Johan Cruyff ?

Have you ever seen Cruyff? Because it doesnt sound like it.

The type of movement around the pitch he did was certaintly not minimum requirement stuff at all.

He played the game in a very unique way, in a way no other player today would even be allowed to do, let alone be able to do it so well.

He was literally playing park football but on a genuis level. He would go everywhere and anywhere the team needed to build attack, create in the final third, finish chances..whatever and wherever was best for the team in that moment of play.

Top 3 European player. Top 10 player overall.

I don`t know how some people can say without any doubt that Maradona, Cruyff or Pele were better than each other, all 3 were as good as it gets but had different playing styles & strengths. Surely it comes down to preference rather than one being outright better than the other.

What I will say about Cruyff though is that he was probably the most complete & would be the first name on the team sheet due to his versatility on the field. You couldn`t build a team or find a formation that Cruyff couldn`t play in, a player like that is beyond invaluable.

juventus101 wrote:Top 3 European player. Top 10 player overall.

1 for Europe (officially voted European player of the century)

Top 3 overall (officially voted 2nd behind Pele for world player of the century)

I'm tired of reading all the votings for best best best and so on.. but I must say that comparing different players of different periods is similar as comparing Einstein with Witten so all opinions could easily be wrong. IMHO, we rather need to compare a player with other players of his time to get a better, cleaner picture of his ability, as well as his importance for his teams and what those teams achieved.

Anyway, if I must choose, then Maradona is better than both Pele and Cruyff for me. I was born too late to watch enough of Pele's or Cruyff's playings but from what I have seen from them, they are not as good as Maradona. At least, I could watch Maradona playing the WC 86 and 90 fully. He was The god of football for me (and probably most others) at that period and only Messi could be compared with him (and IMHO better than him, because they are very similar players so I could see their differences better).

Don Carlo wrote:

juventus101 wrote:Top 3 European player. Top 10 player overall.

1 for Europe (officially voted European player of the century)

Top 3 overall (officially voted 2nd behind Pele for world player of the century)

Totally agreed.

Diego Armando Maradona wrote:

alexjanosik wrote:
I believe Cruyff was the one to realize that its far more important what one does off the ball.As he said a player is in contact with a ball for less than 5 min in a match(unless you are Xavi in which case you are not in contact with the ball for 5 min lol).So its far more important what a player does off the ball.And thats where Cruyff is head and shoulders above every other player to have played the game.He had unsurpassed vision,knew excatly what was happening on the field at all times,could make tactical team decisions on the pitch(in game),and was seen instructing teammates a lot.

What utter rubbish. What a player does with the ball makes the difference, any great player worth his salt has off the ball movement in his locker and an appreciation of whats required. Its a minimum requirement, apparently cruyff was the only one that knew what was happening on the pitch whilst all the others were wearing blindfolds

You are missing the point.When I speak of what he did off the ball,I am not talking of the run off the mill movement of the ball that a Javier Hernandez does.I am not talking of the runs that a player makes off the ball,the run off the defender etc.
Watch a Cruyff game.Watch what he does off the ball.He made tactical decisions on the field.In short he was an on field coach and could make tactical decisions according to what was required atm.He played exactly as the situation demanded.No other player in the history of the game has come close to Cruyff in reading the game on the field and playing accordingly.
Before you mention your favorite maradona,No he doesnt come close to Cruyff.

Cruyff was the most intelligent football player I've ever known. Did ridiculous things, he even created the most cutest penalty football's ever seen imo. Truly an on field mathematician he had to much dimensions to his game and was unpredictable to any defence. Just a mesmerizing entertainer through and through.. His dribbling was superb, imagine a pacey player with extraordinary vision and unfortunately modern football just isn't the same spectacle without him playing.

alexjanosik wrote:You are missing the point.When I speak of what he did off the ball,I am not talking of the run off the mill movement of the ball that a Javier Hernandez does.I am not talking of the runs that a player makes off the ball,the run off the defender etc.
Watch a Cruyff game.Watch what he does off the ball.He made tactical decisions on the field.In short he was an on field coach and could make tactical decisions according to what was required atm.He played exactly as the situation demanded.No other player in the history of the game has come close to Cruyff in reading the game on the field and playing accordingly.
Before you mention your favorite maradona,No he doesnt come close to Cruyff.

You keep talking about tactical decisions, but are yet to provide single example that others beside cruyff were incapable of.

Gemini wrote:Cruyff was the most intelligent football player I've ever known. Did ridiculous things, he even created the most cutest penalty football's ever seen imo.

He didnt invent that. Im not sure why people always assume that he did

The Franchise wrote:Have you ever seen Cruyff? Because it doesnt sound like it.

The type of movement around the pitch he did was certaintly not minimum requirement stuff at all.

He played the game in a very unique way, in a way no other player today would even be allowed to do, let alone be able to do it so well.

He was literally playing park football but on a genuis level. He would go everywhere and anywhere the team needed to build attack, create in the final third, finish chances..whatever and wherever was best for the team in that moment of play.

His reading of the game was great. But not neccesserally in a league of its own, he had the technical and physical attributes to play that way, which many great "football minds" didnt. And he also played in a system that didnt restrict him, which cant quite be said of others

There was a reason he was allowed to play in a system which gave him no restrictions...his ability, not just technically or physically, but his overall understanding of positioning, movement, spacing.

Nobody displayed that level of intuition, which is why they were never given that scope of freedom. Lets not pretend he got lucky to be given such freedom.

You say it wasnt in a league of its own, but I think the evidence suggests it was. The freedom he was given, his years as a coach and everything in between suggests as much.

Diego Armando Maradona wrote:

Gemini wrote:Cruyff was the most intelligent football player I've ever known. Did ridiculous things, he even created the most cutest penalty football's ever seen imo.

He didnt invent that. Im not sure why people always assume that he did

Oh, inventing is different to creating and yes he did create that pk, he wasn't aware at the time that someone did that move before him.

Gemini wrote:

Diego Armando Maradona wrote:

Gemini wrote:Cruyff was the most intelligent football player I've ever known. Did ridiculous things, he even created the most cutest penalty football's ever seen imo.

He didnt invent that. Im not sure why people always assume that he did

Oh, inventing is different to creating and yes he did create that pk, he wasn't aware at the time that someone did that move before him.

No, he was aware someone else did it, and he copied him

Cruyff is a more complete footballer than Maradona but Diego can pull a bit of magic out of nowhere more often than any player I`ve seen, none of them are better than the other, if you choose one over the other then its just down to playing style preference, no more, no less.