.......................................TEAM Indnyc............................................................................ TEAM Moby
TACTICS TEAM Indnyc
Tactics: Quick Counter Attacking. Use the pace of Rooney, Giggs, and Park along with the passing range on Suarez to deadly effect.
In the summer of 1984 Liverpool manager Joe Fagan took on a 21-year-old trialist from Ajax. Long before days of American tours and the International Champions Cup, a low-key friendly against Home Farm of the Irish league kicked off Liverpool’s season, and a rather remarkable adventure for Mølby.
He scored against Home Farm, the goal showcasing one-touch control with his chest, deftly flicking the ball over a defender with his knee, and volleying a rather nonchalant finish. Fagan signed him two days later. The pressure of filling GraemeSouness’s boots sat upon the Dane’s young but already substantial shoulders.
Mølby, who had spent the previous season in the Eredivisie playing alongside and being tutored by one Johan Cruyff, took to the task, and took it all in his stride. In his autobiography, Jan the Man, Mølby referenced a contented bewilderment at the simplicity of Liverpool’s preparation and training in 1984, and the kind of coaching implemented by Cruyff.
“There was one drill in particular he [Cruyff] used to put Ronald Koeman and I through. We had to try and hit the corner flag from the halfway line. It sounds impossible, but he would have us standing with our backs to whichever corner we were aiming for. The ball would be played to us, and we’d be allowed one touch to bring it under control, and then put ourselves into a position where we could drive the ball towards the corner flag. He wanted us to drive everything, and it only counted if you actually hit the flag. It was tedious at times – sometimes it went on for more than an hour – but when Johan told you to do something, you did it.”
Evidently, repetitive passing drills and Cruyff’s midas touch did Mølby little harm. While his debut season at Anfield was not spectacular, it was also far from a failure. Mølby registered 24 appearances and one goal, before losing his place in the team to Kevin MacDonald.
At a time when foreign players were still something of a rarity in English football’s top-flight, Mølby adjusted to life on Merseyside seamlessly – almost too seamlessly as things would pan out. Despite losing his place in the team, his dazzlingly effective and effortless playing style won him plenty of admirers.
Kenny Dalglish, who replaced Fagan as Liverpool’s manager in June 1985, was a staunch admirer of Mølby, and promptly built his midfield around him. The 1985/86 season was undoubtedly Mølby’s best in a Liverpool shirt, and under the close tutelage of Dalglish – being player/manager and picking himself on 21 occasions – Mølby’s regal presence on a football pitch came to the fore.
For someone still so young and so new to the club, the league and the culture, Mølby’s tactical intelligence and versatility shone. In September he became the club’s penalty taker. Standing testament to his assured ability from the spot, only Steven Gerrard has scored more penalties for Liverpool. Mølby netted 42 from 45 spot kicks.
In November 1985, the fourth round of the Milk Cup saw Manchester United come to Anfield amidst a football league TV rights dispute. The upshot meant that Mølby’s stunning equaliser was seen only by the 41,291 fans packed into Anfield.
As luck would have it, the Manchester United manager at the time, Ron Atkinson, had the game recorded for purposes of performance analysis (who said Big Ron was old-fashioned?) and he let Mølby have a copy of the tape. In maintaining the majestic quality of the goal and its memory, Mølby waited until 2009 before putting the goal into the public domain
Available for the world’s eyes here, it showcases qualities all too often stripped of Mølby’s legacy. Deep inside his own half, some tactically considered and energetic pressing dispossess Norman Whiteside, and a burst of strength and pace ensues. Naturally, the ball remains at close quarters to Mølby’s feet. Three defenders either topple at a dropped shoulder or are brushed aside. Bearing down on goal, a shot of magnificent power is beyond Gary Bailey before he can see it, and crashes into the top corner of the net. Just minutes later, Mølby would convert a penalty to win the game.
Over the course of 1985/86, Mølby played 58 games and scored a quite astonishing 21 goals. Impressive enough from midfield, yet considering Dalglish often deployed Mølby as a sweeper, invariably shifting him into midfield as a match wore on, it becomes all the more striking. Mølby and Liverpool ended the season as league champions, and faced Everton, league runners-up, in the 1986 FA Cup final. Unknown at the time, it was to be Mølby at his glorious pinnacle.
Under the kind of blue and balmy sky that renders fairy tales from cup finals, Liverpool trailed their local rivals 1-0 at half time. Mølby, lining up in central midfield alongside MacDonald, had quietly put on a passing masterclass, but to no avail. The second half of the first ever all-Merseyside final was to be his.
