Best team of your lifetime

gimmick · 30-12-2010 12:49pm #1

Following a chat with a few buddies, who is the best XI you can put together since you started watching football?

I would have started watching in about 1985, but only really started noticing players in about 1988.

So the following would be the best I think I could put together

GK. Easy choice and I hated him as he was a Manc, but Peter Schmeichal was second to none since I started enjoying the game. His value to a dominant Manyoo team was simply immeasurable.

RB: Paolo Maldini. One club man, won 5 champions leagues and who knows how many league titles. Played with the best in the game and will be remembered as a dynamic captain who could play all across the back 4.

CB: Paul McGrath. Best reader of the game I have ever seen. Screwed his career due to his personal demons, and was also dogged by awful knees. The man was a great passer of the ball and a great tacker to boot.

CB: Franco Baresi. Like McGrath, a great reader of the game and a player who could easily turn defense into attack. Kind of a no nonsense guy as well if memory serves.

LB: Denis Irwin. Mr Dependable and other such cliches. Barely dropped in his uber successful Manyoo career and barely put a foot wrong for Ireland either. An irrepplacable player.

DM: Roy Keane. What more do we need to say about him? Not the classiest player ever, but his drive and determination along with his penchant for always finding the easy pass makes him an easy choice here.

CMR: Xavi. The man who makes the game look an art. Passes more than anyone I ever remember, can unlock the tightest defence with a deft pass and chips in with a few vital goals as well.

CML: Paul Scholes. A player I hated to love, but he carried himself with such dignity and poise throughout his seemingly endless career. Never afraid to roll the sleeves up, scored so many important goals for Manyoo. I always wished he would leave so i could actually like him, alas never to be, but class stands out.

AMR: Lionel Messi. He can play all across the front. The current best player in the world, and possibly will go on to be the greatest ever. Impossible to stop despite all the fouling and cannot stop scoring, the little guy is a genius.

CF: Marco Van Basten. Best striker of all time, scoring goals for fun, a scorer of great goals and a great goal scorer. Its a shame to see his career cut so short with injury.

AML: CR7. A player I cannot stand as I feel he is everything wrong with the game with his petulance, diving and general attitude, but what a player. No one can stop him soring it seems, and has a long and successful career ahead it seems.

Honourable mentions: Iker Casillas, Robbie Fowler, Gabbi Batistuta, Ryan Giggs, Tony Adams, Roberto Carlos.

Some glaring ommissions I know, but there you go.

.........Schmeichal.........
Maldini....McGrath....Baresi....Irwin
.........Keane.........
Xavi.........Scholes
Messi.....Van Basten.....CR7

eagle eye · 30-12-2010 12:56pm

Dasayev
Cafu

Baresi

McGrath

Maldini

Matthaus
Messi

Zizou

Ronaldinho

Maradona

Van Basten

flahavaj · 30-12-2010 12:58pm

Savage team gimmick, especially the back four. I'd have to find a spot for Brazilian Ronaldo, Maradona and Zidane as well.

Schmeichel

Irwin----Baresi---McGrath

Maldini

Xavi

Maradona

Zidane

Messi

Ronaldo

C Ronaldo

Guys like Gullit, van Basten, Rijkaard, Roy Keane, Scholes are very unlucky. Team is from 1988 onwards.

Dolph Starbeam · 30-12-2010 1:04pm

Seeing as i am a bit younger (i wasn't even born in '85 :P ) my team would be a bit different.

.................. Schmichael ..............
Cafu .. Cannavaro .. Maldini .. Carlos
................ Xavi .... Keane ............
......... Messi .. Zidane .. Ronaldinho ..
................... Ronaldo ...................

Not quiet sure how good they'd all do but they would be a good team to watch thats for sure.

