Best XI of all time

AttacanteBG wrote:

Superstone Mariomintsch wrote:I know, I and many posters also put a well-balanced team. It could be attack oriented, but still solid enough at the back.

Yes, I don't underestimate him, Rino's a true Rhino, although at the same time I think Makelele, Vieira, Keane, Davids, and Cambiasso are better than him. If you look to the Baresi era, there are Matthaus, Dunga, Deschamps, RIJKAARD, and DESAILLY you could put there. Gattuso is great destroying midfielder, but he's also helped by the quality of the midfield and defense of Milan in that era. So, what I mean is, replace Gattuso with any of the names that I provide and you would get the same or maybe better result. Speaking of Milanista, Albertini could replace Redondo as well.

Giggs is indeed a superstar, what I mean is those two positions LW and ST for many reasons along with AM has the most list of greats and subsequently Giggs is just one of the superstars and not well ahead of the rest like Baresi in CB or Maldini in LB for example.

Well, in my, most Milanisti, and general football public point of view, Nesta is better than Cannavaro. It's fine that you held to your opinion though, Canna is awesome as well, being short and bald and all that, but it's just strange considering you pick Gattuso and you unpick Nesta.

Cheers mate!!

Keane, are you serious?

Aww man, I was waiting for your reply for so long. It was very lonely in this name heaven. Wowza don't underrate Keane man, he's just as important as Giggs for United's success in the late 90s to early 00s. You can read words from many experts or football pundits, I believe they would agree with me. You like Gattuso better than Keane, but it doesn't mean Keane is no good all of a sudden. All names from the list could replace Gattuso and do as well. From the era that I watched I concretely believe that Makelele and Vieira are better than Gattuso and it's really close with Cambi, but I like Cambi's style better. I never said Gattuso didn't deserve to be there, but when you compare to Nesta that is replaced with Canna and Gattuso being there I just feel weird, well you can look at other XI the milanisti made.

How about the other points, you agree with me?

The players you mentioned above are class:

Cambiaso- Great defencive midfielder who can also pass and score. Excellent reading of the game and tactical understanding.

Makelele- The results of Real Madird after he left speak for itself. In his prime, and on his positon he was second to none.

Matthaus, Rijkaard then Dunga are the players of some earlier times but still they are all legends in their own way. Especcialy the first two.

They are comparable with Gattuso and all of them are better in attacking, and that is way i dont understand what Keane is doing there?

Good midfielder, with great work rate.

I will answer you once again, I think Nesta is fantastic defender, his tackling...no one is better in the world today. His reading of the game, no one is better today. He is great in the air, and he has great technique for defender. But Cannavaro had all that, too. And when defender wins Fifa Ballon D'or it really means he is something special, isn't it? If you haven't watched Barresi in 1990 in 1994 and Cannavaro 2006, watch it! Because that are maybe best defencive performance ever. What Maradona did in attack, Baressi did in defence. Cannavaro too.

I agree about the MF part, a little bit about Keane, well Gattuso's task is to complement and cover for Pirlo, so Keane who did well in an attacking Man Utd would do just fine here beside mighty Redondo.

About CB, yeah I believe truly the best defensive performance that I ever watched is Baresi in the World Cup final, it's just legen
Dary. Baresi in 90 I don't know but I believe he's the best defender ever, well Beckenbauer is better overall as a player but Baresi is better in the defensive aspect.

Then about Nesta and Canna, yes they are close and yes Canna won Ballon D'or while performing brilliantly in the grandest stage of all. But I always regard along their career that Nesta is more consistently being on the highest level than Canna, ie the Madrid years and some extended period of months during his career. On the other hand you see Nesta, since young is prince of Lazio and still beasting till this age with his backpain. Nesta is I believe also slightly better overall than Canna. He was just unluckier than Canna, due to his backpain and overal injury proneness and the timing of the injury. He was just never having his best years in the right moment.

If Nesta wasn't injured in the World Cup don't you think he will play as well as Canna? Well, we wouldn't know for sure, but he seems capable for me. Also, you must certainly aware that in the World Cup year the one who performed the best in the winning nation will get Ballon d'Or, when in fact if you look overall during the season I would not think twice to give the crown to Ronaldinho.