In the 57th minute, Mølby slipped a wonderful slide-rule pass into the path of IanRush, who finished as he usually did – clinically. Granted, Mølby was provided with the luxury of time and space by the Everton defenders, but the weight and line of the pass was such that it implored Rush exactly which touch to take first, and precisely how to finish it. That really was the essence of Mølby’s game; it all looked simple, pedestrian almost, yet underneath an unassuming exterior stood a genuine artist at work.
In demonstrating he wasn’t all pedestrian, Mølby showed some quick feet just seven minutes later when he crossed for Craig Johnston to put Liverpool 2-1 up. Receiving the ball from Rush inside the Everton penalty area, Mølby fired in a low cross with his left foot – naturally, Mølby didn’t have a stronger foot, both were his strongest – and set Liverpool on their way to the double. He had a hand in Liverpool’s third, too, freeing up Ronnie Whelan with a space-exploring pass. Whelan, by laws of common science, was nowhere near Mølby’s line of sight.
Still just 23, Mølby continued his highly respectable form into 1986/87. Twelve goals from 44 appearances represented continuity, but Liverpool ended the season potless. They were runners-up in the league to Everton and lost to Arsenal in the League Cup final, and the disappointments didn’t end there. The summer of 1987 saw Mølby break a foot during pre-season. In claiming the title in 1988, Liverpool bounced back swiftly and effectively. Mølby, however, did not.
Since his arrival at Anfield, Mølby only endeared himself to the Anfield fans. An affable nature, his often bewildering scouse accent, reportedly the result of spending too much time with Sammy Lee, and the penchant for a bevvy or two, did Mølby little harm in the eyes of the fans. In an era where connection between paying supporters and players wasn’t stretched to today’s alarming extremes, Mølby really was one of their own. Regrettably, these endearing traits paved a downfall for a player whose only commitment was physio treatment.
Flickers of hope and a renaissance of sorts came with the turning of the decade. 1990 saw Mølby come close to becoming a Barcelona player, with a deal of £1.6 million agreed between the clubs, but it later broke down. To Mølby aficionados and footballing romantics alike, the prospect of him reunited with Cruyff and applying his passing game to Spanish football – the philosophy being built at Barcelona at the time – was mouthwatering.
Mølby himself put an end to any daydreams with a thunderbolt of a strike against Norwich City, his 50th goal for Liverpool, in the midst of a steady run in Souness’s much-changed 1991/92 side. The season climaxed with Mølby and Liverpool lifting another FA Cup, but time and physical condition were beginning to hamper the pass master.
To remember Jan Mølby simply as a gifted passer with a lack of pace and mobility should come with a robust reminder not to pigeonhole him. He played the game with cerebral genius, positional intelligence beyond comparison, a truly remarkable range of passing, and one of the purest strikes of a football ever seen in Engand
He scored against Home Farm, the goal showcasing one-touch control with his chest, deftly flicking the ball over a defender with his knee, and volleying a rather nonchalant finish. Fagan signed him two days later. The pressure of filling GraemeSouness’s boots sat upon the Dane’s young but already substantial shoulders.
Mølby, who had spent the previous season in the Eredivisie playing alongside and being tutored by one Johan Cruyff, took to the task, and took it all in his stride. In his autobiography, Jan the Man, Mølby referenced a contented bewilderment at the simplicity of Liverpool’s preparation and training in 1984, and the kind of coaching implemented by Cruyff.
“There was one drill in particular he [Cruyff] used to put Ronald Koeman and I through. We had to try and hit the corner flag from the halfway line. It sounds impossible, but he would have us standing with our backs to whichever corner we were aiming for. The ball would be played to us, and we’d be allowed one touch to bring it under control, and then put ourselves into a position where we could drive the ball towards the corner flag. He wanted us to drive everything, and it only counted if you actually hit the flag. It was tedious at times – sometimes it went on for more than an hour – but when Johan told you to do something, you did it.”
Evidently, repetitive passing drills and Cruyff’s midas touch did Mølby little harm. While his debut season at Anfield was not spectacular, it was also far from a failure. Mølby registered 24 appearances and one goal, before losing his place in the team to Kevin MacDonald.
At a time when foreign players were still something of a rarity in English football’s top-flight, Mølby adjusted to life on Merseyside seamlessly – almost too seamlessly as things would pan out. Despite losing his place in the team, his dazzlingly effective and effortless playing style won him plenty of admirers.
