Greatest club team in history?

djfitzerjnr

I was just wondering what everybody thinks of the greatest club side to play the game. Perhaps a poll could be set up?

Notable mentions should go to;

Liverpool 77-81
Barcelona 2008-present
Arsenal's invincibles
Manchester United 1999-2001
AC Milan 1988-91

(I've only included 1 side from each club, like the current Barca side or Cryuff's side but others can be included)

Paul Tergat

djfitzerjnr wrote: »

I was just wondering what everybody thinks of the greatest club side to play the game. Perhaps a poll could be set up?

Notable mentions should go to;

Liverpool 77-81
Barcelona 2008-present
Arsenal's invincibles
Manchester United 1999-2001
AC Milan 1988-91

(I've only included 1 side from each club, like the current Barca side or Cryuff's side but others can be included)

Arsenal and United sides you mentioned wont make top 3

Fuhrer

There was that Ajax team too, they were rather good

djfitzerjnr

Fuhrer wrote: »

There was that Ajax team too, they were rather good

Totally forgot about them to be honest. Good shout. There's probably more too.

monkey9

I'll say Barca, but it can never really be answered. We've missed so many great teams and how do you pit them against each other??

darced

This post has been deleted.

tolosenc

Madrid of the 50s. Easy.

Jesus Shaves

Paul Tergat wrote: »

Arsenal and United sides you mentioned wont make top 3

So a team that has dominated their domestic league for 20 years wont make it?:rolleyes:

Seaneh

Milan 1988-95.

Where To

Wanderers FC 1872-78


Why?

Because I say so.

Ebbs

No Real?

The world doesnt end at the EPL. Real won team of the 00s. Galacticos are easily in there, way ahead of the Invincibles and the late 90s united team.

MANUTD99

tolosenc wrote: »

Madrid of the 50s. Easy.

So you've seen all the games that they played?

djfitzerjnr

I never said just the teams above, just some suggestions!

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

This Barca team are the only the second to ever make 5 consecutive CL/EC semi-finals, after Madrid in the first 5 years of the competition. With the ultra competitive nature of the CL, perhaps not this year but certainly in the past 5-8 years, it's certainly more impressive than Madrid's 5 consecutive semi appearences, and for me, confirms them as the best club side, certainly in my time.

Don't know why those United and Arsenal sides are mentioned, they don't even compare. The Real team of start of the last decade deserve a nomination for sure.

monkey9

darokane wrote: »

So a team that has dominated their domestic league for 20 years wont make it?:rolleyes:

He's not talking about the club as a whole, just a specific team. The same team hasn't dominated their domestic league for 20 years!

monkey9

Also, the OP mentions the Liverpool team of the late 70's. I think the Liverpool team of the late 80's deserves a mention. They possibly could have won another European Cup were it not for the Heysel ban!

Paul Tergat

darokane wrote: »

So a team that has dominated their domestic league for 20 years wont make it?:rolleyes:

monkey9 wrote: »

He's not talking about the club as a whole, just a specific team. The same team hasn't dominated their domestic league for 20 years!

This



Its not like i wouldnt like it to be true given im a United fan. We just didnt do enough in Europe as those other sides mentioned did. That will be the real test imo

djfitzerjnr

THFC wrote: »

This Barca team are the only the second to ever make 5 consecutive CL/EC semi-finals, after Madrid in the first 5 years of the competition. With the ultra competitive nature of the CL, perhaps not this year but certainly in the past 5-8 years, it's certainly more impressive than Madrid's 5 consecutive semi appearences, and for me, confirms them as the best club side, certainly in my time.

Gonna throw a quite biased shout in for Paisley's Liverpool of 77-81. League title after league title, as well as 3 European Cups in 5 years. Still the only manager to win 3.

the realpigiron

Jock Stein's Celtic team would be up there.

monkey9

djfitzerjnr wrote: »

Gonna throw a quite biased shout in for Paisley's Liverpool of 77-81. League title after league title, as well as 3 European Cups in 5 years. Still the only manager to win 3.

Paisley was some man, alright!!

monkey9

the realpigiron wrote: »

Jock Stein's Celtic team would be up there.

I was about to mention them. I am in no way a Celtic fan. Don't really care about them or Rangers in general.

But i find that team remarkable in that they were all born within a thirteen mile radius of Glasgow and they conquered Europe!

Richard Hillman

The barcelona team of recent years are clearly the best and I dislike them greatly

the realpigiron wrote: »

Jock Stein's Celtic team would be up there.

:pac:

Red Crow

In my lifetime the greatest team has been Barcelona by a mile. No one has done what they done in the way they done it. The greatest manager is Alex Ferguson and the greatest player Leo Messi. Nobody comes close to either in any category.

monkey9

Eli Manning wrote: »

In my lifetime the greatest team has been Barcelona by a mile. No one has done what they done in the way they done it. The greatest manager is Alex Ferguson and the greatest player Leo Messi. Nobody comes close to either in any category.

