Team of the 21st Century - Nominations

[SirBalon]

15 hours ago, Carnivore Chris said:

Cazorla for CAM? 

This just in from Sid Lowe mate. Kind of says it all and it's put perfectly!

 

[Mel81x+]

Can we have Juan Román Riquelme as a CAM option. I think the guy had moments of pure genius and his career really started in the mid-to-late 90s so it might be worth an inclusion?

[Mel81x+]

On 18/11/2019 at 09:13, Machado said:

CAM - Van Der Vaart, Nedved, Diego, Aimar, Arshavin

Great shout on Nedved. One of my all time favourites.

[RandoEFC+]

We are two left-backs away from hitting the full 16 in each position...

[RandoEFC+]

Okay I think I've managed it. Moved Maldini out to left back, added Blanc at centre back along with Tony Adams as it turned out I had Hierro down twice. Last left back is Lizarazu even though that pushes the time limits a little bit. Some attackers out of position slightly but I think we've managed a good 16 in each position.

Will post the full list of nominees later and start polling.

[Carnivore Chris]

16 hours ago, SirBalon said:

This just in from Sid Lowe mate. Kind of says it all and it's put perfectly!

 

We can't forget that he also suffered a terrible injury in his original Villarreal days, came back from that, went to Malaga and ended up playing in a completely different position, where he excelled equally as much, if not more so. He even played an even deeper role at Arsenal and for someone who started off more as a winger, that's impressive. The only players I can think of who have evolved and became different players in order to continue playing at their best are Messi, who seems to play deeper and deeper with age, and Ronaldo who has gone from a tricky winger to an out and out goalscoring machine. But the point is, this shows how good Cazorla is.

Similar with Silva as well actually.

 

As for Centre-mids, 2 massively underrated mids, who would have gotten much more credit had they moved to an "elite" club during their careers are Tugay and Juan Carlos Valeron.

 

[SirBalon]

57 minutes ago, Carnivore Chris said:

We can't forget that he also suffered a terrible injury in his original Villarreal days, came back from that, went to Malaga and ended up playing in a completely different position, where he excelled equally as much, if not more so. He even played an even deeper role at Arsenal and for someone who started off more as a winger, that's impressive. The only players I can think of who have evolved and became different players in order to continue playing at their best are Messi, who seems to play deeper and deeper with age, and Ronaldo who has gone from a tricky winger to an out and out goalscoring machine. But the point is, this shows how good Cazorla is.

Similar with Silva as well actually.

 

As for Centre-mids, 2 massively underrated mids, who would have gotten much more credit had they moved to an "elite" club during their careers are Tugay and Juan Carlos Valeron.

 

There are also ;

• Juan Sebastián Verón (Argentina)
• Fernando Redondo (Argentina)
• Rui Costa (Portugal)
• Gheorghe Hagi (Romania)
• Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria)
• Álvaro Recoba (Uruguay)
• Jean-Pierre Papin (France)
• Fernando Couto (Portugal)
• Vítor Baía (Portugal)
• Bixente Lizarazu (France)

[Carnivore Chris]

Kahn

Cafu -- Puyol -- Nesta -- Maldini

Xavi -- Busquets -- Iniesta

Messi ------------------------- Ronaldinho

Romario

 

Schmeichel

D.Alves -- Cannavaro -- Terry -- R.Carlos

Redondo

Zidane -------- Laudrup

Baggio --------------------------------- C.Ronaldo

Ronaldo

 

Teams of the best I've seen, it's hard to pick 11 players so I picked 22 and made 2 teams. I left Rivaldo out, when he could have easily made either side, but I just found it difficult to fit him into the specific formation. I also know Zidane and Laudrup played more advanced and further forward, but you can't leave them out. They were geniuses with the ball at their feet and I'm sure they could work in such a formation. @SirBalon will ask where Koeman is but my memories of him aren't there enough as I was too young. As a youngster, it's much easier to remember the great attacking players(such as Baggio, Romario and Laudrup) than defenders as they stick in your mind and you never forget them. The defenders I do remember from those times also are generally from England. Colin Hendry, for example, sticks out as one of the defenders who I first remember and that's due to seeing the fella live a lot.

 

I'm also unsure whether I'd hve Cannavaro, as I've never been a huge fan if I'm honest, but you can't deny his career and the fact he also won a Ballon d'or, even though I don't necessarily agree with him winning it. Thuram was also excellent and we also can't deny Sergio Ramos' fantastic career where he has played a key role in winning everything there is to win. But due to him being prone to clown moments and receiving so many red cards in his career, I'd leave him out.