Kenny Dalglish, who replaced Fagan as Liverpool’s manager in June 1985, was a staunch admirer of Mølby, and promptly built his midfield around him. The 1985/86 season was undoubtedly Mølby’s best in a Liverpool shirt, and under the close tutelage of Dalglish – being player/manager and picking himself on 21 occasions – Mølby’s regal presence on a football pitch came to the fore.
For someone still so young and so new to the club, the league and the culture, Mølby’s tactical intelligence and versatility shone. In September he became the club’s penalty taker. Standing testament to his assured ability from the spot, only Steven Gerrard has scored more penalties for Liverpool. Mølby netted 42 from 45 spot kicks.
In November 1985, the fourth round of the Milk Cup saw Manchester United come to Anfield amidst a football league TV rights dispute. The upshot meant that Mølby’s stunning equaliser was seen only by the 41,291 fans packed into Anfield.
As luck would have it, the Manchester United manager at the time, Ron Atkinson, had the game recorded for purposes of performance analysis (who said Big Ron was old-fashioned?) and he let Mølby have a copy of the tape. In maintaining the majestic quality of the goal and its memory, Mølby waited until 2009 before putting the goal into the public domain
Available for the world’s eyes here, it showcases qualities all too often stripped of Mølby’s legacy. Deep inside his own half, some tactically considered and energetic pressing dispossess Norman Whiteside, and a burst of strength and pace ensues. Naturally, the ball remains at close quarters to Mølby’s feet. Three defenders either topple at a dropped shoulder or are brushed aside. Bearing down on goal, a shot of magnificent power is beyond Gary Bailey before he can see it, and crashes into the top corner of the net. Just minutes later, Mølby would convert a penalty to win the game.
Over the course of 1985/86, Mølby played 58 games and scored a quite astonishing 21 goals. Impressive enough from midfield, yet considering Dalglish often deployed Mølby as a sweeper, invariably shifting him into midfield as a match wore on, it becomes all the more striking. Mølby and Liverpool ended the season as league champions, and faced Everton, league runners-up, in the 1986 FA Cup final. Unknown at the time, it was to be Mølby at his glorious pinnacle.
Under the kind of blue and balmy sky that renders fairy tales from cup finals, Liverpool trailed their local rivals 1-0 at half time. Mølby, lining up in central midfield alongside MacDonald, had quietly put on a passing masterclass, but to no avail. The second half of the first ever all-Merseyside final was to be his.
In the 57th minute, Mølby slipped a wonderful slide-rule pass into the path of IanRush, who finished as he usually did – clinically. Granted, Mølby was provided with the luxury of time and space by the Everton defenders, but the weight and line of the pass was such that it implored Rush exactly which touch to take first, and precisely how to finish it. That really was the essence of Mølby’s game; it all looked simple, pedestrian almost, yet underneath an unassuming exterior stood a genuine artist at work.
In demonstrating he wasn’t all pedestrian, Mølby showed some quick feet just seven minutes later when he crossed for Craig Johnston to put Liverpool 2-1 up. Receiving the ball from Rush inside the Everton penalty area, Mølby fired in a low cross with his left foot – naturally, Mølby didn’t have a stronger foot, both were his strongest – and set Liverpool on their way to the double. He had a hand in Liverpool’s third, too, freeing up Ronnie Whelan with a space-exploring pass. Whelan, by laws of common science, was nowhere near Mølby’s line of sight.
Still just 23, Mølby continued his highly respectable form into 1986/87. Twelve goals from 44 appearances represented continuity, but Liverpool ended the season potless. They were runners-up in the league to Everton and lost to Arsenal in the League Cup final, and the disappointments didn’t end there. The summer of 1987 saw Mølby break a foot during pre-season. In claiming the title in 1988, Liverpool bounced back swiftly and effectively. Mølby, however, did not.
Since his arrival at Anfield, Mølby only endeared himself to the Anfield fans. An affable nature, his often bewildering scouse accent, reportedly the result of spending too much time with Sammy Lee, and the penchant for a bevvy or two, did Mølby little harm in the eyes of the fans. In an era where connection between paying supporters and players wasn’t stretched to today’s alarming extremes, Mølby really was one of their own. Regrettably, these endearing traits paved a downfall for a player whose only commitment was physio treatment.
Flickers of hope and a renaissance of sorts came with the turning of the decade. 1990 saw Mølby come close to becoming a Barcelona player, with a deal of £1.6 million agreed between the clubs, but it later broke down. To Mølby aficionados and footballing romantics alike, the prospect of him reunited with Cruyff and applying his passing game to Spanish football – the philosophy being built at Barcelona at the time – was mouthwatering.
