World Class Players

[JPK]

Abidal was so poor in the World Cup that Alan Hansen took to calling him Abigail.

Call me Mr Picky but I can't see beyond Kaka for anybody else to be genuine world class. Loads of players are very good (Gerrard, Rooney, Cech, Essien, Scholes, Henry, Pirlo, so on and so forth; but in my eyes Only Kaka is genuine World Class. You may disagree, if so, how would you class Maradonna, Cruyff and Pele as they are way above the players mentioned in this thread.

[FatTony]

Abidal was so poor in the World Cup that Alan Hansen took to calling him Abigail.

Call me Mr Picky but I can't see beyond Kaka for anybody else to be genuine world class. Loads of players are very good (Gerrard, Rooney, Cech, Essien, Scholes, Henry, Pirlo, so on and so forth; but in my eyes Only Kaka is genuine World Class. You may disagree, if so, how would you class Maradonna, Cruyff and Pele as they are way above the players mentioned in this thread.

The thing is though, with Pele, Maradona and Cruff, you have a whole career to look back on and pick out the highlights. They all probably had plenty of games where they didn't play outstandingly well and we just recall the best bits.

[The_weatherman]

Abidal was so poor in the World Cup that Alan Hansen took to calling him Abigail.

Call me Mr Picky but I can't see beyond Kaka for anybody else to be genuine world class. Loads of players are very good (Gerrard, Rooney, Cech, Essien, Scholes, Henry, Pirlo, so on and so forth; but in my eyes Only Kaka is genuine World Class. You may disagree, if so, how would you class Maradonna, Cruyff and Pele as they are way above the players mentioned in this thread.

If there is only one world class player in the world, I agree with you it´s Kaka.....

[Colemere]

Name a big prem game he did it in?
Did he pull it out in Europe when he was needed?
Kaka showed them all up in the both legs and made it look easy.
I'm not blind to that

Ok, I can't, 1. because my memory sucks and 2. because I can't be arsed to do any research and find anything out. But he got his goals last season, more than any other midfielder in the premiership. Many of our players did not even do it against little teams on ocassions.

Kaka, (and Seedorf) showed many of the united players up in both CL games not just him.

[JPK]

Ok, I can't, 1. because my memory sucks and 2. because I can't be arsed to do any research and find anything out. But he got his goals last season, more than any other midfielder in the premiership. Many of our players did not even do it against little teams on ocassions.

Kaka, (and Seedorf) showed many of the united players up in both CL games not just him.

And Lampard got goals galore for the last few years and we all know how good he really is.

[Colemere]

And Lampard got goals galore for the last few years and we all know how good he really is.

I give in

[red g]

Abidal was so poor in the World Cup that Alan Hansen took to calling him Abigail.

Call me Mr Picky but I can't see beyond Kaka for anybody else to be genuine world class. Loads of players are very good (Gerrard, Rooney, Cech, Essien, Scholes, Henry, Pirlo, so on and so forth; but in my eyes Only Kaka is genuine World Class. You may disagree, if so, how would you class Maradonna, Cruyff and Pele as they are way above the players mentioned in this thread.

they are all world class players,its just there not as good as the world class players of maradona, pele etc. a world class player by my definition is one that would get in a world class squad. We do only have gerrard and possibily pepe although Jamie C is world class for us

[Gazzla]

OK lets give this world eleven a go

Buffon

Sagnol (or Zambrotta), Neste, Ramos, Lahm,

Ronaldinho, Gerrard, Kaka, Ronaldo

Eto'o, Henry

Subs, Cannavaro, Messi, Cech, Villa, Ballack

I couldn't be arsed really so feel free to rip it to shreds.

[JPK]

OK lets give this world eleven a go

Buffon

Sagnol (or Zambrotta), Neste, Ramos, Lahm,

Ronaldinho, Gerrard, Kaka, Ronaldo

Eto'o, Henry

Subs, Cannavaro, Messi, Cech, Villa, Ballack

I couldn't be arsed really so feel free to rip it to shreds.

Lahm is a class act alright.Totally forgot him

[magicalbarnes]

If there was a world 11 plus 7 subs i would pick:

Goalkeeper: Cech & Buffon
Defenders: Terry, Cannavaro, Nesta & Ayala
Midfielders: Gerrard, Essien, Ronaldo, Kaka, Messi
Strikers: Henry, Shevchenko (still is world class despite what is written about him), Ronaldhinio, Adriano & Eto

Hounarable mentions:Reina, Gallas, Maldini, Cafu, Gallas, Carragher, Puyol, Zambrotta, Ballack, Deco, Pirlo, Riquelme, Drogba, Rooney & Torres.

In my opinion the term 'world class' is used far too often nowadays. It should mean a player is good enough to get into a world 11 + subs. I must hve heard over 50 different players referred to as 'world class'

[Kopite_Colin]

I agree with almost all of that. We need some real match winners in attack.

That's so true it hurts.

