ask Shaq to handle the ball. you just said team sports... now you're switching your goal posts. An amazing feat considering they were all back to back. he was 40... and still one of the best players in the world still. all great teams have more than just one great player. Yet he did nothing without Micheal and Shaq and Kobe.. Jordan took 2 years off during his prime, Likely he would have won 2 more.. Can we get back to the actual discussion of this Thread?
Ok, since it is about Basket-ball, you can have that bone for yourself Francly, I don`t care much about it. (PS : Bill Rusell won 11 NBA titles, and 7 others, of his team mates also won more titles than Mr. Jordan (team sport, you get it ?))
I would go with goalkeeper. The biggest marginal improvement from an average team can be achieved by getting a great keeper. The first thing I do in football manager is buying a keeper.
As a varsity soccer player I know that the goalkeeper is the most important position. If we didn't have them, every team would have a sweeper stay back in the net so teams can't take long shots. That is practically what a goalkeeper is, but goalkeepers can use their hands and the other team can be off-sides in front of them.
Firstly, it depends on how we define importance. Secondly, that importance of a player's role on the pitch is, by nature, relative in itself. Yes, for argument sake, we can say that midfielders are the most important because they are the ones who are most involved in match proceedings or that goalkeepers are the most important because any mistake they make would result in a goal conceded, which affords them less margin for error and for every goal conceded, his team stands a lesser chance of winning. However, we can always turn those statements on their head. Controlling the ball can be countered by controlling space, while winning games may mean scoring more rather than conceding fewer. So, we can go from that saying that midfielders are more important because they control the ball to saying that defenders are more important because they control the space. Controlling the ball and controlling space is the difference between controlling the game and not controlling the game, which normally plays a defining role between winning and losing matches. Likewise, we can go from that saying that goalies are more important because they need to make sure they make no mistakes to saying that strikers are more important because they need to make sure they make the most of their chances since every mistake they otherwise make means one less goal while for every goal they would otherwise score enhances their team's chances of winning. The importance expressed by one's position on the pitch is based upon the definition of what's important and it's relevance to the player's role on the pitch. For the sake argument, we can say that for midfielders this would mean controlling the ball; for defenders, space; for strikers, scoring; and for goalkeepers, not conceding. In all, there is no one easy way to answer this question, but there are relative answers to this question.
Attacking MF (Winger or CAM) and/or FW~! Let's go thru history of the TOP10 World (record) most expensive player list: (in Euros ) 2012 Bale ~96mils man (WG/FW) 2009 CR7 ~80+ mils man (FW) 2008 Kaka ~70mils man (AM/FW) 2002 Zidane ~60mils man (AM) 2001 Figo ~50+mils man (AM/WG) 1999 Anelka/Denilson ~40mils men (FW) 1997 Ronaldo ~31mils man to Inter (FW) 1996 Ronaldo ~24mils to Barca (FW) 1992 Papin ~14mils to Milan (FW) 1990 Baggio 12mils to Juve (FW) ... 87 Gullit ~9mils to Milan (FW/AM) 85: Maradona ~8mils man Napoli (AM) 83: Zico ~7mils man Udinese (AM) 82: Maradona ~5mils man Barca (FW/AM) ... 77: Pele ~5mils man NY Cosmos (FW/AM) 73: The very FIRST MILLION DOLLARS MAN: Cruijff 73: 2mils to Barca (FW/AM) ... 53: Di Stefano (only) 10k man (FW/AM)
couple of things about his graph, one is we have to account for inflation, second we have to account for the increased budget from clubs. The correct way to do this really should be the % of revenue invested into a player I think.
You're right but that had shown with such an "exponential growing up in money vs time curve" (not linearly ) Lastly, it's not valid ... to justify the revenue vs paying price for players as the two are totally different witrh each other. - For example, there are 3 different cases : 1- Buy HIGH (but good in quality for team) and GOOD in revenue (% money in return) like R9, Zizou, Ronnie and CR7 ... (these guys provided class to the team and also a good portion of their image right back to the team) 2- Buy HIGH (regardless quality for team) and GOOD in revenue i.e Beckham to LA, Anelka to Anzhi,... (these guys ensure the marketing and image right back to the team, playing is secondary) 3- Buy HIGH and HUGE RISK in both quality and revenue i.e Kaka to Real, Carol to Liverpool, Torres/Sheva to Chelsea, and lately Bale to Real ...
GK. one good save can inspire teammates and save a game(Schmeichel rejected Bergkamp's penaly kick in FA cup in 1999) . one mistake can ruin a game. also, GK can score too, Cheney, Chilavert....
haha good point ... as you can tell a team could play with Zero FW/ST or Zero DF, but a team can not play w/o a GK? true
Gk if your team get slaughtered. attacking mid(look at bayern). But to me a position of underrated importance is right back, a lot of the best players on the other team will play left wing or ls, and will want to cut in from the left into the middle so they can shoot with their right, a good right back will stop this. They can also stop the strong lw from crossing the ball into the box. They are also important in moving the ball up the field as they will be there for support when a lot of other players will be better marked. If you have a good crosser ball it's almost adding another player to the midfield on the attack.(as long as the player has good stamina to get back and defend) Obviously a lot of this would apply to either wingback but i feel right back is slightly more important because often they will be marking best forward on the other team it seems.
I would say it depends on what level you are playing. From U-5 up to certain amateur level. I think the multiple-functions strikers like George Weah are the most important. They dribble, make the play, run fastest, and shoot hardest and of course score goals. These kinds of players are the most important ones. But in the highest pro level, every position is important IMHO.
In my opinion it is the midfielders. They are the players that have to have the skill of pretty much every player on the field. They have to be able to provide passes and crosses for their strikers or other teammates, they have to be able to mark a man on set pieces like defenders, make a tackle like defenders, intercept a ball like defenders, make a defensive header/clearance out of the box like defenders and don't forget be able to score goals like forwards. Midfielders really do it all for their clubs and let's not forget the unbelievable endurance/fitness and heart a midfielder has to have to run end to end back and forth pretty much the entire match!
We know know all of the positions are necessary, but the question is importance. Meaning if you were to draft a team and you needed to pick your best player for a certain position, which position would that player be. That's a more simple way to explain.
Central defender is the most important position. Every team should build from the back, a solid central defense gives the ability for other positions to express themselves. If you have a weak defense you have other players having to help out with that position, removing their influence in their actual position.