Final: FC Bregu vs Portuguese Style

[Pat Murphy]

Team: FC Bregu
Manager: Trim

--------------------Klose-----Raul----Kanoute--------------------------
----------------Modric--------Frings---------Keita-----------------------
--Jankulovski-------Mertesacker----Skrtel-------------Behrami-----
----------------------------------Cech-------------------------------------


Team: Portuguese Style
Manager: Oliver Kahn


......................Frey
Zanetti....Dunne...Garay....Clichy
Arteta....Albelda....Guti....Petrov
...................Di Natale
...................Gilardino

[Oliver_Kahn]

Let's start things off,

GK: Frey and Cech are about equal, 2 years ago Cech would be considered the better player but not right now, if anything Frey is better.

My defence clearly beats his, both my FB's > his. Then Garay > all the CB's in this match, Skrtel, Dunne and Merte I rate all about the same really, Garay makes all the difference here. So therefore I win defence.

Our systems are tough to compare so instead of doing a player vs player, I'll just mention how my team would kill off Trim's. To start with, as said before, his team has no width, meaning his offensive full-backs are exposed. If they attack, they'll leave gaps in defence for my wingers and when I attack, my full-backs who are both great going forward can take advantage of the fact that Trim has just 1 player in each flank. And now before you say that your mids can cover the wings, let me say that even if that happens, then it will be Frings vs Guti and Albelda, which would allow Guti all the freedom he needs to use his brilliant passing skills.

Now let's look at your team, the left flank is very weak, Jankulovski isn't exactly great defensively and Modric isn't known for his tackling abilities, so Arteta would have a field day and Zanetti would also be able to show his great offensive skills. On the right, you have a left footed DM and Behrami who isn't a RB. Both would have it tough against Petrov + Clichy, who, unlike Behrami, don't rely solely on their pace to get past opponents, both have great technique, so your right flank would also suffer.

Up front you have 3 strikers, I'd like to know how that would work, seeing as your main creative threat (Modric) has his hands full covering for Jankulovski and whenever he can attack, there's Albelda there to stop him.

Looking at my attack now, I have Gilardino who is in great form atm and scoring for fun, along with the new Italian hero Di Natale, who is also in great form. As I said before, both seem to have a good understanding as they shown in the matches for the Azurri, so Trim's CB's, who are both tall and not very pace, would find it very tough against my offensive duo.

My team would have full freedom to attack and expose his team's defensive weaknesses, whereas his team's attacks would be limited and whenever his players try to do something, his weak defence will be hit on the counterattacks.

I take this one

[Trim]

GK: Frey and Cech are about equal, 2 years ago Cech would be considered the better player but not right now, if anything Frey is better.

Still, Cech > Frey, awards speak for themselves in this case.

My defence clearly beats his, both my FB's > his. Then Garay > all the CB's in this match, Skrtel, Dunne and Merte I rate all about the same really, Garay makes all the difference here. So therefore I win defence.

You have better FB's, agreed. Garay > all CBs? You've got to be kidding. Mertesacker > all CBs in this match. But, still, I won't argue much, you take defence overall.

Behrami who isn't a RB

Lol.. like I don't know Behrami? He plays RB as good as he plays RM, no doubt about that.
: Valon Behrami _ West Ham United - Football Lineups, lately he has played more as RB then RM, so this argument is definately not doing you any favours.

To start with, as said before, his team has no width, meaning his offensive full-backs are exposed

Lol, everyone mentions "his team has no width", while this team has made it to the final. No width? Okay. Who cares?! This is my system.

Your midfield four is definately not impressive mate. I have better individuals.

Both would have it tough against Petrov + Clichy

Don't you think you overrate Petrov "a bit"?

Up front you have 3 strikers, I'd like to know how that would work, seeing as your main creative threat (Modric) has his hands full covering for Jankulovski and whenever he can attack, there's Albelda there to stop him.

