB, Nedved-Sammer-Neeskens-Effenberg-Boniek as midfield and Baggio-Raul/Vieri as strikers, I think it will even be more simple for me to triumph this, as the threat from Francescoli and Rummenigge will be insufficiently covered causing his defensive line to collide and let Romario cause chaos.[/QUOTE]
. Your team's looking great. Vivajanuzaj has hit the jackpot though!
Anto can't catch a break here, and I'm starting to think Viva's bribing EAP!
