........................................................... TEAM GIO ...................................................................................................................................... TEAM PAT ...........................................................
TEAM GIO
Nailing the Diamond
Firstly, the diamond is a very Serie A esque formation and as such we have used a set of players who have shone in the narrower shapes of Italian football:
- Zidane
- Nedved
- Matthaus and Brehme
- Souness
- Cannavaro
Secondly, it is about getting the key roles right:
- Two side midfielders who are physical, mobile and expansive. Lothar Matthaus and Pavel Nedved fit the bill.
- Attack-minded full-backs from the top shelf. Brehme and Carlos Alberto are ideal in their playmaking and general class on the ball.
- Mobile forwards who can work the line. Mbappe can operate across the attack, while Spencer should feel at home in a counter-attacking set up with shades of his successful partnership with Joya.
- A 10 in Zidane who knows the system inside out having played much of his best football in that or in its close neighbours the 4321/4312. Zidane always enjoyed the platform provided by Davids/Deschamps or Petit/Vieira and gets plenty of support from Souness/Matthaus here.
Thirdly, it is about aligning the tactics with the strengths of the shape. The beauty of the diamond is how well it strangles the midfield. That takes control of the game and makes the counter attack very dangerous. Firstly through the more obvious route to goal by inviting space in behind for the specialists in Mbappe and Spencer to tear into - with Brehme, Carlos Alberto and Souness pinging early balls into space. And secondly by the concentration of central players allowing a quick one-two and, bang, away goes Nedved, Zidane and Matthaus motoring to the edge of the opposition box.
TEAM PAT
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Having prioritised attaining an elite level of attacking threat and one-man flank-ery from my FBs during the first half of drafting, it's safe to say that 4-2-3-1 was the formation I wanted least. A 'Road To Damascus' moment towards the end of drafting, as I wondered why on earth Thomas Muller wasn't already picked in a draft that placed such premium on versatility, and it swiftly became the one I wanted most. Goofy and inelegant he may be, but Muller just gets football like few others. Over the last three seasons for Bayern he's registered 25, 24 and 26 assists respectively, averaging 0.53 assists per match. He's won a Golden Boot and a Silver Boot at successive World Cups, and he's apparently the most successful German footballer ever in terms of trophies won. He's a prodigious worker in and out of possession, scoring highly on total distance covered and averaging in and around 20 pressures per match according to fbref.com. His technical and athletic limitations are lavishly compensated for here, with searing pace across the frontline, a host of excellent dribblers, and a genius creator alongside him in Laudrup. And Muller, in turn, will elevate their level too, just as he's done for club and country for over a decade now.
Defence: Arguably the greatest ever GK in Buffon, and ahead of him a complementary ball-player/stopper combo of Moore and Campbell. Two attacking FBs in Dani Alves and Robertson, with the horrible bastard Robertson playing a key tactical role here in possession by freeing up Laudrup to drift infield when he wants. There's quite a clear Arsenal Invincibles dynamic to this left wing, with Robertson overlapping à la Cole (I'd argue that he's probably surpassed him in an attacking sense), Laudrup as a souped-up Pires, and Henry doing Henry stuff.
Midfield: Keane and Verratti form the double pivot. Both are entirely comfortable on either side, so Keane starts on the left of the duo to provide cover to the defensively more vulnerable wing. Verratti is picked here ahead of Stielike, and I even drafted him ahead of much more draft-friendly options such as Schuster and Overath. Tenacious, intelligent and ridiculously press-resistant, he's simply one of my favourite midfielders ever at this point and he fits my requirements to a tee - with an abundance of final-third creativity through my FBs and attacking line we need steady, incisive service to them from central midfield. That was Keane's bread-and-butter, and as for Verratti:
Attack: Some might baulk at Laudrup being 'relegated' to a wide position on the teamsheet, but with Henry's inclination towards peeling to the left, Robertson's relentless overlapping, and Muller's capacity to occupy Gio's grisly central midfielders, this roaming wide playmaker role looks tailor-made for him. Henry should relish playing with a final third passer of his calibre, and finding Eto'o or Dani Alves with a diagonal through ball is another highly promising option for Laudrup. Poor Sami draws the short straw here as he reprises something closer to his Inter role than his Barca CF peak, but then that positional versatility and fierce workrate is precisely why I picked him ahead of other comparable goalscorers. He'll be tasked with supporting Dani Alves in the defensive phase much like he did for Maicon at Inter, and of course he's familiar with Alves, having shared that immensely successful 08-09 season together at Barca.
No problem at all mate. I didn't vote to see the score for ages and struggled to muster up the enthusiasm to post as I was pretty much convinced this was a lost cause, hence trying to address the main potential arguments against my set up in the write-up rather than in the thread. Was surprised to find myself clinging to a narrow lead for so long. I had one of those drafting processes where I felt I was playing catch up for most of it, and even though I liked the finished squad I knew it was highly unlikely to be a vote magnet.