Most influential footballers in terms of their style of play

Raees

Pythagoras in Boots
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Which footballers do you think have had the biggest influence on younger generation of players coming through due to their styles of play, i.e. kids looking up to them as templates of how the game should be played and mimicking their approach to the game, styles of dribbling, kicking the ball etc etc..

Do more youngsters coming through, play more like Cristiano Ronaldo or do we see more players want to imitate Messi... for example looking at the current generation of stars, who would you say has had the biggest impact on them stylistically from generations gone by.

This doesn't have to limited to just outfield players..on the goalkeeping front is someone like Van der Sar despite remembered as not quite on the level of Oliver Khan nevertheless left behind more of a legacy in terms of how the modern day keeper should be like, or in the future will we see more defenders in the mould of Ferdinand or in contrast more centre backs like Vidic.

From generations gone by, did Cruyff have more of an influence on how future generations of attacking footballers intended to play the game in comparison to say Maradona, who being left footed perhaps affected a smaller pool of players whom could directly look up to him as inspiration.

Which players influenced how you play the game growing up, in a tactical/technical sense?
 
One of the great influence for the future generation would be someone like Xavi. A player who is not known for individual brilliance or for picking Hollywood passes but for simplistic way of keeping the game ticking. A lot of young midfielders it seems are influenced by how he plays.
 
Beckenbauer probably, given the trend of liberos till the 90s, after his prominent stint in that position. Not that there weren't liberos/sweepers before Der Kaiser's started playing but he truly left his mark and was the most influential.
 
I think a lot of young goalkeepers are going to be looking up to Neuer and the role he plays for Bayern and Germany.

MyOnlySolskjaer said:
Makelele.
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I'm sure Makelele inspired players like Busquets, who in turn well inspire the next generation of holding midfielders who can still protect the backline through clever positional awareness while offering a greater range of passing and playmaking ability
 
Wittmann45 said:
I think a lot of young goalkeepers are going to be looking up to Neuer and the role he plays for Bayern and Germany.
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That's a suicidal way to play though if the team is not built to pressing from front.
 
Yeah, Xavi probably changed/ influenced football more than anyone else from this generation.
 
Luis Ronaldo? Nearly every striker points to him as an influence or an idol.
 
Ronaldinho will be up there. So many players try the skills he used to do all the time.
 
I can't really think of a trend. People are saying Ronaldhinio but Ronaldhinio but barely any one actually plays in that style which would make him one of the least influential oddly enough.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
I can't really think of a trend. People are saying Ronaldhinio but Ronaldhinio but barely any one actually plays in that style which would make him one of the least influential oddly enough.
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Neymar, Hazard, Sterling, Depay.. playmaker/wingers who like to drift in and try to imitate him in some sense?
 
Everybody tried a Beckham style free kick when they were in the playground or down the park. Saying that, we haven't really developed anyone since who can take a free kick even half as good as him.
 
It depends on someowns own physical characteristics and skill set what sort of player to model their game on.

A diminutive player that fancies themselves as a playmaker will probably model their game on the likes of Xavi for example (Eg: someone like verratti growing up) or a big powerful striker will be inspired by Drogba (Someone like lukaku growing up).
 
Ronaldo, Messi, Robben & Ribery

They started the trend of right footed left wingers and vice versa
 
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Schmeichel definitely brought something new to the table as a goalkeeper. His style is based a lot on his handball experience when he was younger, incredible throwing skills and such great reflexes for his huge size. A true vocal leader from the sticks.
 
I think Cristiano Ronaldo will have a great bearing on future footballers. He kind of helped popularize the trend of wide forwards combining traditional traits like pace, guile and creativity with acquired ones - physical presence, aerial prowess, and timed runs into the final third as a pseudo second striker finisher rather than a creator - making him a more 'complete' attacking player than some of his predecessors.

It has been done before, but he kind of took things up a couple notches and set the precedent. Infact, a couple of high profile players have already admitted to basing parts of their playing styles on Ronaldo's - Gareth Bale and Memphis. Both of them bulked up significantly to get a Ronaldo-esque physique, both developing into high volume scorers from wider areas instead of staying on the byline, both increasing the velocity of their shots, both putting in the work to be an aerial threat from set pieces, both kind of mimicking the 'knuckleball' swerving, dipping, topspin free-kick style that Ronaldo uses to great effect :

eg.
Coming from a wider stance, standard technique, narrower base, more rotation of the ball, curving trajectory.


Head on stance, wider base, struck with the toe, greater venom, very little rotation, and sharper dip.




