I'm not confusing things, we just have different priorities. You could say I view things through more of an "impact" view. For me, I don't really care about technique for aesthetics reason. So when I say "technical application" I just mean at his peak, Ronaldo was able to use his technique to achieve productivity more consistently than Henry. I should know, I watched close to 100% of Henry's game at his peak (my name is a hint as to why ). Fair enough, I've seen less of Ronaldo's games at his peak (roughly only about 60-70% of the games, due to La Liga's horrible scheduling) but in the time I did see him, he was able to produce more with his technique than Henry could, imo.
Football is not just about technique that is the point, it is about technique + mentality + physical form + be in the right place in the right time (means be the franchise player in the TOP5 elite team). Someone can tell that many players had more technique than Ronaldo (FM 12-14 had 50-60 players with more technique than Ronaldo) but still many of them can't match Ronaldo's off-ball movement, determination, correct mindset, concentracion, consistency, profissionalism, pace, agility, desire, focus etc and that's why guys like Neymar, Ronaldinho never did it as they should have done. Don't take me wrong Ronaldo is very reliable player from a technical perspective and he could execute all moviments perhaps (maybe not as efficient or creative as some others in certains moves) but football isn't just about it. Of course in the case of Cristiano with a good, very good technique (rated around 17, sometimes even 18 in his peak at Madrid), that was not a limitation for him in any means to get everything he got. Don't take me wrong.
An updated list of the top 15 players with the best technique ever: 1. Maradona 2. Zidane 3. Ronaldinho 4. Baggio 5. Bergkamp 6. Magico Gonzalez 7. Cassano 8. Stojkovic 9. Messi 10 Isco 11. Francescoli 12. Romario 13. Recoba 14. Ibrahimovic 15. Zico.
Never saw much of Cassano to comment (or Magico for that matter )... the rest look acceptable apart from Isco ... really ?? I’m not sure I’d put him in Real Madrid’s top 15 for technique let alone all time world ..
You can't compare peers with apples, you can't put Magico Gonzales, Recoba, Cassano, Isco among others in any all-time greats list. This list about technique should be reserved for players who could be considered TOP100 all-time, nothing more, nothing less.
Not sure if he's been mentioned yet but Marco Verratti is technically flawless, despite not appearing particular elegant. Thiago Alacantara too. It's hard to make a definitive ranking because technique is such a broad term and everybody is looking for different things.
There are many players who achieved more then Magico Gonzalez, Cassano, Isco, Recoba, but very few have better technique then them.
@Tropeiro @Alessandro10 @celito It's between francesco Totti and Cristiano Ronaldo for the accolade of the 'King of the backheel' It has its detractors (as does the rabona) but in certain situations it is a very useful skill to utilise Really when you dissect piece by piece the entire skill set of CR you are left wondering how does he get categorised as anything but a genius of the sport
I'm really quite impressed with this compilation of CR7's backheels, especially the number of assists and functional passes as opposed to unnecessary showy ones that modern players sometimes do. Still, my vote is for Francesco. His vision, creativity, and the disguise with the backheel is something special. Which other players deserve a mention when discussing the best backheel passers?
Good call on Djalminha, what a mesmerizing talent. I also had Guti in mind. Let's never forget the undisputed master, though.
I'd say Magico was a better passer (something Ben Arfa never seemed to ever develop), a better shot technique and selection (lobs, placements, driven shots, freekicks), a better touch and ball manipulation. They are about equal as dribblers and at their respective bests there aren't many greater dribblers.
I agree with everything else except this part I haven't seen magico gonzalez in his cadiz stint weave past 3-4 players with relative ease doing so multiple times His dribbling style was more comparable to lets say ronaldinho More of a trickster than a pure dribbler A pure dribbler is a messi,baggio,sivori,hazard,george best,ben arfa etc I think maradona merged the best of both I wouldn't even put ronaldo de lima in this bracket That's not to say he was less dangerous of whatever But he relied on his physical attributes much more and his repertoire of tricks Examples of R9 96/97 weaving past 3-4 players without being dispossessed or fouled are few and far between At inter he improved (significantly) Same goes for magico,ronaldinho They are legendary tricksters not pure dribblers
Not the fanciest Barcelona side, but they still finished 3rd. One point off first place Bilbao and R.Madrid who finished level on points. At 2:10 and around 7:00 you can see him dribbling and some nice touches to go past one player throughout.
I think you mean the one on the halfway line, that is replayed again? I wasn't sure at first, with the not great video quality and the lack of sound, what had happened at the end of the run, and whether he did a kind of running rainbow flick (which I'd mostly seen people do when practicing more than in games...and from a standing position not running) but I think the ball goes in the air due to the tackle probably doesn't it? The touch through his own legs to run onto on halfway anyway - yes I'd seen that kind of thing before although don't have examples that come to mind (on video or that I could tell you about) specifically right now.
Thinking about it again, Hagi himself may have been one of the ones I'd seen doing it (I can seem to envision it in a Romania shirt, maybe in WC94, although perhaps not for so much of a sprint but just to receive the ball and change direction with it...and I'm not 100% sure - he does let the ball run through his legs before an assist against Colombia of course but that's not quite the same anyway). The play against PSV wasn't one I was aware of though, or I didn't recall it at least.
Just looks like a quick first directional touch and run. Not saying it's easy, but don't think there is a name for it.