The greatest sacrificial players of all-time?

[Fortitude]

Wayne Rooney essentially assisted the teams he was in by playing second fiddle or, at least, secondary foil to others with possibly only one season where he was deigned the player others would play for - the same season he was prolific, coincidentally - and despite that, he had a career some say was superb, whilst others believe his potential was never realised - him not being a model professional accepted - because of the supplementary roles he played in.

Karim Benzema was little more than someone for Ronaldo to play off of for almost the entire tenure of the Portuguese at Real Madrid, which, if you know of him as the amazing Lyon youngster, is a huge fall from the podium he was supposed to basking in the glory from.

As Ronaldo left, Benzema once again started to look like a proper player in his own right, but, despite all the trophies at Real, the Lyon Benzema can never be extrapolated upon and Benzema's legacy is essentially that of a [classy] stooge... or foil if you like, either way, someone who gave up a sizeable portion of his own glory for the greater good, you might say.

There is also the legend of Emile Heskey who clearly held back from super sayajin white for the greater good of the universe.

Following this mold, who are the greatest players you can think of that put themselves to the side for the benefit of others and the supposed greater good of the team?

 

[ivaldo]

Reggie Lambe and David Cross.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

That really ugly bloke from Holland that played for Liverpool. A defensive forward if there ever was one.

 

[André Dominguez]

Dunno about modern times, but probably in the times of Abraham there were a lot more of players doing sacrifices.

 

[duffer]

Peter Beardsley.

Emile Heskey

Eidur Gudjohnson.

 

[Pughnichi]

Park Park wherever you may be.

Was wathching Utd clips of him yday. Forgot how great he was. Love that guy

 

[King7Eric]

You could probably say Firminio is one of those. Doesn't get the plaudits Salah and Mane do but he makes them look good.

Pedro especially in his Barca days and first couple of years at Chelsea was another one who was a vital but largely overlooked cog in title winning teams.

 

[The Cat]

Toshack?

 

[KirkDuyt]

That really ugly bloke from Holland that played for Liverpool. A defensive forward if there ever was one.

you wot mate?

 

[tenpoless]

Fellaini, the only scapegoat to give his all to the club and fans.

 

[ivaldo]

you wot mate?

Obviously means Zenden.

 

[GuyfromAustria]

You could probably say Firminio is one of those. Doesn't get the plaudits Salah and Mane do but he makes them look good.

A lot of people don't even know how to spell his name.

 

[Zlatattack]

you wot mate?

That's the one.

 

[King7Eric]

A lot of people don't even know how to spell his name.

Doesn't get more sacrificial and overlooked than that.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

you wot mate?

Kuyt. Terrible forward in the PL but made him self useful by running around a lot and kicking people.

 

[KirkDuyt]

Kuyt. Terrible forward in the PL but made him self useful by running around a lot and kicking people.

He also played as a wing back in a world cup final.

And he's a massive cnut.

 

[B20]

Suarez to begin with at barca.

Henry at barca.

Ballack for Chelsea.

 

[roonster09]

Wayne Rooney essentially assisted the teams he was in by playing second fiddle or, at least, secondary foil to others with possibly only one season where he was deigned the player others would play for - the same season he was prolific, coincidentally - and despite that, he had a career some say was superb, whilst others believe his potential was never realised - him not being a model professional accepted - because of the supplementary roles he played in.

Rooney was so good, he was good striking partner for almost every striker he played with.

 

[B20]

Heskey was terrific as a genuine centreforward in his first full season at Liverpool.

Was then gradually reduced to tactical foil until he ended up on the left wing for his workrate.

Houllier really lost sight of some players over time. Wtf was that even.

 

[ashfritz]

Samuel Eto'o was arguably the best CF in the world at Barca, yet played right back for Mourinho at Inter to accomodatw Diego Milito, and win the treble.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

Milner and Delph were both seen as wonderkids at Leeds then became more utility-type players as their careers went on. Milner has still had a fine career and Delph's has been decent too.

I also found Gareth Barry to be much more dynamic as a player before he went to City, where he was a very workmanlike cog in their midfield.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Scholes England.

 

[Vooon]

Samuel Eto'o was arguably the best CF in the world at Barca, yet played right back for Mourinho at Inter to accomodatw Diego Milito, and win the treble.

Haha, wtf! I didn't know that, that's fecked.

 

[simplyared]

Cavani when Zlatan was at PSG. Or any other forward at any other club where Zlatan has been.

 

[King7Eric]

Samuel Eto'o was arguably the best CF in the world at Barca, yet played right back for Mourinho at Inter to accomodatw Diego Milito, and win the treble.

He played on the wing. Didn't play as a FB. Just because he might have found himself in such a position at the end of some game whilst defending a lead doesn't mean Mourinho played him right back.

 

[Tom Cato]

Ole Gunnar Solskjær? Prefered to contribute from the bench rather than leave for greener pastures.

 

[Devil77]

That really ugly bloke from Holland that played for Liverpool. A defensive forward if there ever was one.

Dirk Kuyt?

 

[RedBanker]

Giuly at Barca during their Ronaldinho fuelled revolution.
Duff at Chelsea during their initial Chelski period.
Mario Gomez at Bayern.
Mendieta at Valencia.

 

[nyanza]

That really ugly bloke from Holland that played for Liverpool. A defensive forward if there ever was one.

