Best 11 from your lifetime?

Zidane.

If not for injuries Brazillian Ronaldo. Ronaldinho's up there but Zidane was that class above over his full career.

 

I'd say Zidane too, though was 10 when he was retired so only caught the end of his career. The 2006 world cup was enough for me though.

After that then it's Brazilian Ronaldo, Xavi, Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho, Pirlo.....

 

What in the name of * are you smoking ?

Mind boggling and confusing.

 

If anyone seriously rates Essien as better than Paul Scholes we need to stop football. Jesus.

 

I think there was a lot of revisionism done about Scholes, when he played deep and showed off his passing ability and controlled the pace of games in the late 2000s that people gave him more attention and praise, then as the years have went on people have just made out he always was like that when he wasn't.

For 60% of his career he was basically a forward(like how Maloney played for us under Martin O'Neill) and although he was good, and scored a lot of great goals from 20-30 yards and a lot of headers he wasn't that great. He was never a Rivaldo, Gerrard, Lampard, Ballack - he wasnt even a Fabregas at Barcelona who mostly played that position.

For me I cant pretend he done better than he did as he just never. It would be like saying Petrov was a defensive midfielder and yet still scored a lot of goals for Celtic, when in reality Petrov played as an attacking midfielder for us and it was only at Aston Villa he was a defensive midfielder, there was no combination of the two, Yaya Toure actually a better example as he sat back at Barca and barely ever went forward but at Man City he is fairly average defensively but goes forward more, nobody would claim Yaya Toure was a master defensive midfielder who still scores 15-20 goals a season. Just the same as Scholes was never actually that good, although he could have been as he's probably the most technical player ever from the UK.

Do you all know Scholes was only twice nominated for European POTY, the 2002-03 season, when he scored 20 and was more of a forward and 2006-07 season, when he played centre-mid and neither time did he even get a single vote from anyone.

In his 19 EPL seasons too, he only made the Team of the Year 2 times.

 

Ronaldinho was a genius in my opinion. I absolute loved watching him. Outwith Celtic, easily my favourite player. It was sad to see him fall out of love with football, which I think happened when he was nearing the end of his time at Barca. At his peak with Barca though, he was the best on the planet I think.

 

Ronaldinho in that 2003-06 period was the best player since Maradona.

 

Ronaldo for me, i first seen him when he signed for Barcelona and i was just awesruck at how quick and skillful he was but so strong, he just ran through 2/3 players at times. His knee injuries prevented him from being even better which is frightening.

 

If we were back in 2003 for example and were asked to rate these players from 1-10 as to who was the best:

Mendieta, Davids, Nedved, Seedorf, Scholes, Keane, Vieira, Figo, Rui Costa, Beckham, Giggs, Pires, Veron, Zidane, Rivaldo.....

Im fairly certain Scholes would be the player most people would have put bottom.

Infact there another belter, Scholes never even won the Man U player of the year... during his career Beckham, Kanchelskis, Cantona, Giggs, Sheringham, Heinze, Ronaldo, Van Nistelrooy, Rooney, Keane, Vidic, Hernandez, Valencia and Van Persie all won it.

 

For me...

1. Messi
2. Ronaldo
3. Zidane
4. Ronaldinho
5. C.Ronaldo
6. Xavi
7. Iniesta
8. Kaka
9. Ibrahimovic
10. Rivaldo

I find it too hard to say Zidane or Ronaldinho where better than each other, just two geniuses that you'd have happily paid £20 just to watch on TV every week.

Id class Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Zidane and C.Ronaldo as the absolute elite players that have played since i've been watching. Messi stands out above all as he is the geatest goalscorer and also the greatest footballer and the greatest playmaker i've seen. Id place Ronaldo above Zidane and Ronaldinho as I just think he was better and i'd put C.Ronaldo below as I feel he's less of a team player than the above 4.

Bottom 5 i'd class Xavi and Iniesta as better than the other 3.

Just put Zidane 3rd as if push came to shove id say he was a slightly more pure footballer, Ronaldinho more flashy and Zidane did have a good 8ish seasons of greatness as opposed to Ronaldinho who only had about 4.

 

Surprised to see Berget left out of people's lists, I guess you lot don't have a clue about fitba.

 

No Christiano.

 

Buffon
Lahm Puyol Maldini Roberto Carlos
Scholes Zidane Pirlo
Messi------------------Ronaldo
Raul​

Good luck beating that team.

 

Ronaldo is the greatest ever for me. If he was in his prime today as a striker with that accuracy in finishing, obscene levels of skill, ball control and bringing others into play, he'll be worth 200mil. No striker will have what Ronaldo has except maybe Messi.

[ame]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QaBvBjOJ5SI[/ame]

 

Still can't get over the fact he said Scholes wasn't World Class

 

Gerrard was world class but Scholes wasn't... :smiley-laughing002:.

Easier better than Scholes. Must be trolling.

 

Gerrard World Class, Scholes isn't - Must be a Liverpool fan

 

Beckham-Scholes-Keane-Giggs

Cole, Yorke, Sheringham or Solksjaer up front

He played CM for years ffs, utter nonsense

Brilliant footballer

 

How? I just don't recall Scholes being called great etc until about 2006/2007/2008 when he was about 33/34/35. And neither did anyone, nobody in 2000 when Scholes was 26 was saying "Scholes is exceptional, world class" etc because he wasnt, theres definetly been revisionism done because of his resurgance at centre-mid when he was older but when he was older he had limited mobility and couldnt defend very well at all, so although he was a great passer - he was limited in other areas as he'd lost his burst of speed and energy/mobility from when he was in his 20s.

If Scholes was so good, how come nobody ever voted for him for the European POTY?

How come he never won Man U POTY

How did he only get picked in the EPL TOTY 2 times in 19 seasons?

I know why, it's cause he actually was never that good. When he was younger and at his physical peak, he was no more than a very good second striker/attacking midfielder. When he was older and played deeper he showed off his ability more but was physically over the hill and not as good as he could have been if he'd been younger/quicker/more mobile so again for me wasnt world class.

Id say he had world class talent but at no point was he ever even one of the top 30 players in the world.

He could have been great but he just wasn't as he spent half his career playing what turned out to be the wrong position, then another half playing where he looked suited but was past his best physically limiting him from ever being great.

 

Stop bringing up individual awards to determine if he's World Class or not. Cause he only got picked twice in making the team of the year fs:smiley-laughing002: I know what I seen with my own eyes. The guy was a class act.

NOBODY voted for his as player of the year? A would put my life on it and say hundreds upon hundreds voted for Scholes as player of the year over years. Just not enough to win. To say nobody ever did is madness

You don't recall Scholes being World Class before 2006? Your the only person saying that as he was World Class way before then.



Scholes wasn't World Class lol Aye and neither is Messi


A think I would agree with Zidane and Xavi in that he was a incredible World Class player.