Kess73 · 30-12-2010 1:10pm

Kahn

Cafu

Baresi

Hierro

Maldini

Matthaus

Messi

Zidane

Ronaldinho

Maradona

Ronaldo

eagle eye · 30-12-2010 1:19pm

Kess73 wrote: »

Kahn
Cafu
Baresi
Hierro
Maldini
Matthaus
Messi
Zidane
Ronaldinho
Maradona
Ronaldo

Hierro and Ronaldo are the two that I hate leaving out of my one. Kahn would be 3rd for me. And I'd also have Maradona playing behind Van Basten, just didn't bother to put in an extra line. Our teams are pretty similar.

ROCKMAN · 30-12-2010 1:44pm

...............Schmeichel............

Irwin...Nesta...McGrath....Maldini

.......Keane.......Matthaus........

Maradona......................Zico.....
................Van Basten..................
............Romario.................

Dolph Starbeam · 30-12-2010 1:55pm

Just on the topic Sid Lowe has just named his Real Madrid Team of the Decade. Not too bad a team at all.

GK: Iker Casillas

RB: Míchel Salgado
CB: Fernando Hierro
CB: Iván Helguera
LB: Roberto Carlos

RM: Steve McManaman
CM: Claude Makelele
CM: Zinedine Zidane
LM: Raúl

CF: Ruud Van Nistelrooy
CF: Ronaldo

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/sid_lowe/12/28/realmadrid.alltimeXI/index.html

Kess73 · 30-12-2010 2:03pm

eagle eye wrote: »

Hierro and Ronaldo are the two that I hate leaving out of my one. Kahn would be 3rd for me. And I'd also have Maradona playing behind Van Basten, just didn't bother to put in an extra line. Our teams are pretty similar.

Hierro is one of my favourite players so I was stuck between putting him as a CB or as either a sweeper/defensive midfielder. I could not justify to myself the leaving out of Matthaus, so Hierro went at CB.

As for my main striker, I was torn between Ronaldo, Romario, and Van Basten and ended up taking the one that added the most pace to my attack.

Kahn I really rate as a keeper and he pipped Dasayev for me, as I have only ever seen Dasayev on tv, whereas I have seen Oliver Kahn play quite a bit when I lived in Germany.

Pepe LeFrits · 30-12-2010 2:07pm

Kahn
Cafu Campbell Baresi Maldini
Xavi Desailly
Messi Baggio Zidane
Henry

Though I'm not sure about one or two of them. Maybe if I tinker with it slightly...

Schmeichel
Thuram Nesta McGrath Cole
Redondo Scholes
Ronaldo Ronaldinho Figo
Ronaldo

HalloweenJack · 30-12-2010 2:07pm

GK: Schmeichel
RB: Cafu
CB: Fabio Cannavaro
CB: John Terry
LB: Paolo Maldini
RM: Lionel Messi
CM: Andrés Iniesta
CM: Zinedine Zidane
LM: Cristiano Ronaldo
ST: Gianfranco Zola
ST: Ronaldo

Kess73 · 30-12-2010 2:10pm

MOG7 wrote: »

Just on the topic Sid Lowe has just named his Real Madrid Team of the Decade. Not too bad a team at all.

GK: Iker Casillas

RB: Míchel Salgado
CB: Fernando Hierro
CB: Iván Helguera
LB: Roberto Carlos

RM: Steve McManaman
CM: Claude Makelele
CM: Zinedine Zidane
LM: Raúl

CF: Ruud Van Nistelrooy
CF: Ronaldo

No Figo? :eek:

Dolph Starbeam · 30-12-2010 2:16pm

Kess73 wrote: »

No Figo? :eek:

I know, strange that one, i would have him in there ahead of McManaman, some hard choices to make though in fairness. Here's the link to his choices http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/sid_lowe/12/28/realmadrid.alltimeXI/index.html

curry-muff · 30-12-2010 2:21pm

Gary Breen

Gary Breen----Gary Breen---Gary Breen

Gary Breen

Xavi6 · 30-12-2010 2:23pm

Schmeichel (Buffon)

Cafu (Thuram)
Desailly (Koeman)
Cannavaro (Nesta)
Maldini (Lizarazu)

Xavi (Scholes)
Vieira (Redondo)

Zidane (Henry)
Bergkamp (Ronaldinho)
Messi (C. Ronaldo)

Ronaldo (Batistuta)

Alternatives in brackets

FatherTed · 30-12-2010 2:36pm

I'm older so....

