Your analogy is not good. Man Utd is much better than England. Therefore, A. Cole got better service from midfiled in Man Utd. And Real Madrid is better than Spain. Owen scores about the same for Liverpool as he does for England.
This entire thread has been based on nothing more then reputations, it would appear that the origanal line ups and rankings were created by choosing the most famous players at each club and comparing the indivduals with each other. The great attacking trio's are much more about how well they work as a unit rather then their indivdual merits. For this reason all unproven partnerships cannot truly be judged. Out the original lineups I would choose Juve, and Man.U as the best trio because they each proven that they can score and work well as a unit . As for Real, their trio is without doubt the most impressive but whether or not their egos can work together is another question. Rumours that Raul and Hierro are unhappy over how their friend Morientes has been treated over the past month raises futher question over how well Ronaldo will fit in.
What about Roma?! Totti-Batistuta-DelVecchio/Montella should at least get some sort of mention, don't you think?
If so, only because of Totti. Batigol is getting old and Montella isn't in the same class as some of the others.
What is the obession with comparing individuals ? Roma trio over the past two years have shown in Seria A that they should considered amongst the top trio's in Europe. As Battigol being to old I think he has one good season left in him and Montella is one of most underrated strikers in Italy, sure he doesn't have the fancy tricks of other attackers but he is an intelligent, hardworking and lethal player which all teams need if their attack is to be succesful.
Batistuta scored 3 goals last season. Mybe the season before, but not his season. Montella is pretty good.
I don't think last season's pitful scoring record of Batigol can blamed on his age. A player's perfromance only gradually declines once they pass 32+ , not , as in the case of Batistuta, drastically nose dive over the preseason. Though he has a dodgy back and is knocking on in years I still think he is a threat, esp as a supersub role which no don't Cappello will use him as the season progesses. This could be the year that Cassano breaks in to team.
This is not even a question. Real Madrid for sure. Perm your three out of Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and Raul.
Smells like team spirit... Real can do well without Ronaldo, but those two sorority sisters need to get a grip on life. The game isn't about friendship at the professional level, and Ronaldo, provided he can stay healthy, will benefit Real more than Morientes or any other forward they could get. Besides, Ronaldo doesn't have any say over Real's decisions regarding their roster. He's still just a player, albeit one of the best.
I agree with what you've said about Giggs, but what I tried so hard and failed to get across to tpl was that what the public thinks or has seen of a player -any player- doesn't matter one bit when compared to what those in the know think about him. The original gist of his argument was that Player X is somehow greater because Nigel Doe can sit in his living room and watch DVDs of Player X winning the 19 whatever World Cup. That's simply not true. Then, it was changed to "The World Cup achievements made Player X great", which also is untrue. Player X is great, yes, but his greatness (and that of his teammates, coaches, and staff) was what won him a World Cup, not the other way around. You first display the greatness on the pitch, and the result is W/C glory. Yes, the untutored will see the video and say, "Wow! That guy X is great!", but the truth is, the worldwide following of the W/C made Player X famous. Greatness is not the trophy to be won. Greatness is a tool to be used in the quest for the trophy.
Erm, How? Beckham, Scholes, Butt, Steven Gerrard, England's midfield is basically Man Utd and then some, Keane and Giggs aside. Cole played with them all the time. Little fact in your argument friend.
1.) Mathis Diallo 2.) Raul Ronaldo 3.) Totti Batigoal 4.) Owen Diouf 5.) Whoever AC Milan throws in with Schen and Rivaldo In case your ready to flame, number 1 was tongue in cheek...
Nobody said anything about winning the World Cup. It's the hardest level of football, so a player doing well their becomes a truly great player. Micheal Owen, Gary Linekar, Paul Gascoigne made their names because of the World Cup, England won nothing. Case closed.
Those are some pretty good trios. You can't ignore Keane and Giggs, they would absolutely start for England if they were English. So you are saying England is better than Man Utd? That's laughable.