He's from Uruguay. And isn't that defensive anyway.

 

[TRUERED89]

That really ugly bloke from Holland that played for Liverpool. A defensive forward if there ever was one.

Dirk Kuyt?

 

[TRUERED89]

you wot mate?

 

[harms]

Zbigniew Boniek for Juventus. He played as a winger and as a forward for them in a team with the likes of Platini, Rossi, Scirea etc. Even for a very defensive Serie A of the 80's he wasn't very prolific — 14 goals in 81 league appearances & 9 goals in 28 European games. Because of the way that he performed in European games Agnielli called him Bello di notte ("Beauty at night", as European games started later in the evening), but it's not really that his quality had changed throughout the tournaments — Juventus was setting up more defensively in Europe and he played a Rashford-esque role of a counter-attacking pacey wing-forward at the receiving end of the long passes from Platini & co. The winning penalty in the 1985 European Cup came from his run as well.

In the league his incredible off-the-ball movement and pace was used to confuse the opposition's backline — while Rossi usually played more as a point of reference and Platini performed his deadly trick of arriving late into the box from midfield. Juve's chairman famously said that whoever plays alongside Boniek would become a capocannoniere (Serie A's top scorer). It worked for Platini (he finished as the league's top scorer 3 years in a row) and it worked for Roberto Pruzzo in the very first year after Boniek transferred to Roma — Pruzzo scored 19 goals, more than anyone else that season. I want to highlight that he wasn't a playmaking genius like Laudrup or Xavi (or even Platini), so it was not a case of him setting up multiple chances with his passing... he was pretty good passer, but the impact came mostly from his intense and intelligent running & tactical and spatial awareness.

He really shined when he played for Poland as their main star though. Only recently Lewandowski overcame him as the country's best ever goalscorer, but Boniek performed better at the big tournaments. He got into the World Cup All-Star team in 1982 (also finished 3rd in that year's Ballon d'Or vote) and was generally outstanding in his international performances.

 

[MadDogg]

Karim Benzema was little more than someone for Ronaldo to play off of for almost the entire tenure of the Portuguese at Real Madrid, which, if you know of him as the amazing Lyon youngster, is a huge fall from the podium he was supposed to basking in the glory from.

As Ronaldo left, Benzema once again started to look like a proper player in his own right, but, despite all the trophies at Real, the Lyon Benzema can never be extrapolated upon and Benzema's legacy is essentially that of a [classy] stooge... or foil if you like, either way, someone who gave up a sizeable portion of his own glory for the greater good, you might say.

I completely agree here. For those of you who don't remember or are perhaps too young, Benzema in his Lyon days looked set to be the next great striker and many thought the best since the Brazilian Ronaldo. Definitely the player I fanboi'd over signing more than any other.

I still remember the CL match against us. The only player I ever saw take on Vidic and beat him for strength and power, and then turn around and beat Rio with pace and skill. The two best central defenders in the world and he was able to beat them both at their own strengths. I'll always wonder how he would have turned out if he'd come to us or somewhere else instead of Real.

 

[Gehrman]

Ole Gunnar Solskjær? Prefered to contribute from the bench rather than leave for greener pastures.

Ole is a good shout.

 

[RedBanker]

I completely agree here. For those of you who don't remember or are perhaps too young, Benzema in his Lyon days looked set to be the next great striker and many thought the best since the Brazilian Ronaldo. Definitely the player I fanboi'd over signing more than any other.

I still remember the CL match against us. The only player I ever saw take on Vidic and beat him for strength and power, and then turn around and beat Rio with pace and skill. The two best central defenders in the world and he was able to beat them both at their own strengths. I'll always wonder how he would have turned out if he'd come to us or somewhere else instead of Real.

He was the one player I laid siege on the internet hoping for the breaking news to arrive. Was really upset and disturbed at losing him to that circus. He would have had great career here I think and perhaps would have softened the loss of Ronaldo which was inevitable. Who knows, maybe SAF would have built one more team around him just to have a go at at least one UCL more. But he was a generational talent who did not get his due accolades due to forever being in the shadow of CR. And his record of a goal every two games over such a long career speaks for itself. However the man has won 4 CL titles, so he will be content in his achievements definitely.

 

[Gehrman]

He was the one player I laid siege on the internet hoping for the breaking news to arrive. Was really upset and disturbed at losing him to that circus. He would have had great career here I think and perhaps would have softened the loss of Ronaldo which was inevitable. Who knows, maybe SAF would have built one more team around him just to have a go at at least one UCL more. But he was a generational talent who did not get his due accolades due to forever being in the shadow of CR. And his record of a goal every two games over such a long career speaks for itself. However the man has won 4 CL titles, so he will be content in his achievements definitely.

Not really sure who is the circus these days.

 

[RedBanker]

Not really sure who is the circus these days.

Didn't get your point.

 

[top1whoisman]

Got to be Jesus.

 

[Grinner]

Heskey was terrific as a genuine centreforward in his first full season at Liverpool.

Was then gradually reduced to tactical foil until he ended up on the left wing for his workrate.

Houllier really lost sight of some players over time. Wtf was that even.

He should have come to Arsenal. We were in for him in a big way.

 

[Dancfc]

Drogba, the fact his two best games in a Chelsea shirt came where he didn't score says it all.

The one season everything went through him we won the double and his goal record was up there with the big two and not only that, he managed it without the help of penalties.