The best players of the season 1988-9

The topscorer was also an Inter player (who won the title ofc).



It is not always clear who was the assister but Brehme had medium-long blonde hair IIRC.

Did not investigate it though, but this are the goals of the topscorer.

 

Here's an article by Don Balon, 19 december 1988

14° round. Real Madrid 2 - At. Madrid 1 (4' F.Llorente, 13' Manolo, 90' M.Vázquez)
Baltazar (6). MotM - Buyo (9)

15° round. At. Madrid 3 - Zaragoza 1 (13' Carlos, 30' Baltazar, 55' Crespín, 59' Baltazar -p-)
Baltazar (6). MotM - Donato (7)

 

Baltazar was a complete bust at CA89, him and Muller quickly gave way to the relatively unkown Bebeto and Romario as the starting duo up front.

 

If you pick Eric Di Meco then you should add Manuel Amoros I think. Except the fact Di Meco won more trophies he didn't have a better season at club level. Plus Amoros was still a lock at the LB position (or RB occasionnally) for France.

 

I'm new to this site, so I'm not totally familiar with how you base your rankings, but I don't see why you should omit Gullit from that list.. his 88-89 season was easily deserving of a 3 star ranking. His stats from the Serie A season that year don't look all that impressive, but you have to consider that with Van Basten back in the lineup, Gullit went into a much more of a facilitator role than he had the previous year when playing next to Virdi. Gullit did have some injury issues that year, but when he did play, he played spectacular. There's a reason why he was voted World Soccer Player of the year, received the Onze D'Silver and IFFHS Bronze Player of the year in 1989. In the European Cup he was absolutely dominant.

Consider these stats:

1987-88: Serie A: 29 apps, 9 goals. Coppa Italia: 6 apps, 3 goals. Europe: 4 apps, 1 goal. Total: 39 apps, 13 goals.
1988-89: Serie A: 19 apps, 5 goals. Coppa Italia: 1 apps, 2 goals. Europe: 8 apps, 4 goals. Total: 28 apps, 11 goals.

And if you want to consider dbscalcio, Gullit still received a higher rating than both Rijkaard and Van Basten for his 88-89 Serie A campaign.

 

I see.. he had 19, so he was just outside of your magic limit then. I take it only Serie A factors into your rating? Cause if you include the cups, its a whole different matter. It just seems odd that you are not giving him 3 stars considering he played so good that year.

 

I can see where you are coming from, although I would value Gullit as a 3 star if you factor in his stellar European Cup performances.

I'm curious as to how you base your rankings.. is league, cups and national teams factored in or how do you do it?

 

Considering 20/34 (aprox.60% league games)
But also, the Italian Cup finalist played 14 games that season. SF=12 games

So, playing overall < 20 domestic matches. One can said that Gullit wasn't a starter for Milan that season (no matter what reasons), imho.

But, an "honorable mention" is well deserved, i think.

 

I can see why the low amount of domestic league matches will drag him down somewhat. Gullit played 20/34 league games, and 1/9 Italian Cup games. Although it should be noted that Milan did not suit up all their best players for the Italian Cup matches. Van Basten only played 5/9 himself, for example. Gullit did play 8/9 European Cup matches however, and he was dominant when it mattered the most against Madrid and Steaua Bucharesti. All things noted, I can agree that Gullit was borderline 3 stars, with his downgrading from three coming from lack of games more than his lack of performance when playing.

 

What/who are not so favourite players?

EDIT: I guess Steven Gerrard

 

Can Vinnie Jones also carry your approval? In the sense of "not a great player but I don't dislike him." (or maybe you do think of him as a great player )

No pun intended by the way.