The attack trio is what booked me a place in the final, together with the three behind them. One can't deny that they're class and top scorers. As good as Gila and Di Natale could be at the moment, they're still not better then my attacking trio, and will never achieve what my strikers have achieved.

Doubt Klose? 1 goal, scored yesterday, in the DFB-Pokal.
Doubt Raul? 2 goals, scored yesterday, in the La Liga. +2 assists, if I'm not wrong.
Doubt Kanoute? Don't! 2 goals in 3 matches from him thus far in La Liga.

That was just the momental 'form', let's not get to the statistics, it won't help your case.

How can your team stop them? No, they can't stop them.

My midfield three isn't impressive? I wouldn't say so. I'm not sure who'd stop Modric moving all over the field. I'm not sure how would your players get past Keita and Frings.

I take this one

Win ain't yours mate.

[Oliver_Kahn]

Originally Posted by Trim

Still, Cech > Frey, awards speak for themselves in this case.

lol. Awards??? Who gives a shit about awards, they mean absolutely nothing. Cech wasn't the best GK in the CL last season, even Sven (the most biased Chelsea fan ever) agreed, so that just proves how much 'awards' are worth. Frey slightly > Cech based on form. Cech is too prone to the odd blunder these days, whereas Frey is at his best atm.

Originally Posted by Trim

You have better FB's, agreed. Garay > all CBs? You've got to be kidding. Mertesacker > all CBs in this match. But, still, I won't argue much, you take defence overall.

Mertesacker = overrated.
But yes, I take defence.

Originally Posted by Trim

Lol, everyone mentions "his team has no width", while this team has made it to the final. No width? Okay. Who cares?! This is my system.

Your midfield four is definately not impressive mate. I have better individuals.

you do realize that width is one of the key aspects in the modern game? A team with no width loses the match 90% of the times. 80% of the goals start from the wings, there's where the players have space to create and not through the center which is always congested with players. Which is why width is so important.

Better individuals? How? Arteta alone takes out all your mids.

Originally Posted by Trim

The attack trio is what booked me a place in the final, together with the three behind them. One can't deny that they're class and top scorers. As good as Gila and Di Natale could be at the moment, they're still not better then my attacking trio, and will never achieve what my strikers have achieved.

Doubt Klose? 1 goal, scored yesterday, in the DFB-Pokal.
Doubt Raul? 2 goals, scored yesterday, in the La Liga. +2 assists, if I'm not wrong.
Doubt Kanoute? Don't! 2 goals in 3 matches from him thus far in La Liga.

That was just the momental 'form', let's not get to the statistics, it won't help your case.

interesting logic that.

point 1: I don't give a crap about what your strikers achieved in the past, because this game isn't about the past, it's about the present. And atm, Gilardino and Di Natale are better, all of your strikers are living from past glories.

point 2: Klose scored a couple of goals in the last few matches after how many minutes? 665mins.

point 3: Madrid played fucking Sporting Gijon!

point 4: Kanoute = one season wonder

point 5: I don't need stats, this game isn't about stats, awards or goals scored against Sporting Gijon, FF is about the quality of the players and how they are performing. And atm both my strikers are in better form.

Originally Posted by Trim

How can your team stop them? No, they can't stop them.

My midfield three isn't impressive? I wouldn't say so. I'm not sure who'd stop Modric moving all over the field. I'm not sure how would your players get past Keita and Frings.

my team doesn't need to stop them, seeing as the ball will never reach your strikers. Even if you're lucky that the ball gets there, Garay is there to kill anyone that gets in his way, both my FB's are very solid defensively and then there's Dunne to clear any cross.

Your midfield isn't impressive at all, you have 1 DM who creates nothing (Keita), one who needs to stay in defence duo to your defensive weaknesses (Frings) and Modric who would have Albelda following him around, plus needs to help your defence as your flanks are exposed.