Their "names", if that's important, were made before the World Cups they didn't win. That's how they got the opportunity to play for England. The skills they displayed in club action caught someone's attention, and they were capped as a result. I'm beginning to think you don't understand sports in general, and soccer in particular. Actually, this is what gets you into water you can't tread, son... I really wasn't posting to you, but about you. Now that you're back, I'll point out to you that you can close your mouth or your browser, but you can't close any case Auria decides to deal with. You can put down the switch and back away quietly, or you can lurk and learn, but you cannot make truth disappear. My job is to see that it doesn't. ...BTW, the man's name is spelled "L-i-n-e-k-e-r", not "Linekar", as you have been doing for some time now. This is your countryman, your fellow English citizen, a world-reknowned soccer star and Golden Boot winner, and your ass can't see to spell his name correctly. Please don't embarass yourself and your nation any more with your "Case Closed" nonsense. The idiocy of a statement such as that from you to me, of all people, is magnified by your self-displayed ignorance of your own country's players.
Not better, but very similar. The midfield is often 3/4 of Man utd plus Steven Gerrard. The defence often includes Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Wes Brown and Philip Neville, yet again more Man Utd players, plus David Seaman who is better than Bartez. Seaman Gary Neville * Rio Ferdinand * Sol Cambell * Ashley Cole Beckham * Butt * Scholes * Steven Gerrard *Owen *Cole On paper that is a great deal of Man Utd plus playes who would get into Man Utd like Owen, Cambell, Steven Gerrard etc. Still trying to find excuses why Andy cole couldn't score? International football is harder that's why.
Whilst Gerrard and Butt are good players, Keane and Giggs are world class. As well as this the way national teams play keep rotating players then there is no consistancy and when Andy Cole was at Man Utd there were never any massive changes. As well as this Andy Cole never played under a top manager at England not like club level.
What is all this crap about Andy Cole? The geezer is shite as a top class forward. He was very lucky to be playing in front of the best midfield in England, and quite possibly Europe for several years. What half-decent striker wouldn't have scored goals? Anyone I know who I have talked to about this subject says that there were better strikers around, e.g Ian Wright, Alan Shearer, who would have scored loads more than he did if they were playing in that team. It's not often I agree with anything Glenda Hoddle says, but he was right on the money when he said that Cole needs too many chances in order to score and that's why he didn't pick him for England. Sven saw the light and stopped playing him and now he's "retired" from international football, which sounds to me like he's sulking. Retiring means you were asked to play in the first place you idiot!
Top scorer ever in the CL for Man Utd was still a great achievement. Dwight Yorke could only manage one season like Andy Cole with Man Utd with all those players, Cole lasted 5 years or so at that level. Robbie Fowler, Ian Wright, John Barnes, Jamie Redknapp, Stan Collymore etc could all be added to list of international failure.
The fact that despite Andy (or is it now Andrew) Cole's numerous tropies at domestic and European level and his fanstatic scoring record in the EPL and CL, he is still seen by many as a player who needs five chances to score one goal. I think this says alot about by why he failed to gain more caps at international level then less succesful strikers.
I don't uderstand what you are saying. Ronaldo just joined Madrid. You can't say he will benefit Madrid more than any other striker. Real Madrid has some of the smartest and most skilled players in the likes of Zidane, Raul, Figo. You want guys that run like horses: R Carlos, Solari, Salgado..... Ronaldo may not understand the guys he will be playing with. My opinion is that Ronaldo will be the dumbest and laziest player in Real's starting 11. How much did he benefit Inter by sitting on his ass 3 years and getting paid millions in the process? I'm a big fan of Real Madrid and I think that it was a stupid purchase. They should have worked on increasing squad depth instead.
I think you do. You just don't agree, for some reason. I did say that, but I should have waited to see how they use his talent. A better post from me would have read, "R. has the ability when healthy to benefit Madrid more than any other forward they could get." I can't see why not. He can play in a system as well as the next World Cup winning, golden boot winning star. If he doesn't run like a horse, he probably won't play much. My opinion is that the people who make their living evaluating talent for Real have decided that either Ronaldo can fit into their system, or that their system can be tailored to fit his style. If they didn't think they could win big with him, they'd have kept the money. And "lazy" is not an accurate description of a player who worked his way back from two potentially career-ending injuries. I've never met the man; can't say whether he's dumb or not. See "potentially career-ending injuries" above. Inter took their time with his recovery. I hope you don't think he didn't want to play. Hot damn! ...and as such, you possess knowledge about player potential that the rest of us simply lack. I'll PM you in 2006 about predicting a winner. We can both get rich...