The Claude Makelele Appreciation Thread

Sgt Pepper 64

The Legend retires

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/3274/ligue-1/2011/05/30/2510030/the-claude-makelele-role-a-fond-farewell-to-the-former-defensive-

Met him once - complete gent

Pauleta

So good, they named a position after him.

MUSEIST

Absolute legend, easily the best player to ever play the makelele position:pac:

Was such an important player for chelsea, I wonder would he come back from retirement to play for us again, we could do with him at chelsea tbh

eagle eye

Probably the most underrated player by Premier League fans. Just a phenomenal player.

GavRedKing

Great player, loved watching play with us in the EPL and CL games. Seen him live a few times too and even for the size of him, ( height wise ) he was a beast. Got high praise in Real Madrid due to him been the man holding it altogether in the middle behind their attacking flair.

eagle eye

gavredking wrote: »

Great player, loved watching play with us in the EPL and CL games. Seen him live a few times too and even for the size of him, ( height wise ) he was a beast. Got high praise in Real Madrid due to him been the man holding it altogether in the middle behind their attacking flair.

Didn't he go the year Beckham arrived because Perez wouldn't pay him the money he wanted. I think it was that year and when Zidane was asked about it he said something like 'there is no use adding a new coat of paint to the Bentley when you've taken the engine out' or something alongs those lines, pretty much saying that Makelele was what made the football they were playing possible.

Good tough honest player and i cant help thinking even Chelsea, for all their tenacity and big men, still lack a player like him in midfield. He has exquisite taste in the ladies too i might add

eagle eye

Deleted User wrote: »

Good tough honest player and i cant help thinking even Chelsea, for all their tenacity and big men, still lack a player like him in midfield. He has exquisite taste in the ladies too i might add

Same off the field as on it clearly. You wouldn't think a little fella like him would be up to that eh?:D

GavRedKing

eagle eye wrote: »

Didn't he go the year Beckham arrived because Perez wouldn't pay him the money he wanted. I think it was that year and when Zidane was asked about it he said something like 'there is no use adding a new coat of paint to the Bentley when you've taken the engine out' or something alongs those lines, pretty much saying that Makelele was what made the football they were playing possible.

Thats the qoute more or less spot on. Zidane know his importance to the team, like any new modern team playing a three man midfield or playing an attacking expansive game, you need someone to hold it together and Makalele was exceptional at it.

My memeory though was when Chelsea allowed him to take a penalty our last home game of the season in a game against Charlton ( i think) and he missed it but scored the follow up, also his only other goal against Spurs, a rocket. :pac:

RichT

Cheers Maka, enjoy your retirement!!

......and Cheers for that goal against Charlton and the £100 it earnt me!!

RasTa

Amazing player.

Daysha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4q4rCLpvCU

3.20 onwards. Some man!

flahavaj

Perhaps the most disciplined defensive midfield I've ever seen. In many ways Chelsea really haven't replaced him and Madrid would have won more Spansih and European Titles if they'd kept a hold of him.

GavRedKing

flahavaj wrote: »

Perhaps the most disciplined defensive midfield I've ever seen. In many ways Chelsea really haven't replaced him and Madrid would have won more Spansih and European Titles if they'd kept a hold of him.

Cant agree with this post more, Real would have won more titles, easily with him in thier team and we haven't replaced him properly, Essien isnt a defensive midfielder and Mikel isnt disciplined enough, I had high hopes for Lass Diarra at Chelsea to replace him but it never happened for him.

Soby

Absolute gent .Wonder if we can snap him back up as coach.Finish off his training with Mikel

SlickRic

legend.

Zidane called him the most important player in that 'Galacticos' team.

that's good enough for me.

bamboozling

SlickRic wrote: »

legend.

Zidane called him the most important player in that 'Galacticos' team.

that's good enough for me.

In fairness Slick I have no time for what Zizou has to say on football related matters.

He's a politician who says things for whoever gives him money and spouts about the wares of whoever is paying him to do so. Its only 2 years ago he said Gerrard was the best player in the world. His backing of the world cup in Qatar is another example.

I'm pretty sure that if requested to do so Zizou would say Francisco Pavon was instrumental in that team.

But this isn't a slight on Makalele, he was a fantastic player its just that words from Zidane are pretty cheap o be honest.

Lukker-

Was in the Shed End the day he scored his only goal and we won our first title. Everyone knew he'd miss it first time around so when he eventually did poke it in the hole place just erupted.

Such an important player for us, he would start of the majority of moves that would lead to Chelsea goals, Chris Coleman I think said after beating Chelsea once that the trick was man marking Maka, which would stop Chelsea attacks before they even started.

RichT

Lukker- wrote: »

Was in the Shed End the day he scored his only goal

He scored a screamer against Spurs as well......but we wont talk about that result

Lukker-

RichT wrote: »

He scored a screamer against Spurs as well......but we wont talk about that result

Oh yes, was a half volley wasn't it?

2-1 it finished?

Unearthly

eagle eye wrote: »

Probably the most underrated player by Premier League fans. Just a phenomenal player.

widely regarded as a key player for Madrid and Chelsea during their successfull periods, and often the first player people think of when defensive midfield player is mentioned. No way underrated.

irish_man

He was an excellent player IMO. I always thought Real were bonkers to let him go to Chelsea.

JPA

eagle eye wrote: »

Same off the field as on it clearly. You wouldn't think a little fella like him would be up to that eh?:D

He's far from a 'little fella', or so they say...!

Essien

So good he literally defined his position.

Great player.

Big tackle.:pac:

Johner

Legend!

Kells...

Ooh la la Claude Makelele.Best player to hold the Makelele position imo.

Ferris_Bueller

One of the best midfielders of my lifetime anyway, absolutely exceptional in the role he played.

Pro. F

Lukker- wrote: »

Such an important player for us, he would start of the majority of moves that would lead to Chelsea goals, Chris Coleman I think said after beating Chelsea once that the trick was man marking Maka, which would stop Chelsea attacks before they even started.

That's something that was such a big part of his game and it's why so many other players and managers try to copy his role but fail. So many players in that position just don't have the skill that Makelele had. He was really good at controlling the ball. Sure he couldn't pass it very far, or shoot and he almost never got forward, but he always got his team moving forward.

When his team didn't have the ball he won it back. He read the game brilliantly and he tackled perfectly. When they had the ball he played it out of tight spots by passing it forward and freed up the midfielders further up the pitch to do their thing. A true great.

YouTookMyName

He's no Didi Hamann!

GavRedKing

YouTookMyName wrote: »

He's no Didi Hamann!

Now that would be some foot race

20 quid on Hamann.

JP Liz V1

Another legend retires

Fantastic at what he did. The discipline to always cover the space and play the simple pass, was fantastic. The ultimate team player in a lot of ways, never sought glory, and was happy to let the better ball players play their game.

Ironic that himself and Scholes retire on the same day seeing as they nearly killed each other when the 2 of them, fearless and unwilling to pull out of the 50 50 challenge went in for the ball in the 2008 Champions League Final. Blood was literally shed. Typically Scholes was marginally late and Makelele got the free kick. Scholes came back on after being treated and was holding a tissue to his nose to try to stop the blood, and and seconds later played a sublime layoff to Wes Brown who crossed for the goal. That 2 minute spell said a lot about the awesomeness of both players!