Yes, easily. I'm sure most bog standard premiership players would be let alone someone genuinely world class.
Would a world-class defender be the best attacker in the Conference? Would a world-class attacker be the best defender in the Conference?
- Thread starter altodevil
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Easily yes!
I bet if you put Messi at left back in any league he's the best left back in the world.
Henrik Larsson at 41 used to coach me in Sweden. This was in the 2nd tier (Swedish version of championship). Sometimes he would practice with us and he was easily the best player. He could've played any position and been the best player in the league. Assuming he stays injury free that is. He was just so much faster in his mind and technically took less touches, better movement etc. which reduced issues with him not being fast enough. You just couldn't get close to him.
The likes of Ronaldo, Ramos, Messi, Lewandowski can figure it out at any level or position if they want to.
I bet if you put Messi at left back in any league he's the best left back in the world.
Henrik Larsson at 41 used to coach me in Sweden. This was in the 2nd tier (Swedish version of championship). Sometimes he would practice with us and he was easily the best player. He could've played any position and been the best player in the league. Assuming he stays injury free that is. He was just so much faster in his mind and technically took less touches, better movement etc. which reduced issues with him not being fast enough. You just couldn't get close to him.
The likes of Ronaldo, Ramos, Messi, Lewandowski can figure it out at any level or position if they want to.
Reckon it would be a lot more true of defenders playing as an attacker than vice versa.
E.g. just can't imagine someone like Aguero being a great CB.... He'd probably have been an incredible attacking full back when he had pace though.
E.g. just can't imagine someone like Aguero being a great CB.... He'd probably have been an incredible attacking full back when he had pace though.
Two Words… Jamie Vardy
Berbatov would be a good defender in the conference I reckon. Not so much Insigne though. Maybe at full back I suppose.
Yes!
Would Gabriel Jesus or Chicarito be a great CB in the conference? Obviously not for fecks sake.
Huge underrating of the level of the conference here.
Let’s go WC, would Aguero? No.
Completely depends on the player.
Huge underrating of the level of the conference here.
Let’s go WC, would Aguero? No.
Completely depends on the player.
I actually low-key think Ronaldo would make a great defender at most levels except the very top. His heading ability, awareness of space, speed, and mentality would make him very hard to play against.
Is there an echo on this thread?
Conference? Mate I think he could do a job up front in the Prem. He certainly isn’t a defender that’s for damn sure.
Any conference team with a world class player in it is scoring 10 goals per game. Feel like people are getting a bit too hung up on the whole defender/attacker...
I think it depends on the type of player. There are footballers who don't seem to be the best in a team of a lower league but can seamlessly fit into teams ho play in higher leagues. And then there are players who absolutely annihalite teams in lower leagues and look like a fish out of water in higher leagues.
I imagine it is the same here, too. In lower leagues, you have more time on the ball and less pressure so some attributes of world class footballers don't matter as much while strength and pace will probably always set them apart. Somebody like Varane for example would probably wreck every defense in the conference but I'm not as sure about Hummels for example. Sterling would most likely be an exceptional full back, Bernardo Silva less so.
I imagine it is the same here, too. In lower leagues, you have more time on the ball and less pressure so some attributes of world class footballers don't matter as much while strength and pace will probably always set them apart. Somebody like Varane for example would probably wreck every defense in the conference but I'm not as sure about Hummels for example. Sterling would most likely be an exceptional full back, Bernardo Silva less so.
In our five a side league we always used to have conversations like this, Phil Jones being the signing of our dreams
Exactly. These guys fitness levels are on different level.
My brothers band played a charity gig a few years back to raise money for a child with cancer. They had a five a side tournament there at the same time. Prior to the tournament starting they had a mini auction.
Each team had the opportunity to bid for Ian Cox to be added to their team.
Ian Cox used to play for Gillingham as a centre back. No disrespect to the guy but he was a bit of a donkey and was very much league 1 quality.
However, watching him during this mini tournament was a massive eye opener. He was playing as a central midfielder and he completely controlled the game. Winning the ball, dribbling past players,pushing balls through. He literally looked like Scholes, Keane and Zidane rolled into one.
Admittedly he was playing against Sunday league players, but the difference in quality was mind blowing.
