Post by Kieran on Jun 27, 2013 0:36:26 GMT
Hello, welcome to the 00s World Football Draft Game. Basically, 16 players have spent the last few weeks picking players to make a team (you can see how they did it in this thread pldraftgame.freeforums.net/thread/26/world-football-draft-game-round ) and they are now ready to go head-to-head against each other to win your vote - which do you think is the better team? The voter has both the squad-sheet and the bios/tactics to consider!
The key rule for this edition of the game is that players are to be judged on the basis of their performances in the 2000s - so what they did pre 2000 is not directly relevant here.
Additionally, voters are requested to please justify the votes you cast: an explanation of why you voted for the team you did would be much appreciated and would add to the game as a whole. If you vote but don't justify your selection, then that vote may be discarded when totting up the final results. Please vote and adhere to the rules on each match thread.
LjayHam - Formation/bio/tactics
Scroobiusmac - Formation/bio/tactics
Formation
Team
Oliver Kahn
A behemoth between the sticks and a genuine match winner. Nicknamed ‘Titan’, Kahn’s greatest strengths lay as much with his presence and organisation as with his shot-stopping. His leadership lead him to being handed the German and Bayern captaincy. His shot-stopping saw Kahn awarded Man of the Match in the 2001 Champions League final. He was named at the 2002 World Cup he kept 5 clean sheets and was named Player of the Tournament - the only goalkeeper ever to achieve this feat. He was also named European Goalkeeper of the year 3 times from 2000-02. Kahn holds the Bundesliga record for most clean sheets in Bundesliga history with 197. Since 2000 he won 6 Bundesliga titles, 5 DFB-Pokals and 3 DFB-LigaPokals.
Cristian Chivu
A player in the Ajax tradition of being strong on the ball and proficient in multiple positions. He won a domestic treble with Ajax in 2002 earning a place in UEFA’s team of the season and Dutch player of the year. He later moved to Italy forming part of the Roma defence which kept 20 clean sheets in 34 games in the 03/04 season. After finishing Serie A runner-up 3 times and winning the Copa Italia with Roma Chivu went onto even great success at Inter. A centre-back by trade Chivu went on to play at left-back for 4 years for Inter Milan most importantly figuring prominently in the Champions League run and final of the treble winning season. Comfortable carrying the ball out of defence and an excellent passer as well.
Carlos Marchena and Roberto Ayala
At the heart of the Valencia’s defence Marchena and Ayala formed the most formidable defence in La Liga. In the 7 seasons they were together Valencia conceded a meagre 237 goals in 266 games, kept 106 clean sheets and conceded the least goals in La Liga in 5 out of 7 seasons. Valencia experienced their most successful period with the pair together winning La Liga in 2001 and 2004, a UEFA Cup in 2004 and reaching the Champions League final in 2001. Like most great central defensive partnerships of this era they were a mix of brain and brawn. Marchena provided the muscle offering a highly imposing physical style, reactive tackling and excellent work-rate. Ayala was characterised by excellent positional ability, tactical discipline and reading of the game. He was able to combine excellent ability to know how to win the ball cleanly and to foul 'cleverly' as the occasion arose. Individually Ayala was named UEFA Club Defender of the Year in 2001.
Internationally both also experienced success in this era. Marchena went on a record breaking Undertakeresque undefeated streak of 57 games for Spain from 2002 to 2010. During this period he won the European Championship in 2008 where Spain conceded only 2 goals in 5 games and Marchena was named in the team of the tournament. Ayala set the record of captaining Argentina more times than any other player. He won a Gold Medal at the 2004 Olympics and was named in the Team of the Tournament at the 2006 World-Cup.
Gianluca Zambrotta
Zambrotta combined superb athleticism with discipline and first-rate tackling and positional sense. A rare breed of full-back who was as proficient in attack as he was in defence. He developed his game to the point where he could play at both left-back and right-back to equal aplomb. His near two-footedness allowed him to beat full-backs on both sides or cut in with a threatening shot. He also offered an option on the overlap from where he was able to deliver crosses into the box. With Italy he won the 2006 World Cup and was named in the Team of Tournament. During this run he played at left and right-back as well as a winger. Zambrotta scored and assisted in the quarter final against Ukraine. At club level Zambrotta played for Juventus, Barcelona and AC Milan enjoying success mostly in Italy. He won 4 Serie A titles for Juventus and added a further one for Milan. He was named in the 2006 FIFA and UEFA team of the year.
Daniele De Rossi
The first of my bearded Italian duo De Rossi is a complete midfielder. He offers excellent technical ability with pin-point and well judged passing and a mean shot from distance. He also offers superb physical ability with tough tackling, strength and stamina. De Rossi can be deployed anywhere in the midfield offering defensive and offensive attributes from whichever position he is given. At club level he is a perennial runner up with Roma with the exception of a pair of Coppa Italia wins. He played a small role in the 2006 World Cup win – after a red card in the first game he put in a good display in the last hour of the final. At Euro 2012 he came away as a runner-up but put in numerous superb performances in the Italian midfield and was named in the team of the tournament.
