Third game of this round.

 

Team Lofty:

 

 

Subs:

Deschamps

Savicevic

 

My team has a distinct theme, the best of the best when it comes to two clubs that have defined the modern Champions League era: AC Milan and FC Barcelona. 8 of my starting XI featured for either the Rossoneri or the Blaugrana and were the corner stones of their club's respective spells of dominance on the European stage. My team also features 2 Manchester United players who excelled during the 90's and early 2000's, and a dominant Bayern shot stopper who asserted himself as one of the greatest keepers of the last 20 years, perhaps rivalled only by a certain Italian.

 

Delving down into the heart of my formation, where better to begin than with the back four? In an age when defending has almost become a dirty word to the legions of possession zealots it is with a great fondness that we can look back on arguably the greatest back four fielded by a club side in the history of the game; I have assembled three of Arrigo Sacchi's legendary Milanese cohort and the names make for impressive reading.

 

The clinical mastermind Franco Baresi sports the captain's armband and marshals my side with aplomb, commanding his team mates, organizing the defence, hounding opposition players and bursting forward to bring the ball out of defence and begin counter-attacks. His loyal man-at-arms Alessandro Costacurta stands alongside and forms the second part of a veritable brick wall; together they will be nigh on impenetrable.

 

The defensive quadrumvirate is capped off with the steely Mauro Tassotti guarding the right flank, snapping at the heels of oncoming wingers and forcing them down blind alleys, and the cult hero Denis Irwin bombing down the left, bringing an added element to the team going forward with his wide play and brilliant ability from set pieces.

 

Standing guard between the posts is the German legend Oliver Kahn, a superb keeper with the ability to not only stop shots but dominate his box and deal with any aerial threats.

 

Moving on to midfield, the heart of my team is built upon a Barcelona duo suited to methodical ball distribution and brilliant passing; Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta form a fantastic partnership as they carve out attacking opportunities for the forwards, retain possession to allow their team mates to find space when need be, and transition play from defence to attack. Xavi sits deep and takes up the classic midfield general role, asserting himself with pinpoint passes and dictating the tempo of the game, whilst Andres Iniesta looks to combine with him, create space and link up with the forwards as moves take shape.

 

Sitting in the defensive midfield role and tying everything together is the dynamic Frank Rijkaard; equally proficient in defence and attack he closes down opponents vigorously and supports counter-attacks, occasionally bursting forward on a run from deep when the opportunity presents, giving our opponents yet another headache to deal with.

 

In attacking midfield sits the mercurial Hristo Stoichkov, a player capable of amazing feats of attacking prowess. On the formation graph he is represented centrally but in practice he has a free role, looking to drag the play wide by bursting down either flank and taking defenders with him to create space for the team in the final third. He represents a direct threat in taking on opponents one-on-one but can also play balls through to the strikers.

 

My attacking triumvirate is capped off by a powerful strike tandem whose utilisation of strength, technique and positional awareness represents a lethal goalscoring threat to our opponents. Andriy Shevchenko sits on the right, slightly deeper, whilst Ruud van Nistlerooy plays on the left. Both work together to pull defenders this way and that, combining their talents to form a deadly unit that is guaranteed to give the opposition nightmares.

 

On the bench we have two options, after raining in the goals it may be time to tighten the screws and solidify our midfield with a defensive workhorse, and there are few better for such a task than French great Didier Deschamps. If on the other hand we need an injection of attacking width, guile and creativity, we can call upon the services of the flight-footed Dejan Savicevic to give ourselves another dimension going forward.

 

My team is forged of Italian steel complimented by Iberian flair, Eastern European genius, Dutch flamboyance and dogged German grit. We have strength in every department and a cohesiveness developed from many years of playing together at the same great footballing institutions. This poll may well be a popularity contest and some of my opponents might just have flashier names, but on a purely footballing basis I believe that I have collected a group capable of beating anything put in front of them.

 

In short, choose the thinking man's football team. You won't regret it.

 

 

 

Team dkw:

 

 

Subs:

Crespo

Duff

 

No tactics posted.

I'm loving the Athletic Club background, Teritus.