To be fair, Juninho was an even better free-kicker taker with similar technique, but Ronaldo made it more popular.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Is attackers who drifted and cut in that new a deal?
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Not that part alone. . I meant they do that but their approach to the game, they try to run with the ball in a similar manner.. stop start, tricks, the way they pass the ball, stepovers.. Ronaldinho and Cristiano definitely influenced those guys in some way.
 
Jay Jay Okocha
Alan Shearer
Marco Van Basten
Jari Litmanen
Ronaldo de Lima
Pablo Aimar
 
There was a Brazilian player rivellino who was apparently the idol to Ronaldinho and the way he plays.
 
I think some people are confusing influential playing styles with iconic ones. I'd say Messi has an iconic style in the sense that no one else plays the game how he does, because no one can. If all the football players looked exactly the same and didn't have their names on their shirts, you'd still be able to point out who is Messi on the pitch because of how he plays - his movements, the way he controls the ball, and the way he finishes or plays a pass.

That said, as influential as he has been, i'm not sure if he is as influential as Cristiano (for example), even if there are other players who play in a slightly similar way to Cristiano (Bale, for example). Ronaldo has lead an entire generation of youngsters to copy his hairstyle, wear the same shoes, and play in the way he does. You'd have to be as good as Lionel Messi to play the way he does, but you don't have to be as good as Ronaldo to play in the same way - every school football team will have a Ronaldo wannabe, who will do a thousand step-overs before trying a Ronaldo chop. More players nowadays try back-heeled passes for the sake of it, or will take a free-kick with a straight run-up whether or not they know how to strike a ball.

Not every school team will have a player who will pick up the ball from the half-way line and [successfully] go past 5 players at once, cutting in from the same side each time, before side-footing every shot they take into the bottom corner. Long story short - Ronaldo's game is easier to copy, it's just that Ronaldo is the best in the world at it, while all others are imitations. Messi's game cannot be imitated because the style in itself requires professional-level technical ability at the least, and that is without the goalscoring and consistency being considered.

I'd say Zidane was quite influential - i've heard many footballers (mainly the slower, more technical ones) say that they payed special attention to him purely because he was, often, amongst the slowest players on the pitch. He also had a very unique style - aesthetically, he is almost unparalleled. Zidane could have the worst game of his career, yet still make it worth paying to see him simply because of how graceful he was. There are other players that have similar grace to their game, such as Iniesta and Laudrup, but none that combined it with the tae-kwon-do kicks and exaggerated aerial movements when receiving the ball.

Just my thoughts.
 
Cantona'sCollar said:
I think some people are confusing influential playing styles with iconic ones. I'd say Messi has an iconic style in the sense that no one else plays the game how he does, because no one can. If all the football players looked exactly the same and didn't have their names on their shirts, you'd still be able to point out who is Messi on the pitch because of how he plays - his movements, the way he controls the ball, and the way he finishes or plays a pass.

That said, as influential as he has been, i'm not sure if he is as influential as Cristiano (for example), even if there are other players who play in a slightly similar way to Cristiano (Bale, for example). Ronaldo has lead an entire generation of youngsters to copy his hairstyle, wear the same shoes, and play in the way he does. You'd have to be as good as Lionel Messi to play the way he does, but you don't have to be as good as Ronaldo to play in the same way - every school football team will have a Ronaldo wannabe, who will do a thousand step-overs before trying a Ronaldo chop. More players nowadays try back-heeled passes for the sake of it, or will take a free-kick with a straight run-up whether or not they know how to strike a ball. Not every school team will have a player who will pick up the ball from the half-way line and [successfully] go past 5 players at once, cutting in from the same side each time, before side-footing every shot they take into the bottom corner.

I'd say Zidane was quite influential - i've heard many footballers (mainly the slower, more technical ones) say that they payed special attention to him purely because he was, often, amongst the slowest players on the pitch. He also had a very unique style - aesthetically, he is almost unparalleled. Zidane could have the worst game of his career, yet still make it worth paying to see him simply because of how graceful he was. There are other players that have similar grace to their game, such as Iniesta and Laudrup, but none that combined it with the tae-kwon-do kicks and exaggerated aerial movements when receiving the ball.

Just my thoughts.
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Great post.
 
Teddy Sheringham was a bit of a different type of striker than what England usually produced. In the late 90s playing the Sheringham role essentially meant you were a striker with no pace that didn't score many goals but had an eye for a pass. Now the withdrawn striker role is pretty old hat, but Teddy made it in vogue.
 
