Saw an article the other day with interview from Michael Ballack and one of his quotes is below.
🗣 Michael Ballack: “Virgil van Dijk is very lucky to play in an era where there is no Drogba, Lampard, Alan Shearer, Henry, Rooney, Van Persie, Tevez, Adebayor and Diego Costa in the Premier League.
No wonder they think he is the best defender in the League."
Don’t get me wrong, VVD is a great player, but Ballack does have a point doesn’t he? I would take Adebayor out of that equation, but does anyone think the quality of players were of higher standard a few years ago ? I look at the quality of strikers for instance now and the only real world class strikers are Kane and Aguero in the Prem. Obviously I don’t include Mo Salah etc as a striker otherwise he would be included.
Years ago you had players like Shearer, Henry, Drogba, RV Niselrooy, RVP, Tevez to name a few. Then you had the slightly lower ranked strikers like Fowler, Andy Cole, York, Sherringham etc who were all still top class. I just think there were more quality years ago and I think Ballack has a point. Interested to hear peoples thoughts.
Prem era players better before ?
posted on 26/5/20
Yeah it's obviously baallacks
posted on 26/5/20
comment by Winston (U16525)
posted 1 hour, 43 minutes ago
comment by Don_tottenham (U3372)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Winston (U16525)
posted 5 minutes ago
It's an interesting point OP but as a few people have said, I think we can be guilty of romanticising years gone by when in truth a lot of those star names played in different eras.
I still think VVD needs to perform at this level for longer to be remembered as one of the greats, though no doubting his obvious ability.
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Totally agree mate. Sandy does it with his era in over rating the players and making out his era is the best. I’m guilty of it to. It’s still a decent debate to have though.
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Yeh I agree, and would love to see match ups between players of old and the new guard.
Funny how some players had something over others... Torres on Vidic, Cole on Ronaldo to some extent - would be interesting to see if any of those quality players from days gone by might just find a chink in someone like VVD's armour.
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Well that's a different argument. The argument was about VVD being the best defender in the league. Ballack appears to think people believe this because the strikers aren't as good.
posted on 26/5/20
I’m aware it’s a different argument, TOOR.
I was saying I think it’s interesting. If you read above, we’d both agreed that Ballack was wrong already.
posted on 26/5/20
comment by sandy (U20567)
posted 3 hours, 53 minutes ago
I doubt I ever saw one a season that bad pre Prem.
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sandy you failed to mention you didn't have a tv back then.
posted on 26/5/20
Well you can only beat what's in front you and so far he has clearly knocked out almost all of his direct striker opponents, so at the very least he's exceptionally consistent and focussed as you would expect from the very best.
If you look purely at his objective qualities like speed, agility, strength and body/frame, it's almost like saying
Floyd Mayweather is lucky he's undefeated because he's born in the right era.
When in fact both of them would be at least world class just based on their physics. It's also not a coincidence that they differentiate themselves from others by intelligence (insights, decision making), as most competitors are almost just as good on the physics side due to advancing professionalism and science.
That said, I believe if you put all the PL forward greats in this era, instead of a flawless streak VVD might have had 1-2 strikers he didn't match up to very well, and have more closer wins on points.
Actually I believe he wouldn't do so well against an Inzaghi / Makaay type striker who lurks in his back and is 'silent' most of the match.
posted on 26/5/20
Think a lot of it has to with teams used to set up in a 4-4-2 system which is probably why there were/are better quality strikers then, because partnerships were a thing whereas the only partnership you see now is Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes and they aren't really winning any awards.
I'd say there is more because of the system teams played a few years ago. I get Ballack's point, but it was a different era.
posted on 26/5/20
Ballack has a point, the overall standard of centre forwards and attacking midfielders is quite poor at the moment compared to years gone by, aside from a few stand out exceptions, the overall quality is at an all time low in the PL era.
The Premier League as a whole is the poorest it has been for a long time, with lots of teams in transition and / or rebuilding.
posted on 27/5/20
comment by montleeds (U18330)
posted 11 hours, 24 minutes ago
comment by sandy (U20567)
posted 3 hours, 53 minutes ago
I doubt I ever saw one a season that bad pre Prem.
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sandy you failed to mention you didn't have a tv back then.
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Always preferred to watch football live, still do.
Maybe some on here should try going to a match someday.
posted on 27/5/20
comment by sandy (U20567)
posted 17 hours, 15 minutes ago
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/sets/3fe2kffRvE-FIxeV9-WkVg/top-10-goalkeeping-clang
Here`s a few more.
Still awaiting for a comment on all these modern day goalie howlers.
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Sandy posted a pic of a howler from the 90s to prove modern goalkeepers are awful
That was 30 facking years ago
posted on 27/5/20
comment by *Michael Edwards FC {Proud owner of the 5 000 000th comment} Super European Champions of the World (U2720)
posted 1 hour, 53 minutes ago
comment by sandy (U20567)
posted 17 hours, 15 minutes ago
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/sets/3fe2kffRvE-FIxeV9-WkVg/top-10-goalkeeping-clang
Here`s a few more.
Still awaiting for a comment on all these modern day goalie howlers.
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Sandy posted a pic of a howler from the 90s to prove modern goalkeepers are awful
That was 30 facking years ago
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Nah I posted lots of howlers from last season, and the previous few seasons. Goalkeeping was of clown proportions. Obviously you chose to ignore those clips because it don`t suit your agenda.