 

edit: For anyone puzzled by the central positioning of Stoichkov, unfortunately most formation generators out there won't accommodate an asymmetric set-up. This is how I envisaged his role initially, bombing down his favoured left flank.

Edited August 28, 201312 yr by Lofty 1905

I hope that's what you're going for, dkw, I went off your description in the thread. Lofty, I'm sure you'll be delighted with your team's kits!

 

Onto the matters at hand now - Lofty's team first. Superb, superb, superb. Great partnerships, impregnable defense and a trio up front that's sure to terrify any opposing defenders. I quite liked your other formation a bit more though. My only issue is that while Stoichkov was often essentially a second striker at Barca, he never started that central where it was so congested. His best work came coming infield from the wing and exploiting the channel between CB and fullback, rather than being the team's main creative source. Here he as enough creativity behind him to make up for it, but food for thought all the same.

 

You'll be relying heavily on Irwin for attacking width down the left, but while Donadoni will be doing what he can to take care of him all he needs is a little bit of space and I imagine he'll be whipping in pin-point crosses to van Nistelrooy. I'm not sure how attacking dkw wants Zanetti to be but he could possibly do a defensive job on him.

 

Going on to dkw's team - sturdy defence, vote-winning front three but then it all goes horribly wrong in the midfield for me. Seedorf at his best was a shuttling midfielder on the left hand side, in no way, shape or form was he ever holding like he is here. In fact I believe he started out as a traditional number 10, but was moved further back because of his workrate. While Stoichkov isn't in his ideal position he'll certainly be good enough to wriggle free of Seedorf ample times here. Lampard is more or less in his right place, but I'm not sure what Donadoni is doing there. Is he in some sort of Gattuso-esque role or is it more like Nedved there or...? This setup doesn't get the best of either of the three midfielders IMO.

 

In any case I'm not sure how wide or central you want him here, but there simply won't be enough defensive prowess and stability there to make up for a makeshift DM. At this level, and certainly against Lofty's team, there's no room for passengers and the midfield is what gets my deciding vote.

Edited August 28, 201312 yr by Teritus

I'm loving the Athletic Club background, Teritus.

 

  Yes, I was looking for a colour that hadn't been used thus far and I remembered how much you adored Bilbao.

By the way, we'll be doing reinforcements a little differently this time. Once all the game have concluded, I'll draw out the winners into a random order and we'll pick, one by one, one each from any of the assortment of players that were knocked out. Is that fine with everyone?

That sounds good to me, although after extolling the virtues of my charges I don't think I could bring myself to part with any of them.

Same with me, I could only potentially upgrade at left back or maybe get a more natural right winger. Else I'll look for someone in the mould of John Charles or Luis Enrique (able to cover at different positions and giving me tactical flexibility).

Edited August 28, 201312 yr by Teritus

Yeah, midfield went a bit awry unfortunately. I was originally gonna go 4-4-2 hence donadoni to play wide, but all my picks were erm picked by others, inconsiderate bar stewards. Seedorf was a wrong pick, should really have gone for viera like I was going to do.

Disregarding the more obvious DM picks in Davids and Effenberg, I'm surprised that Mauro Silva was left aside for the entirety, a little limited in his passing but a brilliant, brilliant anchor man.

 

Many La Liga followers will remember his display in the Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid, a match effectively set up to celebrate Madrid's centenary and the inevitable victory of Perez's all-conquering Galacticos. Silva spoiled the party with one of the great defensive midfield performances, his domination such that Zidane and Raul were reduced to taking petulant swipes after they were dispossessed for the umpteenth time.

Why not bring Duff on and switch to a 4-4-2? 

^ That wouldn't solve the problem of his midfield being too porous to handle Lofty's trio.

Edited August 28, 201312 yr by Teritus

I couldn't log on beforehand but congratulations to Lofty. The only game left is between ForeverCarefree and PloKoon but I'm thinking of giving FC a free pass to the next round. PloKoon hasn't posted any team lineups or tactics and I don't want to have to bail him out again.

 

Any second opinions?

I'd stick the match up, if only for a day or so.