Funny how you didn't tackle any of my key points:
1- your flanks being completely exposed;
2- your slow CB's against my front duo;
3- your crap defensively full-backs against my wingers (specially Arteta vs Janku)
4- how your midfield can stop Guti from creating
5- how do your strikers get any service when all your mids are either defending or tightly marked

[Vargas_4]

Up front you have 3 strikers, I'd like to know how that would work

It's true that he has 3 strikers up front, but it's not like they're hanging up front all day. Raúl and Klose are known to backtrack and assist their teammates (the most recent example, Raúl gave like 2 assists in a 7-1 win). They score when it matters. Klose scored the only goal for the victory over Schalke in the Liga-Pokal last season. He also drew when we fought i dunno who the hell it was whose goalkeeper was on fire and he had to go to the penalties where Kahn saved us DFB Cup. He also drew for Germany vs Argentina in the 80th minute. Raúl on many occasions has saved Real Madrid, where his goals have secured good results for his team.

It's true that Di Natale is in good form... but until recently. In this WC qualifiers he has been a new hero for the Italian team. But that's until just a while ago. This 2 guys have been around, pulling their team with their efforts for a while now.

Gilardino is on good form. But so is Kanoute. Gilardino has hit form just till this season. Kanoute is keeping his good rhythm from his previous seasons. Once could feel that Kanoute has more "guarantee" of scoring in a match than Gilardino.

[Oliver_Kahn]

So if both Raul and Klose track back, Kanoute will be left isolated up front against Dunne and Garay? Seeing as Modric is being tightly marked by Albelda and your mids need to help the defence.

Oh and Di Natale's form isn't recent, hence he was a starter for Italy during the Euro qualifiers as well. Gilardino is rediscovering his form, I'll give you that, but that leads me to the point that when Gilardino is on form, he is better than all your strikers. Remember his Parma days?

[Trim]

FF is about the quality of the players and how they are performing.

Football is about experience and history aswell though.

Funny how you didn't tackle any of my key points:
1- your flanks being completely exposed;
2- your slow CB's against my front duo;
3- your crap defensively full-backs against my wingers (specially Arteta vs Janku)
4- how your midfield can stop Guti from creating
5- how do your strikers get any service when all your mids are either defending or tightly marked

1- like Jankulovski and Behrami are terrible?
2- doesn't matter, they're not the only 2 individuals when defending, and certainly Mertesacker and Skrtel have deal with much better players.
3- Behrami is a good tackler. Let me just take the Lazio v Real Madrid match for a clear example, as it was in the highest competition and in a top game. Behrami shut down Arjen Robben.
4- Seriously mate, Guti? Keita or Frings, any of them, on their own ofcourse, can stop him very easy.
5- How do my strikers get service? Everyone in my midfield is a good passer. Modric can't be stopped easily. Frings and Keita are more defansively minded, but it doesn't mean that they'll stay behind all the time, eh? Plus, Klose+Raul+Kanoute are passers in between. Especially Klose, THE altruist one.

My team defeated defensively minded teams in the way to the final; my team defeated teams with better attacking individuals than your teams, so it won't have a problem defeating your team either.

[Oliver_Kahn]

Originally Posted by Trim

Football is about experience and history aswell though.

History wins you nothing.
Experience is important, sure. But form is a lot more important.

Originally Posted by Trim

1- like Jankulovski and Behrami are terrible?
2- doesn't matter, they're not the only 2 individuals when defending, and certainly Mertesacker and Skrtel have deal with much better players.
3- Behrami is a good tackler. Let me just take the Lazio v Real Madrid match for a clear example, as it was in the highest competition and in a top game. Behrami shut down Arjen Robben.
4- Seriously mate, Guti? Keita or Frings, any of them, on their own ofcourse, can stop him very easy.
5- How do my strikers get service? Everyone in my midfield is a good passer. Modric can't be stopped easily. Frings and Keita are more defansively minded, but it doesn't mean that they'll stay behind all the time, eh? Plus, Klose+Raul+Kanoute are passers in between. Especially Klose, THE altruist one.

