How highly do you rate... Robert Pires?

[J7]

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.

No luck about it. They bought him and developed him. Too much in football is put down to good or bad luck, or lady luck according to Souness. Ferguson has to be credited for the signing.

[Disco]

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.

No luck about it. They bought him and developed him. Too much in football is put down to good or bad luck, or lady luck according to Souness. Ferguson has to be credited for the signing.

 

It was a British record at the time n all so Ferguson definitely put his balls on the line with it.

[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.

No luck about it. They bought him and developed him. Too much in football is put down to good or bad luck, or lady luck according to Souness. Ferguson has to be credited for the signing.

 

It was a British record at the time n all so Ferguson definitely put his balls on the line with it.

 

By luck I meant to have two successive midfielders who were the best of their generation. No doubt they were going to be good players (fair play to Ferguson and Atkinson for paying so much for Keane and Robson) but I don't think anyone would have predicted they would turn out to be so exceptional. Paul Ince is a an example of a player where you could see he was decent as a young player and knew he would do well and be a solid player and lived up to those expectations without exceeding them.

 

In many ways it reminds me of when we bought Andy Cole, we paid a lot of money for someone in the 2nd Division (3rd division in old terms) and I'm sure Keegan thought he was going to be a good player but I doubt he thought he would be as good as he was in the Premier League. I'd also put Rob Lee in that category too as we bought him as a winger.

[Beren]

Speaking of, Tom Ince isn't a bad shout for this thread. Bit of a twist.

[Mole_Toonfan]

Speaking of, Tom Ince isn't a bad shout for this thread. Bit of a twist.

 

Bit young no?

 

[Oakie Doke]

how about David Edgar? The player Steven Taylor could have been.

[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.

 

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

 

Aye me too, his leadership skills, will to win and drive more than make up for anything he lacks in ability that those two had over him.

 

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 s***. 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 s*** in the tunnel and Keane in no uncertain terms told him to f*** 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.

 

I agree with most of what you wrote, but I'm sorry, Keane was a coward as all bullies are really, which is what he kind of was. Shearer wasn't that much bigger than him in terms of height by the way, although our man was much stockier.

 

Imagine those two in the same side something which could of materialised at Newcastle believe it or not as Keegan tried to buy Keane while he was at Forest but we were a then second tier club not even certain of promotion and you guys were on the verge of becoming a major force in the top-flight once again.

 

Parky, you mention Keane as an enforcer, I don't even think he was that kind of player myself. I reckon Batty was more of an enforcer type who tried to stop the opposition first and foremost. Keane always set out to drive his team forwards from midfield in an attacking sense more than anything, although the man could enforce as you put it.

 

Overall, he was just an all-rounder of a central-midfielder whose game was box to box and everything that entailed. We'll probably never see the like again.

 

I don't know who mentioned Brian Robson but older generation fans reckon he along with Souness were the ultimate in central midfielders, players who they would rank ahead of say Keane and Gerrard. It would be interesting to hear the thoughts of those who saw the likes of Robson and Souness play and how they'd compare to your Keane's and Gerrard's like.

 

So err, Mick.....

[Guest BooBoo]

Speaking of, Tom Ince isn't a bad shout for this thread. Bit of a twist.

 

How about no, you lazy eyed psycho!

[Froggy]

Never knew NUFC tried to sign Keane. Learn something new every day. I'm well aware of us trying to sign Shearer though, numerous times.

 

Commendable loyalty, but man I would have loved Alan Shearer at us.

 

 

[Ronaldo]

Never knew NUFC tried to sign Keane. Learn something new every day. I'm well aware of us trying to sign Shearer though, numerous times.

 

Commendable loyalty, but man I would have loved Alan Shearer at us.

 

 

 

Who knows what would've happened if you'd signed him instead of us in the summer of '96.

[Froggy]

Cole and Shearer up front. Not a bad partnership. We wouldn't have signed Sheringham or Solskjaer then, with the latter being my favourite player, so in a (very) small way I'm happy we didn't sign get Shearer...