They're both tremendous defenders, but Canna was luckier. Canna is better at commanding the defence I give you that, but Nesta is also excellent at it in his Lazio days and now with TS. I, many Milanisti, and general football experts think Nesta is better due to these reasons.

I think Keane looked like headless chichken sometimes. Gattuso has better tactical understanting of the game. No more arguing there, his place in the team is cemented!

Would Nesta be better if he wasn't injured in world cup? It is hard to say, but Cannavaro pushed him self up as a leader of that generation. And his performance was sensational. Who knows what would happen if Nesta wasn't injured, but as i said already that world cup was difference.

What would happened if Van Basten didn't end carrer so quickly?

What would happened if Ronaldo didn't get injured so often?

Would Bergkamp prove himself more if he hadn't had that fear of flying?

Could Baggio be the greatest ever if he scored that penalty?

That are all ifs, sometimes you have to stick with the facts.

How high do you rate Sheva, who would you put in striker position? From 1990 till now?

Yes man, but many put Van Basten and Ronaldo in their Best XI here, so there's enough reason to put Nesta in yours, at least me and others believe that. I'm not talking about IFs, I'm just saying along their career Nesta has been better and Canna's determining performance that cemented his legacy as true great defender does not automatically make him better than Nesta.

Sheva I rate as top 3 in the 2000-2005 interval along with Henry and that certain Brazilian baldie. I've started truly watching football since 1990 and I have four options of Batistuta, Ronaldo, Henry, and Sheva as strikers. I posted my XI in page 2 mind you. If you count Messi, he's strong candidate too. But if I were too pick the best for me would be Ronaldo still. If I extend to the 90s (I've watched several key replay matches and read too much), I think I would undoubtedly put Van Basten there. Also I would put either Ronaldinho, Nedved, or Messi or from 90 Laudrup in place of Giggs. Xavi and from 90 Matthaus and Hagi could also be swapped with Giggs, with Zidane deployed on the left, he played there in the Galacticos Madrid since Ronaldo's arrival. You can check my team on page 2 btw, and your team's good but I just feeling more likely to pick the guys in my team. Well you say Dinho's not long enough but he's my fav and I think has the greatest prime, and I also put Xavi due to his consistency, uniqueness, superb tactical awareness, and enough defensive capabilities even if I don't truly like the guy. As you can see my formation is not too attacking, it's almost similar with Ancelotti's diamond midfield with the Regista switching place with the destroyer.

Superstone Mariomintsch wrote:-----------Buffon
Zanetti Thuram Nesta Maldini
-----------Vieira
-Xavi---------------Nedved
-----------Ronaldinho
---Ronaldo da Lima---Henry


I got stomachache choosing the team, too many qualities really

Goalkeeper, left and right back are all top choices. No arguing there.

About Thuram, altough he is great defender, you could choose Cannavaro, Ayala, Sammer, Blan and many others rather then him.

I also dont agree with defencive midfielder position, there are better choices. Are you sure then that Xavi could operate from that position? And dont you think that having Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Henry would damage the balance of the team?

Okay actually this is already School time, so I'd respond in a flash. Thuram is as great as them imo and I have the facts, but no time for now. Xavi could operate there, it's basically the right side of a midfield three as he did with Spain and Barca. He has excellent crosses and disciplined enough to press and work his ass, though yes he is sometime not in place as he is a roaming midfielder due to his style to take and give ball. Ah yes having them together would damage the balance, but they're the attackers and I think Ancelotti with Kaka who also didn't work too much did fine, though I agree with you here Gattuso has a presence of a 3 men when he is chasing opponent. They are all intelligent players so at that time I thought they would position themselves well, this formation is also flexible that it can change to 3-4-1-2 of the Brazil and Roma which were succesful. And then though it's too offensive again perhaps, I haven't given too deep off a thought because at that time compared to others this is more balanced and I like the combination more. I'll try again later, some 4-5 hours if I was too tired maybe next week as I will go on a trip after this. Cheers! Nice talking with you, continue posting your thoughts I'll reply as soon as I can.

