by Terminal Boardom » 09 Feb 2011 08:27
by bobbybottler » 09 Feb 2011 09:14
Terminal Boardom As for club football, it really is a tough call but I would have to plump for Athletico Whaddon managed by the immortal Les Bence.
by Svlad Cjelli » 09 Feb 2011 10:58
Terminal Boardom Back to the OP, were Brazil 1970 really the best? I would have thought that Hungary in the early 1950s would have been more than a contender. The only reason they lost the 1954 WCF to Germany was because the Germans cheated.
by papereyes » 09 Feb 2011 11:25
Thomas L'Heureuxbobbybottler ...included two serious contenders in the “best player of all-time” nonsense debate in Di Stefano and Puskas.
Puskas was a fat bloke with a great left foot. It could be argued that he wouldn't cut it in the modern game, but then who's to say that if he were playing now he wouldn't be fitter and more athletic?
The point is that it's impossible to compare different generations as the game has evolved so much and the physical demands are more extreme. The flipside is that great players used to be able to get away with having a skinful before a game whereas it's far stricter these days and they wouldn't get away with doing so.
by Y21_Royal » 09 Feb 2011 12:46
by bobbybottler » 09 Feb 2011 13:42
Y21_Royal I've always found this conversation a little pointless. International sides have a distinct advantage of only being judged over a few games ie, play brilliantly for half a dozen games at a WC and you're described as the best ever, club sides don't have that luxury. Perhaps because of that sides like Puskas' Hungary and Pele's Brazil carry a mysticism about them and aren't analysed to the degree modern sides are. To that end I think you have to make a distinction between greatest club and greatest national side.
To my mind this current Barcelona side is as close to greatness as I've ever seen from a club side, could they beat Sacchi's Milan, Cryuff's Ajax or Di Stefano's Real Madrid, who knows?
by Barry the bird boggler » 09 Feb 2011 13:49
bobbybottlerY21_Royal I've always found this conversation a little pointless. International sides have a distinct advantage of only being judged over a few games ie, play brilliantly for half a dozen games at a WC and you're described as the best ever, club sides don't have that luxury. Perhaps because of that sides like Puskas' Hungary and Pele's Brazil carry a mysticism about them and aren't analysed to the degree modern sides are. To that end I think you have to make a distinction between greatest club and greatest national side.
To my mind this current Barcelona side is as close to greatness as I've ever seen from a club side, could they beat Sacchi's Milan, Cryuff's Ajax or Di Stefano's Real Madrid, who knows?
Despite winning the European Cup three times in a row, Cruyff's Ajax were far from dominant in Holland - between 1968 and 1974 they won Eredivisie three times, as did Feyenoord.
I'd argue that being "Greatest club football team of all time" necessit8ed domestic dominance.
by Svlad Cjelli » 09 Feb 2011 13:49
by papereyes » 09 Feb 2011 13:49
by bobbybottler » 09 Feb 2011 13:52
Svlad Cjelli We're onto the old question of success vs style/beauty.
To be great isn't necessarily about winning .....
And at this juncture can I re-recommend this :
by Y21_Royal » 09 Feb 2011 13:57
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