Mølby himself put an end to any daydreams with a thunderbolt of a strike against Norwich City, his 50th goal for Liverpool, in the midst of a steady run in Souness’s much-changed 1991/92 side. The season climaxed with Mølby and Liverpool lifting another FA Cup, but time and physical condition were beginning to hamper the pass master.
To remember Jan Mølby simply as a gifted passer with a lack of pace and mobility should come with a robust reminder not to pigeonhole him. He played the game with cerebral genius, positional intelligence beyond comparison, a truly remarkable range of passing, and one of the purest strikes of a football ever seen in Engand
TACTICS TEAM Moby
Formation: 4-2-3-1. Team is based around the mouth watering front four with flying wingers down both flanks, a mercurial playmaker and one of the most dangerous strikers of all time. We will play on quick breaks and swift transitions having quality ball players all over the pitch and get the ball forward as soon as possible.
CB Pair: Complimentary soft-hard combo. Alan Hansen will be the ball playing CB from the back, never too adventurous with his forward runs but plays the ball out with tremendous ease and brings in some world class reading of the game to organise the back four. Paired with him is the colossal defender Paul McGrath, an excellent defender on the ball in his own right but also a giant physically and in the air, while being a tremendous athlete to match some of the attacks on show.
Fullbacks: Bixente Lizarazu mans the left flank, a very complete and balanced defender having never ending stamina and work rate, able to tuck in to form a solid backline when needed and also overlap constantly when the team attacks and provide width down the flank. On the right is Danny McGrain, the legendary Scot was not too dissimilar from Lizarazu in terms of the defense-attack quotient that he brings in, top marker at the back and a workhorse down the flank.
Central Midfield: The tireless and dominating Italian Marco Tardelli will be running the midfield from the middle, one of the greatest two-way threats in the game and a massive big game player, bringing never ending reserves of stamina and tenacity, breaking up the opposition attacks as well as contributing in driving forward with the ball when the team attacks. On the transition he will be a massive weapon breaking from midfield. Next to him is the Irish legend, Johnny Giles. Another combative presence in midfield, Giles formed a legendary partnership at Leeds with Billy Bremner and provided tons of creativity, guile and composure in midfield, and he should work well with Tardelli in this team. Both midfielders would work tremendously hard off the ball and stifle the opposition core, while capable of spraying the ball forward or driving with it on the break. Giles has a pretty decent goalscoring record during his time at Leeds, with over a 100 goals to his name.
Wide Men: No introduction needed for the two wingers, both GOATs in their positions, in their own individual style of play. On the left is Dragan Dzajic, one of the greatest dribblers and crossers the game has seen, slithering past defenders making huge inroads into the opposition, he will be seeing a lot of the ball in this game, with no other similarly ball dominant ball players to disrupt his rhythm and would be a key presence in the attack throughout the game. On the other side is Luis Figo, hugely industrious and hard working, and an absolutely unstoppable player going forward, he will be bringing his pin point passing and crossing, close control and dribbling as well his long range threat and shooting to full effect in terms of unlocking the defense. The two wingers would be constantly stretching teams out wide, creating space for the central players to take dangerous positions and get on the scoresheet from their service throughout the game.
#10 and #9: Michael Laudrup will be the puppet master of the team, one of the greatest passers of all time, with the ability to cut through any defense at will he will be linking the midfield and attack and have a free roaming role as an attacking midfielder to hurt the opposition as soon as a chance arrives. He will be feeding none other than Thierry Henry. The electrifying Frenchman who is one of the greatest goalscorers of all time, will be relishing the service he will receive from the three players behind him. Henry made a great partnership with Bergkamp at Arsenal and would be enjoying a similar telepathic relationship with another creative genius in Laudrup. And similarly, the two wingers out wide would readily combine with Henry and Laudrup in terms of adding a lot of fluidity to the game and opening up the opposition defense with their passing and movement, while creating loads of space for the frontman to attack. Henry's pace along with Figo and Dzajic running on the counter against a backpeddling defense would be absolute carnage and we will look to engineer that in this game.
Overall, the team boasts of a very solid core in defense with all four defenders having huge credentials to their names and tons of consistency throughout their massive body of work. Supported by the combative midfield duo, the front four should be able to do their job and should be able to provide a great mix of creativity, dynamism and directness needed to win this game.