Andrea Pirlo
Playing at the base of the midfield is il professore Pirlo. Pirlo’s skills on the ball are quite outstanding able to dictate tempo as easily as he can split a defence wide open. His control and dribbling on the ball is also outstanding whilst his positional sense is unrivalled seemingly knowing where teammates and opponents are even out the back of his head. In addition to this he is one of the best set-piece experts of both direct and indirect free-kicks. Enormously successful at club level he won the Serie A twice with AC Milan and the Champions League twice as well. Milan viewed him to be past his best during the 2011 season and allowed him to leave on a free to Juventus. This was a huge miscalculation as Pirlo inspired Juventus to back-to-back Scudettos. For Italy he won the 2006 World Cup and runner-up at 2012 European Championship – both times he was named in the team of the tournament. He has also been named in FIFA and UEFA team of the year as well as placing highly in Ballon D’or rankings in 3 years.
Luis Figo
Starting the millennium with one of the most controversial transfers in football history Figo enjoyed an enormous amount of success at Madrid and later Inter. Figo relied on superb ball control and movement to beat players rather than pure pace (though he was no sloth). Very hard to dispossess when on the ball Figo relied on a treasure chest of tricks to beat opponents. Once past he was able to deliver crosses, through balls and shots all to a high level of technical proficiency. At Real Madrid he won the Champions League and 2 La Ligas as a key part of the Galacticos. Arriving at Inter late in his career Figo is nonetheless credited with reinstating a winning mentality which saw Inter win 4 straight Serie A titles whilst he was at the club. For Portugal he guided them to the final of Euro 2004 and was named in the Team of The Tournament for Euro 2000 and 2004 and the 2006 World Cup. Individually he won Ballon d’Or in 2000 and FIFA World Player of the Year in 2001.
Andres Iniesta
A wonderful technician and one of the finest exponents of the passing game in Europe, Iniesta also has an admirable willingness to work ceaselessly for his team. His dribbling, vision and poise all catch the eye while his versatility also marks him out as the complete midfielder. He is adept at passing and moving into space in dangerous areas in order to pick the opposition apart. Whilst being on the smaller side Iniesta is able to use guile and experience to disrupt the opposition’s attacking play. His glittering career has seen him score some hugely important goals including winners in both the World Cup final and Champions League semi-finals. Enormously successful with both club and country: 3 Champions Leagues, 2 European Championships and 1 World Cup are the highlights of his CV.
Diego Forlan
A lethal finisher with either foot, Forlan was also capable of the spectacular as well as poaching. His excellent work-rate and movement marks him out as a rare striker, who is both a ruthless predator and a team player. He is one of only four players to win the European Golden Boot twice in this period with Villareal and Atletico Madrid. After reaching the semi-finals he was named player of the tournament at World Cup 2010 as well as sharing the Golden Ball. In 2011 he won the Copa America with Uruguay. Forlan has played both as an out-and-out striker and as a trequartista off of Suarez, Cavani and Aguero where he was able to drop deep and create as well as keeping up his impressive strike rate.
Didier Drogba
Drogba was strong, quick and a composed finisher. Ideally suited to play as a lone striker displaying superb hold-up play allowing other players to be brought into play. This is demonstrated by Drogba’s excellent assist record of 79 recorded assists in addition to 302 goals for club and country. A robust, bustling centre forward who harassed his markers but was also excellent with the ball on the deck. He was a strong finisher with the ability to use both feet and heading which rewarded him with 2 Premier League Golden Boots. Drogba was another big match player earning Man of the Match awards in League cup, FA Cup and Champions League finals. With Chelsea he won 3 Premier League titles as well as 4 FA Cups and 2 League Cups. For Ivory Coast he was named in AFCON team of the tournament three times in 2012m 2008 and 2006.
The key rule for this edition of the game is that players are to be judged on the basis of their performances in the 2000s - so what they did pre 2000 is not directly relevant here.
Additionally, voters are requested to please justify the votes you cast: an explanation of why you voted for the team you did would be much appreciated and would add to the game as a whole. If you vote but don't justify your selection, then that vote may be discarded when totting up the final results. Please vote and adhere to the rules on each match thread.
LjayHam - Formation/bio/tactics
THE TACTICS
General
Due to little love for one of my all-time favourites, Roy Makaay, in the last round, I had to swap him for Steven Gerrard, a player I have a lot of respect for, deservedly so. Had to tinker with the formation a little and I believe each player has been placed in an area they’re familiar with on the pitch. Kindly judge each player as at his peak.
Also, Bruno Alves drops to the bench, and Neven Subotic takes his place, this is purely for tactical reasons.