Casillas, Ramos, Pique, Thiago Silva, Phillip Lahm, Xabi Alonso, Xavi Inestia, Silva, Messi, Mata
Subs: Neuer, Alves, Puyol, Vidic, Ashley Cole, Yaga Toure, Fabregas, Arteta, Villa, Ibrahimovic, Surarez

Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas, he saves the team in the best moments, Best reflexes ever, 1on1, still very young.

Left back: Roberto Carlos without a doubt.

Centre-back: Franco Baresi. Best sweeper ever.

Centre-back: Fernando Hierro. Great in defence, great in attack. He could play anywhere.

Right back: Lilian Thuram. Balanced in attack and defence, unstoptabble in his prime.

Central Midfield: Javier Redondo. Incredible control, vision and passing. Great in defence, he could play any role in the midfield.

Centar Midfield: Lothar Matthaus. Perceptive passing, positional sense, and well-timed tackling, as well as his explosive shot.

Attacking midfielder: Zinedine Zidane: Most complete midfielder of the decade. Always knew what to with the ball, player that every manager would love to work with. He won it all, scoring goals in finals of two biggest competitons: World Cup and Champions League.

Left Wing: Thierry Henry.Pace, technique, shooting, finishing, vision, passing.

Right Wing: Laudrup. 5-0, 5-0.

Striker: O Fenomeno. Best player ever. In his prime (96-99) he was from another planet. Pace, Technique, Strength, deadly finishing. He could play anywhere, on any pitch against anyone.

From players I've seen play many times....

------------------Buffon---------------
Dani Alves---Nesta---Desailly---Maldini
------------Redondo---Pirlo------------
-----Ronaldinho----Xavi----Laudrup-----
-------------------Henry---------------


From players I've studied and seen extensive footage of.....


------------------Buffon---------------
-----Baresi--Beckenbauer--Scirea-------
-----------Matthaus---Platini-----------
-----------------Laudrup---------------
----Ronaldinho-Zico-Maradona-Cruyff----

--------------------------------Buffon-----------------------
-Roberto Carlos------Maldini------Vidic-----------Cafu
------------------------Pirlo-----------Ballack--------------
------Ronaldinho--------------Zidane---------C.Ronaldo
---------------------------------Messi------------------------

Sub:
Casillas
Xavi
Scholes
Robben
Klose
Viera
S.Ramos

Coach:
Jose Mourinho

..................................Iker

cafu...........Baresi..........beckenbeur............Roberto carlos

................................Redondo

.....................Platini.................Zidane

Messi.......................Cryjff.......................R9

I'm pretty sure he's called Fernando Redondo guys?

Ah, my favourite topic. Let's go....

----------------------Lev Yashin-----------------------------

Thuram-------Nesta-------Mathias Sammer-------Junior

---------------------Mauro Silva------------------------------

-------------Falcao--------------------Andrea Pirlo---------

------------------Michel Platini-------------------------------

------Bergkamp------------------Van Basten--------------

------------------Michel Platini-------------------------------

------Bergkamp------------------Van Basten--------------

-------------Schwarzer--------------
---Nesta------Puyol----Neill--------
------Essien--------Xavi-------------
---------------Ronnie---------------
---Messi----Eto'o---Henry--------
Subs: ADP, Kewell.

BIAS? WHAT OF IT

I'm only including players I've seen(been watching footabll since 95).
----------------------Casillas-----------------------------

Thuram-------Nesta-------Cannavaro-------Maldini
---------------------Redondo------------------------------

-------------Davids--------------------Nedved---------

------------------Ronaldinho-------------------------------

------Messi------------------R9(preinjury)--------------

Imo this midfield is a perfect mix of flair and steel. People forget how good Davids was, but for me he tops Keane, viera, the whole lot. The combo of him and ronaldinho took barca from midtable to 2nd place i believe in 2003/2004. Just a bulldog, and great on the ball as well. Redondo was one of the classiest cm's ever. Incredible passing and vission and great defensively. Nedved was a beast of a player. As someone said very rare to find a player as good technically who works so damn hard. Still remember his performance which dumped RM from the champion's league. I'm a bit perplexed by people's choice of Zidane to be honest. Yes he is a legend for France and had great performances as Euro 2000/wc 2006, but was never that consistent at club level. I watched him frequently for juve and madrid. He would throw in great performances occasionally. but was often average. I'd honestly pick totti and Ronaldinho who have carried their club sides over him. As forward line, hands down the two best players of the past 20 years.

