How highly do you rate... Robert Pires?

[Away Toon]

I thought Vieira and Petit were the best centre midfield partnership for Arsenal and then for France.

[Nobody]

I posted this up a while ago. This is IMO the best team of my lifetime. (Aged 27)

 

Be interesting to see other's comparisons. (I think this is the right thread to put it in) Also I've picked quite a balanced team as I know when these things normally happen teams are usually ridiculously unbalanced.

 

http://www.footballuser.com/Formations/2011/06/125480_Dream_Team.jpg

As amazing as Ronaldinho was, I'd put Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of him. That team would score 10 goals a game

[Hughesy]

Sorry - where is Shola in that team?

[Tiresias]

We all know Perch should be in for Redondo 

[Decky]

Keane = brilliant player with a shit personality and too high an opinion of himself.

[Cronky]

He was shit scared of Shearer like

 

Let's not re-write history now. He was not scared of Shearer. In fact, it was Shearer that was taking the backward steps.

[Guest BooBoo]

Keane had so many issues and by the end Fergie realised he was not worth the hassle and binned him.

 

Great in his pomp, even though I think Vieira had the slight edge. Whilst Vieira was a hard tackler, Keane had an undoubted nasty streak in him. His self confessed assault on Haaland should have seen him charged, utterly cowardly.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Keane had so many issues and by the end Fergie realised he was not worth the hassle and binned him.

 

Great in his pomp, even though I think Vieira had the slight edge. Whilst Vieira was a hard tackler, Keane had an undoubted nasty streak in him. His self confessed assault on Haaland should have seen him charged, utterly cowardly.

 

Aye, Vieira was the better all-rounder. Mind, I think Yaya Toure is even better than those two as a box to box midfielder.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

He was s*** scared of Shearer like

 

Let's not re-write history now. He was not scared of Shearer. In fact, it was Shearer that was taking the backward steps.

 

I don't think he was scared of anyone or anything to be honest, certainly not on the pitch but Shearer clearly won whatever battle was going on between the two simply by remaining cool and being that bit mentally tougher. I think if push come to shove though, Shearer would destroy Keane as he did that day in terms of the individual duel between the two. Indeed the next time the two came across each other, Shearer clattered him early on and Keane disappeared after that. Those two in the same team mind... scary!

[hakka]

He was good for Man Utd because he soaked up the pressure and tormented teams with his aggression and passion. He clearly got in to the oppositions heads and also physically hurt them as well. Regardless of that, he did have some great talent for breaking up play, passing the ball, getting forward, setting something up and scoring a goal. Very good all rounder in midfield. He was an utter cunt though, bitter and a cheater. Rather have him in your side than against when at his best, but not a real example for me of a truly class player despite being almost as effective as one at times.

[Guest BooBoo]

I think Keane was one of the last of the "hard men".

 

The sort that would probably win the match in the tunnel with his reputation and aura. Can't think of anyone like that in the PL these days. Please nobody say Tiote either.

[Mole_Toonfan]

Do agree on the Aura thing but i also think Man U carried that in general they won a lot of games before the game even started with or without Keane they just seemed to have that about them.

 

Now not so much.

 

As for the Yaya comparison while he's also a b2b midfielder i'd argue he's inferior to Vieira and Keane when it comes to positional sense and the defensive part of the game in general but superior in the attacking deparment.

 

I personally thought in his prime at Leverkusen and Bayern that Ballack was better than all of them.

 

Just an example of how the game has changed there was a plethora of great b2b midfielders back then, now they seems to been displaced by an increase of holding midfielders, playmakers and attacking midfielders and there doesn't seem to be many b2b midfielders around.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Do agree on the Aura thing but i also think Man U carried that in general they won a lot of games before the game even started with or without Keane they just seemed to have that about them.

 

Now not so much.

 

As for the Yaya comparison while he's also a b2b midfielder i'd argue he's inferior to Vieira and Keane when it comes to positional sense and the defensive part of the game in general but superior in the attacking deparment.

 

I personally thought in his prime at Leverkusen and Bayern that Ballack was better than all of them.

 

Just an example of how the game has changed there was a plethora of great b2b midfielders back then, now they seems to been displaced by an increase of holding midfielders, playmakers and attacking midfielders and there doesn't seem to be many b2b midfielders around.

 

Good shout on Ballack but I thought his defensive game wasn't on the level of say Keane or Vieira's. Attacking wise he was streets ahead of those two of course although, and I'll probably get slagged for this, for me, I'd rate Lampard higher.

 

As for Toure, I have to disagree on his defensive play and positional sense, I think he's equally adept in those areas as he is in an attacking role. He is arguably the complete box to box midfielder and at times acts like City's playmaker even.

 

You are right though, there is hardly any genuine box to box midfielders these days, certainly none of real quality. Cabaye is sort of one but he doesn't have the all-round game and while Tiote certainly does, he doesn't get into the box enough or score enough.

[Mole_Toonfan]

Not saying Yaya is poor in the defensive regard but Keane and Vieira were comfortably better than him in this regard.

[Parky]

Magnificent player. Would have him as the enforcer in any all time side.