[kemm1]

Since the days of Zidane, Figo (in his prime), Rivaldo (in his prime), Ronaldo (up until 5 years ago) and a few others the standard in world football is a bit low at the moment IMHO.

Think back to the Dutch team of 1998 you could argue that was a team o world class players. Where are the world class wide players? Who is really up there wih Messi as a player under 21 with the potential to be a legend?

Just because footie is going through a lull of world class players for he past 5 years doesn't mean we should force the label on players who don't deserve it.

Over the past 2 to 3 years, for me Sheva, Buffon, Nesta, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Henry and Eto'o are World Class no questions asked. Any other player is up for seriou debate IMHO.

[FatTony]

Think back to the Dutch team of 1998 you could argue that was a team o world class players. Where are the world class wide players? .

Wasn't this team made up of the majority of the same players that England slaughtered in euro 96? (just checked the squads and there are many differences)

98 Squad:

1 GK Edwin van der Sar 29 Oct 1970 Ajax 1994
2 DF Michael Reiziger 03 May 1973 Barcelona (SPA)
3 DF Jaap Stam 17 Jul 1972 PSV Eindhoven
4 DF Frank de Boer 15 May 1970 Ajax 1994
5 DF Arthur Numan 14 Dec 1969 PSV Eindhoven 1994
6 MD Wim Jonk 12 Oct 1966 PSV Eindhoven 1994
7 MD Ronald de Boer 15 May 1970 Ajax 1994
8 FW Dennis Bergkamp 10 May 1969 Arsenal (ENG) 1994
9 FW Patrick Kluivert 01 Jul 1976 AC Milan (ITA)
10 MD Clarence Seedorf 01 Apr 1976 Real Madrid (SPA)
11 MD Phillip Cocu 29 Oct 1970 PSV Eindhoven
12 MD Boudewijn Zenden 15 Aug 1976 PSV Eindhoven
13 DF Andre Ooijer 11 Jul 1974 PSV Eindhoven
14 FW Marc Overmars 29 Mar 1973 Arsenal (ENG) 1994
15 DF Winston Bogarde 22 Oct 1970 Barcelona (SPA)
16 MD Edgar Davids 13 Mar 1973 Juventus (ITA)
17 FW Pierre van Hooijdonk 29 Nov 1969 Nottingham Forest (ENG)
18 GK Ed de Goey 20 Dec 1966 Chelsea (ENG) 1994
19 MD Giovanni van Bronckhorst 05 Feb 1975 Feyenoord
20 MD Aron Winter 01 Mar 1967 Internazionale (ITA) 1990,94
21 FW Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink 27 Mar 1972 Leeds United (ENG)
22 GK Ruud Hesp 31 Oct 1965 Barcelona (SPA)

[kemm1]

Wasn't this team made up of the majority of the same players that England slaughtered in euro 96? (just checked the squads and there are many differences)

98 Squad:

1 GK Edwin van der Sar 29 Oct 1970 Ajax 1994
2 DF Michael Reiziger 03 May 1973 Barcelona (SPA)
3 DF Jaap Stam 17 Jul 1972 PSV Eindhoven
4 DF Frank de Boer 15 May 1970 Ajax 1994
5 DF Arthur Numan 14 Dec 1969 PSV Eindhoven 1994
6 MD Wim Jonk 12 Oct 1966 PSV Eindhoven 1994
7 MD Ronald de Boer 15 May 1970 Ajax 1994
8 FW Dennis Bergkamp 10 May 1969 Arsenal (ENG) 1994
9 FW Patrick Kluivert 01 Jul 1976 AC Milan (ITA)
10 MD Clarence Seedorf 01 Apr 1976 Real Madrid (SPA)
11 MD Phillip Cocu 29 Oct 1970 PSV Eindhoven
12 MD Boudewijn Zenden 15 Aug 1976 PSV Eindhoven
13 DF Andre Ooijer 11 Jul 1974 PSV Eindhoven
14 FW Marc Overmars 29 Mar 1973 Arsenal (ENG) 1994
15 DF Winston Bogarde 22 Oct 1970 Barcelona (SPA)
16 MD Edgar Davids 13 Mar 1973 Juventus (ITA)
17 FW Pierre van Hooijdonk 29 Nov 1969 Nottingham Forest (ENG)
18 GK Ed de Goey 20 Dec 1966 Chelsea (ENG) 1994
19 MD Giovanni van Bronckhorst 05 Feb 1975 Feyenoord
20 MD Aron Winter 01 Mar 1967 Internazionale (ITA) 1990,94
21 FW Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink 27 Mar 1972 Leeds United (ENG)
22 GK Ruud Hesp 31 Oct 1965 Barcelona (SPA)

So what's the point even if it was the same team, it was a bad performance. I remember Real Mallorca putting 5 past Zidane's Real Madrid team.

What do you think of the Dutch 98 team then?

[Sir Bob]

I'd call someone world class if they are in the top 3 players in the world for their position.