Schmeichel
Cafu-Desailly-Baresi-Maldini
Matthäus
Figo-Maradona-Platini-Giggs
TheRealRonaldo

Seaneh · 30-12-2010 2:48pm

Buffon

Cafu---Baresi--Nesta---Maldini

Redondo

Xavi

---Káká----Zidane----Messi---

--Ronaldo Luíz Nazário de Lima-

Subs:
Iker
Zanetti
McGrath
Keane
Giggs
Baggio
Shevchenko

Moneymaker · 30-12-2010 3:09pm

GK - Schmeichel - Nothing more needs to be said about this guy. Probably worth 15-20 points a season, at least.

RB - Cafu - Beyond peer in all my years watching football. As good defending as he was going forward.

CB - Hierro - Class act.

CB - McGrath - For all his personal demons, i've rarely seen a better centre-half.

LB - Maldini - Not much needs to be said, the ultimate defender pretty much.

CDM - Redondo - One of the most under-rated players of all time in mind, the man was a genius. Just look at that assist against United all those years ago.

RM - Messi - Best player in the world today, without peer.

LM - Giggs - The ultimate pro, consistently brilliant for years on end and still going strong.

CAM - Xavi - Mr.Barcelona, they are not the same without his simple, no nonsense but oh so effective style.

ST - C.Ronaldo - Like him or loathe him, he is the perfect footballer. Pace, power, skill, technique all rolled into one.

ST - Ronaldo - Although his career petered out rather pathetically, he is still the best striker I have ever seen in my years of watching football. An absolute beast in his prime.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero · 30-12-2010 3:12pm

I can remember the '98 WC but I only really started following football around 2001 when Ireland were handing out beatins to Portugal and Holland :pac:
Anyways, my team,

Oliver Kahn
Cafu --- Ledley King --- Fabio Cannavaro --- Paulo Maldini
Roy Keane --- Xavi
Andres Iniesta --- Zinedine Zidane --- Lionel Messi
Fernando Torres (at full tilt obv)

It was a toss up between Torres and the real Ronaldo, but I gave it to Torres on account that I have seen more of him. Ronaldinho is probably my favourite player of all time but I couldnt justify leaving out Iniesta, him and Xavi come as a package.

Boskowski · 30-12-2010 3:14pm

Sepp Maier (Oliver Kahn)

Bixente Lizarazu
Juergen Kohler
Franz Beckenbauer
Paolo Maldini

Hristov Stoichkov
Lothar Matthaeus
Diego Maradona
Lionel Messi

Gerd Mueller
Marco van Basten

redout · 30-12-2010 3:16pm

Kahn

Tassotti

Baresi----Costacurta----Maldini

Xavi

Zidane

Ronaldinho

Messi

Ronaldo

Ronaldo - El Gordo

Bounty Hunter · 30-12-2010 3:42pm

Best squad of my lifetime

Buffon

Cafu---McGrath--Baresi---Maldini

Keane

Xavi

Zidane
-Messi

C.Ronaldo

Ronaldo

Subs: Buffon, Irwin, Costacurta, Makalele, Iniesta, Ronaldinho, Van Basten

Reserves: Casillas, Zanetti, Nesta, Viera, Figo, Baggio, Romario

parker kent · 30-12-2010 3:42pm

Schmeichel

Irwin---Baresi---Vidic---Maldini

Keane---Xavi

Maradona

Messi---Ronaldo---C.Ronaldo

Subs: Zidane, Van Basten, Gullitt, Redondo, Nesta

I think this team would win a game or two!

dor83 · 30-12-2010 3:43pm

Schmeichel

Zanetti

Baresi----Bergomi----Maldini

Matthaeus

Makelele

Zidane

C.Ronaldo

Giggs

Ronaldo

CSF · 30-12-2010 3:58pm

Schmeichel

Maldini----McGrath----Ferdinand

Cafu

Keane

Xavi

Giggs

Ronaldo

Messi

Ronaldo

eZe^ · 30-12-2010 4:03pm

Very similar to Kess;

Kahn

Cafu

Baresi

Hierro

Maldini

Xavi

Keane

--Messi

Laudrup

C. Ronaldo--

Ronaldo

Again, Michael Laudrup is the most underrated player of all time imo, up there with Zidane. That'd be an unbelievable team.