Each team had the opportunity to bid for Ian Cox to be added to their team.
Ian Cox used to play for Gillingham as a centre back. No disrespect to the guy but he was a bit of a donkey and was very much league 1 quality.
However, watching him during this mini tournament was a massive eye opener. He was playing as a central midfielder and he completely controlled the game. Winning the ball, dribbling past players,pushing balls through. He literally looked like Scholes, Keane and Zidane rolled into one.
Admittedly he was playing against Sunday league players, but the difference in quality was mind blowing.
I read an interview by Andreas Reinke some years ago who talked about this topic. Essentially he said he was playing as a striker since it was the furthest away from his professional position so he is just as bad as everyone else.
Are you getting mixed up here with The Championship? The Conference is the 5th tier and barely professional. Any Premier League regular would instantly be the best player in that league in any position, let alone a world class player.
Ronaldo to Yeovil please.
We need to check this theory
We need to check this theory
No, the conference is actually a very good level of football.
Many players with an all round skillset would obviously be the best, others playing in such an alien position wouldn’t.
Van Buyten ended being the top scorer once for Marseille with 13-14 goals as a CB
To answer the OP, yes, 1000% without a doubt. I've seen guys who play in African leagues (which is far from the Europe level of pro football) completely destroy conference level football because the training they received made them seem like they were playing on fast-forward or the others were playing on slow motions.
There are so many different levels to this shit
There are so many different levels to this shit
I thought the Conference was a professional league in Europe? Not nitpicking, just trying to understand if everyone's talking about the same thing. It's the old name for ther 5th tier of English football, now called the National League. Was once mostly semi-pro but all the teams are now pretty much full time professional.
Fabio Grosso went through the youth system of Renato Curi Angolana, an Eccellenza (italian 5th tier) club from a small town near Perugia.
He debuted in senior football with them and played there four seasons, from 18 to 22.
He played attacking midfielder and was rocking with a goal tally worthy of an out-and-out striker, something like 48 goals in 107 games.
He then went up a level to Serie C2, with Chieti for a couple years, and was still kinda good but scored much less.
Then for some imperscrutable reason, Serse Cosmi decided it would've been a neat idea to bring him straight to Serie A at Perugia and convert him into a fullback.
That mostly worked but after a couple more years, he stepped down to Serie B at Palermo... where he became a true sensation, and the rest is history.
No wonder he was screaming "I CANT BELIEVE IT" while running around after scoring past Germany at 120" of the WC semifinal...
The answer is a resounding yes. You have lots of players who played at a decent professional level in one position and then end up world class in another. Evra was a striker. Bale was playing Premier League level as a LB, and would still score 20 goals a season now playing as a striker. Look at John O'Shea chipping keepers, nut megging Figo. He'd absolutely bully the lower leagues up front.
Shrewsbury were at that level when Joe Hart made his debut for them.
Not quite, but Lee Dixon, David Seaman and Lee Sharpe were in the 4th tier with Chester, Peterborough and Torquay. Dixon finished bottom of the football league with Chester and as it was a less professional era the standard was quite possibly lower than the Conference today.
There's probably quite a few in different league systems who played at a similar standard or even worse but I wouldn't know for sure. How good were Cobh when Keane played for them in the Irish second tier? They were semi pro I believe so probably not that great.
Then you have Graeme Le Saux who I think I can confidently say was playing at lower level in the Jersey League before Chelsea signed him when he was 19.
Yes and yes
It states world class, not Prem level. I'd say a prime Zlatan/Benzema/Suarez/Ronaldo/Messi etc would score an absolute filth of goals before they got done by a nasty challenge. And a Ramos/Godin/Chiellini etc would absolutely dominate at set pieces and be a huge difference maker for their whole team.
Of course a world class player would be head and shoulders above low level players.
A tougher question is would a world class manager show the best display at a low level.
The question was how good would the likes of Zlatan/Benzema/Suarez/Ronaldo/Messi be at defending and stopping the other teams from scoring, not how many goals they'd score.
I'm not too convinced they'd all be great. Zlatan sure, as he's dominant in the air and lower league football is typically physical with lots of high balls. We saw how he was useful at defeding corners in his time at Old Trafford. Some of the others I don't know.