1- Jankulovski isn't the greatest of tacklers, is he? Arteta is capable of doing in any full-back, just ask ES, he will tell you about Arteta. Jankulovski is no match for him.

2- Mertesacker can't even mark Nuno Gomes and you're arguing that he can take down Gilardino... but again, you missed the point. I was pointing out how your slow CB's would find it tough against my 2 strikers. And you say they are the only ones defending, well your full-backs are busy with my wingers, Frings busy with Guti, Keita and Modric trying to cover the wings, so who is left?

3- Robben is a very inconsistent player, so that argument doesn't really convince me. And during the Euro the only thing you saw Behrami do was attacking, even Nani was able to get a cross in when we played vs Swiss.

4- Guti, the top assister of La Liga last season. He needs just an inch of space to get a pass in, which surely he would have during this match, seeing as your team will be defending 90% of the time.

5- Modric can't be stopped easily? Interesting that, seeing as he was stopped in every single match thus far this season. Frings is the key to your defensive stability, if he goes forward, then not just your wings will be exposed but so will your midfield. Kanoute is passer? really?
Raul is lazy, he rarely gets out of the box. Klose only picks up the ball when it is on the final third and seeing as you have no one to take the ball to the final third, Klose will get no service.

[sinoy1]

Originally Posted by Vargas_4

It's true that Di Natale is in good form... but until recently. In this WC qualifiers he has been a new hero for the Italian team. But that's until just a while ago. This 2 guys have been around, pulling their team with their efforts for a while now.

Gilardino is on good form. But so is Kanoute. Gilardino has hit form just till this season. Kanoute is keeping his good rhythm from his previous seasons. Once could feel that Kanoute has more "guarantee" of scoring in a match than Gilardino.

This is not true mate.Di Natale has always been good for Udinese.For the past what 3 seasons now he's been the go to guy.Possibly since 04-05.

Gila grew stagnant at milan.before that he was producing just as much as Toni was.I blame Milan for ruining his developement.

[Dellas]

5- How do my strikers get service? Everyone in my midfield is a good passer. Modric can't be stopped easily. Frings and Keita are more defansively minded, but it doesn't mean that they'll stay behind all the time, eh?

Modric has been pretty poor so far this season with Spurs and hasn't really had much impact.
Being defensive minded means they will stay back more but when they attack they just provide an extra man they don't provide another attacking option. just like Makelele for Chelsea, he crossed the half way line and helped pass the ball but he didn't help our attack at all as that wasn't his role.

Lol, everyone mentions "his team has no width"

well the thing is when Oli has attacking FB's like he does they aren't going to stay back when he attacks are they? They will double up on your FB's meaning modric and Keita will be forced out wide to help even the numbers up so frings and your CB's will be left alone with 3 on 3. And Oli has Gila, Di Natale and Guti who are faster and so they will cause Skrtel, Mertesacker and Frings more problems.
When you attack tho you go down the centre meaning it is will be a lot more congested also Arteta can drop into the middle to track either Frings or Keita. Oli's attack seems to pick your team apart, by finding the holes, while when you attack it just seems like you are going straight down the centre which normally doesn't work.

I can't say I rated Gila I thought he was a waste of space at Milan but he seems to have changed if it was the Gila of A.C that was playing in this game I would lean more towards Trim but because Gila has really become quality (again) I'm leaning towards Oli...but I'll wait for any last arguments before I vote.

[sinoy1]

Ive always rated Gila during his Parma days with Cesare Prandelli and when he went to Milan the system there did not work for him.He was asked to simply be a finisher and not influence the game at all besides putting the ball in the back of the net.

The man needs confidence.He needs constant touches so that he's in the mood of the game and in the mood for scoring.He's not a trez type to pop up out of nowhere and score but he needs to slowly build momentum and then finally unleash himself.

Prandelli knows exactly how to use him and its no coincidence that they've hooked up again in Fiorentina...along with Mutu

[Pat Murphy]

Final Score:

FC Bregu 1-2 Portuguese Style


Portuguese Style win the League Cup