Basically the formation is a 4-2-3-1. The two players in front of the back four, the ‘double pivot’, give support to the defense, with one player breaking up the opposition attacks, which will be Vidal, and Gerrard putting more emphasis on distributing the ball to the attacking players. This offers greater defensive strength as well as an extra passing option for the defence during build-up play.
The midfielder in front of them, Juan Mata, is basically free to do as he pleases: keeping the play simple, playing killer balls and surging into the box when possible. The two inside forwards/wingers (Bale and Beckham) cut inside to support the lone frontman (Bergkamp).
Strategy
The attacking players will only function properly when they get the ball quickly, the quicker they receive the ball, the more space they have to work their magic. The defensive midfielders will not be making runs in advance of the ball and will be moving horizontally across the pitch creating angles in order to give and receive passes. I’ve put out specific instructions that these two players (Gerrard and Vidal) are always available to receive a pass and recycle the possession.
We’re aiming to play a pressing game, with a lot of closing down, all over the pitch. This is to push Mac’s team to hurried passes resulting in them losing possession due to the high chance of misplaced passes. The mentality is normal, creative freedom is more assigned to Steven Gerrard, the chief playmaker, Mata, Bale and Bergkamp, the rest of the team are to stick to positional play as instructed.
The tempo is more on the slower side as we’d like to play short passes and aim to retain possession.
Our defensive line will be slightly pushed up (I’ll explain why later) and tackling will be normal but with specific instructions on their more creative players. We’ll practice a zonal marking mode as man-marking might prove detrimental in case of a sudden change of playing strategy.
Attacking
Gareth Bale - His main role is to provide incisive running directly at the heart of the opposition defence, with the option of going himself or playing Bergkamp or Beckham in.
David Beckham - Plays slightly deeper on the right. His role is more as a creator than a goalscorer, though he does get forward well to support the other two.
Dennis Bergkamp - He presses very high up the pitch, he will have a bit of a poacher role. Generally, most of his goals should come from latching onto through balls or just knocking it past his opponent and utilising his extreme pace and acceleration. He’ll be relied on to hold off defenders to carve out chances for teammates and himself
Juan Mata – Playing in ‘the hole’ during attack, he is the central creative force, using his renowned positional intelligence, he’ll be instrumental in skipping past the defensive midfield, playing between the lines and supplying the attack with through balls, he also can surge into the box has a fine finishing attribute when called upon.
Steven Gerrard – His range of passing will be key, as he will start attacks from deep, at times putting over a diagonal ball for the target man or inside forwards.
Zabaleta and Dani Alves – They can also be a major attacking weapon (if needed), their pace, power and good crossing ability will be a real asset on the flanks and I believe they can stretch the other team’s wide players and provide extra ammunition for the strikers.
Their stamina, work rate, teamwork and determination will be very useful here.
Defending
I chose the formation (Mata will be crucial, dropping deep to help defensively) as it should make Mac’s team struggle to break through our three-man midfield and, specifically, the double pivot. The majority of their passes will be inside their own half, and rarely will they make it into the final third as a result of passing.
Winning the ball back high up the pitch will be a key aspect of our defensive strategy, we will attempt to achieve this by intercepting the ball as much in the opposition half as we do in our own.
Vidal’s job is to keep the ball until there's a good opportunity for him or someone else, to give the ball forwards to one of the front three. he’ll be good for this position, playing short simple passes, and also technically competent.
Their inability to bypass our midfield will enable us to push high up the pitch allowing us to dominate possession, as well as pressuring them further when they do get the ball.
The fullbacks have a job to stop Mac’s wingers, Dani Alves and Pablo Zabaleta are fairly good tacklers hence they can also stop the supply line to the main striker. I can rest assured that they are qualified in terms of pace to be able to deal effectively with Mac’s team’s forays forward.
The Central Defensive players (Subotic and Luiz), young and athletic, chosen for their strength and concentration, will repel the oppositions’ attacks by tackling, heading and marking players (Zonal).
Finally we can rely on our shot-stopping rock at the back, that is Iker Casillas, to make wonderful saves, with his high level of concentration and reflexes. He’ll lead from the back as a captain with a lot of experience.
Set pieces
We have a variety of corner and freekick takers, I’ve given them freedom to choose who will take a set piece depending on the position on the pitch, I did this for the surprise element. Bale, Becks, Mata, Gerrard, Luiz and Dani Alves will all have a shot. (There will be no disputes, trust me).
All freekicks just outside the box will be direct, expect a goal here. 40 yards or more will target the best header and will be taken by Gerrard.
Gerrard and Mata will be on corners, and will aim to supply Luiz, Bale or Subotic, who all have a fine heading ability, sometimes, playing it short and attempting to organize play from there. At other times it will be a cross to the far post, hopefully finding an unmarked attacker lurking.
All throw ins will be short.
General
Due to little love for one of my all-time favourites, Roy Makaay, in the last round, I had to swap him for Steven Gerrard, a player I have a lot of respect for, deservedly so. Had to tinker with the formation a little and I believe each player has been placed in an area they’re familiar with on the pitch. Kindly judge each player as at his peak.