I begrudgenly agree!!!!!!

the realpigiron

monkey9 wrote: »

I was about to mention them. I am in no way a Celtic fan. Don't really care about them or Rangers in general.

But i find that team remarkable in that they were all born within a thirteen mile radius of Glasgow and they conquered Europe!

Stein was a genius who crossed the petty sectarian divide in Scotland. Stein was on a par with the best of them, a true visionary.

the realpigiron

Richard Hillman wrote: »

The barcelona team of recent years are clearly the best and I dislike them greatly



:pac:

Are you ok there bud. You appear to be a little incoherent.

tvercetti

Ebbs wrote: »

No Real?

The world doesnt end at the EPL. Real won team of the 00s. Galacticos are easily in there, way ahead of the Invincibles and the late 90s united team.

The Galacticos were a team of great individuals rather than a great team IMO.

NIMAN

Comparing teams of different era's is just silly, especially a team from the 60s with one 50yrs later.

Everything is different.

Sgt Pepper 64

Is this just limited to modern clubs?

What about

Leeds
Derby
Forest (78/79)
Santos
River plate
Benfica
Honved
Chelsea

and many many more!

djfitzerjnr

Sgt Pepper 64 wrote: »

Is this just limited to modern clubs?

What about

Chelsea

and many many more!

To be fair I don't think any Chelsea team could compare to any team mentioned above. Even the one's that some found should not be mentioned like the United 99 team or the Arsenal Invincibles had something to show. What have any 1 Chelsea side to show? (In these terms) a run of the mill double? Most teams above won that many years, adding a European cup in to boot.

mike65

Bayern Munich 69-76 pretty handy

Warper

The current Barca side are the best. To have won what they have in the modern game is phenomenal. When at their best, no team can live with them. Plus they play the best football i have ever seen.

Sgt Pepper 64

djfitzerjnr wrote: »

To be fair I don't think any Chelsea team could compare to any team mentioned above. Even the one's that some found should not be mentioned like the United 99 team or the Arsenal Invincibles had something to show. What have any 1 Chelsea side to show? (In these terms) a run of the mill double? Most teams above won that many years, adding a European cup in to boot.

I know its the standing joke about Chelsea and history and 2003, but I'm old school, and I was a glory hunter back in the 70's.

I'm talking about the 1970/71 team - Osgood, Harris, Bonetti etc
This team won the FA cup, but their biggest achievement was in Europe (yes really)
Chelsea won the 1971 European Cup winners cup by beating Real Madrid after a replay. At the time RM were going for a record 7th european trophy.

But thats not even the best bit. The next year, Chelsea beat Jeunesse Hautcharage 21-0 on aggregate, 8-0 away and then 13-0 at home, still a (joint record) today

http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~2465594,00.html

Thats the trouble with you youngsters, you can only think back a few years, but I remember when Utd were ****e and in the 2nd division, and the likes of Derby ruled the english league and ajax ruled europe

Hell, I even remember Liverpool winning the league!

Chelsea - we aint got no history - you should have seen Ossie back in the day - few pints in a pub and then onto the pitch for a hatrick!

steelcityblues

Madrid of the Di Stefano/ Puskas/Gento era, that is what you call dominance.

eagle eye

I'd go with the current Barca side ahead of the great Milan team. Liverpool, Bayern of the early mid 70s and Ajax also come to mind. Don't remember the Ajax team but seen a few of their games and they looked really special. Notts Forest team was pretty good too. John Robertson was a very special player and one you never hear mentioned much these days when people talk about greats of the game.

Obviously have no clue about the Real Madrid team of the 50s or the Benfica team with Eusebio either.

K-9

djfitzerjnr wrote: »

Totally forgot about them to be honest. Good shout. There's probably more too.

tolosenc wrote: »

Madrid of the 50s. Easy.

These guys tried to grade it and Ajax from 65-73 came out on top, even ahead of the legendary Real team:

http://footballpantheon.com/2011/05/the-50-greatest-european-club-sides/11/

Best recent team would have to be Barcelona, I'd say even ahead of Milan. Another CL would put them first I think.

Best modern English team would be United 06-09 but the Liverpool 77-84 team would be the best overall.

ynwa_17

Could be a pretty good reference

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/jonathan_wilson/06/20/alltime.tournament/index.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/jonathan_wilson/06/28/alltimetournament.part2/index.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/jonathan_wilson/07/04/alltimetournament.part3/index.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/jonathan_wilson/07/11/alltimetournament.part4/index.html

I know its imaginary, but its interesting

dfx-

This Barcelona team is the best - 5 out of the last 8 league titles, 14 out of the last 18 competitions won (?) and finals and semifinals of others before you reckon in how they have played.

