Interesting Best XI

Discussion in 'The Beautiful Game' started by Excape Goat, Aug 30, 2005.

  1. tony-soprano37

    Dec 5, 2008
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Personally i rate Scholes very high. Such a talented class player
    Same level as Xavi.
    Xavi by the way also rates Scholes very very highly
     
  2. poetgooner

    poetgooner Member+

    Arsenal
    Nov 20, 2014
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Even if I grant you all that, Edwards still wouldn't make it. Not on talent, not one potential/ability.
     
  3. tony-soprano37

    Dec 5, 2008
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Fair enough
    His career was really short.

    Maybe an XI with players who career cut short due to accidents/injury/addiction.

    Best, Edwards, van Basten, Dullens, Rijnders, Valentino mazzelo, come to mind right away.
    Maybe bryan robson he had Some long and heavy injuries without them he probably be ranked higher also.
     
  4. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/duncan-edwards.2087451/

    Agree. George Best has a much larger body of work as well, and starred while winning things. That makes it 'easier' to assess his best five years and his merit. How good and important he was, while he was part of big things.

    Dubious claim perhaps, but it's a bit like F. de Jong or Kimmich stopping their career tomorrow.

    All there is are two league titles, three notable games for England, and a EC semi final (harshly put). Van Basten decided multiple big finals (for three different teams) and is therefore an entirely different type of thing. He and George Best have a different profile and something similar can be said about Deco for example.
     
  5. tony-soprano37

    Dec 5, 2008
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    That would be a very strong team.
    Some great players had at one time in their career a moustache.
    Claudio gentile
    Roberto rivelino
    Ruud Gullit
    George best (also a beard)
    Gerd Müller
    Rijkaard

    Just to name a few

    Same Goes for a bearded team. Best, Breitner, Socrates come to mind imediately
     
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  6. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    He said that here, yes. The year 2011 was the first time he said it.

    https://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/feb/11/xavi-barcelona-spain-interview

    Sadly, most of those quotes about Scholes don't have an actual source. Which is logical because he was (rightly/wrongly) rarely the midfield figurehead/focal point/fulcrum in the way Lampard or Gerrard was.
     
  7. comme

    comme Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 21, 2003
    ----------------------Southall

    Gentile -- Stielike -- Bergomi -- Van Tiggelin

    --Gullit -- Souness -- -- Rijkaard -- Rivelino

    ------------------Rush -- Voller
     
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  8. tony-soprano37

    Dec 5, 2008
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Great comme i was thinking about completing iT. But you already Made a great moustache team
     
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  9. wm442433

    wm442433 Member+

    Sep 19, 2014
    Club:
    FC Nantes
    Great 80s moustache team with great players.

    70s has more depth tho and selecting a best-XI should be more difficult.

    yeh Rivelino is 70s
     
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  10. wm442433

    wm442433 Member+

    Sep 19, 2014
    Club:
    FC Nantes
  11. tony-soprano37

    Dec 5, 2008
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Some other note worthy.

    Leopoldo luque
    Zbigniew boniek
    Jan wouters
    David seamann
    Danny mcgrain
    Carlos valderama
     
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  12. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    Interesting/noticeable how there are many more defensive players to think of with a moustache than attacking players (forwards, strikers, attacking midfielders). For the poster boys a moustache or mullet was less attractive?

    Rudi Voller was one of the better strikers of his time, but strangely didn't win a lot, or scored a lot in the defining club matches (see for example his only European Cup season as exemplary for the rest). Possibly another one who was a better national team player, with some big goals there, as club player (four times rated as 'world class')

    https://www.weltfussball.de/spieler_profil/rudi-voeller/

    That and Scholes brings me to you previous comment. For many countries there is an overlap between the most technical players (in their role or position) and the best or 'greatest' players overall. This is possibly or arguably not as clearly the case for England and Germany, with to a lesser degree a correlation.
     
  13. tony-soprano37

    Dec 5, 2008
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Yes i understand what you mean.

    As for voller i think his strongest point (just like klinsmann) was his workrate and energy.

    I remember seeing a British program where also Matthaus was he told a story that for clubs and country voller and klinsmann where the 2 strikers with the fewest technical ability
     
  14. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    He was speaking about Klinsmann, if we have seen the same programme (the one where a panel discusses various great players such as Zidane, Messi etc). Voller was a technically sound player, very good actually. There is also a 'football greatest' episode about Matthaus where he talks down his own ability with the words "Maradona wow, Gullit wow, Marco wow".





    Voller was almost universally recognized as a technically good striker (or forward at times). The main thing he doesn't have is trophies, topscorer awards and/or goals in defining matches (for club). Although back then the benchmark for a striker was not 25 league goals.

