RealGM

Group A

Post your lineups and tactics here. The polls for the first round of fixtures will open tomorrow, please try and get your tactics in before then. From there on, after the poll has been open for 48 hours the result will be tallied up and next round will begin.

Winner of this group will face the runner up of Group B in the quarter finals and vice versa!



R1
mercgold3 vs. Foye - 4-9
Arda K vs. MaliBrah - 7-5

R2
mercgold3 vs. MaliBrah - 5-5
Foye vs. Arda k - 7-5

R3
MaliBrah vs. Foye - 5-3
Arda K vs. mercgold3 - 5-3

Will add tactics later on.

i am not sure what kind of team mali going to play with so i'll probably make adjustments later on, but glancing over his players i see he has fullbacks and mahrez that are good at dribbling and can make dangerous passes, so i'll use my wingers little deeper to limit their space. he is bit offensively challenged in the middle of the pitch so i can afford to play rakitic more forward. he has some solid defensive players but ronaldo's brilliance and costa's finishing should be enough to get a result. push comes to shove i'll make sure costa gives boateng a wet willie and watch boateng get sent off after retaliating.

The fabled 4-5-2 I see

Not a bad tactical approach to try and sneak in an extra player. Might work in Süper Lig.

This forum is awesome.

oops, blame it on the alcohol

Againt Foye - Wolves fans matchup to start



Subs:

Stones
D.Silva
Gabriel Jesus
Gabriel Barbosa

Yaya will leave lots and lots of space for me , especially on the counter. I have a solid counter attacking trio up front as well as full backs. My CM's can cover the space they leave behind. I can bring on Motta to help close down space and retain and recycle possession if I need to shut down a game or get a goal.

Subs: Motta , Campbell , Christensen , Rafinha

I went with Foye over mercgold, and a MaliBrah/Arda K draw here.

mercgold's team is loaded with creative types and I like the attacking threat it possesses, but I'm not too sure how it would stack up defensively. I think Foye's team has a better overall balance and I think Zlatan's presence and technical arsenal would give Romagnoli and Koulibaly fits, allowing space for Ribery, Hamsik and Koke to open up. I also feel like Foye's line-up offers better width and would be in better shape to defend against mercgold's more centrally inclined midfield, where Rodriguez on the overlap is his only real option on the left flank. Would probably be a great match, but I give this one to Foye.

MaliBrah and Arda's match has 'draw' written all over it, imo. Lots of good attacking talent (not to mention Ronaldo) but two superlative back fours would keep the scoring low. Yaya is definitely a defensive weakness for Arda though, Mali's midfield might find a little more space if he's his usual lazy self, but he's also capable of producing baffling moments of sheer brilliance on offence which I think counter-balances that negative to some extent.

I think both of these teams would thrive more on the counter, but judging by the shapes I believe there wouldn't be too many opportunities to break for either side. I'm not confident picking one over the other, so I went with a draw.

hard to pick a side in foye/merc, couldnt vote but probably would've gone with a high scoring tie. both defenses bit underwhelming, foye's better as silva obviously a beast but dont really like rest of his back four defensively. offensively both solid but i think higuain would get better service than zlatan, and since this is an early round matchup it is not the time for higuain to choke yet. also i dont consider ribery as a player that has the fitness and stamina to be an important factor as a starter.

in arda/malibrah matchup, i am definitely picking arda's team. i just dont see any faults on arda's team, perfection of that team only rivaled by physique of its manager.

mercgold3 v Foye is a fascinating match-up of two very even teams that would each be more effective with small alterations. We're essentially looking at two off-balance teams and a 4 v 4 in midfield. I feel like Foye's side would end up with more possession and spend more time in the opposition's third. I don't think mercgold3's team can contain Ibrahimovic if they endure consistent pressure. On the other hand, Foye's left-side (not just the LB & LW combo) is terribly weak and open to being exploited on the counter. This one is a draw for me.

I have questions about Mali's forwards but his defence & midfield combination is beautifully consistent in style and Arda's midfield is a disaster (sure, maybe Yaya Toure can still be a deep player, but he needs to surrounded by Vidals and Gattusos, not be paired with a playmaker, a pure winger, and left on an island), so this is an easy win for Mali's side for me despite Arda's potent pairing upfront.

Foye vs mercgold3 = the possession will be essentially split, and both teams will get their chances in the box, I'm just not convinced Higuain will match up against elite tower men who have chemistry playing with each other on both club and national team. Meanwhile Zlatan will have a field day with the crosses he will get from Ribery and the channel passes from Koke.

Advantage Foye

Arda K vs Malibrah = Really close matchup, they both have things that stand out. Mali has a very fluid midfield that can operate very efficiently moving forward, but I'm not convinced the top 3 will get it done against a veteran back 4. Walker will cancel out Martial enough to prevent a real threat there and Mahrez might get a few knocks to attack the net but not enough to convince a win.

Arda is strong up front, however not convinced Rakitic is good enough to make a difference right behind Ronaldo and Costa. Maybe a 2 CM lineup is better option as this will allow Yaya to attack more often instead of focusing on being a DM. Wingers playing deep will allow the team to get many chances but will also expose it to many.


Moderate scoring Tie. No advantage to either teams.

Foye defeats mercgold3 - 9-4.
Arda K defeats MaliBrah - 7-5.

Subs:

João Mario
David Silva
Payet
Gabriel Barbosa

thought I would win comfortably , dang. This ones a must win for me now

Vs. Foye



Subs:

Draxler
Matip
Khedira
Cuadrado

going with the same lineup I had before BTW , sorry If I didn't make it clear

Going for a draw on Mali v merc. I don't really have a detailed tactical explanation for it. They are (strong and) even all over the pitch and i just found it very difficult to pick them apart. I definitely like the changes merc made, though i must confess ignorance on Gabriel Jesus.

As for the other match-up, if you told CR that you're fielding him on the right, he'd have none of it. Are we supposed to include that sort of thing in our judgement of the outcome? I'm gonna assume he simply moves inside and becomes a striker. I still don't love Arda's painfully slow midfield but he's not facing an opponent that can probe the gaps and punish him for it. I don't think you can get the best out of Koke in this shape. It's a shame Foye isn't around cause his team could be much better with a few minor changes. This team can't defend adequately on the left. I'm going with Arda here.

Been busy the past few days. sorry for not posting another lineup....i will try it for the next match