Pinturicchio · 30-12-2010 6:51pm

Buffon

Cafu--Cannavaro--Maldini--Roberto Carlos

Xavi

Messi--Kaka--Zidane--Nedved

Ronaldo

Jayob10 · 30-12-2010 7:08pm

Schmeichel

Cafu
Desailly
Baresi
Maldini

Keane
Xavi

Messi
Zidane
Ronaldinho

Fat Ronaldo

Schmeichel

Cafu

Desailly

Baresi

Maldini

Keane

Xavi

Messi

Zidane----Ronaldinho----

Ronaldo

That team beats any other on its day

shadowcomplex · 30-12-2010 7:12pm

schmeikal

cafu---vidic----stam----maldini

xavi

Keane----Zidane

messi

c ronaldo-

ronaldo

bUILDERtHEbOB · 30-12-2010 7:31pm

Buffon

Thuram--Cannavaro--Nesta--Maldini

Makelele

Xavi

Zidane

Messi

Ronaldinho

Ronaldo

KeithAFC · 30-12-2010 7:35pm

Lehmann

Lauren
Toure
Campbell
A.Cole

Gilberto Silva
Vieira
Fredrik ljungberg
Pires

Henry
Bergkamp

Mr. Presentable · 30-12-2010 7:39pm

Seaneh wrote: »

Buffon

Cafu---Baresi--Nesta---Maldini
Redondo
Xavi

---Káká----Zidane----Messi---

--Ronaldo Luíz Nazário de Lima-

Ah, a post from someone older than 25, who has seen football outside Man U

Me, I'd find it hard to leave out Van Basten, Platini, Maradona, Pele. But I'm really old....

shadowcomplex · 30-12-2010 7:40pm

KeithAFC wrote: »

Lehmann

Lauren
Toure
Campbell
A.Cole

Gilberto Silva
Vieira
Fredrik ljungberg
Pires

Henry
Bergkamp

looks a good team, imagine the amount of champions leagues that team would have won:rolleyes:

Wolf Club · 30-12-2010 7:46pm

Kahn
----Zanetti Adams Nesta Maldini
Ronaldhino Zidane Deschamps Nedved

Henry Ronaldo

Muff_Daddy · 30-12-2010 8:25pm

KeithAFC wrote: »

Lehmann

Lauren
Toure
Campbell
A.Cole

Gilberto Silva
Vieira
Fredrik ljungberg
Pires

Henry
Bergkamp

Pfft, no Pascal Cygan?

Dempsey · 30-12-2010 10:31pm

Casillas
Cafu
McGrath
Cannavaro
Maldini
Makelele
Zidane
Xavi
Messi
Ronaldo
C. Ronaldo

Casillas

Cafu   McGrath  Cannavaro  Maldini

            Makelele

      Xavi         Zidane

Messi                   C. Ronaldo

          Ronaldo

ironbluedun · 30-12-2010 10:38pm

some you you lads must be really young..........anyone ever hear of baresi?

Seaneh · 30-12-2010 10:44pm

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

Ah, a post from someone older than 25, who has seen football outside Man U

Me, I'd find it hard to leave out Van Basten, Platini, Maradona, Pele. But I'm really old....

I'm only 26.
I haven't seen enough of Van Basten to be honest. was only 9 when he officially retired but in fairness he missed a lot of the season before too. So I was probably 7 when he was still playing at his real level, no way I can judge on that.
Baresi on the other hand played until I was about 13, so I actually remember a lot of his games for Milan.

I can't remember seeing Platini at all!
Maradona I only really remember the 94 world cup, the games he played he was immense, remember seeing him play for Napoli when I was about 7 and thinking it was mental that the other players couldn't get near him.

