Cabinet96
Hall of Fame Member
True they've both been pretty good this season actually. I just saw way too much **** last season for me to say they're the two best CBs Europe can offer though.
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Football World XI's - Eurpoe, South America, Africa
- Thread starter aussie
- Start date
aussie
Hall of Fame Member
Very true VK had his worst season last year, but has shown some decent recovery to start this season
I saw a article few months ago on ESPN from the erudite Gabrielle Marcotti talking about modern defending Are today's central defenders worse than their predecessors - ESPN FC
Marcotti raises some excellent points, but I would still lean more to the view that the quality of defending has declined. Even with all the rules changes that support attackers more, fact that teams defend more as a unit and full backs bomb forward a lot more than back in the day.
When i started watching football around EURO 96, some great center halves have been around: the french trio of Desailly, Blanc, Lebouf. Italian giants like Maldini, Cannavaro, Nesta, Costacurta. The arsenal backline of Lee Dixon, Tony Adams, Martin Keown and Nigel Winterburn, along with Sol Campbell later. The united's backline at one stage of Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister and Denis Irwin and later Jaap Stamp.
Other great individual defenders like Hierro, Matthaus, Sammer Paulo Montero, Samuel Kuffor, Gheorghe Popescu, frank de boer etc etc etc.
With the full-backs it was much of the same. Guys like Thuram, Lizarazu, Dan Popescu, G Neville, Zambrotta, van bronkhorst, Cafu, zanetti, michael reiziger, willy sagnol, pannuci etc etc were all very adept at their main role as defending, while also contributing in attack. For years Roberto Carlos was often seen as the odd-man full-back, who was more comfortable going forward than defending.
In recent years when I watched certain teams defend it reminded me off the old school ways although they were few and far between:
For example Chelsea last season with Cech or Cortoius/Ivanovic/Terry/Cahill/Azpelicueta The Atletico team that won la liga and got to c league final - Cortoius/Juanfran/Godin/Miranda/l Felipe; Juventus with Buffon/leichesteiner/Chellini/Barzagli/Bonnuci/Asamoah; Dortmund circa 2013 when Weidenfeller/Subotic/Hummels/Pizceck were playing out of their skins under Klopp; 2008 United Van der sar/Ferdinand/Vidic/Evra/Neville
Cabinet96
Hall of Fame Member
This guy pisses me off on twitter but he's correct about modern CBs IMO. ?Why Are There No World-Class Centre-Backs These Days?? | Tactics, Busquets, et cetera.
sledger
Spanish_Vicente
Yes, I can't wait for the awful posts. I've been waiting to hear more about Ashley's relationship with Cheryl for several years now. I'm also hoping for a sequel to that post where it was suggested that Ashley ought to shoot people who question his ***uality.
sledger
Spanish_Vicente
duffer
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
What is with people on CW not knowing when I'm taking the piss lately?
Uppercut
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Ramos-Boateng seems the obvious pairing to me. Sort of depends on which timescale you choose.
Uppercut
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Kompany started the season really well but he had a long run of poor form before then. Hummels didn't have a good season at all last year either.
I wouldn't have them too far down the list but would definitely prefer to pick someone from one of the clubs that win everything. Picking Buffon over Neuer is in CW's top ten worst-ever opinions, though.
I wouldn't have them too far down the list but would definitely prefer to pick someone from one of the clubs that win everything. Picking Buffon over Neuer is in CW's top ten worst-ever opinions, though.
Cabinet96
Hall of Fame Member
Did any of you guys here about this: Redirecting you to www.dailymail.co.uk | donotlink.com
I mean, ****ing hell, he went down a bit in my estimations after that. Did great in the World Cup given he was injured though. Will always have that.
I mean, ****ing hell, he went down a bit in my estimations after that. Did great in the World Cup given he was injured though. Will always have that.
aussie
Hall of Fame Member
Care to elaborate on why you think their jobs was easier?
While i'd have to say i'm more in favour of CBs of the past - i doubt we will see a CB win the Ballon D'Or or world player of the year like Cannavaro did in 06 anytime soon, even if we consider that it may be harder to do with Ronaldo/Messi scoring performances always likely to make them yearly candidates for that accolade.
aussie
Hall of Fame Member
Article making similar points to Marcotti on ESPNFC - http://www.espnfc.com/blog/marcottis-musings/62/post/2582383/are-todays-central-defenders-worse-than-their-predecessors - But as i mentioned above IMO In recent years when I watched certain teams defend it reminded me off the old school ways although they were few and far between, despite although the known changes to the game:
For example Chelsea last season with Cech or Cortoius/Ivanovic/Terry/Cahill/Azpelicueta The Atletico team that won la liga and got to c league final - Cortoius/Juanfran/Godin/Miranda/l Felipe; Juventus with Buffon/leichesteiner/Chellini/Barzagli/Bonnuci/Asamoah; Dortmund circa 2013 when Weidenfeller/Subotic/Hummels/Pizceck were playing out of their skins under Klopp; 2008 United Van der sar/Ferdinand/Vidic/Evra/Neville
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