 

[SirBalon]

18 minutes ago, Carnivore Chris said:

Kahn

Cafu -- Puyol -- Nesta -- Maldini

Xavi -- Busquets -- Iniesta

Messi ------------------------- Ronaldinho

Romario

 

Schmeichel

D.Alves -- Cannavaro -- Terry -- R.Carlos

Redondo

Zidane -------- Laudrup

Baggio --------------------------------- C.Ronaldo

Ronaldo

 

Teams of the best I've seen, it's hard to pick 11 players so I picked 22 and made 2 teams. I left Rivaldo out, when he could have easily made either side, but I just found it difficult to fit him into the specific formation. I also know Zidane and Laudrup played more advanced and further forward, but you can't leave them out. They were geniuses with the ball at their feet and I'm sure they could work in such a formation. @SirBalon will ask where Koeman is but my memories of him aren't there enough as I was too young. As a youngster, it's much easier to remember the great attacking players(such as Baggio, Romario and Laudrup) than defenders as they stick in your mind and you never forget them. The defenders I do remember from those times also are generally from England. Colin Hendry, for example, sticks out as one of the defenders who I first remember and that's due to seeing the fella live a lot.

 

I'm also unsure whether I'd hve Cannavaro, as I've never been a huge fan if I'm honest, but you can't deny his career and the fact he also won a Ballon d'or, even though I don't necessarily agree with him winning it. Thuram was also excellent and we also can't deny Sergio Ramos' fantastic career where he has played a key role in winning everything there is to win. But due to him being prone to clown moments and receiving so many red cards in his career, I'd leave him out.

 

Where’s Ronald Koeman???? 

[SirBalon]

19 minutes ago, Carnivore Chris said:

Kahn

Cafu -- Puyol -- Nesta -- Maldini

Xavi -- Busquets -- Iniesta

Messi ------------------------- Ronaldinho

Romario

 

Schmeichel

D.Alves -- Cannavaro -- Terry -- R.Carlos

Redondo

Zidane -------- Laudrup

Baggio --------------------------------- C.Ronaldo

Ronaldo

 

Teams of the best I've seen, it's hard to pick 11 players so I picked 22 and made 2 teams. I left Rivaldo out, when he could have easily made either side, but I just found it difficult to fit him into the specific formation. I also know Zidane and Laudrup played more advanced and further forward, but you can't leave them out. They were geniuses with the ball at their feet and I'm sure they could work in such a formation. @SirBalon will ask where Koeman is but my memories of him aren't there enough as I was too young. As a youngster, it's much easier to remember the great attacking players(such as Baggio, Romario and Laudrup) than defenders as they stick in your mind and you never forget them. The defenders I do remember from those times also are generally from England. Colin Hendry, for example, sticks out as one of the defenders who I first remember and that's due to seeing the fella live a lot.

 

I'm also unsure whether I'd hve Cannavaro, as I've never been a huge fan if I'm honest, but you can't deny his career and the fact he also won a Ballon d'or, even though I don't necessarily agree with him winning it. Thuram was also excellent and we also can't deny Sergio Ramos' fantastic career where he has played a key role in winning everything there is to win. But due to him being prone to clown moments and receiving so many red cards in his career, I'd leave him out.

 

Now seriously...

I like how you’ve mixed it when it seems (I may be wrong) you’ve mixed it in the first team so as to not go totally mental on the Barcelona players in one team 

They’re two very good sides from my pov and quite balanced due to the fact it’s always difficult to fit in all your favourite players while always intending to be exactly that. 

Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldo in one team would’ve been very interesting indeed because they’ve both based their football on mainly one fundamental attribute which is physical prowess (this before Ronaldo became a fanatic of McDonalds burgers).

In the first team with Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldinho and Romario... WOW! How much natural magic in one side!!!

[Carnivore Chris]

1 minute ago, SirBalon said:

Now seriously...

I like how you’ve mixed it when it seems (I may be wrong) you’ve mixed it in the first team so as to not go totally mental on the Barcelona players in one team 

They’re two very good sides from my pov and quite balanced due to the fact it’s always difficult to fit in all your favourite players while always intending to be exactly that. 

Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldo in one team would’ve been very interesting indeed because they’ve both based their football on mainly one fundamental attribute which is physical prowess (this before Ronaldo became a fanatic of McDonalds burgers).

In the first team with Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldinho and Romario... WOW! How much natural magic in one side!!! 

