Guest Post: The True Greats, A List

cr9 is not a midfielder, he does not understand the game like a midfielder does... he is very good but doing his thing, not running a team's midfield. kaka can be closer to being a midfielder, but he is a 10... a guy that is there only to attack, same thing with wesley sneijder. a midfielder has to dominate many aspects of the game and RUN THE MIDFIELD, organize. So you still have gago, lass, mamadou, ruben garcia and parejo (or jurado whatever his name is). xabi alonso is a very limited player, he reminds me of guardiola but without that much brain... I think you need a much more creative midfielder, one that can defend and also dribble and score. I don't know if you know him but a guy like CANI from Vila-real would fit... a guy that can do it all. He is not a galcatico, but he is the king of player I'm talking about. there is a galactico that would fit, but he has principles so forget about signing him: STEVEN GERRARD.

Ronaldinho circa 2004-2006? :D I think that counts as world class (if you are using rather arbitrary criteria).

Props on the topic, gents.

Zidane as a false left winger worked because RM had Roberto Carlos to bomb forward and take over the wing to keep the width of the field. This, however, necessitated a rather more defensive right back. Interestingly, Barcelona does something somewhat similar albeit on the opposite side and much further forward in the field with Messi cutting in and Alves bombing forward while Abidal stays back. However, Cafu in his prime was the original attacking FB. Consider putting Maldini at Left FB (where he made his name with Sacchi and Capello) replacing Roberto Carlos and putting in maybe Hierro at CB (I still hate the SOB but damn, he was good) to get more balance on the line. Move Zidane next to Makalele, take ol Pavel out and put Ronaldinho (assuming 04-06 version) in at left wing. No qualms with Ronaldo and Henry (in their primes). If you can go further back, I would replace Judas with another guy who played for both Barca and Madrid, Michael Laudrup. Sure, maybe he doesn't have the WPOY's or Golden Balls but anybody who saw him live knows there is no comparison. One of the best I've ever seen and one of the most underrated players ever.

Nedved instead of Zizou in the center? Zizou was the definition of a center midfielder. On every team that he played for the ball came through him, and it was his duty to create opportunities for his teammates. I'd stick him there easily instead of Nedved. Then I'd put a real winger out on the left.

Anna, certain leagues do have salary cap restrictions, for example the A-League (in Australia), and I'm almost certain that the MLS in America has a salary cap. But generally there is no salary cap in Europe.

I suspect we'll be getting rid of the deadweight in our squad pretty soon.

As for Higuain, he has GOT to be a starter, surely. I don't think Benzema can start over him to be honest, Higuain has proven himself

I am a newbie to the world of football so please excuse my elementary questions. But is there a salary cap in the football world like there is in lets say the NBA? Real has a lot of new signings but it doesn't seem like they've offloaded anyone. Another question is where would Higuain fit in the new Real 11?

I Cant Live without Madrid.

Whats ICLWOM?

First off, I have to admit I was wrong with the "made stars" comment. I have not been a barca fan very long, a few years only (because of their style).

I want to go back to the diarra debate.

Some of you said he didnt do well in big games because his team sucked. Well, I think thats totally wrong. He gave the ball away against Barca, it was his fault and only HIS fault. Same with the liverpool giveaway. Same with getting beaten in the air in the 1st leg.

O and you don't have to play with a single defensive mid to achieve success we've proved that before in the del bosque days , man utd proved it a couple of years ago milan did it and so on

Mku I like how you conveniently turn robben , kaka and ronaldo ( ok he may play as a second striker sometimes ) when they all really play in midfield , our midfield might not be as good as barca's but it is good nonetheless an in form sneijder plus an in form vdv , kaka , robben diarra lass = a great midfield :-) all we're missing is a creative CM that has some defensive attritubes which is why we're going for alonso

He conveniently did not re-sign so Barca could nick him for almost free

Ahem.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/h...

Henry signed a four year renewal in 2006 and we 'nicked' him with three years left on his contract.. So the 'low' transfer fee should be attributed to Arsenal..

BTW its a 'great' idea for a post..

correction: world CUP

i't gonna be really hard to fit benzema, kaka, cr9, pipita, huntelaar, vancorner, robben AND RAUL in the team.