Aong with those mentioned perhaps Ajax of the mid-90s could be considered, that team went on to win so much with other clubs and were devastating for that couple of seasons.

van der Sar

Reiziger
de Boer
de Boer
Blind

Overmars
Davids
Finidi George
Rijkaard

Kluivert
Litmanen

NIMAN

Many people forget that modern sides now can have as many foreign players as they want. You can have a team with no players from the country they play in.

Even going back to the great Milan side, they were only allowed 3 foreign players, so just imagine how good they would have been if they had been allowed to pick talent from round the world, and then add to to Gullit, Rijkaard and Van Basten?

Paully D

How have Sunderland of 2002-2003 and 2005-2006 not been mentioned? :rolleyes:

SirDelboy18

Steve Staunton's Darlington side from 2010

rossie1977

dfx- wrote: »

This Barcelona team is the best - 5 out of the last 8 league titles, 14 out of the last 18 competitions won (?) and finals and semifinals of others before you reckon in how they have played.

yes but other great sides have similiar if not better records

real madrid
12 league titles between 1954 and 1969
6 european cups between 1956 and 1966

liverpool
10 league titles between 1973 and 1988
4 european cups between 1977 and 1984
(3 fa cups, 2 uefa cups and 4 league cups during that period also)

ac milan
5 league titles between 1988 and 1996
3 european cups between 1989 and 1994

kitakyushu

For me the best side ever is probably Sacchi's AC Milan side of the late 80's-early 90's. Their defensive prowess and ability to perpendicularly compress the pitch was revolutionary. They'd squeeze the life out of the opponent and then often rack up high scoring wins on top of it. eg in their 1989 european cup win they beat Real Madrid 5-0 in the semi-final and then went on to win the final itself 4-0.

Second would probably have to be the Ajax side of the early 70s. I watched a recording of their final v Inter from 1972 and by the end I almost felt sorry for the Italians. Ajax had a level of control on the game that I had never witnessed for such a fixture. Even better than Barca without having to make 800 passes per game.

The current Barca side are a creditable third.

grenache

eagle eye wrote: »

I'd go with the current Barca side ahead of the great Milan team. Liverpool, Bayern of the early mid 70s and Ajax also come to mind. Don't remember the Ajax team but seen a few of their games and they looked really special. Notts Forest team was pretty good too. John Robertson was a very special player and one you never hear mentioned much these days when people talk about greats of the game.

Obviously have no clue about the Real Madrid team of the 50s or the Benfica team with Eusebio either.

Thank you for mentioning us eagle eye, and in particular Robbo. However, i doth protest at your lack of attention to detail

Notts County

Nottingham Forest

Al Capwned

AhI think its fairly obvious that people are going to say Barcelona, and with good reason.
For anyone that mentioned Manchester united, I think out team of 2008 was vastly superior to the 99 treble winning team.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

NIMAN wrote: »

Many people forget that modern sides now can have as many foreign players as they want. You can have a team with no players from the country they play in.

Even going back to the great Milan side, they were only allowed 3 foreign players, so just imagine how good they would have been if they had been allowed to pick talent from round the world, and then add to to Gullit, Rijkaard and Van Basten?

Which makes this Barcelona side all the better. With Abidal gone the only foreigners in the starting XI are Adriano, Alves and Messi. If Pedro and Villa were on form (and not injured in Villa's case) I don't think Alexis would be starting. What's even more remarkable is that only Alves and potentially Villa didn't come through the academy, again, neither did Sanchez, but I don't think he'd be a starter with everyone at full fitness.

That_Guy

Paully D wrote: »

How have Sunderland of 2002-2003 and 2005-2006 not been mentioned? :rolleyes:

Cos they were bollocks. :pac:

Rekop dog

Lol @ Arsenal "Invincibles" making OP's list when compared to the others. Have always thought this was a seriously overhyped achievement. Firstly other teams have achieved greater season points totals in the Prem era which is a far better feat. Also the league was relatively weak when Arsenal went unbeaten. United were in transition at the time and the Roman empire was very much in early days.

Relative strength is something thats rarely considerd by fans when judging these things. Jose's Chelsea achieved the highest prem points total at a time when the premiership was very strong with the leagues champions league contingent all going far in Europe which is a decent guide to the leagues strength.

Like Juventus are probably going to finish Serie A unbeaten this season but you wouldn't go putting them in a list of greatest teams of all time, not by a long stretch.

The_Kew_Tour

Hibs famous Five side from 1948-1953 would have given many a team in Europe a run for there money.

Paul Tergat

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Hibs famous Five side from 1948-1953 would have given many a team in Europe a run for there money.

Whats this based on mate?

eugeneious

Surprised to see so many people putting the '99 or '08 sides of Utd ahead of the '68 side. No contest imo. 3 Balon D'or winners in the '68 side.

Best side ever would probably be Barca but Milan of the early 90's and the Bayern side of Muller and Beckenbaur that won 3 European cups in a row would run any team close.