I was actually thinking the same. C.Ronaldo and Ronaldo may collide with each other, so to speak, whereas Messi, Ronaldinho and Romario as a front 3 would combine like a dream, especially if they had Xavi and Iniesta behind them.

[RandoEFC+]

I finally have a minute to kick this off, so finally, ladies and gentlemen, I can announce your final list of nominees in full.

Goalkeeper: Fabien Barthez, Gianluigi Buffon, Iker Casillas, Petr Cech, Thibaut Courtois, David De Gea, Dida, Julio Cesar, Oliver Kahn, Keylor Navas, Manuel Neuer, Pepe Reina, Peter Schmeichel, Marc Andre Ter Stegen, Victor Valdes, Edwin Van Der Sar.

Right Back: Daniel Alves, Cesar Azpilicueta, Juliano Belletti, Cafu, Dani Carvajal, Alessandro Costacurta, Branislav Ivanovic, Juanfran, Maicon, Miguel, Gary Neville, Willy Sagnol, Michel Salgado, Antonio Valencia, Gianluca Zambrotta, Javier Zanetti.

Centre Back (1): Tony Adams, Leonardo Bonucci, Fabio Cannavaro, Ricardo Carvalho, Giorgio Chiellini, Stefan De Vrij, Fernando Hierro, Lucio, Sergio Ramos, Walter Samuel, John Terry, Lilian Thuram, Virgil Van Dijk, Raphael Varane, Jan Vertonghen, Nemanja Vidic.

Centre Back (2): Roberto Ayala, Laurent Blanc, Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand, Ezequiel Garay, Diego Godin, Mats Hummels, Rafael Marquez, Marco Materazzi, Alessandro Nesta, Pepe, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Jaap Stam, Thiago Silva, Igor Tudor.

Left Back: Eric Abidal, David Alaba, Jordi Alba, Joan Capdevila, Ashley Cole, Patrice Evra, Filipe Luis, Fabio Grosso, Denis Irwin, Aleksandar Kolarov, Philipp Lahm, Bixente Lizarazu, Paolo Maldini, Marcelo, Roberto Carlos, Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

Defensive Midfielder: Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets, Esteban Cambiasso, Michael Carrick, Edgar Davids, Daniele De Rossi, Michael Essien, Guti, N'Golo Kante, Roy Keane, Claude Makelele, Javi Martinez, Javier Mascherano, Fernando Redondo, Mark van Bommel, Patrick Vieira.

Central Midfielder: Michael Ballack, Deco, Francesc Fabregas, Gennaro Gattuso, Steven Gerrard, Andres Iniesta, Tony Kroos, Frank Lampard, Luka Modric, Andrea Pirlo, Paul Scholes, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thiago, Xavi, Yaya Toure, Zinedine Zidane.

Attacking Midfielder: Dennis Bergkamp, Santi Cazorla, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Kaka, Nuno Maniche, Thomas Muller, Mesut Ozil, Juan Roman Riquelme, Rivaldo, Rui Costa, Clarence Seedorf, Wesley Sneijder, Carlos Tevez, Francesco Totti, Gianfranco Zola.

Right Winger: Roberto Baggio, Gareth Bale, David Beckham, Juan Cuadrado, Angel Di Maria, Luis Figo, Hulk, Freddie Ljungberg, Lionel Messi, Dimitri Payet, Pedro, Ricardo Quaresma, Arjen Robben, Mohamed Salah, Alexis Sanchez, Xherdan Shaqiri.

Left Winger: Cristiano Ronaldo, Alessandro Del Piero, Douglas Costa, Ryan Giggs, Eden Hazard, Thierry Henry, Florent Malouda, Mario Mandzukic, Luis Nani, Pavel Nedved, Neymar, Marc Overmars, Robert Pires, Lukas Podolski, Franck Ribery, Ronaldinho.

Striker: Sergio Aguero, Hernan Crespo, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Harry Kane, Miroslav Klose, Robert Lewandowski, Raul, Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Alan Shearer, Andriy Shevchenko, Luis Suarez, Fernando Torres, David Villa.

I realised at the last minute that we've somehow missed off Harry Kane from all of our suggestions so I've given Diego Forlan the boot, sorry pal.

 

Okay, so a new thread will be launched soon after the draw has been made for the first round of the Goalkeeper knockout. I'll try and keep this moving every few days but it should give us a couple of months of debate over some of the greats of this era of football. Remember that it doesn't matter that we all know Messi will eventually win the Right Winger bracket, it's the journey and the debate on the way that really counts.