    For England we have players like Hoddle, Joe Cole (of the 'golden generation' players) and so on who create a weak sort of overlap.
     
  15. Excape Goat

    Excape Goat Member+

    Mar 18, 1999
    Club:
    Real Madrid
  16. poetgooner

    poetgooner Member+

    Arsenal
    Nov 20, 2014
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Usually their parent or grandparent is Irish.
     
  17. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    Alternative team of the 2019-20 season based on best finishing statistics per position.

    [​IMG]
     
  18. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    Former Barcelona captain Carles Puyol selected in Marca the best players he played against ("ideal eleven of rivals")

    Buffon; Zanetti, Maldini, Nesta, Roberto Carlos; Robben, Pirlo, Seedorf, Zidane; Drogba, Aguero


    His contemporary captain Casillas went for ("eleven historical champions"):

    Buffon; Sammer, Baresi, Maldini; Scholes, Matthaus, Nedved; Gullit, Van Basten, Giggs
    (he left the spot for the 2nd #9 or #10 open and made only 10 picks)


    The most upvoted XI by the Marca internet lemmings was the one of Mbappe ("historical XI"):

    Buffon; Cafu, Sergio Ramos, Maldini, Roberto Carlos; Ronaldinho, Zidane, Neymar; Ronaldo, Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo


    The least upvoted by the 'internet lemmings' was typically the one of Robben ("best team mates to play with")

    Neuer; Lahm, Ramos, Terry, Alaba; Van Bommel, Lampard; Sneijder, Ribery; Muller, Van Nistelrooij
    (with as note that Ramos was almost always a right-back when they played together)


    Zlatan Ibrahimovic in his book "I am football" (december 2018) went for as best team-mates:

    Buffon; Thuram, Thiago Silva, Nesta, Maxwell; Xavi, Vieira, Nedved; Messi, Ibrahimovic, Ronaldinho
    Close and worthy of a place: Julio Cesar, Cannavaro, Iniesta, Seedorf, Gattuso
    (in his initial version he had De Gea instead of Julio Cesar, but changed it at the last moment. Interesting is him leaving out fellow 'cult boss' Pirlo)


    Cassano his ideal XI of players he played with
    Buffon; Cafu, Sergio Ramos, Samuel, Roberto Carlos; Pirlo, Zidane, Seedorf; Totti; Ibrahimovic, Ronaldo
    https://www.football-italia.net/152563/cassano-chooses-his-ideal-xi



    Richard Witschge his best team mates (Elf Voetbal april 2015)

    Van der Sar; Ole Tobiasen, Rijkaard, F. de Boer, Lizarazu; R. de Boer, Zidane, M. Laudrup; Ibrahimovic, Van Basten, Stoichkov

    Trainer: Cruijff
    Bench: R. Koeman, Bryan Roy, Vanenburg, B. Laudrup, Shearer, Guardiola, Kluivert
     
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  19. Gregoriak

    Gregoriak BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 27, 2002
    Munich
    #1420 Gregoriak, Jul 23, 2020
    Last edited: Jul 23, 2020
    All-Time Germany XI only with genuine left-footed players:


    --------------------------11
    -Hans SCHÄFER------9 Klaus ALLOFS


    -----8-Mesut ÖZIL----6-Felix MAGATH --10- Wolfgang OVERATH --7- Heinz FLOHE


    -3-Erich JUSKOWIAK -----4-Hans-Peter BRIEGEL---- 2-Andreas BREHME

    -----------------------------------------------5-Bernard DIETZ -


    ---------------------------------------
    1-Roman WEIDENFELLER
     
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  20. carlito86

    carlito86 Member+

    Jan 11, 2016
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    #1421 carlito86, Jul 23, 2020
    Last edited: Jul 23, 2020
    How do you know or not know if they are independent thinkers?

    Why is the automatic assumption that one who participates in an internet poll is a casual unlearned sheep

    In best form (peak)there are arguments for and against 8 or 9 of Marca's 11 inclusions for best XI

    Solid arguments that could be made for and against those players

    It's highly arrogant your choice of word's, grouping a bunch of guys together(tens of thousands presumably)

    Had Marca's fanbase gone for something like this Screenshot_20200723-122302-1.jpg
    World soccer 2013 best XI
    You definitely wouldn't be so dismissive

    Someone like Philippe Auclair a highly respected French journalist included ballon dor winner oleh Blokhin in his best XI
    And you best believe there are many Russians/soviets who genuinely thought blokhin in full flight was the best player ever


    Is he a lemming or uneducated
    The fact was for one brief moment in time Blokhin was the best player on planet earth

    Glenn moore a freelance sports journalists of 20+ years for the independent newspaper voted for Cristiano Ronaldo.
    Internet lemming

    Martin Tyler (famous commentator)voted for van basten in his best XI


    Tim vickery voted for Toninho Cerezo in his XI



    No surprise anyways
    Old people always think they know it best

    Educated fans:

    We did it first/better
    We saw it first
    You never lived that time
    It will never be the same

    The rest:
    lemmings
    Young Turks
    Casual fans
     
  21. Gregoriak

    Gregoriak BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 27, 2002
    Munich
    All-Time Germany XI only using players that were born in one of the 5 biggest cities: Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt.


