Kenny Dalglish Won't Be Delivering the Module: English Premiership 2011-12

Btw when I said no-one cared about the premiership, I obviously was talking about in terms of award giving and not in terms of popularity. It is like comedies come Oscar season. Doesn't mean people haven't spent all year talking quoting jokes when Daniel Day Lewis ends up winning Best Actor.

I was wondering: when was the last time the best player in the world (the actual one) was playing in the English league?

Ronaldo doesn't qualify?

I know this has been done on the 'players of the 00s' thread but the case for Henry c. 2003 is pretty strong.

Yeah Ronaldo was head and shoulders above the pack for two years there.

both cases p strong, as is case for keane and or vieira were dm position ever to be counted, or stephen carr if rb were in the running

xp if you mean ronaldo was aller than messi, then yeah sure, otherwise he was in the mix don't push it

I don't think Vieira or Keane could ever be picked because of Fatty Ronaldo and Zizou playing at the same time. Before that... Lineker?

Paul McGrath

gazza since lineker

Peter Reid unlucky to play in the Platini/Maradona era.

on the real though...Schmeichel

prob

Was Gazzaq the best in the world while in England though? Surely Maradona/Baresi/van Basten was better than him in '90.

i.e. maybe when he went to italy? i dunno much about his time there other than comedy boobs.

Otm xp.. I discount the British-based players as a matter of course, but you can definitely make a case for Henry (but then Ronnie) and Ronaldo (but then Messi). Even shearer (but then Ronaldo). It's slim pickings for thirty years' watching though.

1991-93 he might have a shout?

henry and c ronaldo probably played better than anyone for a season and ronaldo was probably the actual best player in 07/08 too, whereas henry probably never was (zidane and ronaldo were still brilliant when they wanted to be until 2004 or so, when ronaldinho took over)

Players in England to have won the Ballon d'Or:

2001 Michael Owen
1968 Best
1966 Charlton
1964 Law
1956 Matthews

shearer was never remotely close i mean in 91/93 there was van basten (just), laudrup, romario, matthaus, baggio, stoichkov, gullit, rijkaard, hagi, maldini, baresi, abedi pele, butragueño, mancini, stojkovic....

english football is probably more interesting now than it was during the 05-09 peak

Gazza was famously injured most of 91-93, if that's serious. Best player in that period was ... maybe Baggio? More likely one of the Milan or possibly Marseille sides of the time. Or Koeman, jeez they were great days.

koeman? a decent centre-back who could take a shot from long-range.

Not insignificant talents. He could roam and pass a bit too iirc. He was no Sammer though, it's true.

english football is probably more interesting now

More contenders for the top spots?

Gazza was famously injured most of 91-93, if that's serious

pls

my mistake, I always have you down as some sort of whippersnapper

Messi was too young, often injured during peak Ronaldo at Utd. Ronaldo, Henry starting to wind down, Kaka more of a shout. Only once they sorted Messi's fitness (they still tend to rest him like once every six games) did he overtake.

Ronaldinho*, Henry

yeah it gets p incestuous and murky from undisputed ronaldinho to undisputed messi, and that's not a bad thing- as nakh says the golden days btwn peak maradona and - i dunno who the next 'undisputed might even be? say zidane?- had an eclectic mix of contenders in every position you could wish for

i mean for a minute there in 02 ilx would no doubt have polled pablo aimar as a genuine top 3 player

Stoichkov v. Baggio for the mid 90s like Ronnie v. Henry for the mid 00s surely

i mean for a minute there in 02 ilx would no doubt have polled pablo aimar as a genuine top 3 player

― carpy deems (darraghmac), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 19:06 (28 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

he fucking destroyed us in europe but ayala was the star of that team

stoichkov, if you were to v him v anyone, would prob be best v'd against hagi iirc?

was always more of a Hagi man myself

or laudrup

shit i wish i wasn't 6 at the time and also had broadband to watch it all like i do now

romario was the van nistelrooy of the times, right?

boban, what a fuckin player

xp which times i'll tell you, cos that doesn't quite work

he was more like the really, really good defoe of the times

in fairness my knowledge of the time is entirely based on USA 94 and Italian football on Channel 4

could be worse tbr

http://www.iffhs-media.de/9-b/9-Goalgetter-1996-10.jpg

the nineties right here, guys

ya 99 kilos

he was more like the really, really good defoe of the times

― carpy deems (darraghmac), Tuesday, January 10, 2012 7:10 PM (10 minutes ago)

yeah i think so

i remember the kids at school repeating the stoichkov/romario/stoichkov/romario commentary (tyldesley?) after they'd sonned ynahtid

i dont think i watched though, i only really watched football italia and collected stickers

i was into that milan team in a big way, could recite stats and line-ups etc, lol 11 yr olds

the EPL is more interesting than a few yrs ago cuz there are five high-level teams who play good football (citeh, tottenham, arsenal), intermittently play good football (ynahtid) or provide some sort of intrigue (chelsea)

in 2k7 or so chelsea and liverpool were both relentlessly dull relentless attritional crap and none of the lower-mid table 'can play a bit' sides could actually play like swansea are right now

all true

still feel like mourinho brought the attrition with him, he made the central midfield three the vogue formation, then dropped the natural wingers that made it even vaguely watchable

an eclectic mix of contenders in every position you could wish for

― carpy deems (darraghmac), Tuesday, January 10, 2012 7:05 PM (27 minutes ago)

there is still a fair array of talent in most positions (apart from central defence) compared to the mid-late 90s, it just gets overlooked beneath the rather too obvious messi/ronaldo top tier, which isn't actually a top tier so much as messi deciding when he wants to take his feet off c-ron's fingertips and watch him fall away

i dunno, you look around and fink oo's better than scotty and wo' ee gives you and i just kent see anyone out there

the EPL is more interesting than a few yrs ago cuz there are five high-level teams who play good football (citeh, tottenham, arsenal), intermittently play good football (ynahtid) or provide some sort of intrigue (chelsea)

in 2k7 or so chelsea and liverpool were both relentlessly dull relentless attritional crap and none of the lower-mid table 'can play a bit' sides could actually play INSIDE THEIR OWN HALF like swansea are right now

― hegel-lacan girl (nakhchivan), Tuesday, 10 January 2012 19:28 (38 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink