We’re almost at the final lap as we enter the penultimate formation within season 9… The 5-4-1B is a formation that many will consider to be the orthodox one that we’re all used to as fans. Although it does have a similarity in terms of how it looks in its base form to the 5-2-3 (which is coming up in our final episode), it is more of a formation that consists of the same set up as its ‘A’ side counterpart with the major difference being in the midfield region where we have more of a flat 4 rather than a diamond.
DEFENCE
De Gea went on to win United’s player of the season for 3 consecutive years during a time frame where he was well regarded as the best GK on the planet, showcasing his quite RIDICULOUS reflexes and producing ‘save of the season’ contenders atleast every 3 games or so (I mean, seriously… Go back and watch some of his saves between 2014 to 2017 and you’ll see why I’m holding him in such high regard). Unfortunately, once you’ve garnished a reputation as a GK who tends to make mistakes, it becomes quite difficult to rid yourself from being associated with blunders and De Gea suffered from some highly publicized errors during the latter stages of his United career which could’ve been one of the major reasons behind him still being a free agent currently within 2024. Regardless of this, we still have a spot for David within this team, and he will be responsible for simply stopping the ball from going in the back of his net. In addition, even though David has recently converted from a ’95’ rated GK in his pump to a now ’90’ rated one, those shot stopping reflexes have never left him and there’s a match winner in there somewhere…
In front of De Gea, we have what might be the youngest back 5 within our mini series to date. We start off dead centre with the Brazilain stalwart Gleison Bremer who has been quietly going under the radar as one of the better Brazilian ‘no nonsense’ D(C)’s who’s currently a mainstay at Juventus who have been riddled with scandal after scandal over the past few seasons… Although Brazil doesn’t necessarily focus on developing ‘Stoppers’, there have been some really good ones over the past 20 years with former players like Lucio, Juan Jesus, Alex, and the current crop like Gabriel Magalhães, Diego Carlos and the aforementioned Bremer. He will do a similar role to Acerbi (from the 5-3-2C epsiode) in that they don’t apply that much finesse on the ball but are solely responsible for the orchestrating of where each player has to be in order to make the defence diffucult to break down. To his right and left, we have the ball progressers, and what players we have in the Argentinian who has really found his feet at Villareal, and the Ducthman who has the world at his feet and represents total football to its optimum. Juan Foyth (the Argentine) started his career at Estudiantes before being quickly swooped up by Tottenham Hotspur where he gained a reputation as a decent ‘Fullback’. He was unfortunately too fragile for the intensity of the premier league and therefore moved to Villarreal in 2020 and has really never looked back, becoming an integral part of the team that won the Europa league back in 2021. Jurrien Timber (the Dutchman) has long time been a player that was touted for great things and would showcase his radical versatility via the youth set up at Ajax where it was stated that he played in 6 different positions comfortably before making the defence his home. He will be the one responsible for both progressive passing and dribbling, while Foyth will be the one primarily responsible for dribbling but can also provide an ‘overlap’ or ‘underlap’ if necessary.
We have two 89 rated ‘Wingbacks’ out-wide who provide different options on the ball with the Norwegian Julian Ryerson (who I always thought was American) being the dribbling and off the ball maneuver, while the German Robin Gosens (who has always been a German) is more of the crosser who continues the trend of German ‘Wingbacks’ that possess brilliant ball striking skills
MIDFIELD
In Exequiel Palacios we have a player who is one of the biggest beneficiaries of “Alonso ball” at Bayer Leverkusen and he has been nothing short of sensational for the current Bundesliga leaders. He has always had a knack for a pass but was considered more of a ‘No.10’ during his earlier days at River Plate and for the Argentina youth teams. But he also possessed an abundance of high energy off the ball and was converted into a ‘Technical B2B’ during his developmental stage at Leverkusen, and now he operates primarily as a central ‘Playmaker’ who also gets around the pitch therefore mixing both of his previous roles well (Palacios is also quite similar to other players like Luka Modrić, Dani Ceballos, Christian Erisken, Paul Pogba in terms of his current style of play…)
Out-wide, we have two players who will provide a completely different profile whilst on the ball in Samuel Chukwueze, who is as direct as they get with his love for running past players for fun, while Federico Chiesa will cause his ‘Fullback’ nightmares with his off the ball movement (especially those ‘in behind’ runs).
FORWARD
DEFENSIVE TRANSITION
It’s the final stretch from this point soccermanagerites. Season 9’s finish line will be crossed this Friday…
The Soccermanager Experience 