I didn't compare their scoring, in the slightest, which was the point of writing so much. I don't know i you've watched Euro '84 and the football they played, but Zidane never got near that in his entire career. That's retention and football for the ages, mostly orchastrated and dictated by Platini. Watching former world cups gives a better sense of perspecive on Zidane's tournaments. His pinnacle was Euro 2000, but again, that's par for the course for the rest and they outmatched it. Zidane did not and could not ghost at anything like Scholes' level.
I understand your reasoning and it makes sense and seems fair but, out of curiousity, how high do you personally rate Scholes in terms of United history and how high do you rate Zidane in terms of world history i.e top 20, top 50?
I have seen the '84 final and one of the beatdowns they put on in the group stage in whole. Honestly however are we comparing Platini's performance in that tournament to what is truly possible now? The stupidity of the qualifying and the draw gifted them the easiest road possible. Platini retention skills need to be compared with Zidane's against what they were playing. Oh and you could kick Platini out of a match. Zidane, not so much.
Platini was like that all the time, which is the point I'm making. It wasn't a one-off and all that was needed for him to play like that every single game was able team-mates, which is what made him incredible. That's before we consider goals, which is another issue entirely. Zidane didn't need to be kicked out of games to have the drops in performance that disassociate him from the toppermost tier..
I see your point and I have not seen anywhere the same amount on Platini as you so I must concede that point. And yes while you didn't need to kick Zidane out of some big matches he also didn't always need to play well to have the biggest impact in the biggest of games.
lol.. come on... read what you just wrote again... Anyway... the Zidane melee can be readily found on other fora on BS so I'll stop here. Not a subject of interest to me in the extended form. PM ~Teso with your last post. That would be fun.. for you... lolol
just got done reading the first post...wow. definitely made work go by faster! question for you, DS. what would you say veron's best is? he's practically been used as a retainer, DLP, and playmaker throughout his career. just curious...thanks.
Veron was at his very best in the period before we bought him, where he was truly amazing. From about '98-'01 he was used as a DLP who would come forward whenever the situation required him to do so and he was superb. During that time he was one of my favourite players in the world to watch. everything he did just felt right and his energy and work-rate were something else given his position. It's a shame we took away what made him so fundamentally good away from him when he got here.
I've been waiting all season for him to belt one like that and it couldn't have come at a better time.
I think we all understand Paul Scholes now.. Besides the goal, he did so much little things in the midfield today that help in keeping possession and defending... absolutely brilliant. He is definitely the MotM of this semi-final tie.
I screamed like a little girl when he scored....that is a legendary goal....well deserved given his work rate, and what he's been asked to do in the midfield as of late
One of the most beautiful and meaningful goal I've ever seen. Perfectly struck ball. Perfect placement. ORGASMIC JUBILATION!
By quite a distance too. The only others that came close to him were the Brown/Rio pairing, and Messi who was consistently fantastic despite Barca not scoring.
*applauds* good performance mr.scholes... dark savante got onto me last week when i criticized him for what i thought was a poor performance...and i stand by that (sorry DS). this match was much better...and it is not just the goal, the goal was the cherry on top, it was everything else. the little quick passes in traffic to keep possession, the pinpoint 35 yard balls that switched play, his positional sense in the second half, et al...just a nice match all around...a player I admire a lot. Oh, and I guess I will go ahead and give my congratulations here in this thread...good luck in the final, I have a feeling it will be you and liverpool...I just hope your team doesn't let them get 6, have to keep milan and them separated by a multi-title difference.