The enigma that is Michael Laudrup

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giorno

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Fabio Capello has gone on record saying his reaction to hearing Cruyff had left Laudruo out of the CL final was "We won. And he's(cruyff) crazy"
 

melatonin

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Pity his era missed the whole create your own range of branded products cause 'Enigma by Michael Laudrup' sounds like a Christmas perfume best seller
 

kaempen

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Brian Laudrup was a great player too, but much inferior to Michael. Brian was on a similar level as Henrik Larsson, I would say.
 

B20

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Little joke, although I prefered his brother - how come he's never mentioned alongside Michael? Can't remembr too much but he wasn't much worse a player, was he?
Brian was perhaps a comparable dribbler, but had nothing like Michael's vision or passing ability. I'd compare him to a less prolific, but more elegant, creative and polished, version of Alexis Sanchez.
 

B20

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Behave. He was better than Iniesta. The Spaniard was inspired by him
I am not sure that is true. He was more talented, but Iniesta's achievements and consistently outstanding performances on the biggest stages goes a long way.
 

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Little joke, although I prefered his brother - how come he's never mentioned alongside Michael? Can't remembr too much but he wasn't much worse a player, was he?
Michael might be the best final-ball passer in the history of the game. Brian had few weaknesses as a roaming forward but he didn't have that in his locker.
 

padzilla

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He actually nearly played for United as Juventus were offering to loan him, because they had too many foreign players at the time, to us in exchange for a reduction in a proposed transfer fee for Bryan Robson. Robbo even went as far as to hold transfer talks with them but United wouldn't budge on a £3m transfer fee so Laudrup ended up going to Lazio on loan instead before returning to Turin in 1985.
 

Raees

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@Fortitude quick query.. most of the games I see of Laudrup, he seems to be playing at pretty full pelt.. so it isn't an Ozil scenario where he's strolling through games. Was it more that he looked for the pass rather than going for the matchwinning moment himself.. that is the criticism mostly levelled at him?
 

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@Fortitude quick query.. most of the games I see of Laudrup, he seems to be playing at pretty full pelt.. so it isn't an Ozil scenario where he's strolling through games. Was it more that he looked for the pass rather than going for the matchwinning moment himself.. that is the criticism mostly levelled at him?
His passing and planning were rarely questioned; it was his drive and forcefulness to turn a game that needed turning that was. You have to remember that he came through just in (or just after) the era of the greatest cluster of #10's in history and further to that, he had Gullit right there carrying that kind of spirit on. Platini, Zico, Maradona put a shadow over everyone else and they were the collective measure of #10's. All 3 of them plus Gullit were revered for turning games in their team's favour. The question was then asked why Laudrup didn't do the same. Baggio pretty much became the #10 successor after Gullit, which might not have been if Laudrup had fulfilled all if his potential.
 

Raees

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His passing and planning were rarely questioned; it was his drive and forcefulness to turn a game that needed turning that was. You have to remember that he came through just in (or just after) the era of the greatest cluster of #10's in history and further to that, he had Gullit right there carrying that kind of spirit on. Platini, Zico, Maradona put a shadow over everyone else and they were the collective measure of #10's. All 3 of them plus Gullit were revered for turning games in their team's favour. The question was then asked why Laudrup didn't do the same. Baggio pretty much became the #10 successor after Gullit, which might not have been if Laudrup had fulfilled all if his potential.
So touching on that point in further detail, would he become invisible when things got tough.. stop taking people on with the same conviction, show a lack of fight when the game got ugly.. only asking because he was bit before my time (would have been 3/4 when he was in his pomp).
 

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He is one of my favourite players ever, especially because behind all that talent there was a complex mind. I know very well those struggles when you are reserved, shy and get easily offended, losing motivation, etc. I too could dribble all my team without too much hassle or pace and then score in training but in games, a single bad pass would wreck my confidence and get subbed. I grew up playing alone against my friends during recess, grown men unable to take the ball of a single guy walking through the middle of them.

Mentality matters a lot in life, not just football. In hindsight everyone would do things differently and better but that's how things go and what also defines us. Laudrup could be spoken as the likes of Pele and Maradona but maybe all that success didn't attract him so much from the beginning. He was more concerned with things closer to his own reality.
 

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So touching on that point in further detail, would he become invisible when things got tough.. stop taking people on with the same conviction, show a lack of fight when the game got ugly.. only asking because he was bit before my time (would have been 3/4 when he was in his pomp).
Invisible isn't fair on him - he wasn't a bottler, per se, he just didn't elevate himself further. Down with the ship, if you will. If you've ever seen Baggio's heroics or any of the aforementioned from my previous post, you'll get what I mean in saying that they all had it in them to push every sinew when facing a tough opponent or team. Laudrup's whole demeanour was that of someone who didn't want the burden put on his shoulders. Both the Platini comment and the one's from Cruyff allude to that because, as I've heard many times before, he was supposedly absolutely elite in training when the pressure was off but couldn't dig into himself, when it was.

Laudrup was also a victim of his own ability in that it didn't correlate that the sublime things he was doing didn't match with what he would sometimes give. Another way to put it is that in failure, nobody ever questioned the others, but with Laudrup there was a question of could he have done more. If he wasn't so supremely gifted, these kind of accusations or the tone would not have blighted his career and even his management.

---

Zidane WC '06 vs. Brazil - this is the kind of thing someone of Laudrup's talent could have done with ease if he had it in him to switch on like Zidane could from EC 2000 throughout the remainder of his career.
 

