*budget Del Piero

Del Piero as he was a budget Baggio.

Baggio

Probably a bit more left field but Sheringham. Had ridiculous footballing intelligence. Loved watching how he created space and was a few steps ahead of everyone else. Knew what he was going to do long before the ball came to him.

comment by Robbing Cromwell - agent of the hierarchy. (U6374)
posted 5 seconds ago
I feel that kind of natural, pure football unpredictableness is kinda coached out of players now.
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Ronaldinho playing for a top English side now would be hammered weekly by Souness for his pointless tricks and poor stats.

Baggio yes! Loved him.

I've a few from Italy just cos of what happened with TV rights.

comment by Robbing Cromwell - agent of the hierarchy. (U6374)
posted 1 minute ago
I feel that kind of natural, pure football unpredictableness is kinda coached out of players now.
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Yeah I think there’s that and a combination of the lack of time on the ball a lot of players are getting now due to the obsession with pressing.

Jari Litmanen

comment by Donny The King van de Beek (U10026)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Robbing Cromwell - agent of the hierarchy. (U6374)
posted 1 minute ago
I feel that kind of natural, pure football unpredictableness is kinda coached out of players now.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah I think there’s that and a combination of the lack of time on the ball a lot of players are getting now due to the obsession with pressing.
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I think football is now more risk averse too.

Can't believe that nobody has mentioned Stoichkov, club and country, sublime.

Forlán's a good shout. Talking about strikers, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was ridiculous in his season at Atleti. a proper burst the net striker.

Talking La Liga and what you might notionally call 'destroyers', Mauro Silva, Donato and Marcos Senna were very silky footballers who were a pleasure to watch.

comment by The Mane Man (U19731)
posted 9 minutes ago
That Fiorentina side was great to watch.
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Just like the old Parma side in the mid 90's. Some fantastic players such as Brolin, Asprilla, Buffon, Zola etc...

Brolin was quality

Loved watching Kanu in his pomp aswell

Everyone used to shout HASSELBAINK before hitting a shot as hard as you could in the school playground

The fab five or what ever they were called at Spurs had some flair.

Dumitrescu had mad talent.

I’m not sure if it’s more risk averse, per se. I think it’s that the risks are more geared towards efficiency and purpose.

If you think about it, the way keepers and defenders play now is far more risky than it used to be. You regularly see the ball being played across goal. It was sacrilege to do that back in the day.

That Ajax team of the 90's had also some good players like Finidi George, Kluivert and Overmars.

Ah, how could I forget...watching the otherwise punchable Raúl line up in his teens against Barça or Atleti was always something to warm the cockles. Those spoon-chip goals were always quite something, and watching him take Juanma López and the entire Atleti side to the cleaners at the Calderón is one of my most enduring memories and still one of the most outrageous individual performances I've watched live.

comment by The Mane Man (U19731)
posted 1 minute ago
That Ajax team of the 90's had also some good players like Finidi George, Kluivert and Overmars.
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FINIDI!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Denilson (no not the Arsenal one) used to look like the best player in the world once every 4 years.

Without mentioning players people have already mentioned, I remember watching enjoying watching Lyon in the Champions League when they were a quality team, especially Juninho and his free kicks.

Kanouté, Kiko and Altobelli also belong to that breed of strikers (like Kanu or Benz) whose overall game was about so much more than just the goals. You didn't really need them to put it in the back of the net for them to completely wow you.

comment by *Michael Edwards FC {Proud owner of the 5 000 000th comment} (U2720)
posted 19 seconds ago
Denilson (no not the Arsenal one) used to look like the best player in the world once every 4 years.
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Denison was hilarious. Got absolute players for taking the p!ss doing kick up during a game didn't he?

Personally I love Neymar, I know many don't. Rainbow flicking a hatchet man is a great response.

Pelters not players*

comment by Your Honour (U17603)
posted 6 seconds ago
Without mentioning players people have already mentioned, I remember watching enjoying watching Lyon in the Champions League when they were a quality team, especially Juninho and his free kicks.
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I hated Juninho with an unreasonable passion. Same as Nedved.

comment by Robbing Cromwell - agent of the hierarchy. (U6374)
posted 33 seconds ago

Personally I love Neymar, I know many don't. Rainbow flicking a hatchet man is a great response.
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Neymar on his game is pure shex.