ITT: LEO 'KING' MESSI

sadly you have an aquilani and a lucas instead - although last time you tried to sign hamann he turned out to be igor biscan iirc

was about to OTM SM (with reservations on his Zidane assessment tbh) until the mention of john fucking sheridan, half of an incredibly journeyman irish midfield with townsend for years. rubbish!

We ought to chop this thread's discussions into Best Attacker, Best Midfielder, and Best Defnder, though.

Or even just Best Forward and Best Back.

Cos Makelele's as important a player to the teams he was in as Fat Ron or Zidane, but comparing them is wrong.

Sheridan might have been shit for RoI but I blame Townsend for that; with Palmer at Wednesday Sheridan was awesome. remember that free-kick Le Tissier scored where it was rolled to him and he flicked it up and volleyed it? He nicked that off Sheridan.

who can forget the sheridan turn?

BEST TEAM

did we do a team of the decade thing already, or was it just premier league?

hamann was a better passer than masch and scored more goals, just a better all around player imo. there was some good stats about games won with hamann in that liverpool side vs without.

We need a set formation to do best team. 4-3-3?

Buffon
Cafu - Nesta - Campbell (serious) - ???
Vieira - ??? - ???
Messi - Rooney - Henry

best team as Rafa would pick it

Rafa would just go to the nearest hospital and pick one-legged kids given the opportunity.

I'd have loved to Vieira and Fabregas play together properly at Arsenal.

vieira ronaldinho nedved maybe

hmm maybe not nedved for 00-09.

cafu probably knocking on a little too in fairness- zanetti plays at RB or midfield these days?

it's an argument I shouldn't start again, but Keane better than Vieira imo.

Also, Gattuso.

Cafu won Serie A with Roma in 201 and then went to Milan. He was the best RB in the world for 2 decades straight. Zanetti's good, but...

Nedved's a great shout. Never seen someone run so much.

Dani Alves might look like some weird thug from X-Men but he's on the way.

Leftbacks is where I'm coming up short. Carlos is too 90s and even then I can't ever love him. I can't think of anyone from the last decade who's fit to lace Andreas Breheme's boots.

Keane vs Vieira is a big, long, argument. I LOVE Keane, but Vieira was pretty much as tough and influential and was a whole lot more elegant too.

Gattuso was a headless chicken. Like Davids with ADHD. He played for RANGERS fgs.

I'm almost willing to rep for Cashley at left back

Hate to say this but it might actually be Cashley at LB :/

Would a three-man midfield of Makalele, Pirlo and Zidane work?

vieira ahead of keane- there i said it.

left back-

evra? too late in the day for him to make a claim?

because there is only one alternative i can think of, and nobody likes him very much at all. (xp lol)

I can't rate Dani Alves, sorry- he's got great talent but his concentration is so poor- his delivery is just crazily inconsistent.

vieira had skills keane could only dream of. having said that, keane had that aggression and competitive edge that few if any other players have.

I'd have Keane and Vieira together, actually, them and Nedved. Fuck Zidane. No lazies in my team.

Cashley probably is the best LB shout but he's such a little cunt I just wont accept it. There MUST be better. I'd accept Evra at a push.

LAHM

Only other plausible left backs I can think of are van Bronckhorst, Panucci and (I think) Sorin

None acceptable, including Lahm. sorry.

LB Roberto Carlos

I would have xavi iniesta and zidane in my midfield vs SM United. fuck compromise!

Yes, too many Premiership players in the team

Panucci's a rightback and was done by 2006 realistically.

Van Bronkhorst played for RANGERS.

Sorin has such fuckawful hair.

Lahn too spotty.

Carlos too old.

Clichy - has loads of mp3s at only 128kbps

Nah; his exclusion is cos of is lopsided face.

it's ashley cole. almost certain. need to go through italian national left backs to be sure.

zambrotta?

never expressed interest in obtaining a ronaldinho bottle opener

is this best now or best of the last 10 years? cos Keane, Vieira & Zidane are too old now as well.

how is twatley better than Roberto Carlos at his prime???? or Evra for that matter?

Best of decade, I think.

i think (without being sure) that it's of the last ten years. furthermore, i'm not sure if it is 'at any stage over the past ten years' or through the decade as a whole.

btw twatly is better than carlos at his prime.

Twatley's a better defender than Carlos.

Carlos, like Zidane, is notable for a handful of amazing moments; beyond that he ran up and down a lot and crossed the ball to Cafu (who crossed it back) a lot.

kicked the ball too hard and too high A LOT

Ashley Cole? OK, he's better than somebody like Lampard, but he isn't all that

maybe I'm just blinkered by not liking Cole, but I don't think I've ever seen him play conspicuously well. Solid and consistent I guess, but never "the best left-back in a decade" good

He is good, but he is definitely overrated

Demonstrates the paucity of great left backs, really

btw the answer is philipp lahm, and here is why

http://image.blingee.com/images15/content/output/000/000/000/3b4/189210157_843607.gif

Has that horse signed for Palace?

that's better than my reasoning tbh (nippy, versatile, excellent evil eyebrows)

He is good, but he is definitely overrated

*ignores scot*