Also, Bruno Alves drops to the bench, and Neven Subotic takes his place, this is purely for tactical reasons.
Basically the formation is a 4-2-3-1. The two players in front of the back four, the ‘double pivot’, give support to the defense, with one player breaking up the opposition attacks, which will be Vidal, and Gerrard putting more emphasis on distributing the ball to the attacking players. This offers greater defensive strength as well as an extra passing option for the defence during build-up play.
The midfielder in front of them, Juan Mata, is basically free to do as he pleases: keeping the play simple, playing killer balls and surging into the box when possible. The two inside forwards/wingers (Bale and Beckham) cut inside to support the lone frontman (Bergkamp).
Strategy
The attacking players will only function properly when they get the ball quickly, the quicker they receive the ball, the more space they have to work their magic. The defensive midfielders will not be making runs in advance of the ball and will be moving horizontally across the pitch creating angles in order to give and receive passes. I’ve put out specific instructions that these two players (Gerrard and Vidal) are always available to receive a pass and recycle the possession.
We’re aiming to play a pressing game, with a lot of closing down, all over the pitch. This is to push Mac’s team to hurried passes resulting in them losing possession due to the high chance of misplaced passes. The mentality is normal, creative freedom is more assigned to Steven Gerrard, the chief playmaker, Mata, Bale and Bergkamp, the rest of the team are to stick to positional play as instructed.
The tempo is more on the slower side as we’d like to play short passes and aim to retain possession.
Our defensive line will be slightly pushed up (I’ll explain why later) and tackling will be normal but with specific instructions on their more creative players. We’ll practice a zonal marking mode as man-marking might prove detrimental in case of a sudden change of playing strategy.
Attacking
Gareth Bale - His main role is to provide incisive running directly at the heart of the opposition defence, with the option of going himself or playing Bergkamp or Beckham in.
David Beckham - Plays slightly deeper on the right. His role is more as a creator than a goalscorer, though he does get forward well to support the other two.
Dennis Bergkamp - He presses very high up the pitch, he will have a bit of a poacher role. Generally, most of his goals should come from latching onto through balls or just knocking it past his opponent and utilising his extreme pace and acceleration. He’ll be relied on to hold off defenders to carve out chances for teammates and himself
Juan Mata – Playing in ‘the hole’ during attack, he is the central creative force, using his renowned positional intelligence, he’ll be instrumental in skipping past the defensive midfield, playing between the lines and supplying the attack with through balls, he also can surge into the box has a fine finishing attribute when called upon.
Steven Gerrard – His range of passing will be key, as he will start attacks from deep, at times putting over a diagonal ball for the target man or inside forwards.
Zabaleta and Dani Alves – They can also be a major attacking weapon (if needed), their pace, power and good crossing ability will be a real asset on the flanks and I believe they can stretch the other team’s wide players and provide extra ammunition for the strikers.
Their stamina, work rate, teamwork and determination will be very useful here.
Defending
I chose the formation (Mata will be crucial, dropping deep to help defensively) as it should make Mac’s team struggle to break through our three-man midfield and, specifically, the double pivot. The majority of their passes will be inside their own half, and rarely will they make it into the final third as a result of passing.
Winning the ball back high up the pitch will be a key aspect of our defensive strategy, we will attempt to achieve this by intercepting the ball as much in the opposition half as we do in our own.
Vidal’s job is to keep the ball until there's a good opportunity for him or someone else, to give the ball forwards to one of the front three. he’ll be good for this position, playing short simple passes, and also technically competent.
Their inability to bypass our midfield will enable us to push high up the pitch allowing us to dominate possession, as well as pressuring them further when they do get the ball.
The fullbacks have a job to stop Mac’s wingers, Dani Alves and Pablo Zabaleta are fairly good tacklers hence they can also stop the supply line to the main striker. I can rest assured that they are qualified in terms of pace to be able to deal effectively with Mac’s team’s forays forward.
The Central Defensive players (Subotic and Luiz), young and athletic, chosen for their strength and concentration, will repel the oppositions’ attacks by tackling, heading and marking players (Zonal).
Finally we can rely on our shot-stopping rock at the back, that is Iker Casillas, to make wonderful saves, with his high level of concentration and reflexes. He’ll lead from the back as a captain with a lot of experience.
Set pieces
We have a variety of corner and freekick takers, I’ve given them freedom to choose who will take a set piece depending on the position on the pitch, I did this for the surprise element. Bale, Becks, Mata, Gerrard, Luiz and Dani Alves will all have a shot. (There will be no disputes, trust me).
All freekicks just outside the box will be direct, expect a goal here. 40 yards or more will target the best header and will be taken by Gerrard.
Gerrard and Mata will be on corners, and will aim to supply Luiz, Bale or Subotic, who all have a fine heading ability, sometimes, playing it short and attempting to organize play from there. At other times it will be a cross to the far post, hopefully finding an unmarked attacker lurking.