Bugzy said:
Great post.
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Thanks mate.

I'd also add that I agree with @Cal? - Ronaldo, Robben, Ribery etc really started a trend of wingers who played on the side of their weaker foot. Throughout history there have been players that did that, but it was always quite unorthodox until the early 2000s. That said, that is also a reflection on how the game has evolved (partly due to those said players, of course), and not just the players themselves - the same way that full-backs are more winger-like now (in part, due to wingers cutting in more and leaving space to occupy out wide), for example, or how less top teams play with two strikers (perhaps also related to modern wingers, as it means the wide players score more goals).
 
Cafu and Roberto Carlos?

Nowadays it's expected that full backs form part of a team's attack, whether that's through making runs and overlaps to help out the winger/wide forward in front them or through crossing for assists. I get the feeling that it's become almost as important as whether the player can actually defend properly. Those two were the first I remember watching that played basically as wing backs who would pose serious attacking threat and I think they would have inspired the likes of Dani Alves, Marcelo, Alaba etc.
 
Rene Higuita.

Come on we all tried to scorpion kick at some point when we were younger.
 
Amethyst said:
Cafu and Roberto Carlos?

Nowadays it's expected that full backs form part of a team's attack, whether that's through making runs and overlaps to help out the winger/wide forward in front them or through crossing for assists. I get the feeling that it's become almost as important as whether the player can actually defend properly. Those two were the first I remember watching that played basically as wing backs who would pose serious attacking threat and I think they would have inspired the likes of Dani Alves, Marcelo, Alaba etc.
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We have a winner.

They changed the position of full back from a defensive role, to an offensive one.
 
Ronaldinho is definitely a good shout in my opinion, I think he might have inspired Cristiano a bit. Around that time they were some of the first main playmakers out on the wings not based on crossing, but rather goalscoring, and I think they were also some of the first players to bring a lot of trickery into their dribbling and be effective. There's been tricky dribblers before, but none were amongst the best in the world (the comparison is to more plain vanilla dribblers based around simpler misdirection and speed).

I can also definitely say that they were the two footballers I tried to imitate as a teenager, so I can imagine its the same for many of the players today.

Fat Ronaldo too definitely inspired a lot of guys, and I'd even guess that Ronaldinho was influenced by his style a bit.

Cafu and Roberto Carlos too as Amethyst said, and Cafu came before. Anyone think Lahm might be influential, or no one pays enough attention to him?
 
Similar to Messi, I'm not sure if you can say (Brazilian) Ronaldo. Which strikers have played anything like him in the last ten years*? With the way the game's changed you never even see players dribble round keepers anymore. :(


* Aguero possibly?
 
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Arthur Friedenreich has to be up there.
He basically invented curl in the beginning of the 20th century, be it with the inside or outside of the foot. He's credited as the first player to deliberately use this technique. That changed the game quite a lot. Imagine back then, having all these possibilities all of a sudden after watching Friedenreich curl the ball like a banana.

He's also the player that scored the most goals in his career according to Fifa with 1329.
 
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Makalele.

He is the model for the modern defensive midfielder.
 
Beckham and Giggs were huge influences. Beckham probably takes the overall cake.
 
VorZakone said:
Messi and a false 9?
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Cruyff played as a false 9 before, as far as I know. There have probably been other players to do it too I imagine. Michels was a pretty revolutionary manager though .

prath92 said:
There was a Brazilian player rivellino who was apparently the idol to Ronaldinho and the way he plays.
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Rivellino invented the elastico (aka the flip-flap). Fantastic player to watch when part of the great Brazil side in the 70's. I imagine players like Didi or Bozcik also had massive influence as they were great deep playmakers.
 
rednev said:
Makalele.

He is the model for the modern defensive midfielder.
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Not sure about that, to be honest.
I guess his defending alone is textbook, but I don't think many players aim to play in his exact style, and I don't think many top teams want a player in his style these days.

Even someone like Carvalho appears to want more responsibility on the ball than peak Makelele had. I actually don't think any defensive midfielder is/has been that influential, but I think Busquets is a bigger influence, as defensive midfielders these days want to almost act as secondary play-makers more than defensive shields.
 
I think that nowadays there are a lot of players playing in the opposite side, Bale, Robben, Cristiano, etc. I would include in this list to the first modern player doing this. My culture about football is not very big but I think that 10/15 years ago this was not so common, for this I would include Robben or Ribery although might be Messi or Ronaldinho as well
 
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