To say it short: no, I don't think so.... Among the most technical North-West Europeans who also applied it to great effect for other players, yes.
In August of 1997 Bergkamp became the only player in EPL history to have three goals nominated for goal of the month all in the same month. https://streamable.com/wnfun The last one is a particular favourite. You can see it in almost any Bergkamp highlight clip.
What I was referring to regarding legends like maradona not being capable of given a measured response to simple football related question(understatement) @ko242 You can tell Johan Cruyff was a learned student of the game a deep thinker way ahead of his time. I think players like Pele and maradona were just talented with a high football IQ on the pitch. Off the pitch they have nothing interesting to say worth listening to
Obviously we have seen that being a good player has little to do with being a good coach. Because as a player you usually only see the game from your own perspective. It makes Johan Cruyff all the more impressive because he was doing both, playing from his point of view and his teams point of view at the same time. Of the two, I find Pele worse. At least Maradona will give credit to other players. Pele puts players down because he wants to protect his own legacy. He sounds very childish almost 100% of the time. @carlito86 I always wandered because Cruyff is more likely to rely less on how good his coach is because of his ability to lead his team, maybe he should be ranked higher than Maradona. Just a thought. In addition Cruyff was also capable of leading his team mentally, not just tactically. So I might put him above Maradona, everything considered.
The legacy of maradona is a mixture of facts,myths and in some cases outright lies For those in our 20s and 30s we were told the top 2 greatest players of all time were unanimously considered to be Pele and maradona and the only thing preventing Cruyff from entering this exclusive category was not having a World Cup trophy on his resume this is an outright lie In 1999 Cruyff finished a meagre 3 points behind maradona in the Fifa player of the century award Three points!!! The gap between 1st and 2nd is huge and noticeable and is imo a true reflection on how they were perceived in the relevant time period In the Fifa player of the century poll many internet savvy kids who grew up watching maradona and not Cruyff (who performances weren’t televised as much as Diego’s Serie A of the late 80s and throughout the 90s was the most watched and followed league in Europe) This also explains the perception that maradona was greater because many fans simply didn’t get to see enough of Cruyff Even besides being the better man/coach if think we are in danger of actually downplaying Cruyff He was as good a football player IN ADDITION to being a greater coach post retirement That of course inhances his legacy Maradona could not run a games in World Cup 1986 like Cruyff did in 74 Maradona was really a one dimensional player even at the best of times. Rarely did I see him put it all together in any performance (being a persistent dribbling threat,creating the most chances and scoring the goals) I know a lot of people don’t like to deal with facts but maradona also played on a very good team in World Cup 1986 Ruggeri and passarella are widely considered to be the greatest ever defenders from Argentina Midfielder Hector Enrique won the copa libertadores and Argentine primera division in 1986 burruchaga was voted best foreign player in the 85/86 French league Valdano was voted best foreign player in La Liga 85/86 This was a World class team and dare I say in the form the players were in 1986 a legitimately great team It is no surprise that castrol choose 5 players from this team to complete their 11 best players Compare this to Castrol only picking 3 Dutch players not named Cruyff in World Cup 74 to feature in their best 11 and you begin to develop a picture of how overrated maradonas greatest achievement was (Overrated in the sense that he carried a average or barely good NT to a World Cup not that his performances were overrated because they obviously weren’t)
True true. Those polls are bullshit. There was a poll around 2004 or so, maybe later in which fans voted Zidane the best player in Europe the last 50 years. Which is utter bullshit. A bunch of 15-20 yr olds with no history of the game. It's not that they are young that's the problem, it's that they don't do their due dillegence to do research on the history of the game and its players I see what you're saying but in my opinion, Maradona's World Cup in 86 is easily the best all round performance I have seen in a WC, Purely based on individual performance. Every game in my opinion was top notch, except for the final. I heard the hype and was skeptical but when I watched it, his performances exceeded my expectations. To be fair to Cruyff, he had a bigger hand in dictating how his teams played. And I think that should get a lot of credit. If something's where to happen to the coach like what happened to Spain in WC18, a player like Cruyff would be able to pick up the pieces and lead his team to victory. In addition, Cruyff was more consistent throughout his career and had a bigger impact on the game and its evolution. For this reason, I am coming to the conclusion that Cruyff should be ranked higher than Maradona, all time. I would probably in my opinion, put him above Di Stefano, and behind Pele, and Maybe behind Messi. But i think with the right argument, someone could say that Cruyff was the greatest player to ever come in the game. Of course, if he wins that WC in 74, he is without doubt ranked higher than Maradona in most people's eyes I think. Sounds like a good topic for discussion.
your word against my how exactly this explains anything at all? you just unintentionally proved few of my points that part is open for debate i will adress your comment soon, explaining everything to the tiniest detail,... dont worry, i havent forgot you
Ironic, given Bergkamp is not the type of player that would stand up well to the standards you’ve been imposing on this forum. Do some research about Bergkamp’s scoring record against top 4 premier league teams, nah, make it the top 6 PL teams (arsenal not included).