All throw ins will be short.
Scroobiusmac - Formation/bio/tactics
Formation
Team
Oliver Kahn
A behemoth between the sticks and a genuine match winner. Nicknamed ‘Titan’, Kahn’s greatest strengths lay as much with his presence and organisation as with his shot-stopping. His leadership lead him to being handed the German and Bayern captaincy. His shot-stopping saw Kahn awarded Man of the Match in the 2001 Champions League final. He was named at the 2002 World Cup he kept 5 clean sheets and was named Player of the Tournament - the only goalkeeper ever to achieve this feat. He was also named European Goalkeeper of the year 3 times from 2000-02. Kahn holds the Bundesliga record for most clean sheets in Bundesliga history with 197. Since 2000 he won 6 Bundesliga titles, 5 DFB-Pokals and 3 DFB-LigaPokals.
Cristian Chivu
A player in the Ajax tradition of being strong on the ball and proficient in multiple positions. He won a domestic treble with Ajax in 2002 earning a place in UEFA’s team of the season and Dutch player of the year. He later moved to Italy forming part of the Roma defence which kept 20 clean sheets in 34 games in the 03/04 season. After finishing Serie A runner-up 3 times and winning the Copa Italia with Roma Chivu went onto even great success at Inter. A centre-back by trade Chivu went on to play at left-back for 4 years for Inter Milan most importantly figuring prominently in the Champions League run and final of the treble winning season. Comfortable carrying the ball out of defence and an excellent passer as well.
Carlos Marchena and Roberto Ayala
At the heart of the Valencia’s defence Marchena and Ayala formed the most formidable defence in La Liga. In the 7 seasons they were together Valencia conceded a meagre 237 goals in 266 games, kept 106 clean sheets and conceded the least goals in La Liga in 5 out of 7 seasons. Valencia experienced their most successful period with the pair together winning La Liga in 2001 and 2004, a UEFA Cup in 2004 and reaching the Champions League final in 2001. Like most great central defensive partnerships of this era they were a mix of brain and brawn. Marchena provided the muscle offering a highly imposing physical style, reactive tackling and excellent work-rate. Ayala was characterised by excellent positional ability, tactical discipline and reading of the game. He was able to combine excellent ability to know how to win the ball cleanly and to foul 'cleverly' as the occasion arose. Individually Ayala was named UEFA Club Defender of the Year in 2001.
Internationally both also experienced success in this era. Marchena went on a record breaking Undertakeresque undefeated streak of 57 games for Spain from 2002 to 2010. During this period he won the European Championship in 2008 where Spain conceded only 2 goals in 5 games and Marchena was named in the team of the tournament. Ayala set the record of captaining Argentina more times than any other player. He won a Gold Medal at the 2004 Olympics and was named in the Team of the Tournament at the 2006 World-Cup.
Gianluca Zambrotta
Zambrotta combined superb athleticism with discipline and first-rate tackling and positional sense. A rare breed of full-back who was as proficient in attack as he was in defence. He developed his game to the point where he could play at both left-back and right-back to equal aplomb. His near two-footedness allowed him to beat full-backs on both sides or cut in with a threatening shot. He also offered an option on the overlap from where he was able to deliver crosses into the box. With Italy he won the 2006 World Cup and was named in the Team of Tournament. During this run he played at left and right-back as well as a winger. Zambrotta scored and assisted in the quarter final against Ukraine. At club level Zambrotta played for Juventus, Barcelona and AC Milan enjoying success mostly in Italy. He won 4 Serie A titles for Juventus and added a further one for Milan. He was named in the 2006 FIFA and UEFA team of the year.
Daniele De Rossi
The first of my bearded Italian duo De Rossi is a complete midfielder. He offers excellent technical ability with pin-point and well judged passing and a mean shot from distance. He also offers superb physical ability with tough tackling, strength and stamina. De Rossi can be deployed anywhere in the midfield offering defensive and offensive attributes from whichever position he is given. At club level he is a perennial runner up with Roma with the exception of a pair of Coppa Italia wins. He played a small role in the 2006 World Cup win – after a red card in the first game he put in a good display in the last hour of the final. At Euro 2012 he came away as a runner-up but put in numerous superb performances in the Italian midfield and was named in the team of the tournament.
Andrea Pirlo
Playing at the base of the midfield is il professore Pirlo. Pirlo’s skills on the ball are quite outstanding able to dictate tempo as easily as he can split a defence wide open. His control and dribbling on the ball is also outstanding whilst his positional sense is unrivalled seemingly knowing where teammates and opponents are even out the back of his head. In addition to this he is one of the best set-piece experts of both direct and indirect free-kicks. Enormously successful at club level he won the Serie A twice with AC Milan and the Champions League twice as well. Milan viewed him to be past his best during the 2011 season and allowed him to leave on a free to Juventus. This was a huge miscalculation as Pirlo inspired Juventus to back-to-back Scudettos. For Italy he won the 2006 World Cup and runner-up at 2012 European Championship – both times he was named in the team of the tournament. He has also been named in FIFA and UEFA team of the year as well as placing highly in Ballon D’or rankings in 3 years.