    -11
    -Hans SCHÄFER-------9 Uwe SEELER----7- Pierre LITTBARSKI
    ----------(Cologne)-------------------(Hamburg)----------------------(Berlin)

    ----------------10-Andreas MÖLLER------------8- Thomas HÄSSLER
    ---------------------------(Frankfurt)------------------------------------(Berlin)

    -----------------------------------------6-Guido BUCHWALD
    -----------------------------------------------------(Berlin)

    -3-Andreas BREHME -----4-Jerome BOATENG---- 2-Philipp LAHM
    ----------(Hamburg)-------------------------(Berlin)----------------------(Munich)

    --------------------------------------5-Franz BECKENBAUER
    -----------------------------------------------------(Munich)

    -----------------------------------------------1-Hans JAKOB
    -----------------------------------------------------(Munich)
     
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  22. Gregoriak

    Gregoriak BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 27, 2002
    Munich
    Belgian League Champions 1970-1979 Best XI

    ......................Rensenbrink..............Lambert


    ...Vandereycken................van Himst................Boskamp

    ..........................................van Moer


    .....Thissen............Leekens........Dewalque...........Bastijns


    ...........................................Pfaff

    1969-70

    Standard: Piot - Beurlet, Dewalque, Jeck, Thissen - van Moer, Pilot - Semmeling, Depireux, Galić, Takač

    1970-71
    Standard: Piot - Dolmans, Dewalque, Jeck, Thissen - van Moer, Pilot - Semmeling, Depireux, Kostedde, Takač

    1971-72
    Anderlecht: Ruiter - Heylens, van Binst, Broos, Volders - Dockx, van Himst, J.Verheyen - Ejderstedt, Mulder, Rensenbrink

    1972-73
    Brugge: Sanders - Bastijns, Vandendaele, Leekens, De Naeghel - Houwaart, Geels, Carteus - Devrindt, R.Lambert, Le Fevre

    1973-74
    Anderlecht: Ruiter - van Binst, Dockx, Broos, Volders - J.Verheyen, van Himst, Coeck - F.van der Elst, De Nul, Rensenbrink

    1974-75
    Molenbeek: De Bree - Dumon, Bjerre, Desanghere, M.Martens - Polleunis, Boskamp, B.Nielsen - Koens, Wellens, Teugels

    1975-76
    Brugge: Jensen - Bastijns, Leekens, Krieger, Volders - Sanders, Cools, R.Vandereycken - van Gool, R.Lambert, Le Fevre

    1976-77
    Brugge: Jensen - Bastijns, Leekens, Krieger, Volders - Courant, Cools, R.Vandereycken - Davies, R.Lambert, Le Fevre

    1977-78
    Brugge: Jensen - Bastijns, Leekens, Krieger, Volders - Courant, Cools, R.Vandereycken - Verheecke, Simoen, Sørensen

    1978-79
    Beveren: Pfaff - Jaspers, Buyl, van Genechten, Baecke - Hofkens, Schönberger, Cluytens - E.Albert, Stevens, J.Janssens
     
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  23. PDG1978

    PDG1978 Member+

    Mar 8, 2009
    Club:
    Nottingham Forest FC
    I noticed a best XI of the Scottish player John Collins who had a spell with Monaco in France, as well as playing in English football and of course in Scotland including at Celtic:

    John Collins - the Team Talk XI - BBC Sport

    Edwin van der Sar; Willy Sagnol, Richard Gough, Franck Dumas, Tom Boyd; Paul McStay, Gary McAllister, Enzo Scifo; Sonny Anderson, David Trezeguet, Theirry Henry.
     
  24. PDG1978

    PDG1978 Member+

    Mar 8, 2009
    Club:
    Nottingham Forest FC
    There was an interview elsewhere on the web that I have spotted too where he answers a question about the best player he played with and says probably one of the Monaco players citing Scifo, Anderson and Henry but also Emmanuel Petit and Ali Bernarbia, but then he adds in the names of McStay and McAllister too. It was earlier than when he selected this XI and here he does select McStay and McAllister ahead of Petit and Bernarbia (in the case of Petit probably not based on balance of the XI anyway either, and perhaps he could have put Scifo where McStay is and Bernarbia at left midfield if he really wanted too).
     
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