Mole_Toonfan Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Brilliant footballer and his goals don't even tell half the story, ridiculous movement and touch and he was a good passer to boot. I think he could have achieved more also ( on an individual level at least) and was somewhat held back by Madrid's appetite to buy anyone and everyone. He had a great partnership with Morientes and Madrid broke it up for Ronaldo and honestly as mouth-watering as it seems on paper it never really worked IMO. As mentioned in the 90s and early 00s he was f*cking class and how Owen beat him to the Balon D'or in 2001 is just I always seem to remember him then having a few years off the boil and then coming back again when Madrid signed Van Nistelrooy, who like Morientes he seemed to have a great rapport with before eventually having his swansong with Schalke where he did a lot better than i expected and huge respect for that. I should mention though while Spain always underperformed with him i don't think Spain would have been as successful as they have been with Raul in the side.... Raul liked to drop deep a lot and that would have limited the midfields influence in my book, Spain's initial success was due to the runs of Villa and Torres and i don't think Raul replacing one of them would have led to similar results. With that said though, a legend of the game and one of Spain's best ever players. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest firetotheworks Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Good, but immensely overrated imo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Good, but immensely overrated imo. Despite my lavish praise of him just now, i agree with that in some aspects maybe not immensely but i can definitely see where you're coming from. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooj Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 One of the most intelligent centre forwards I've ever seen. Fantastic finishing ability too. I'd actually compare a young pre-injury Robbie Fowler to him. Similar type of finishing ability even if Fowler never achieved that potential. Although I must say I absolutely detest Rául due to the way he and Guti often went on behind the scenes at Madrid. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beren Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 One of the most intelligent centre forwards I've ever seen. Fantastic finishing ability too. I'd actually compare a young pre-injury Robbie Fowler to him. Similar type of finishing ability even if Fowler never achieved that potential. Although I must say I absolutely detest Rául due to the way he and Guti often went on behind the scenes at Madrid. Don't know much about this - presumably using his 'Golden Boy of Real' status to get his own way on things he ought not to have authority on? Anyway, I think he was fantastic with great natural instincts, finesse and incredible finishing. I think he's miles better than David Villa, for example, who I do think is a touch overrated. [/tin hat] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TCD23 Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 A striker who scored plenty of goals and could win matches. He's like the Real Madrid equivilant of Shearer in terms of story, e.g. local boy becomes star striker and so on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Village Idiot Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 A striker who scored plenty of goals and could win matches. He's like the Real Madrid equivilant of Shearer in terms of story, e.g. local boy becomes star striker and so on. Except that he supported their equivalent of the mackems as a kid. Die-hard Madrid-based RM fans don't consider him their golden boy at all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Miguel Piñero Posted January 18, 2013 Share Posted January 18, 2013 Villa absolutely blows Raul out of the water. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Talked about a lot recently so... http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/14100000/Litti-jari-litmanen-14197205-440-321.jpg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beren Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Probably the last Liverpool player that I loved In all seriousness, a class act on the pitch. Just a ridiculous amount of (ostensibly) natural skill and flair. Not sure how he fares against others.. he's one of those strange players that seemed to move around a fair bit, and I never got used to him at any one club. Great to watch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 I was never a massive fan but he had obvious quality & it's odd to get such a player from Scandinavia, probably a legitimate shout for top 3-5 from that region ever. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 As a Finn it's hard to be objective about Litmanen. Made everything look so easy and always had time on the ball. Shame I was so young when he played for Ajax and was one of the best in Europe, never appreciated it enough then. It's also a great shame that injuries plagued his career after he left Ajax. It's going to take decades for Finland to have a player of his calibre again. More likely never again. Right now we are excited to have a striker on Schalke's bench. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikon Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 My name is actually Jari. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlin Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Litmanen was an excellent forward ....KK though about signing him in the 90s but it never happened. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ObiChrisKenobi Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 I was never a massive fan but he had obvious quality & it's odd to get such a player from Scandinavia, probably a legitimate shout for top 3-5 from that region ever. Who are the others? Henning Berg Henrik Larrson Christian Eriksen Ibrahimovich Melbeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beren Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Jon Dahl Tomasson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ObiChrisKenobi Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Andreas Andersson. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raconteur Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Litmanen was simply amazing - him and Bergkamp and Baggio would have been amongst my favourite players in that mid-90's period. Graceful, stylish, classy, I loved watching Jari Litmanen play. Always remember him being the "old man" of that Ajax team, even though he wasn't that much older than the likes of Davids, Kluivert and Seedorf et al Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
geordieglory Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 I was never a massive fan but he had obvious quality & it's odd to get such a player from Scandinavia, probably a legitimate shout for top 3-5 from that region ever. Who are the others? Henning Berg Henrik Larrson Christian Eriksen Ibrahimovich Melbeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerg Laudrup brothers and Peter Schmeichel??? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ObiChrisKenobi Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Whom? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AY Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Can I answer with this avatar? For me he is the biggest reason why I love football. Jari at his best, and even in the latter years of his career, made watching football so entertaining. Little dummies here and there, always a step ahead of any other player on the pitch. Shame our national team was so crap and he never made it to the EC/WC. Ridicilous first touch and was a great passer, although in Ajax he was more of a goalsorer. IIRC he has only missed 2 penalties during his career and once got a red card. If you type "jari litmanen saksaa vastaan " to certain page you can see him giving a great performance against Germany, at the age of 38. Was just chosen to Finnish Sport Hall of Fame btw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Michael Laudrup, Schmeichel, Zlatan, Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm off the top of my head. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tollemache Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Ah man, that Ajax side. Sexy 3-4-3 diamond, bunch of kids winning the Champions League. Unbelievable. Not saying kids are sexy mind Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AY Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Michael Laudrup, Schmeichel, Zlatan, Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm off the top of my head. I think he is just behind Zlatan and maybe Schmeichel. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinho lad Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 My name is actually Jari. Impressive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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