Which team (international or club) is the most well-rounded? Real Madrid would be said to be the most powerful or talented, yet it would hard to claim they have no significant weaknesses.
Real's young defense is rather suspect. They go on the theory that it's okay to give up three goals as long as you can score five. The World Champs are the most complete team, top to bottom. Great goalkeeping in Dida, a solid defense that's very skilled with Lucio, Roque Jr., etc., an amazingly talented midfield and the best attack in the world, with talent to spare on the bench. There is no more complete team than Brazil.
Barcelona?? Their stronger players. forwards: Kluivert, Saviola wingers and attacking mid: Ronaldinho, Riquelme (loan)Overmaars, Quaresma mid/defensive mid: Cocu, Luis Enrique, defenders: Marquez, Puyol goalkeeper: Valdes/Rustu Not bad. Solid players in every area of the field Juventus and AC Milan are very complete teams. National teams: France is pretty complete if Zidane is healthy. Argentina is a very complete team. Brazil is beginning to take the form of a complete team with solid and improving young defenders (Lucio, Alex, Luisao, Edmilson) and a remarkable crop of young defensive mids (Kleberson, Gil Silva, Motta, Baptista. etc) awesome and abundant attacking firepower (R's, Kaka, Diego, Adriano.etc)
I think that although Real Madrid dont play safely all the time, their roster is the world's most complete. Obviously their defense is where people will say they have a problem, yet RCarlos, Salgado, Helguera and Pavon are all internationals on top notch national teams. They would form a great defensive line if they chose to play like that, but instead they choose to attack up the flanks, which Real Madrid use to help them score (not that they need any). I think that although they don't necessarily try to play defense all the time well as a unit, they could be the best d in the world if they chose to.
Bayern, Milan, and Juve are the most complete teams in the world. They are strong in every area unlike teams like Real, Arsenal, and ManU who have major weaknessess.
Italian Giants a vote for inter, and a vote for juve. Hard to include Real Madrid, but oh so fun to watch. Who wouldn't pick Salgado and RCarlos for their backline, their offence makes up for most? blunders. "The referee was booking everyone. I thought he was filling in his lottery numbers" - Ian Wright
The two most complete teams in the world are Juventus and AC Milan. They are world class at every position. All of the players listed below are interntional quality players, most of them regular starters for their international teams. Forwards: Shevchenko, Inzaghi, and Tomasson for Milan; Del Piero, Trezeguet, and Di Vaio for Juve. Midfield: Rui Costa, Rivaldo, Gattuso, Seedorf, Pirlo, and Ambrosini for Milan; Davids, Zambrotta, Tacchinardi, Nedved, and Miccoli for Juve. Defense: Maldini, Nesta, Cafu, Kaladze, Simic, and Laurson for Milan; Montero, Ferrara, Thuram, Tudor and Conte for Juve. Goalkeepers: Dida for Milan and Buffon for Juve.
Actually,Real Madrid starting defenders are very good: Salgado Helguera Pavon R.Carlos is a great back line. Casillas is a great GK as well. The problem is they have no subs in defense.Now Helguera has been injured(he will play again this Sunday) and his replacament has been Raul Bravo,a left back.
And now that Makelele has gone to Chelsea, Real Madrid do not have a world class defensive midfielder. Although they do have some excellent defenders, they do not defend well as a team and they have no depth in the back.
Since when were Salgado and Roberto Carlos defenders? Yes, they play in the back line, but I'm not sure either of them defends that much.
They play in the back line, and both start at defender for their national team. If they wanted to stay back and defend, they could, and Real would win games 3.1, 2.0, etc. Instead, they pour forward, and Real win 7.2, 4.2, etc. And I think Cambiasso, if he isn't already, is well on his way to being a world class DMid.
I am not convinced about Cambiasso being a world class defensive midfielder. I think he is good, but not nearly on the level of Edgar Davids and Gennaro Gattuso.
As already said Milan and Juve have not just 11 world class players, but a whole squad of them. Every department is packed with talent, and they have no weak links. In international terms I still think Argentina and France are the most rounded sides. Despite their poor showing at the WC, both are full of superstars.
I'd have Milan have one of the most 'complete' teams around at the moment but how have Man Utd got a major weakness? In what part? Good keeper, quality midfield and RVN up front? How is that weak? Unless Real fork out some squid for defenders they'll never be the complete team.
I ain't convinced Gattuso is a world class midfielder yet either. He can run about and put his foot in all he wants but i've never seen him dictate a game that players like Davids, Keane or Vieria can.
Milan. Without question. Surprised no one has mentioned Chelsea yet though. Not the strongest in terms of achievement, obviously, what with most of the arrivals barely having touched down at Heathrow yet, but in terms of the pool for a starting 11, they are right up there. Gallas is the equal of any defender this side of Milan and considerably superior to anything the likes of United or Real Madrid have. In fact, 36-year old Desailly is better than anything United or Real Madrid have. Their midfield is packed full of peerless quality. And they have Hasselbaink on the bench because he can't get past Crespo and Mutu. That's depth, ladies.
Milan are not that deep. They play a 37 year old right-footed central defender at left back when Kaladze is not available. They start Gattuso at right midfield. Chelsea now have the strongest and best balanced squad. If they turn out to be successful this year it will be a proof that quality is more important than team spirit.
Gallas is not considerably superior than Ivan Helguera. In fact,I would take Helguera over Gallas any day.
Man U's big weakness is depth. If Ruud goes down, the team falls apart. When scholes goes down, the team lacks almost all cohesion. Even the players admitted that they where the weakest of the 8 teams left in the Champions league last year.
How can you say that Milan are not that deep? They have about 8 top notch defenders: Nesta, Kaladze, Simic, Cafu, Laurson, Roque Jr., Costacurta and the 37 year old right-footed central defender that can also play left back when necessary Paolo Maldini, one of the greatest defenders of all-time and still one of the best in the world, even at his current age. Chelsea is now stronger and more balanced? I think not. Desailly, Gallas, Bridge, and Johnson are a good back four, but not on the same level as Milan's starters. And they do not have defensive depth like Milan does.
Roque Junior a top notch defender?lol Roque Junior absolutely sucks.He is a joke. Milan has a world class defender,Nesta.They have some very good defenders in Kaladze,Cafu and Maldini(he was world class,but he is in the downslide) Simic and Costacurta are decent. Laurson sucks. And like I said,Roque Junior is absolute crap.
First, Roque Jr. is on loan. He was utterly embarrassed by LEICESTER last week. So I wouldn't claim him as world class. Instead of him you have Pancaro, who's better, although not the fastest lad on the pitch. As for Chelsea's backline - we're short of depth???? If you list Bridge-Gallas-Desailly-Johnson as the starters, this is the backup line: Babayaro-Terry-Huth-Melchiot Yes, Huth is an unknown (although he's played quite well this year) whereas Terry starts for England, Babayaro for his country, etc. Finally - short of quality? Um, our central defensive pairing start for France, and our "sub" starts at CB for England at the moment. I'm pretty happy with that, personally. (My only complaint is Bridge - I wish we'd have bought Chivu instead.) I'm not saying Chelsea are the most complete team - we need time to gel. But on paper, we have 2 great players at every position, most of whom are young into the bargain. P.S. Whoever said that Helguera is better than Gallas has probably never seen a Chelsea or a France game. He's much better than Helguera. And chips in with the occasional useful goal! (He's currently Chelsea's leading scorer in Europe )