As of now, who do you think should be included in the best team in the world... .......Ibra.....Torres/Villa Ronaldo.....Kaka......Messi ....Mascherano....Xavi Evra....Ferdinand....Alves .............Casillas Personal favorite 11 Ronaldinho....Messi Nasri....Iniesta....Ribery ...L. Diarra....Y. Toure Lahm.....Nesta....K. Toure .......van der sar
A team needs balance and a solid defensive mid, and Mascherano is currently the most effective def mid in football.
Senna destroys him, all ends up. A fit Essien is far better. Makalele is farrr better, even at his age. And there are more still.
A 35 year old Makelele is" far better"? Maybe 3 years ago. Claiming this now destroys your credibility and makes me believe you don't watch much of Mascherano for club or country. Essien is not a true DM. He's a box o box midfielder that is versatile and can play there as well but a true DM Mascherano is better. Senna is the only one that could compete with him as the best DM in the world imo and it comes down to a matter of personal preference. But as good as Senna is I have never seen him boss a midfield on his own like Mascherano has. It's not such a joke like you make it out to be .
................Torres Ribery...........Rooney..........Ronaldo ............De Rossi.......Xavi Evra.....Ferdinand...Carvalho...Maicon ..................Casillas
favorite: Eto Ribery - Kaka - Messi Cana - Hargreaves Lahm - Lucio - Ferdinand - Alves Cech best: Eto Ronaldo - Kaka - Messi De Rossi - Xavi Lahm - Ferdinand - Puyol - Alves Cech
You are correct and a team does need balance. Your best XI does not contain it though as you have a single central defender and two attacking lateral defenders as your backline. The inclusion of a defensive midfielder and a retainer does little to help matters. Your favourite XI uses the same system but you only include one lateral defender and two defensive midfielders which helps to provide the protection that your weakened backline requires. Essien is not a box-to-box midfielder. You have two kinds of defensive midfielder. The likes of Makelele who sit and use their positioning to prevent opposition attacks and then the likes of Essien who pro-actively go out to press the opposition and win the ball back. Obviously when the team has possession of the ball then Essien can join the attack but he simply does not have the attacking game to be classed as a box-to-box midfielder.
Agree it's not the most balanced and possibly wouldnt be the most effective in real life but it was difficult to leave out some of those attacking options especially when not many central defenders have consistently stepped up. In one sense, it is a collection of the best players in their respective position and that would include Xavi and Mascherano. If it were a formation to be used in real life i would take out one of the strikers and replace them with Nesta.
Essien always seemd to play next to more traditional DM's. Diarra and later Makelele. He presses up in attack more than a traditional DM would and he was never as good defensively as the others. He always had a knack for crazy , unwarranted lunges and he's not as good defensively as Mascherano.
I'm of the opinion that an XI should function in real life or it is worthless. You do realise that Essien was originally a defender and has played in defense for all of his clubs and even his country.
-------------Zlatan Ronaldo------------------Messi ---------Xavi------Gerrard -------------Senna Lahm--Ferdinand--Puyol--Maicon -----------Buffon
Lampard and Ballack are Chelsea's box to box midfielders, not Essien. He joins into the attack when needed, but other than that he is a defensive player, as Teso said. A defensive midfielder more specifically.
The last sentence is the funny joke. Makalele is currently 'farrr' better than Mascherano? I'm guessing you dont watch very many of his games.
A bit on the attacking side, but I imagine this team would be fun to watch. ------------------Casillas Lahm------Ferdinand---Puyol------Clichy ---------Mascherano----Sneijder -------------------Cesc Messi-----------------------------Ronaldo ---------------Zlatan
Best 11 ------------Iker Casillas---------------- Lahm----Puyol------Ferdinand----Clichy ----------Senna-----Cesc-------------- ---------------Riqulme----------------- -Ronaldo-------Aguero------------Messi--
Congratulation for the yellow and wow a great coach you are.... anyways here is my favorite torres ribery------------messi Riquelme macherano Senna lahm de-mihceles puyol maicon buffon. Kaka for riqueleme and ronaldo for ribery for best 11
Best -------- Ibrahimovic - Ronaldo -- Kaka -- Messi ---- De Rossi - Essien Evra -- Vidic -- Ferdinand -- Maicon ----------- Buffon Still formulating my favourite team. A fair few of my usual names have retired and I assume this is intended to be an active XI.