I Play Chop Boss For The First Qualifier

September 2nd, 2008 | By: Greg | 4 Comments »

It’s way too simple and a lot less fun to guess how this team will be placed on the field by Boss Queiroz. I’d rather go with some crazy ideas, ball ‘em up, and toss them up against the wall to see what shit sticks. Yes, I play with poop.

Since you can probably afford to dick around with the lineup against Malta, I’d put the following players on the pitch in the following formation, with an explanation of tactics afterward:

My Completely Insane (maybe) Portuguesian Primary XI

Danny – Nani – Simão
Deco – João Moutinho – Maniche
Antunes – Pepe – Ricardo Carvalho – Bosingwa
Quim

See something missing? Yeah, no true striker is in the lineup. Since debutante Yannick and Hugo Almeida are the only true strikers in the team (sorry, Nuno, you haven’t been a “striker” for some time) I think this is an interesting way to attack Malta. The 4-6-0 formation isn’t a completely unheard of beast, as Luciano Spaletti’s Roma squad of a few years ago is credited with birthing it and some have suggested that Sir Alex Ferguson uses the same system to some degree at Manchester United.

If Malta aren’t disciplined or smart enough to run a zonal marking scheme, the creative players up front along with the crazy runs forward by Pepe and Bosingwa will be able to shred the defense, no matter how many players Malta wish to play back. The danger in a team trying the “park the bus” in front of the goal against this complement of Chops is that Bosingwa and Pepe will be more than happy to add to the attack while Ricky Carvalho and Antunes have a picnic of cheese sandwiches and Sagres with Quim. I don’t care if you have the entire population of Malta laying in front of the net at that point, it would be an attack that would be hard to keep under five goals… at the half.

So what do you think? Am I completely out of my mind? Should we play it safe, go with a standard formation and take the three points against the Maltese Falcons? Or should we be a bit dangerous and if it doesn’t work simply switch at the half? If you’re going to propose alternative formations, tactics, etc, please don’t guess at what you think Queiroz is going to do. We’ll do the more serious thinking later on in the week. For now, let’s fantasize about the formation like how I fantasize about your sister. Keep tissues by the keyboard, that’s what I do.

Tags: Euro 2008

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Comments

By Pedro | September 2nd, 2008 at 8:25 pm

Not, you´re not out of your mind. I´d just place Danny in the middle rather than Nani.
Danny´s been playing great and so has Pedro Mendes – just scored in the scotish derby and was man of the match. But I believe Queiroz will put a more conservative midfield than Mendes already. So, your guess is as good as mine.
Not too sure whether he´ll start with Maniche though. He´s tried Carlos Martins, so who knows… We shouldn´t forget Deco + Maniche + Pedro Mendes won the champs together in FC Porto´s midfield…
I think he´ll start with a striker, cos Danny all alone up front, dunno…
Anyway, don´t let yourself be fooled by Malta – it´s always difficult to leave there with points… And 3 days later, Denmark… Then the midfield and defense must be like clockwork, but we all know it won´t…
Who knows, maybe we´ll even see a 4-4-2 with Danny + striker if he subs Deco… I´d love to see Yannick up front together with Danny, but I´m not sure if he´s ready. Anyway, right now anything sounds like a better option than Nuno Gomes or Almeida… Almeida could be good to wear down the defense even if he doesn´t score, which would not be too surprising…

At the end of the day, PT ALL THE WAY!!! FORÇA!

Posted from Netherlands

By Christian | September 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 am

If I were playing this game on FIFA I’d go:
Quim
Bosingwa-Carvalho-Pepe-Antunes
Maniche
Nani-Deco-Simao
Yannick-Danny

I mean the midfield could switch around for all I care. I’d be happy seeing Moutinho, Martins, or Mendes in there instead of who I have. As always, we have a plethora of options in mid so it doesn’t really matter to me as long as Petit and Tiago are not around (PS Did you hear about Tiago locking the Juventus president in the bathroom????)

I really want to see Yannick in this game. Plain and simple, the kid needs to play. I wouldn’t seeing more of Hugo b/c he could probably get a goal and maybe boost his confidence. Also, Danny is on a tear so he needs to get in this game.

A question I’d like to pose to everyone: What are we going to do once Ronaldo and Quaresma come back?

Posted from United States

By Pedro | September 3rd, 2008 at 6:28 pm

Sit and watch…

BTW, Quaresminha finally managed to go to Inter, even if it meant FCP getting half the price they wanted. Or something like that… Fact is they got Pelé and I hope the kid makes it…

Posted from Netherlands

By Julio | September 4th, 2008 at 7:45 pm

simao?
come on man how many times does he have to choke b4 he sits
actually against a crappy team, he may shine, maybe a good idea.
id like to see yannick djalo get a shot

Posted from United States

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