Ha. My bad
I think a Ramos would destroy teams up front. Rooney would be great at the back too.
Yeah but we are talking about Messi playing as a defender. Of course he would still be class on the ball but that’s not really what you need as a defender in the conference. And he’s also probably the best player of all time so we can’t use him as a barometer.
We’ve seen world class prem strikers up against conference defenders and they are not regularly banging in 5 goals each time. To think a WC defender would be doing so as a striker is a bit fanciful for me.
Not saying it’s impossible, but people are talking as if conference players are like amateurs now the park.
Yeah, forget that idiot post of mine, didn't actually read the OP. And yes, players aren't shite in the conference, I've been to quite a few games at most levels.
A world class Brazilian defender, or modern day full back like Shaw, Trent or going back further R Carlos would definitely be a great attacker if they turned up for a conference match, but still had the fitness and training of an elite athlete.
Not sure about attackers, I suppose it depends on the type. Eg old school attackers would probably be great CB’s in the Conference league whereas modern type of attackers probably wouldn’t be able to hack dealing with the long balls etc but they would have a great athletic advantage.
Not sure about attackers, I suppose it depends on the type. Eg old school attackers would probably be great CB’s in the Conference league whereas modern type of attackers probably wouldn’t be able to hack dealing with the long balls etc but they would have a great athletic advantage.
A resounding yes for me. Ive played 5 a side against a retired, 45 year old semi professional footballler. He was absolutely amazing, nobody could even get near him! His touch, his passing, movement, the speed at which he made decisions was incredible. So lord only knows the gulf in class between a conference player and a top level world class player!
I think the gap between your regular sunday league players and conference players is bigger than the gap between conference players and premier league players which is why these people who've had chances to play with semi-pro retired players are so amazed at how good they are and assume the difference in gap between those players and pl players is even bigger.
As others have pointed out, the conference is a much better standard than it used to be. Virtually all the teams are professional, and, with the influx of foreign additions to England, more and more of the younger players down the levels have had some years in higher league academies before having to drop down and work their way back up so it has a much better level of technical ability than in the 20th century when they were mostly part time teams with little PL academy experience.
Obviously, plenty of world class players would probably still look damn good playing at the 5th level, even in a different position. But I very much doubt the answer to the question is 'yes' in all cases. I doubt some of the more 'clogger' style world class CB's would have the technical and finishing ability to be the best striker, and some world class attackers wouldn't necessarily be the best defenders due to issues with lack of height and strength, lack of tactical awareness / positioning / defensive discipline, etc.
The 5th tier, or below, has seen some good players feature in it early in their careers - either loan or permanent - who've worked their way up the leagues to the PL (Vardy, Ings, Watkins, Antonio, Murray, Gray, Barnes, Boyd, Wilson, Bolasie, Smalling, etc).
Obviously, plenty of world class players would probably still look damn good playing at the 5th level, even in a different position. But I very much doubt the answer to the question is 'yes' in all cases. I doubt some of the more 'clogger' style world class CB's would have the technical and finishing ability to be the best striker, and some world class attackers wouldn't necessarily be the best defenders due to issues with lack of height and strength, lack of tactical awareness / positioning / defensive discipline, etc.
The 5th tier, or below, has seen some good players feature in it early in their careers - either loan or permanent - who've worked their way up the leagues to the PL (Vardy, Ings, Watkins, Antonio, Murray, Gray, Barnes, Boyd, Wilson, Bolasie, Smalling, etc).
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Aye. A lot of the responses are about the enormous gulf between elite professional and pub team level, which is probably 5 or 6 times the size of the gap between thef Premier League and the Conference. As you say, we've seen plenty of sticky and tight cup ties between Premier League teams and Conference sides. Man City were losing until the 81st minute against a League Two side last year, which is only a marginally higher standard than the division below. The idea that a single world-class player - operating in a different position - is going to be singularly responsible for thrashing teams every week - without his elite support cast - is not really reflected in the games that have taken place.
Rooney is playing centre back in a charity match against the likes of Lee Mack and Chunks on ITV right now.. Could he run the pitch if he wanted?
How did you find him as a coach? Great example though because, though not a defender, he was world class