Yeah, most Midfielders peaks later than forwards https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-sports-analytics/jsa0021#jsa-2-jsa0021-t004a I think it is fair to say Falcao was at his peak when he arrived in Roma tho (27). PD: I agree with Xavi and Pirlo but Pirlo was already a great player back 2003-2004 with 24 years and Xavi was elect the best Spanish player in La Liga in 2004-2005 by Don Balon with 24 too: http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/spanpoy.html
The first video is Diego 82/83 all his goals and attempts on goal The 2nd is playmaking from his entire Barcelona career which is basically 1 season and a half(54 games I believe which is equivalent to 1 seasons worth of performances for LM10 or CR7) From the apparent maradona does look very athletic in Barcelona compared to the stocky version of Napoli He is evidently more willing to take on opponents, his injury by goikoetxea served it’s purpose He never dribbled as much again in Europe I have to be clear in what I meant Tropiero his definition of “peak” is a player at his peak physical condition,a volume dribbler etc I was pointing out this more suited to Barcelona maradona than Napoli maradona I have on numerous occasions pointed out that his best IMO was in Argentina on several threads I have also pointed out that 82/83 is his most underrated season partly because of the European Cup exit and Barcelona winning the league as soon as he left Statistically he was marvellous 11 goals+10 assists out of 40 team goals(20 La Liga games) 5 goals+4 assists (4 games European matches) Here (below) according to your own and vegans info he was during 82/83 one of the top 5 highest rated players in the league The highest rated Barcelona player the dbs calcio ratings which I can’t find also substantiate this https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/is-zico-not-maradona-the-second-best-player-ever.1784415/page-23 Bottom line maradona being maradona his standards are different from your average player Those stats,performances,dribbles,solo goals attach that to most other great players and that is a career highlight season There is no doubt about that
I think you can say his peak was in 1980, 1981 rather than the club he's associated with (Napoli) but this is not a tenable opinion I think. Well, here, in the first sentence of your post, we immediately have what I mean with "misleading video #2456". We both observed he wasn't the best shooter or finisher, so misleading videos indeed. It's the same as the videos that show sweepers as Scirea, Baresi etc. as quantity dribblers in World Cups, despite the OPTA statistics clearly showing otherwise. In general he was a 'high risk, high reward' player. As for all the other things, including his stat padding against Apollon Limassol (Cyprus), that has been discussed so often but apparently you won't learn. He just had not his peak at Barcelona, nor was he particularly instrumental there (doing just as well in the 35+ games without him). Don Balon (published in Barcelona) did not place him at the bench of their ideal teams between 1982 - 1984; in his true peak years that wouldn't be a discussion. We also know for a fact he and his 'clan' (as it was called in Barcelona) actively threatened and intimidated journalists for getting the appropriate grade. I'm not interested in Tropeiro his definition. I'm interested in the definition of the starting post in this thread. Which, if true, is completely irrelevant for the question of the thread.
If you watched the 82/83 video of his goals and attempts it is actually easily observable that he missed a TONNE of chances There is nothing misleading about it (matter of fact 60-70% of the comp is misses) The fact that maradona was able to create so many chances for himself is what’s amazing(not the finishing) You claimed yourself and I tagged you the link: Don balon ranked maradona 82/83 one of the top 5 highest players in the league Maradona was injured in 83/84 and even so his form previous to this wasn’t amazing(I think he started experimenting with cocaine and contracted hepatitis) There was the huge fight against Bilbao in the Copa Del Rey These are all factors which would explain why he wouldn’t rank so high in a list that extended to 1984 In 82/83 despite all the misses,despite the absence of silverware maradona was still here an astonishing player This is not a conversation I initiated I just have a problem with tropieros suggestion that 84/85 is maradona at his peak when he has 0 non penalty goals+0 assists against top 4 teams We aren’t exactly talking about Luis Alberto Suarez who can become PL “GOAT” with this record The peak of maradona is/or should be far beyond this
Ok a mistake which doesn’t change the fact that mundo Deportivo is acceptable source material (otherwise you would’ve not referenced it to substantiate your point) Gosh why you so stubborn It’s not like I was claiming maradona 82/83 was GOAT or something It just often falls (undeservedly) to the wayside when his top 5 greatest club seasons are being discussed Was maradona 85/86(club season only)much better for example Anyways non of the above answers the threads question so we should just stop here.
Sol Campbell is an interesting one. He played many more games for Spurs than he did for us, but because of the way he left (and for whom) he is perhaps held in higher regards by us than them. So he is maybe a rare case of someone who is not associated with the club he played most for. In terms of peak, I definitely think it was with us, but then again, I'm a little biased
It appeared to me this weekend Jesper Olsen (talented member of the Danish Dynamite generation) is now mostly known for his Manchester United and unfortunate national team spell while actually he had his peak at Ajax. The European Ballon d'Or and South American El Grafico placed him among the eight best players in Europe & the world in 1983. (football scenes from 3:05 onward) Sadly, he gets now reduced to an ill-fated backpass at the 1986WC and the famous penalty goal (article about how it came about), but he was among the most skilled players of their 'greatest generation'.