D1 Matchday 1: Nikos24 vs Figo10

[Scarface]

Nikos24

http://img306.imageshack.us/img306/9224/formation1ji4.png (http://imageshack.us)

Subs: Kuszczak, Squillaci, Lassana Diarra, Govou, Samaras

VS

Figo10

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/1197/league1jz8.png

[Dragonfly]

Nikos for a narrow win. Both teams have excellent midfields, but Nikos' striker will make the difference.

[Nedy]

I go for Figo here.
Both team have good defense, so here is a draw.

In the midfield, Figo win for me. Totti CANT be a DMF. He really cant. So Gattuso will be alone as DMF and cant do all the job.
Figo midfield looks very strong. With Essien and Hargreaves, will be very difficult to Malouda, Kaka and Joaquin to pass balls to Saha. Then with his two "playmakers" (both very good) with Robben, can pass and pass balls to Morientes and this one scores 2/3 goals.
Nikos has a very good CF, but with Essien and Hargreaves in the midfield, Figo can dominate the match.

[dimitrivdr]

I think I'll go for Figo on this one... I agree that Totti would be a liability if played where he is now...

I'm sure this would be a pretty high scoring game, as Nikos has only Gattuso to take on defensive duties and although I think he's world-class, he wouldn't be able to cover that many attacking threats constantly.

I do think however that Figo's defence is error-prone and would certainly give Hildebrand enough to worry about. 2-3 or something like that seems a likely score...

[CaptainCabinet]

I think Nik will take this, but it will be a high scoring game. As it's been said Totti can't play DM but Nik's attacking force more than makes up for this.

[Del Piero]

Im going for a draw here.

Both have great line ups.

Nikos - very good defence, great attacking options the only thing im unsure about is the Totti Gattuso partnership that doesnt work for me.

But with the brilliant attacking players Nikos has they will be able to put plenty of goals away.


Figo - What a great team! Athough i would def have de jong in the first team.

Mighty Stevie G will cause alot of probs as usual :D prob cutting out to the wing getting great balls into morientes. Then on the left youve got robben with his pace and skill cutting inside maybe laying balls off for Gerrard to put in the back of the net.

Essien Hargreaves looking very solid.

[mufcsean]

Both are very good teams, hard to call but Figo has the stronger midfield i feel so i think he will just edge this one

[Billy Minof]

Tough choice here,

I cant decide so a draw it is.

[Hunter]

I go for Figo here.
Both team have good defense, so here is a draw.

In the midfield, Figo win for me. Totti CANT be a DMF. He really cant. So Gattuso will be alone as DMF and cant do all the job.
Figo midfield looks very strong. With Essien and Hargreaves, will be very difficult to Malouda, Kaka and Joaquin to pass balls to Saha. Then with his two "playmakers" (both very good) with Robben, can pass and pass balls to Morientes and this one scores 2/3 goals.
Nikos has a very good CF, but with Essien and Hargreaves in the midfield, Figo can dominate the match.

I agree with pretty much all points made here, Totti being in that position is your downfall. I guess the criticism will only help you build your team though.

Nikos 2-4 Figo

[Preki-USA]

I'm voting for Figo although I think both teams have major flaws.

Nikos, putting Totti there is just silly and that is why i can't vote for you. If you had diarra in there instead of totti I would have voted for you to win.

Figo, your midfield contains too many players who like to do the same thing, other than hargreaves, who will hold is position for the most part, the other three guys like to roam around and make plays, you really only need one guy to do that. Morientes is on form tho, and robben is great, I would opt for a 4-3-3

-----------Morientes-------------
-Robben--------------Ronaldo----
---------------------------------
----Sneijder-Essien-Gerrard-------

you could stick rosicky in there too he's a great player.

[Scarface]

I'm going for a Figo win, on the basis that his team has a better structure and balance.

Totti and Gattuso in centre midfield looks a big concern. While there's some great attacking players on Nikos' team, this system would probably end up being a case of "we score 4, you score 5". There would be a lot of gaps and holes for the likes of Essien and Gerrard to take advantage of in midfield, as I can't imagine Totti being disciplined enough to stay back. He'd be looking to move forward, which would allow Gerrard and Essien the chance to break forward, in their trademark style.

Totti could replace Malouda (although in a more central role) and the Frenchman could be dropped for Lassana Diarra, who would sit alongside Gattuso, which would also allow the Italian the chance to roam.

Preki is right about Figo's midfielders all being quite similar. I agree that the addition of Rosicky to the side would bring more of a spark to the midfield. In the future, a little change to a diamond midfield should work well.

i.e.

---------------Rosicky---------------
-------------------------------------
------Essien------------Gerrard-------
-------------------------------------
--------------Hargreaves------------

But I think i'd be right in thinking the 4-3-3 formation is still your first choice formation, which works well.

Back to this match, where I can see Nikos getting a lot of success is down the right flank. Joaquin could terrorise John O'Shea, and create some chances for Saha, although it's an unenviable task of beating the giant duo of Alex da Costa and Mertesacker, but he has the pace to get in behind. With Kaka there, there's always a chance he can do something special too.

Willy Sagnol could probably stifle the threat coming from Arjen Robben to a certain extent, so it's the dominance in the centre of the pitch which would get the 3 points for Figo here.

[nikos24]

Thanks for the comment people. I'll be changing my team next time around. Totti is more of a CMF in this game by the way, but apparently it may not be his best position. But thanks people.

[Nturtle]

Figo with more attack...Saha is ok when on form...but Figo has backup in many attacking mid-fielders!

[Barry]

Nikos has incredible pace up front, while Heitinga,O'Shea and Mertesacker are fairly slow(Alex is quite fast, dont let looks deceive you).

Figo's attack and midfield look of the 'too many chiefs, too little indians' kind. I like the attacking mentality though. Perhaps remove a midfielder and make him a winger, and put Hargreaves more central in DMF position.

[Highway Penguin]

Figo for me, but as others have said I think you could make a better formation our of the players you've got. :)

[Figо10]

A big thanks to everyone who commented and gave suggestions in this game, Preki and James in particular. I'll be using 4-4-2s most often in the league to give everyone a game and 4-3-3 in the cups.