Which is fair, but not based on the notion Zidane doesn't have a place in a 4-2-3-1on the left in the line of three, because he was brilliant there.
Official Ballon D'Or Dream Team (best team of all time)
- Thread starter GameOn
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That's not the notion, the notion is that someone else can be picked above him because that someone else is a better fit. All of these players were brilliant.
They should try to make a best XI for different formations. Shoehorning makes it look ridiculous and then you also get silly decisions like Cafu in there ahead of Carlos Alberto but even let’s just say you put three central defenders in there... he is nowhere near on the same level as a Baresi.
But some are more brilliant than others : )
Which is why Zidane isn't the first team.
I let you say the last sentenceWhich is why Zidane isn't the first team.
No complaints.
Shame that Iniesta never got BdO, otherwise he would have been my choice over Xavi.
Very well said. Matthäus is by quite some distance the best box2box player in the history of the game and IMO by quite some distance the best CM. He's probably one of the least controversial choices in the Dream Team because he'd be picked regardless of formation.The compelling part about Matthäus, and the reason why he is held in such high esteem as a mainstay in a myriad All-Time XIs, is that he could do a bit of everything, and mastered different aspects of midfield play over his long and illustrious career. In a defensive sense, he was extremely dogged when the situation called for it and he got specific instructions from the coaches — for example, consider his man-making job on Maradona in the 1986 or 1990 World Cup finals, particularly the former as Diego was at the peak of his powers. From the heart of the pitch, he could pass and move...and dribble just about as well as any other central midfielder in football history, often like a hot knife through butter with regard to penetrative potential. His end-product as an offensive threat was substantial, even as a young player with Mönchengladbach — and overall, he boasted a comparable goals-per-game ratio in league matches to someone like Lampard (who is exalted for his productivity):
And of course, his mentality and grit and determination-to-win was supreme. As good as Keane was (favorite United player growing up for what it's worth), he didn't quite match Matthäus in terms of the comprehensiveness of his skill set. And of course, Makelélé was even more of a specialist at his pomp. Matthäus was very unique...a real one-man-army, like a more accomplished and long-lasting version of Robson (one of the few central midfielders to come close to him in terms of completeness of play).
Additionally, he is proven in what was the greatest and most intense league period in football history, late '80s to early '90s Serie A — which boosts his profile to a considerable degree. Just to sample Matthäus' competition, Milan had van Basten, Gullit, Baresi with Sacchi at the helm, Napoli had Maradona, Careca, Ferrera and so forth, even members of the non traditional-elite like Sampdoria, Hellas Verona or Fiorentina boasted the talents of Baggio, Mancini, Vialli, Elkjær, et cetera. And he delivered a title for Internazionale after a decade-long dry spell, while bearing the burden of being of their #10 (i.e. the primary inspiration in midfield and attack).
When you take wide-ranging talent and unending list of accomplishments into account, he trails only Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller for German footballers — which says something because they also produced Rummenigge, Breitner, Seeler, Walter, Sammer, Lahm and so forth.
The chosen formation by France Football is ridiculous btw, and Baresi is the victim of this insane 3-2-5 formation.
Take out any one of the offensive players I don't care who because that's down to individual preference but playing Pele and Maradona as Wingbacks just to accommodate as many big names as they can is just stupid.
Perfectly said.The compelling part about Matthäus, and the reason why he is held in such high esteem as a mainstay in a myriad All-Time XIs, is that he could do a bit of everything, and mastered different aspects of midfield play over his long and illustrious career. In a defensive sense, he was extremely dogged when the situation called for it and he got specific instructions from the coaches — for example, consider his man-making job on Maradona in the 1986 or 1990 World Cup finals, particularly the former as Diego was at the peak of his powers. From the heart of the pitch, he could pass and move...and dribble just about as well as any other central midfielder in football history, often like a hot knife through butter with regard to penetrative potential. His end-product as an offensive threat was substantial, even as a young player with Mönchengladbach — and overall, he boasted a comparable goals-per-game ratio in league matches to someone like Lampard (who is exalted for his productivity):
And of course, his mentality and grit and determination-to-win was supreme. As good as Keane was (favorite United player growing up for what it's worth), he didn't quite match Matthäus in terms of the comprehensiveness of his skill set. And of course, Makelélé was even more of a specialist at his pomp. Matthäus was very unique...a real one-man-army, like a more accomplished and long-lasting version of Robson (one of the few central midfielders to come close to him in terms of completeness of play).
Additionally, he is proven in what was the greatest and most intense league period in football history, late '80s to early '90s Serie A — which boosts his profile to a considerable degree. Just to sample Matthäus' competition, Milan had van Basten, Gullit, Baresi with Sacchi at the helm, Napoli had Maradona, Careca, Ferrera and so forth, even members of the non traditional-elite like Sampdoria, Hellas Verona or Fiorentina boasted the talents of Baggio, Mancini, Vialli, Elkjær, et cetera. And he delivered a title for Internazionale after a decade-long dry spell, while bearing the burden of being of their #10 (i.e. the primary inspiration in midfield and attack).
When you take wide-ranging talent and unending list of accomplishments into account, he trails only Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller for German footballers — which says something because they also produced Rummenigge, Breitner, Seeler, Walter, Sammer, Lahm and so forth.