I'm going for a 4-2-3-1:

--------------------Ronaldo-----------------

Giggs-------------Zidane-------------Figo

-----------Ballack------------Pirlo----------

Maldini----Sammer----Nesta----Thuram

---------------------Kahn--------------------

I was going for an XI inculding only players i have seen. Furthermore I only included players who's careers are (almost!) over.

I think you could also go for Buffon in goal but I always liked Kahn way better.
Sammer is the only one you could clearly exchange in my back four due to his short career.
Also I wanted to include Bixente Lizarazu (always loved this little guy) but I thougt Maldini would be more solid in defence.

In DM I went for Pirlo to provide creativity from deep. I counterparted him with Ballack because he's such an complete player.
Not the best in every department but he can defend well, is strong, has a great shot from distance and is always a threat from setpieces (also thought about Viera but couldn't remember too much of him because I never followed his career closely).

On the left wing I went for Giggs because I thought he's more sound in defence than Henry. Also thought about Rivaldo, Ronaldinho...
Zidane was kind of clear as CAM but I really tried to replace Figo (never liked him) but couldn't come up with a better one.

Ronaldo9 as a lone forward, also thought about RVN but I decided to go with R9 because he had more to his play than the poacher RVN.

...........................Pele..........Di Stefano(c)................
..........Cruyff..............................................Messi......
................................Maradona................................

..................Rijkaard...................Matthaus...................

.........Moore..............Beckenbauer..........Baresi............

.................................[Yashin]...................................

Subs: Schmeichel; Scirea, Figueroa; Didi; Platini, Zico, Puskas

You have 3 defenders, all world class centrebacks, sweepers, libero's rolled into one, all able to bring the ball out. Pele said Moore was the greatest defender he ever faced.

Rijkaard the steel in midfield to protect the back four, regarded as the best defensive 'defensive midfielder' ever.
Matthaus my box to box midfielder who Maradona said of "he is the best rival I've ever had. I guess that's enough to define him". Power, pace, skill, attacking, defending, a superman, could do it all.

Maradona my AM running the midfield collecting the ball off Rijkaard and Matthaus and starting attacks. Out of all the players want Diego on the ball the most although I'm sure some would prefer Cruyff there.

Messi as RWF- not an artist like Maradona, Cruyff, Pele, Di Stefano but I guess that's modern football but he is technically perfect and so efficient and can play any attacking position. With Messi I can have a player playing as a WF who is capable of 80+ goals a season not to mention his assisting! Can't think of a player to trump that.

Cruyff, LWF- technique, speed, acceleration, skill, dribbling, vision, can play as WF, AM, SS, CF, Mr. Total Football. Has to play and can play as LWF no problem.

Pele and Di Stefano up top. Di Stefano- former players such as Pelé, Eusébio, Luis Suárez, Sandro Mazzola and John Charles described Di Stéfano as "the most complete footballer in the history of the game". Bobby Charlton said- ''He was the most intelligent player ever. The first time I saw him, I was watching from up in the stands in the Bernabeu stadium when Man United played them in the old European Cup, and I couldn’t take my eyes off this guy. I’d never seen anyone so good. He would release players with amazing defence-splitting passes, and he scored so many goals. Di Stefano also commanded so much respect: he led with authority''

The thing is Pele, Di Stefano, Messi, Cruyff, Maradona are all total footballers, they can all play as attacking midfielders or forwards so the positions I have them in, well they can all swap with each other so you have the best 5 players you can have playing 'total football' hence no Bra Ronaldo or maybe someone like Van Basten. Subs to fit the system too-

GK: Schmeichel- he was just immense.
DF: Figueroa- Beckenbauer famously said 'I'm just the European Figueroa'
DF: Scirea- kept Baresi out of the Italian team for 4 years.
DM: Didi- the most gifted passer in the history of the game, strength, goal scoring defensive midfielder.