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I am not sure that is true. He was more talented, but Iniesta's achievements and consistently outstanding performances on the biggest stages goes a long way.
I never talked about achievements. Just that Laudrup was an Iniesta with productivity yo keep it simple.
 

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My favourite international player from all time, if I had the chance to cheat and could bring some player from the past to my NT to improve us in Russia it would have to be Laudrup.

For those who like to watch old international football matches from the past, just watch Laudrup and the Danish team, one of the most atractive NT's between 83 and 86, not just him, Elkjær, Lerby, Olsen, Simonsen, Mølby, and very well guided by Sepp Piontek.

Even trying to compare with todays standards how many NT's can play atractive football as they played at the time?

Maybe Spain or Germany, can't see even Brazil, Argentina or France playing the type of football they played at the time, real joy to watch.
 

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Loved his goal celebration after scoring v Brazil in 98 World cup.
 

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Actually it was Brian who scored that!:lol:

Anyway great game from a great tournament.

 

Hughie77

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Top top player, and a coach, he fell out with those at Swansea where he made and bought players that will never be seen there again. Another player and coach who is under valued..
 

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Top top player, and a coach, he fell out with those at Swansea where he made and bought players that will never be seen there again. Another player and coach who is under valued..
:lol: They're in the Prem not the Welsh amateur leagues
 

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Way before my time. Who would you guys compare him to in today's game? Or is there no good comparison?
 

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I would never have considered the idea that he hadn't lived up to his potential, to be honest. One of the best players of the 90's, a Danish legend, one of the absolute key guys in one of Barca's best ever teams, over 100 caps, a long list of massive clubs on his resume. A quick wiki check confirms he won a title in Italy, 5 in Spain, and one in Holland, not to mention a sprinkling of other trophies. It's true that he didn't have quite the character of a Stoichkov, but who does? That dude is a cool maniac. :lol: Laudrup even won, with Denmark, the precursor to the Confederations Cup. An astonishingly good player.
 

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Undoubtedly the best player ever to come out of Scandinavia!
After him there was another player from Scandinavia I liked a lot during the 90's but unfortunately after USA 94 he started to have problems with injuries in Serie A, and when he arrived at Leeds he was a shadow of himself.

Tomas Brolin, who also played in a great NT Sweden had in Euro 92 and USA 94, not so atractive as the Danish team of the 80's but very competitive, imo somewhat underrated team who isn't much mentioned regarding their performances in 94.

And it wasn't only Brolin, also Dahlin, Kennet Andersson, Jonas Thern and Stefan Schwarz who played at Benfica under Erikson, not forgetting the keeper Ravelli and others.
 

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Loved Michel Laudrup. Unreal talent. If he was writing a CV out, he's got some references there. Remember how amazing that Barca side was? Laudrup, Stoichkov, Romario. Frightening.

Loved his brother when he played for Rangers, too. Brian Laudrup, McCoist and Gascoigne were fantastic to watch. My second favourite team during that era. They'd have done well in the Premiership back then, I reckon. They had that mix of a bunch of nutters and style, that Fergie's teams had. Wouldnt have won the league or anything, but they'd have been class.
 

Maagge

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Loved his goal celebration after scoring v Brazil in 98 World cup.
Actually it was Brian who scored that!:lol:

Anyway great game from a great tournament.

The best thing about that celebration is Søren Colding doing the same thing but wrong right behind him.
Talking about his coaching career, I thought he started off quite well at Swansea. What has he become since then?
He did well at Brøndby in Denmark where he won the cup twice and Brøndby's most recent league title (2005). After that he had a spell with Getafe where he got them to the cup final and almost to the UEFA Cup final, they got knocked out by Bayern in an absolutely ridiculous game (which is probably well worth a watch) where they probably should've gone through if not for their 'keeper or something.
Then he had some poor spells at Spartak Moscow and Mallorca. I don't think he should've gone for either job but anyway.
After this he went to Swansea as you know, and then he's proceeded to work in Qatar for two different clubs for, I suppose, money reasons. He's won a few trophies there. I don't think he'll continue a lot longer as a coach. Maybe if the national team needs a new one after Hareide.

I believe he's been owning a wine importing business in Denmark as well.
 

B20

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After him there was another player from Scandinavia I liked a lot during the 90's but unfortunately after USA 94 he started to have problems with injuries alcohol in Serie A, and when he arrived at Leeds he was a shadow of himself.

Tomas Brolin, who also played in a great NT Sweden had in Euro 92 and USA 94, not so atractive as the Danish team of the 80's but very competitive, imo somewhat underrated team who isn't much mentioned regarding their performances in 94.

And it wasn't only Brolin, also Dahlin, Kennet Andersson, Jonas Thern and Stefan Schwarz who played at Benfica under Erikson, not forgetting the keeper Ravelli and others.
wat.

None of those were anywhere near Laudrup's level. Zlatan is the only one that compares, excluding 50s footballers no one here have seen play anyway.
 

Luke1995

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Perhaps Brian Laudrup, his brother, is a bigger enigma. Some say he was more talented than Michael, but he couldn't do it at top club level. How do you compare them ?
 

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Perhaps Brian Laudrup, his brother, is a bigger enigma. Some say he was more talented than Michael, but he couldn't do it at top club level. How do you compare them ?
Don't think that he was more talented. A slightly better dribbler, perhaps, but he lacked Michael's vision