Pele, was retired before I was born.

Seaneh · 30-12-2010 10:47pm

ironbluedun wrote: »

some you you lads must be really young..........anyone ever hear of baresi?

Feck that, the amount of people picking Cannavaro is criminal. Amazingly over rated player, always has been. Nesta is head and shoulders ahead of him (not just in height either), I'd rate about 7 or 8 centre backs ahead of him from the last 20 years, easily.

Pauleta · 30-12-2010 10:59pm

GK Buffon

LB Zanetti
CB Baresi
CB Maldini
RB Cafu

RM C.Ronaldo
CM Riquelme
CM Xavi
LM Messi

CF Ronaldo
CF Romario

Seaneh · 30-12-2010 11:04pm

Riquelme, really?
Ahead of players like Kaka, Zizou, Redondo?

Questionable to say the least.

Kess73 · 30-12-2010 11:56pm

ironbluedun wrote: »

some you you lads must be really young..........anyone ever hear of baresi?

Given that he is in four out of the first five teams mentioned in the thread and he pops up in quite a few other teams after that, I think it is safe to say that plenty of folk in the thread have heard of him and seen him play.

dfx- · 31-12-2010 12:45am

No Del Piero?:eek:

Kahn

Baresi
Nesta
Hierro

Messi
Redondo
Del Piero
Xavi
Rivaldo

Ronaldo
Raul

Pauleta · 31-12-2010 12:45am

Seaneh wrote: »

Riquelme, really?
Ahead of players like Kaka, Zizou, Redondo?

Questionable to say the least.

Tis probably controversial but ive never been in awe of a player so much in my life. He bosses every single game he plays in. His performances in the Copa America 2007 were out of this world. Its a shame he had to go back to Argentina because of his mothers illness but im not gonna judge him on it. He single handedly got Villareal to the champions league Semis and unfortunately missed the peno that would of got them to the final.

Pinturicchio · 31-12-2010 12:57am

dfx- wrote: »

No Del Piero?:eek:

Kahn

Baresi
Nesta
Hierro

Messi
Redondo
Del Piero
Xavi
Rivaldo

Ronaldo
Raul

Del Piero in midfield?:eek:

dfx- · 31-12-2010 1:14am

He'd be better than not being in the team at all:eek:

tdv123 · 31-12-2010 1:41am

Thats hard I'd go for something like this...

Buffon

Cafu----Nesta---Baresi

Maldini

Matthaus---Redondo

---Messi

Zidane----

Romario

Ronaldo----

Strange looking formation but I had to fit them in some how.

Keane,Van Basten, Scholes,Riquelme,Xavi,Stam & Costacurta were all very hard to leave out.

tdv123 · 31-12-2010 1:45am

dfx- wrote: »

He'd be better than not being in the team at all:eek:

You seemed shocked thats he's not in many teams. Did you really think he would feature in that much ahead of people like Baggio,Ronaldo,Romario,Van Basten,Raul etc...?

Pinturicchio · 31-12-2010 2:06am

tdv123 wrote: »

You seemed shocked thats he's not in many teams. Did you really think he would feature in that much ahead of people like Baggio,Ronaldo,Romario,Van Basten,Raul etc...?

In my (biased) opinion, he's better than Baggio and Raul. It's debatable about the rest (except Ronaldo). At his best, Del Piero was unplayable. Best attacking Italian player of the last 30-40 years.

dfx- · 31-12-2010 2:12am

tdv123 wrote: »

You seemed shocked thats he's not in many teams. Did you really think he would feature in that much ahead of people like Baggio,Ronaldo,Romario,Van Basten,Raul etc...?

Yes, very much so.

Not a single team has him in subs or squad or anything.

Pauleta · 31-12-2010 2:12am

Pinturicchio wrote: »

In my (biased) opinion, he's better than Baggio and Raul. It's debatable about the rest (except Ronaldo). At his best, Del Piero was unplayable. Best attacking Italian player of the last 30-40 years.

Gonna be controversial and say Totti was better

Best team of your lifetime

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