[Ronaldo]

In a small way I wish you had.

[Cronky]

I wouldn't say that Keane was an example of Fergie's judgement at its finest. He'd already established himself as the best box to box midfielder in the country, and the fee reflected that.

 

The big gamble was Cantona, who had failed to make an impact in England.

[Guest BooBoo]

Eh? He'd been pretty decent at Leeds tbh.

[Froggy]

£1.2m. Thanks very much Howard Wilkinson.

[Guest neesy111]

I wouldn't say that Keane was an example of Fergie's judgement at its finest. He'd already established himself as the best box to box midfielder in the country, and the fee reflected that.

 

The big gamble was Cantona, who had failed to make an impact in England.

 

He basically helped Leeds to the title in 91/92.

[Cronky]

I wouldn't say that Keane was an example of Fergie's judgement at its finest. He'd already established himself as the best box to box midfielder in the country, and the fee reflected that.

 

The big gamble was Cantona, who had failed to make an impact in England.

 

He basically helped Leeds to the title in 91/92.

 

So why did they let him go for £1.2m to their big rivals?

 

IIRC Cantona had failed to nail down a regular starting place at Leeds.

[Tooj]

Wasn't there rumours of him nailing Leslie Ash?

[Guest neesy111]

I wouldn't say that Keane was an example of Fergie's judgement at its finest. He'd already established himself as the best box to box midfielder in the country, and the fee reflected that.

 

The big gamble was Cantona, who had failed to make an impact in England.

 

He basically helped Leeds to the title in 91/92.

 

So why did they let him go for £1.2m to their big rivals?

 

IIRC Cantona had failed to nail down a regular starting place at Leeds.

 

Because Howard Wilkinson is an idiot and they had personality clash so Wilkinson dropped him.

[Foluwashola]

In a small way I wish you had.

 

[Fenham Mag]

In a small way I wish you had.

 

 

This

 

Ludicrous from Ronaldo, what was the better alternative for NUFC may I ask?

[Mr. Snrub]

Ronaldo gets some bites when he mentions Shearer like.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Never knew NUFC tried to sign Keane. Learn something new every day. I'm well aware of us trying to sign Shearer though, numerous times.

 

Commendable loyalty, but man I would have loved Alan Shearer at us.

 

 

 

We ended up with Rob Lee so all wasn't too bad as he was a fucking star for us. KK wanted Keane to be our box to box midfielder. I'm sure he once said one of his biggest regrets as NUFC manager when it comes to signing players was not getting to chat with Keane as he reckons he would have convinced him to come here. Mind, he also said the same about Henry who we were after, him and Pires, apparently. Back then it was hard to believe anything. We once sent a team over to Juventus, true story, to buy Baggio, on KK's orders. Fletcher, Shepherd and Douglass Hall all went over I think to try and pull off what would have been a major coup. Juventus' people kept them waiting in some room while they pissed themselves laughing. We came home empty handed

 

Those were exciting days mind because with KK in the form he was, he could have talked anyone into joining us. He convinced Rob Lee we were closer to London than Middlesbrough, told SJH that Beardsley was only 30 and not 32 and that if we didn't buy him the mackems would, and of course he sweet talked 1000 plus angry Geordies into accepting the sale of Cole to your lot.

 

I don't think Cole and Shearer would have worked mind, not the Shearer we bought. Now Sheringham and Shearer... bingo!

 

And Ronaldo... you can't be serious!

 

What next, you sometimes wish we had of kept Ardilles and not appointed KK or how about Quinn over Cole?!

[Ronaldo]

In a small way I wish you had.

 

 

This

 

Ludicrous from Ronaldo, what was the better alternative for NUFC may I ask?

 

Who knows? But we went from challenging to not challenging. Obviouly Shearer is the 2nd best player I've seen in our colours, but part of me wishes we'd bought a striker and a CB with the £15m. We may have won the league.

[Ronaldo]

What next, you sometimes wish we had of kept Ardilles and not appointed KK or how about Quinn over Cole?!

 

We progressed (massively) with the above, it's not the same.