Every youngster, that actually doubts Matthäus' inclusion in this dream team, should be forced to read this and inform themselves.
True id swap Messi and Pele. So Messi and Maradona in attacking mids.Yeah, it can be devastating and I can imagine a team with the younger versions of Ronaldo and Messi when they played as inside fowards from the flanks running and feeding passes into Ronaldo is a trio I don't think it can be bested but then I don't know what are Pele and Maradonna supposed to do in that set up.
These formations are made because no one has the balls to make a real decision and leave out either one or more of Messi, Ronaldo, Maradona or Pele....
How can you not have Cruyff in there? It's a joke.
As a neutral, this “Scholes was better than Xavi/Iniesta/Pirlo/zidane” narrative pushed around here is frankly, vomit inducing.
He was not better than any of those 4, and you will not get this opinion anywhere outside this forum, reddit/united and from any non United fan. Sorry to burst your reality
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Agreed, he was the best pure striker the world has ever had. He will replace R9 (as the main striker) or CR7 (for the goals and if Pele moves to R9’s spot) in that list for me.
He absolute was and plenty do. Doesn’t get as much recognition as he’s a pasty ginger from Salford.
You can search for yourself for endless comments by pros and greats of the game who absolutely state that he was in that category of player, or a player that they all looked up to.
Look, I love Scholes, but not a single non-United football fan or expert rates Scholes as highly as the guys mentioned above (Matthäus, Xavi, Zidane etc.). Not even close tbh.
At some point we'll have 2 ór 3 more like those and it will be funny to see them in midfield, defense and even goalkeeper positions.
Never understood the fetichism of doing a Best XI of All Time when there have been at least 50 Top Top Players worthy of that Starting XI in the last 35 years.
There's no way Bobby Moore could have stopped prime CR or Messi, or Yashin saving anything in front of prime Ronaldo N.
Anyway, I see that AC Milan 87-90 gets overlooked once again, other than P.Maldini.
There's no way Bobby Moore could have stopped prime CR or Messi, or Yashin saving anything in front of prime Ronaldo N.
Anyway, I see that AC Milan 87-90 gets overlooked once again, other than P.Maldini.
Wow ok, so Scholes was backed by “endless” comments that he belonged to the class of the best midfielders ever. So why didnt he win or was even in the top 3 of any footballer of the year or BallonDor awards, something that Xavi, Iniesta and Zidane all had been in? Was he even ever in the top 10? Voted by professionals and journalists no?
Speaking of endless comments, Gerrard also had the same type of praises from football professionals. Henry said he was one of the best midfielders of all times. Zidane and Pirlo said the same. Pele mentioned he was the best player for a period of 5 years. Kaka even said he prefers Gerrard over Lampard and Scholes. You can find similar complements for Ribery, Robben or any other great players that played the game.
By your logic, was Gerrard as good as or better than Zidane/Xavi/Iniesta/Pirlo? Was Ribery as good as or better than CR7/Messi?
I appreciate that this is a United forum, bigging up your legends is expected. But the way this Scholes is better than Zidane/Xavi narrative here should not be pushed as a fact, especially if it was based on “endless comments”/he said grounds. Too many players had these compliments from other pros.
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From being under appreciated to arguments for a place in a team like this. Some people on here rate him ahead of Zidane, lunacy, and in no way do I mean to diminish Scholes as a player.
Zidane went to a Madrid team of Ronaldo, Figo, Roberto Carlos, Beckham, Guti, Makalele, Raul and was pretty clearly their most talented player. Scholes was never even the Utd player of the year.
People are seriously misremembering Zidane's spell in Madrid. He was insane in big matches but had a tendency to disappear in most of the games that weren't high profile. Really good player but lacked the consistency to really be considered the best in his position imo. He actually was way more consistent for France than at club level.
R9 is another player based on the "what if" instead of what he actually done. Yes, another incredible player that had the potential to be a lot more and was handicapped because of his big injury and lifestyle but he can't be considered a goat just because he had the potential to be the goat.
With that said, he was an incredible player when he was fit
R9 is another player based on the "what if" instead of what he actually done. Yes, another incredible player that had the potential to be a lot more and was handicapped because of his big injury and lifestyle but he can't be considered a goat just because he had the potential to be the goat.
With that said, he was an incredible player when he was fit
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Zidane? No. Iniesta? No. Xavi? Yes. Pirlo? Yes. I’m an expert.
Haha, either that or the formation will be 0 0 5 6
Xavi was better. Scholes was a better central midfielder than Zidane, Zidane was a better attacking midfielder. Not sure why they are being compared. Kind of the same for Iniesta who was at his best in a more attacking role ahead of both Busquets and Xavi. I'd put Scholes and Pirlo at a similar level.
Personally, Xavi is the only one in that list that I consider amongst the best of all time. Zidane was an incredible big-game player but he wasn't good enough game-in game-out over the course of a season for me to have him up there with the true GOAT's.
Amazing that people actually question his place in the XI. The only one that comes close to him position-wise is Rijkaard.
This is probably the best team anyone could have come up with. At least the most balanced one, with a good mix of playmaker, dribbler, goalscorer, and with strong leaders, organizer, enforcer, and multiple game changers and match winner.