*Official* English Football Season 2005-06

[Francis]

New guard in that they're the best defenders in Italy.

Gerrard isn't top 20 for me. Great player, great leader, but he's not there for me. Top 11-20 would include, in no order:

Buffon, Terry, C. Ronaldo, Robben, Cech, Van Nistlerooy, Carvalho, Oddo, Viera, Deco and Cordoba.

I guess it just boilds down to my appreciation of defenders.

I don't know if I'd even have Gerrard as Liverpool's best player... I probably would, but Carriger and Alonso are pretty awesome as well.

 

[nikhil1772]

New guard in that they're the best defenders in Italy.

Gerrard isn't top 20 for me. Great player, great leader, but he's not there for me. Top 11-20 would include, in no order:

Buffon, Terry, C. Ronaldo, Robben, Cech, Van Nistlerooy, Carvalho, Oddo, Viera, Deco and Cordoba.

I guess it just boilds down to my appreciation of defenders.

I don't know if I'd even have Gerrard as Liverpool's best player... I probably would, but Carriger and Alonso are pretty awesome as well.

Somebody forgot Owen???

 

[Loony BoB]

Somebody forgot Owen???

Who plays for Newcastle?

 

[Neil Pickup]

New guard in that they're the best defenders in Italy.

Gerrard isn't top 20 for me. Great player, great leader, but he's not there for me. Top 11-20 would include, in no order:

Buffon, Terry, C. Ronaldo, Robben, Cech, Van Nistlerooy, Carvalho, Oddo, Viera, Deco and Cordoba.

I guess it just boilds down to my appreciation of defenders.

I don't know if I'd even have Gerrard as Liverpool's best player... I probably would, but Carriger and Alonso are pretty awesome as well.

Gerrard IS Liverpool.

 

[nikhil1772]

Who plays for Newcastle?

I meant as in Owen being in the top 20 players in the world...also to some extent I feel Owen's heart still belongs to Liverpool...he must be considered as one of Liverpool's greats...

For now Gerrard Is Liverpool...I'd like to see it convert into Gerrard-Owen is Liverpool someday again

 

[roseboy64]

Gerrard IS Liverpool.

Anyone who thinks otherwise has got serious mental problems or is just ignorant.

 

[roseboy64]

As evidenced by the season before Abramovich you mean?

Pretty much. The seasons before he came.

 

[Loony BoB]

I meant as in Owen being in the top 20 players in the world...also to some extent I feel Owen's heart still belongs to Liverpool...he must be considered as one of Liverpool's greats...

For now Gerrard Is Liverpool...I'd like to see it convert into Gerrard-Owen is Liverpool someday again

Owen's a good player but I wouldn't put him into my top 20. And I don't even keep up with every player.

 

[TheEpic]

How come Mourinho gets so many plaudits, when in reality, he has achieved very little.

Let's look at the facts.

Ranieri signed or brought through all of Chelsea's best players. The spine of the Chelsea team is all Ranieri's work. Cech, Gallas, Makelele, Lampard, J Cole, Duff, Robben, Crespo all signed by Ranieri. Terry brought through the ranks to first team regular whilst Ranieri was in charge. Yes, Ranieri had a disappointing domestic season after Abramovich's first year, but is that really surprising when he had a new team?

The stars of the Chelsea team now are all there because of Ranieri. He not only signed some of the World's best (Crespo, Makelele), but also demonstrated he could spot excellent young talent (Cole, Lampard, Cech, Robben).

Who has Mourinho signed of any real value? Drogba is garbage. Carvalho is overrated, Ferreira is unreliable and Del Horno is terrible, as shown by the sheer dominance held over him by Messi. Essien looks handy but was hardly a snip at £20 odd million. Maniche looks average at the moment as well and he is wasting Wright-Phillips.

Hahaha, and who remembers Jiri Jarosik?

Mourinho is a good manager, yes, but he is not a GREAT. Ranieri was criminally underrated and could have done a good job given half a chance.

Thankyou for your time!

 

[roseboy64]

Good argument.

 

[Matteh]

How come Mourinho gets so many plaudits, when in reality, he has achieved very little.

mhmm...he took an obscure Portugese team (beira something...although that may be wrong) and effectively did a Wigan with them...
then moves to Porto and from nowhere wins the UEFA + Champion's League with them....
now at Chelsea he's effectively almost won the lot...

 

[steds]

Cech, Gallas, Makelele, Lampard, J Cole, Duff, Robben, Crespo all signed by Ranieri.

I'm pretty sure Cech and Robben were Mourinho's signings.

EDIT: I'm right.

Carvalho is Chelsea's seventh major signing under Mourinho, who replaced Claudio Ranieri as coach last month.

He joins Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba, Dutch winger Arjen Robben, Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech, Serbia and Montenegro striker Mateja Kezman, Portugal midfielder Tiago Mendes and Portugal defender Paulo Ferreira.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Yes, because 2 seasons ago this so called 4th/5th side came 2nd to Arsenal, 4 points clear of 3rd place and 19 clear of 4th...

After Abramovich had taken over... Abramovich took over summer 2003.

 

[Tom Halsey]

As evidenced by the season before Abramovich you mean?

Actually, the season before Abramovich, we won the title.

EDIT: And Chelsea scraped into the CL, beating Liverpool on the last day.

 

[Loony BoB]

To confirm steds' comments...

Cech: "In January (2004) he agreed a summer move to Chelsea for £7m (€10.3m), signing a five-year contract."

Robben: "Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich offered € 18 million, and Robben accepted."

 

[steds]

After Abramovich had taken over... Abramovich took over summer 2003.

Already been pointed out, Trigger.

 

[Tom Halsey]

You just don't get it do you? Man United are ****! All of their good players have either left, or become old and slow like Giggs. The new 'talent' coming along consists of Darren Fletcher, classic symptoms of a team in decline.

As evidenced by our points tally for this season so far comparing favourably with when we won the title...

Anyone who expects us to compete with Chelsea needs their head sorting.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Already been pointed out, Trigger.

I haven't read all the posts yet.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Especially when someone like Gerrard isn't in there.

I wouldn't have Gerrard in the Top 10.

 

[TheEpic]

mhmm...he took an obscure Portugese team (beira something...although that may be wrong) and effectively did a Wigan with them...
then moves to Porto and from nowhere wins the UEFA + Champion's League with them....
now at Chelsea he's effectively almost won the lot...

I actually meant specifically with Chelsea. There is no doubt he did well at his other clubs, and perhaps he works better with a smaller budget.

But to be fair, what has he actually acheived at Chelsea outside of the Premiership? He has got no further than Ranieri did in the Champions League, and look to be going out early this season too. He was out fought and out thought by Benitez and a comparitvely weak Liverpool side last year and have been outclassed by an admittedly better side this.

He won the Carling Cup last year, yes, but Middlesbrough and Blackburn have won that trophy in recent years and it is hardly a prestigious trophy. This season they were knocked out by a poor Charlton side.

In the FA Cup last year they were outplayed by a very poor Newcastle side who were missing players and had a tactically inept manager. This season they may very well win it, but that is far from clear.

With UNLIMITED funds, he has bought badly and bought often.

At CHELSEA, I still believe he has done well, but not well enough for a manager with such a proven track record and so much money available to him.