Luis Figo
Starting the millennium with one of the most controversial transfers in football history Figo enjoyed an enormous amount of success at Madrid and later Inter. Figo relied on superb ball control and movement to beat players rather than pure pace (though he was no sloth). Very hard to dispossess when on the ball Figo relied on a treasure chest of tricks to beat opponents. Once past he was able to deliver crosses, through balls and shots all to a high level of technical proficiency. At Real Madrid he won the Champions League and 2 La Ligas as a key part of the Galacticos. Arriving at Inter late in his career Figo is nonetheless credited with reinstating a winning mentality which saw Inter win 4 straight Serie A titles whilst he was at the club. For Portugal he guided them to the final of Euro 2004 and was named in the Team of The Tournament for Euro 2000 and 2004 and the 2006 World Cup. Individually he won Ballon d’Or in 2000 and FIFA World Player of the Year in 2001.
Andres Iniesta
A wonderful technician and one of the finest exponents of the passing game in Europe, Iniesta also has an admirable willingness to work ceaselessly for his team. His dribbling, vision and poise all catch the eye while his versatility also marks him out as the complete midfielder. He is adept at passing and moving into space in dangerous areas in order to pick the opposition apart. Whilst being on the smaller side Iniesta is able to use guile and experience to disrupt the opposition’s attacking play. His glittering career has seen him score some hugely important goals including winners in both the World Cup final and Champions League semi-finals. Enormously successful with both club and country: 3 Champions Leagues, 2 European Championships and 1 World Cup are the highlights of his CV.
Diego Forlan
A lethal finisher with either foot, Forlan was also capable of the spectacular as well as poaching. His excellent work-rate and movement marks him out as a rare striker, who is both a ruthless predator and a team player. He is one of only four players to win the European Golden Boot twice in this period with Villareal and Atletico Madrid. After reaching the semi-finals he was named player of the tournament at World Cup 2010 as well as sharing the Golden Ball. In 2011 he won the Copa America with Uruguay. Forlan has played both as an out-and-out striker and as a trequartista off of Suarez, Cavani and Aguero where he was able to drop deep and create as well as keeping up his impressive strike rate.
Didier Drogba
Drogba was strong, quick and a composed finisher. Ideally suited to play as a lone striker displaying superb hold-up play allowing other players to be brought into play. This is demonstrated by Drogba’s excellent assist record of 79 recorded assists in addition to 302 goals for club and country. A robust, bustling centre forward who harassed his markers but was also excellent with the ball on the deck. He was a strong finisher with the ability to use both feet and heading which rewarded him with 2 Premier League Golden Boots. Drogba was another big match player earning Man of the Match awards in League cup, FA Cup and Champions League finals. With Chelsea he won 3 Premier League titles as well as 4 FA Cups and 2 League Cups. For Ivory Coast he was named in AFCON team of the tournament three times in 2012m 2008 and 2006.
Tactics
I will be playing a fluid formation between a 4-2-3-1 and a wonky 4-3-3 with Drogba as the lone striker. Drogba is the ideal lone-striker. He is too strong and quick to be simply man-marked out the game – he wins too many aerial battles, is able to turn his marker and be in on goal far too often to make this a viable counter-strategy.
Forlan will have a fluid role predominantly behind and to the left of Drogba. Forlan will be asked to stretch LJ’s defence both by dropping into the area between midfield and defence and by looking to make runs beyond LJ’s defensive line. An extremely hard working player as well as prolific Forlan should fulfil both of these tasks. Finally Forlan scored a variety of goals so is hard to defend against – capable of predatory strikes and long range thunderbolts (see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFYgoXHA8Rc). Figo will offer a slightly more traditional wing-threat in his own mercurial manner. Figo will adopt a wider and deeper starting position than Forlan and will be able to drift wide to put crosses into the box as well as threading through balls to Drogba and Forlan. I think Figo would win the battle against Zabaleta quite comfortably and cause him a lot of problems creating countless problems down this side. This may force Bale back to help out at left-back.
Iniesta will be given his ideal role advanced and to the left of a midfield three. Iniesta’s creativity is a test for any defence and his movement and will be a nightmare for LJ’s defence as they look to cope with him popping up all over the place. De Rossi will play a relatively deep role using his athleticism and tackling to snuff out any signs of counter attacks. To counter the threat of Bale, De Rossi will be deployed slightly to the right of the midfield three. This should hopefully prevent Bale getting up too much of a head of steam and see him blocked off in the event of counter attacks. Beckham was never blessed with bundles of pace and so the left-sided defence of Chivu and Pirlo shouldn’t see their speed exploited. I could see Beckham and Gerrard to Bale being a particularly devastating cross-field move so I will counter this by getting Forlan/Iniesta to hustle these players when deep so they don’t have time to pick the pass and De Rossi to anticipate the pass and win it in the air.