AM: Platini- so many will have Zidane but for me no. Platini was an AM but could also play as a second striker. 3 times Ballon winner in Maradona's era, 3 times finished top scorer in Serie A, deadly free-kick specialist- the best ever along with Zico and Juninho (maybe Maradona too) and in 680 official career appearances he scored 368 goals, that's a goal every other game!....and we've not even touched on his passing and vision, probably only second to Didi in the passing stakes. Zidane was amazing, Platini the more effective player though and the only reason he's not running the midfield instead of Maradona is that Maradona was a bit good too.

AM: Zico- like Platini he could also play as a second striker and the only reason he's not in the first XI is....well who can I swap him with? Pelé said- "throughout the years, the one player that came closest to me was Zico". In 986 official games he managed 684 goals, 0.70 goals per game average. Sick free-kick taker and playmaker, pretty much like having the quality of a Maradona to bring off the bench.

Forward: Puskas- "I was with (Bobby) Charlton, (Denis) Law and Puskás, we were coaching in a football academy in Australia. The youngsters we were coaching did not respect him including making fun of his weight and age...We decided to let the guys challenge a coach to hit the crossbar 10 times in a row, obviously they picked the old fat one. Law asked the kids how many they thought the old fat coach would get out of ten. Most said less than five. I said ten. The old fat coach stepped up and hit nine in a row. For the tenth shot he scooped the ball in the air, bounced it off both shoulders and his head, then flicked it over with his heel and cannoned the ball off the crossbar on the volley. They all stood in silence then one kid asked who he was, I replied, To you, his name is Mr. Puskás." – George Best ( this was from the edge of the area apprently!)

and Bobby Charlton on Puskas- ''I was debating between Maradona, Pele and Puskas for the places up front. But I couldn’t leave Pele out. He was the most naturally gifted in every sense really, his control, his vision. Most people would chose Pele over Puskas because they saw more of him, but if you look at the stats, there’ s not much in it. I remember when Pele scored his 1,000th goal. The pictures went round the world and I mentioned it to Puskas.He replied: ‘I scored my 1,000th goal five years ago’ – and he wasn’t being boastful. I never saw Puskas miss a chance when he was one-on-one with the keeper. His goalscoring record is incredible – he got pretty much a goal a game for both Real Madrid and Hungary''

Mike A wrote:.........................Pele.............Di Stefano....................
........Cruyff.............................................Messi.........
................................Maradona.................................

..................Rijkaard...................Matthaus...................

.........Moore.............Beckenbauer(c).........Baresi...........

.................................[Yashin]...................................

Subs: Schmeichel; Scirea, Figueroa; Didi; Platini, Zico, Puskas.

You have 3 defenders, all world class centrebacks, sweepers, libero's rolled into one, all able to bring the ball out.

Rijkaard the steel in midfield to protect the back four, regarded as the best defensive 'defensive midfielder' ever.
Matthaus my box to box midfielder who Maradona said of "he is the best rival I've ever had. I guess that's enough to define him". Power, pace, skill, attacking, defending, a superman, could do it all.

Maradona running the midfielder collecting the ball off Rijkaard and Matthaus and starting attacks.

Messi on the right, Cruyff left.

Pele and Di Stefano up top.

The thing is Pele, Di Stefano, Messi, Cruyff, Maradona are all total footballers, they can all play as attacking midfielders or forwards so the positions I have them in, well they can all swap with each other so you have the best 5 players you can have playing 'total football' hence no Bra Ronaldo or maybe someone like Van Basten. Subs to fit the system too.

Great first post man! Really good lineup and good points to back it up! Welcome!

Great post mike

Welcome to the forum!

Cheers! Just love talking football so looks like I've found a nice place to do it. Come on the Hammers!

West Ham Fan! Get innnn!

West Ham Mike

ynwa wrote:From what I've seen.

Buffon
Hyypia Cannavaro Maldini
Makelele
Gerrard Zidane
Messi Ronaldinho CR7
R9

Left a lot out. That was hard. ._.

Altered a year later:


Had to take Sami out. As biased as I was, both Nesta and Puyol were better imo.

Iniesta for me has overtaken Zidane.
Pirlo is just a beast and I do rate Pirlo higher than Xavi (comparing them both in their peaks) so he deserved a mention.