[Panna King]

On 22/11/2019 at 14:08, RandoEFC said:

I finally have a minute to kick this off, so finally, ladies and gentlemen, I can announce your final list of nominees in full.

Goalkeeper: Fabien Barthez, Gianluigi Buffon, Iker Casillas, Petr Cech, Thibaut Courtois, David De Gea, Dida, Julio Cesar, Oliver Kahn, Keylor Navas, Manuel Neuer, Pepe Reina, Peter Schmeichel, Marc Andre Ter Stegen, Victor Valdes, Edwin Van Der Sar.

Right Back: Daniel Alves, Cesar Azpilicueta, Juliano Belletti, Cafu, Dani Carvajal, Alessandro Costacurta, Branislav Ivanovic, Juanfran, Maicon, Miguel, Gary Neville, Willy Sagnol, Michel Salgado, Antonio Valencia, Gianluca Zambrotta, Javier Zanetti.

Centre Back (1): Tony Adams, Leonardo Bonucci, Fabio Cannavaro, Ricardo Carvalho, Giorgio Chiellini, Stefan De Vrij, Fernando Hierro, Lucio, Sergio Ramos, Walter Samuel, John Terry, Lilian Thuram, Virgil Van Dijk, Raphael Varane, Jan Vertonghen, Nemanja Vidic.

Centre Back (2): Roberto Ayala, Laurent Blanc, Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand, Ezequiel Garay, Diego Godin, Mats Hummels, Rafael Marquez, Marco Materazzi, Alessandro Nesta, Pepe, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Jaap Stam, Thiago Silva, Igor Tudor.

Left Back: Eric Abidal, David Alaba, Jordi Alba, Joan Capdevila, Ashley Cole, Patrice Evra, Filipe Luis, Fabio Grosso, Denis Irwin, Aleksandar Kolarov, Philipp Lahm, Bixente Lizarazu, Paolo Maldini, Marcelo, Roberto Carlos, Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

Defensive Midfielder: Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets, Esteban Cambiasso, Michael Carrick, Edgar Davids, Daniele De Rossi, Michael Essien, Guti, N'Golo Kante, Roy Keane, Claude Makelele, Javi Martinez, Javier Mascherano, Fernando Redondo, Mark van Bommel, Patrick Vieira.

Central Midfielder: Michael Ballack, Deco, Francesc Fabregas, Gennaro Gattuso, Steven Gerrard, Andres Iniesta, Tony Kroos, Frank Lampard, Luka Modric, Andrea Pirlo, Paul Scholes, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thiago, Xavi, Yaya Toure, Zinedine Zidane.

Attacking Midfielder: Dennis Bergkamp, Santi Cazorla, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Kaka, Nuno Maniche, Thomas Muller, Mesut Ozil, Juan Roman Riquelme, Rivaldo, Rui Costa, Clarence Seedorf, Wesley Sneijder, Carlos Tevez, Francesco Totti, Gianfranco Zola.

Right Winger: Roberto Baggio, Gareth Bale, David Beckham, Juan Cuadrado, Angel Di Maria, Luis Figo, Hulk, Freddie Ljungberg, Lionel Messi, Dimitri Payet, Pedro, Ricardo Quaresma, Arjen Robben, Mohamed Salah, Alexis Sanchez, Xherdan Shaqiri.

Left Winger: Cristiano Ronaldo, Alessandro Del Piero, Douglas Costa, Ryan Giggs, Eden Hazard, Thierry Henry, Florent Malouda, Mario Mandzukic, Luis Nani, Pavel Nedved, Neymar, Marc Overmars, Robert Pires, Lukas Podolski, Franck Ribery, Ronaldinho.

Striker: Sergio Aguero, Hernan Crespo, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Harry Kane, Miroslav Klose, Robert Lewandowski, Raul, Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Alan Shearer, Andriy Shevchenko, Luis Suarez, Fernando Torres, David Villa.

I realised at the last minute that we've somehow missed off Harry Kane from all of our suggestions so I've given Diego Forlan the boot, sorry pal.

 

Okay, so a new thread will be launched soon after the draw has been made for the first round of the Goalkeeper knockout. I'll try and keep this moving every few days but it should give us a couple of months of debate over some of the greats of this era of football. Remember that it doesn't matter that we all know Messi will eventually win the Right Winger bracket, it's the journey and the debate on the way that really counts.

Van Nistelrooy should be in the strikers.

[RandoEFC+]

@Inti Brian this is the thread where we did all of the nominations if you're interested. Perhaps you'd be interested to read some of the conversations that led to the final shortlists of 16 for each position.