Pirlo will be given his favourite position at the base of midfield spraying passes short and long. With 3 superb passers in midfield I am hoping to dominate possession. If LJ does try to snuff out Pirlo by man-marking him then Pirlo will push forward slightly using his movement in order to pull LJ’s attack apart as much as his defence. In this scenario De Rossi will drop deeper as the defensive shield as Pirlo attempts to find space and time to pick the killer pass. Even if he is restricted to short and mid-range passes then these will still be to Iniesta and Figo and so the creativity will not be stifled as can sometimes happen to Italy. If Pirlo is afforded time and space on the ball then his longer range of passing will be used to find attacking players in space and pick holes in LJ’s defence.
My defence will look to monitor Bergkamp and Bale’s movement in particular making sure that they don’t break free. Bale is seen as the main goal threat as post 2000 Bergkamp wasn’t prolific even by his standards (44 goals in 229 games). In Mata, Gerrard and Beckham he has three players who will look to pick out a pass as a through-ball. I feel that Ayala’s tactical astuteness and Marchena’s reactivity to threats will see them close down before there is too much direct threat on goal from thru-balls. Kahn’s huge presence off the line will also be a benefit to me in these situations. I expect LJ to line-up with Bale on the left, Bergkamp as a false 9, Gerrard and Mata behind and Beckham on the right. To defensively counter this I will position Chivu and Pirlo towards the left of the field where their relative lack of speed won’t be exposed against Beckham. On the right Bale will be faced with the nippy Zambrotta, the physical presence of De Rossi and the awareness of Ayala, aiming to snuff out his movement. Further up the pitch I’m hoping Figo will give Zabaleta a torrid time which will force Bale back to defend. Alves’ pace down the right-hand side may cause some issues but it will also expose a large amount of space for Pirlo and Iniesta to pick a pass and Forlan to find a finish as he will likely be up against David Luiz.
Another of my teams biggest strengths are set-pieces – both direct and indirect. Delivering indirect free-kicks Pirlo will have the formidable presence of Drogba to aim towards not to mention De Rossi, Chivu, Marchena with Forlan sniffing around the box capitalising on any loose balls. Pirlo’s direct free-kicks are also capable of the unsaveable efforts – even against a formidable keeper as Cassilas. I also anticipate receiving a fair number of set-pieces to make this count. My possession based style and the excellent close control of Pirlo, Iniesta and Figo in particular should frustrate LJ’s players into fouls particularly as he is deploying a large number of attack minded players for who tackling isn’t their greatest skill. Figo and Drogba were also adept at “drawing fouls” in dangerous areas which should give particularly dangerous positions to shoot or deliver crosses from. LJ is of course deploying his own set-piece masters in Beckham and Bale but I feel that I will be able to cope with the indirect set-piece threat from B. Alvez and Luiz whilst Kahn is an enormous presence in the box.
I believe I would win this match-up for three key reasons. First, I feel I have a more balanced set-up with a balance in midfield, up top and in defence. Whilst LJ has some fine players Luiz and both D & B Alves like to plunder forward whilst in midfield he’s relying primarily on Vidal to stifle my play whereas I have Pirlo, whose defensive work in positioning is slightly underrated IMO, and De Rossi. Second, I’m not sure he has a solution to The Pirlo Problem – in order to stop l'architetto you need an attacking player with high work-rate to sit on Pirlo before overrunning him. This isn’t a job that Mata, Bergkamp, Beckham, Gerrard or Bale are accustomed to performing. Gerrard or Beckham may have the work-rate to do the job but LJ would then lose Beckham’s wing play and both give away fouls quite frequently. Finally, I think the combined creativity of Figo, Pirlo and Iniesta (all of whom have topped their leagues and international competitions for assists) with the prolific nature of Drogba and Forlan (who have topped league and international competitions for goals) will prove too much for LJ’s defence.
May the best team win.
I will be playing a fluid formation between a 4-2-3-1 and a wonky 4-3-3 with Drogba as the lone striker. Drogba is the ideal lone-striker. He is too strong and quick to be simply man-marked out the game – he wins too many aerial battles, is able to turn his marker and be in on goal far too often to make this a viable counter-strategy.
Forlan will have a fluid role predominantly behind and to the left of Drogba. Forlan will be asked to stretch LJ’s defence both by dropping into the area between midfield and defence and by looking to make runs beyond LJ’s defensive line. An extremely hard working player as well as prolific Forlan should fulfil both of these tasks. Finally Forlan scored a variety of goals so is hard to defend against – capable of predatory strikes and long range thunderbolts (see: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFYgoXHA8Rc). Figo will offer a slightly more traditional wing-threat in his own mercurial manner. Figo will adopt a wider and deeper starting position than Forlan and will be able to drift wide to put crosses into the box as well as threading through balls to Drogba and Forlan. I think Figo would win the battle against Zabaleta quite comfortably and cause him a lot of problems creating countless problems down this side. This may force Bale back to help out at left-back.