Real needs more skilled midfielders and not strikers, without a good midfield the strikers won't get any ball in proper conditions. You will have a killer attack next season, I don't know if better than FCB's but killer indeed, but I still think that FCB's midfield will always be the best on earth. Imagine if we sign Mascherano and you don't sign Xabi Alonso. There are not many Xavi-Iniesta-Yaya level midfielders in the world.

I was obviously exagerating about the catenaccio concerning next year but... Take a look at Barcelona vs Madrid in Camp Nou to fully understand the catenaccio concept, amazing Andres. AND CAPELLO WAS LONG GONE :D

I think that xabi can only play as 4 and never on his own since he doesn't defend very well (unlike lass, yaya or masche). Xabi cannot play on his own and he cannot play as offensive mid since his skill is very limited, so a priori he will come to play in a two-man defensive midfield. But as I said I think Pellegrini will try something in order to seem a truly offensive team. To try to look half as good as we do :P

What about Raul, will he play next year? Will he go to the world?

Correction * its because the way the team defend as a whole *

I think way faster than I type

Mku xabi alonso is not your typical DM in case you haven't figured that out yet and the reason why barca can afford to play with "only one" DM is because of the way the team as whole , henry , eto'o , messi , xavi everybody pressurized the hell out of the rivals

And what is it that you're barking about "catennacio" don't be a jack ass since when has madrid played catennacio ?

only 8 positions? strange.

besides, xavi and iniesta have to do more? 2 CL's some leagues, triplete, Euro 2008... they only have to sign for madrid I guess. Zidane was better yes, but only him.

the only midfielders on the list are "centre midfielders" ... typical from a Real fan, there are things called "mediapuntas" and "interiores" in spanish... I don't know the name in english sorry :(

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on the xabi alonso subject the amazing Andres was replying me about…

I think lass is one of the key players in your team so… are you going to play with 2 defensive midfielders (lass-xabi)? That way kaka can play as 10 and be more “defence free”. I really want to see what pellegrini will do… I also think pellegrini will not play with 2 def mids, although madrid has always been able to change anyone’s mind

I guess this is what madrikitas want to happen:

——-iker———
ramos-albiol-pepe-xxx xxx marcelo or other
—–xabi-lass——
——-kaka———
xxx–benzema—cr9 xxxx pipita, robben or other

remeber kaka is not Zidane :D

and FCB has shown the world that playing with one def mid and two offensive mids (or "interiores"), with both of them taking the organising responsabilities you can drive the rival nuts.

I really hope you play with 2 def mids and FCB with only 1, so this is a war between catenaccio and art football… but pellegrini is a smart coach I think.

THIS YEAR IS GOING TO BE GREAT FOR ALL FOOTBALL FANS!

Ronaldinho had potential when he left PSG, but he wasn't a "star". A star is what he is now, because everyone knows his name. No matter how well Dinho performed in the 2002 World Cup, he was still overshadowed by the other Rs, Ronaldo and Rivaldo. I wouldn't say Benzema is a star yet, but he is a well known player. Dinho became a star at Barca because even people who didn't follow soccer, knew who Dinho was. He won 2 World Player of the Years(should have been 3) with us and was truly a star by the time he left.

Sambit I hear you but I stand by statement barcelona did not make ronaldinho a star

@ IHM:

"Meanwhile, real madrid bought made stars like kaka, ronaldo, benzama, huntleaar, RVN, VDV, and the list goes on and on."

as TSDrew said, Benzema's not quite a made star. And neither is Huntelaar, and possibly even VDV, although that depends on one's perspective.

If you consider Huntelaar a readymade star, then Eto'o most definitely counts as one too, possibly even moreso seeing as he had been playing in the spanish league for ages, and commanded a transfer fee of about 17 million if i recall correctly, which isn't that far off huntelaar's considering the inflation in today's transfer market.

Andres, I'd have to disagree with Ronaldinho being a star when Barca bought him. His talent was clear to see, and yeah he'd won a world cup, but he was going off the rails at PSG due to indiscipline, and Barca took a chance on him, and made him into a star.