[Froggy]

Not sure where all the Keane is cowardly talk is coming from really. That's the last thing he was, and while he probably would have got his head kicked in, he certainly wasn't scared of Shearer.

 

Shearer and Vieira were bigger guys than Keane and he got right in their faces and gave them shit. Cuntish yeah, cowardly, no.

 

Even though she should have been more professional, especially under the cameras, one of my favourite non-playing memories of Keane was when Vieira was giving Neville shit in the tunnel and Keane in no uncertain terms told him to fuck off and pick on someone his own size.

 

While opposing fans may hate him and condemn him, it's fantastic to have guys like him on your team simply for his combative attitude, never mind his world class ability.

[Disco]

Not sure where all the Keane is cowardly talk is coming from really. That's the last thing he was, and while he probably would have got his head kicked in, he certainly wasn't scared of Shearer.

 

Shearer and Vieira were bigger guys than Keane and he got right in their faces and gave them shit. Cuntish yeah, cowardly, no.

 

Even though she should have been more professional, especially under the cameras, one of my favourite non-playing memories of Keane was when Vieira was giving Neville shit in the tunnel and Keane in no uncertain terms told him to fuck off and pick on someone his own size.

 

While opposing fans may hate him and condemn him, it's fantastic to have guys like him on your team simply for his combative attitude, never mind his world class ability.

 

[Mowen]

Froggy - whilst I agree with almost all of what you posted, what he did to Haaland was cowardly as fuck in my opinion. No chance of him hurting himself at all, a complete cheap shot if you will.

 

Utterly magnificent player though, along with the Dane the most important you've had under Fergie.

[summerof69]

Minor point i know, but Shearer wasn't that much bigger than Keane, he was only 5' 10. I would imagine that would be  a similar height to Keane.

[Froggy]

Is that all Shearer was? Thought he was taller than that. He was a big bastard though. When he was scrapping with Keane he always looked bigger. I was just basing it on that.

 

You have to miss those days and rivalries like that.

[colinmk]

Keane had so many issues and by the end Fergie realised he was not worth the hassle and binned him.

 

Great in his pomp, even though I think Vieira had the slight edge. Whilst Vieira was a hard tackler, Keane had an undoubted nasty streak in him. His self confessed assault on Haaland should have seen him charged, utterly cowardly.

 

Aye, Vieira was the better all-rounder. Mind, I think Yaya Toure is even better than those two as a box to box midfielder.

 

I'd have Roy Keane in my side over those two.

[macphisto]

I posted this up a while ago. This is IMO the best team of my lifetime. (Aged 27)

 

Be interesting to see other's comparisons. (I think this is the right thread to put it in) Also I've picked quite a balanced team as I know when these things normally happen teams are usually ridiculously unbalanced.

 

http://www.footballuser.com/Formations/2011/06/125480_Dream_Team.jpg

As amazing as Ronaldinho was, I'd put Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of him. That team would score 10 goals a game

 

Good team, but I'd put Matthaus ahead of Redondo and Van Basten in a front two replacing Ronaldinho. At a time when Italian football was much more defensive and the off-side rule was in favour of defenders Van Basten was  a fantastic player, such a shame he had to retire early.

 

I would also rate Keane as the best midfielder of the Premier League years, Man U were so lucky to follow Robson with Keane.

[Tooj]

I posted this up a while ago. This is IMO the best team of my lifetime. (Aged 27)

 

Be interesting to see other's comparisons. (I think this is the right thread to put it in) Also I've picked quite a balanced team as I know when these things normally happen teams are usually ridiculously unbalanced.

 

http://www.footballuser.com/Formations/2011/06/125480_Dream_Team.jpg

As amazing as Ronaldinho was, I'd put Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of him. That team would score 10 goals a game

 

Good team, but I'd put Matthaus ahead of Redondo and Van Basten in a front two replacing Ronaldinho. At a time when Italian football was much more defensive and the off-side rule was in favour of defenders Van Basten was  a fantastic player, such a shame he had to retire early.

 

I would also rate Keane as the best midfielder of the Premier League years, Man U were so lucky to follow Robson with Keane.

I never really saw much of both Mattheus and Van Basten at their peaks when I was a bairn so that's why they never made my team.

[Village Idiot]

Van Basten would be another great name, I have always wondered the kind of things he could have achieved had he not to been blighted by injury. Probably most people around here aren't old enough to have seen him play, though. But he was the total striker, utterly ridiculous player.

[Doug]

Shearer was as hard and nasty but also cooler and calmer, it was laughable how he  cunningly got Keane sent off that time. Its funny how spite and pettiness is often mistaken as hardness.

I am reminded of a cup game where we were given extra allocation. Keane scored against us for Forest in the cup  and skipped sideways flicking the v,s at us from the corner flag to the half way line. This started a serious riot that day. Clough subbed him straight afterwards.

He remained at that level of loathsome knob all through his career and topped it by walking out on his country in the world cup when they needed him most.

It is easier to accomodate a bad character in a team that always wins. It would be interesting to see how long he could have survived in a struggling one.

Not long would be my guess.