Iniesta will be given his ideal role advanced and to the left of a midfield three. Iniesta’s creativity is a test for any defence and his movement and will be a nightmare for LJ’s defence as they look to cope with him popping up all over the place. De Rossi will play a relatively deep role using his athleticism and tackling to snuff out any signs of counter attacks. To counter the threat of Bale, De Rossi will be deployed slightly to the right of the midfield three. This should hopefully prevent Bale getting up too much of a head of steam and see him blocked off in the event of counter attacks. Beckham was never blessed with bundles of pace and so the left-sided defence of Chivu and Pirlo shouldn’t see their speed exploited. I could see Beckham and Gerrard to Bale being a particularly devastating cross-field move so I will counter this by getting Forlan/Iniesta to hustle these players when deep so they don’t have time to pick the pass and De Rossi to anticipate the pass and win it in the air.
Pirlo will be given his favourite position at the base of midfield spraying passes short and long. With 3 superb passers in midfield I am hoping to dominate possession. If LJ does try to snuff out Pirlo by man-marking him then Pirlo will push forward slightly using his movement in order to pull LJ’s attack apart as much as his defence. In this scenario De Rossi will drop deeper as the defensive shield as Pirlo attempts to find space and time to pick the killer pass. Even if he is restricted to short and mid-range passes then these will still be to Iniesta and Figo and so the creativity will not be stifled as can sometimes happen to Italy. If Pirlo is afforded time and space on the ball then his longer range of passing will be used to find attacking players in space and pick holes in LJ’s defence.
My defence will look to monitor Bergkamp and Bale’s movement in particular making sure that they don’t break free. Bale is seen as the main goal threat as post 2000 Bergkamp wasn’t prolific even by his standards (44 goals in 229 games). In Mata, Gerrard and Beckham he has three players who will look to pick out a pass as a through-ball. I feel that Ayala’s tactical astuteness and Marchena’s reactivity to threats will see them close down before there is too much direct threat on goal from thru-balls. Kahn’s huge presence off the line will also be a benefit to me in these situations. I expect LJ to line-up with Bale on the left, Bergkamp as a false 9, Gerrard and Mata behind and Beckham on the right. To defensively counter this I will position Chivu and Pirlo towards the left of the field where their relative lack of speed won’t be exposed against Beckham. On the right Bale will be faced with the nippy Zambrotta, the physical presence of De Rossi and the awareness of Ayala, aiming to snuff out his movement. Further up the pitch I’m hoping Figo will give Zabaleta a torrid time which will force Bale back to defend. Alves’ pace down the right-hand side may cause some issues but it will also expose a large amount of space for Pirlo and Iniesta to pick a pass and Forlan to find a finish as he will likely be up against David Luiz.
Another of my teams biggest strengths are set-pieces – both direct and indirect. Delivering indirect free-kicks Pirlo will have the formidable presence of Drogba to aim towards not to mention De Rossi, Chivu, Marchena with Forlan sniffing around the box capitalising on any loose balls. Pirlo’s direct free-kicks are also capable of the unsaveable efforts – even against a formidable keeper as Cassilas. I also anticipate receiving a fair number of set-pieces to make this count. My possession based style and the excellent close control of Pirlo, Iniesta and Figo in particular should frustrate LJ’s players into fouls particularly as he is deploying a large number of attack minded players for who tackling isn’t their greatest skill. Figo and Drogba were also adept at “drawing fouls” in dangerous areas which should give particularly dangerous positions to shoot or deliver crosses from. LJ is of course deploying his own set-piece masters in Beckham and Bale but I feel that I will be able to cope with the indirect set-piece threat from B. Alvez and Luiz whilst Kahn is an enormous presence in the box.
I believe I would win this match-up for three key reasons. First, I feel I have a more balanced set-up with a balance in midfield, up top and in defence. Whilst LJ has some fine players Luiz and both D & B Alves like to plunder forward whilst in midfield he’s relying primarily on Vidal to stifle my play whereas I have Pirlo, whose defensive work in positioning is slightly underrated IMO, and De Rossi. Second, I’m not sure he has a solution to The Pirlo Problem – in order to stop l'architetto you need an attacking player with high work-rate to sit on Pirlo before overrunning him. This isn’t a job that Mata, Bergkamp, Beckham, Gerrard or Bale are accustomed to performing. Gerrard or Beckham may have the work-rate to do the job but LJ would then lose Beckham’s wing play and both give away fouls quite frequently. Finally, I think the combined creativity of Figo, Pirlo and Iniesta (all of whom have topped their leagues and international competitions for assists) with the prolific nature of Drogba and Forlan (who have topped league and international competitions for goals) will prove too much for LJ’s defence.
May the best team win.