Went astray* not when :))

JC I hear you what about villa and masch though ? Point I'm trying to make is laporta is an hypocrite

I Hate Madrid ronaldinho was a star already when barca bought him everybody wanted him didn't you watch the world cup 2002 ?and yes we do buy stars because madrid believes that the best should wear our jersey , it has also helped us become the biggest revenu generating club but remember under calderon we have hardly bought any made stars and he was the president for 3 long years and there were a lot of madrid teams like that in the past

Barca do develop a lot I give you that but ask anybody who've been a cule for a decade or so barca used to buy a LOT BIg names aka already made stars its when their finances when astray. At some point that they cut it down and focus on the cantera more , not saying that this the only reason why they've decided to do so but it has a lot to do with it

Benzema is a "made" star? He is 21 years old, hasn't played outside of the French league, hasn't played too many games for his national team, and is still very wet behind the ears. Benzema is a young prospect that hasn't proven anything yet. Don't throw in random vague adjectives to make yourself feel better about your team just so it helps you sleep better at night. How is Benzema so much different than Ronaldinho in terms of "madeness" (whatever that means) when they were bought?

Andres

Please, for the love of god, do not ever compare RM to Barca. Just...DONT.

Barca do buy some of their stars, BUT, and this is a big BUT, we don't buy a lot of MADE stars. I think the only made stars we bought are henry and probably alves. Ronaldinho, yaya toure, eto, were not quite stars when they joined us. They developed at Barca. Meanwhile, real madrid bought made stars like kaka, ronaldo, benzama, huntleaar, RVN, VDV, and the list goes on and on.

In a way, RM try to buy success, rather than earn it.

Andres,
what Laporta meant was that, Barca would take a player like Yaya Toure, Eto or Ronaldinho and make them superstars. He did not specifically mean only cantera products.

Post got cut lol
Anyways I was saying that since laporta was bragging about how they always make their own superstar he should just promote a left winger from their cantera instead of going for a real madrid youth product , if I was florentino i'd go for mata just so barca won't get him

Kaushik ill check out that site of yours ...I do got a job though lol

Anyways Heard that barca made a bid for mata , isn't that kinda funny wasn't laporta running his mouth about how they make their own superstars all the time

First of all, Corey, thanks for posting this up mate :)

Ramzi, here's my vague theory about money minded transfers. Zizou,Ronaldo etc moved for the money, but in doing so also did a huge favour to their previous teams with regard to the transfer fee. Henry meanwhile was not the same. He conveniently did not re-sign so Barca could nick him for almost free. As I said, this is a really vague theory, but its the only way I get convinced by the Galactico policy :)

If everyone's really jobless or bored or both, you can check out morethanjustgames.blogspot.com, that's where I blog. A lot of it may not be general, like I write a lot about my B'ball team etc. But I guess you will get over the aforementioned boredom if you read that :P

Cesar, check your email I just sent you the photos.

Corey,

I don't know if you've checked your email in a while, but I sent you quite a few photos from my trip to Madrid for El Clasico. So if you can do one of these posts for that, that'd be great.

My list would be
Casillas
Zanetti nesta hierro carlos
Redondo makelele
Figo. Zidane
Ronaldo roberto baggio

my pick at cb would be hierro. central midfield has to have redondo and michael laudrup in it.laudrup was in the first clasico i saw.the one where we beat barca 5-0.one of my fondest memories ever.

and instead of henry and ronaldo,gianfranco zola and shevchenko.

I know it's YOUR list but I do think that for your lineup, it would be better if your team had Zidane in the CM position and Pavel in the left wing.

He will always be one step below the greats because of his money minded move to Barca

Not to nitpick or anything but Henry came for the champions league. Even if it were the case, what then about the galacticos you called great like ronaldo and zidane? Judas Figo ? (*ironic laugh *) I guess they would have come for free right ?

Interesting topic though :)

"Henry, I personally do not like him that much, but his records stand out. He will always be one step below the greats because of his money minded move to Barca, but he is a classy striker he is on the pitch."

Not to start any debate, but for the reccord, He moved to Barcelona because he wanted to win the CL.

Good topic and generally great selection of players from a true Madridista (no barcelona players to be labeled as great :D ). But its all good.

Good move by Corey as well.