Rewind back a decade and the number of players that would roll of the tongue when asked to name someone you were genuinely excited about watching play is far in excess of of what someone could manage in today's game.
I am talking about the players that made you zone out of work or school after 12pm in anticipation of the Champions League later that evening or the salivating that occurred when presented with the the fact that the World Cup/ Euro's were only a week or two away.
I present a sample of my own idols of 2001 and those that I would very willingly pay to watch play today:
2001
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Gabriel Batistuta
Christian Vieri
Alessandro Del Piero
Ronaldo
Juan Sebastien Veron
Andriy Shevchenko
Rui Costa
Luis Figo
Roberto Carlos
Zinedine Zidane
Michael Ballack
Paolo Maldini
Alessandro Nesta
2011
----------------
Lionel Messi
Cristiano Ronaldo
Xavi
Arjen Robben
Sergio Canales (Amazing every time I see him)
Ronaldinho (Still entertaining)
Yoann Gourcuff
Alexandre Pato
Any omissions were mostly due to desire to keep article from being a great length so no shouting please.
Anyone else care to state the players that you used to look forward to seeing play and believe there to be a relative disparity in relation to today?
Is football losing its 'Star Appeal'?
posted on 14/6/11
Veron rarely played 90 mins and was either subbed for or came on for Scholes/Beckham.
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What a load of tosh.
posted on 14/6/11
Vidicshin,
And you would rather have who in your team ahead of him?
Robinho - Manchester didn't work out before
Fred - Couldn't hack Lyon
Neymar - Will be brilliant but not better than Pato at present
Fabiano - So good Spurs let him Sao Paulo have him.
posted on 14/6/11
Neymar, by a mile. Already looks far better than Pato.
posted on 14/6/11
Eh how can you not mention Rooney in this generation? Most exciting player I have seen in the last 15 years.
posted on 14/6/11
Shevchenko's case was also not helped by the fact that Mourinho didn't want him
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Not my problem. He was still at his peak when Chelsea signed him.
posted on 14/6/11
ben really!
Ronaldo "El Fenómeno" was a monster and even if Cristiano tries as hard as possible he will never be better than him.
Ronaldo and Zidane are the two greatest players of my lifetime.
He was able to dribble like Maradona and run as fast as Henry at the same time, his goal against Compostela where he brushes off the defender who is pulling on his shirt is nothing short of remarkable!
Cristiano is not a patch on him.
posted on 14/6/11
Vidicshin,
Peak or no peak, it tends to be difficult to demonstrate your capabilities when watching from the bench because your manager likes one big bully up front and relies on the counter attack.
posted on 14/6/11
comment by Benched (U7195)
posted 4 minutes ago
Vidicshin,
Peak or no peak, it tends to be difficult to demonstrate your capabilities when watching from the bench
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Again, not my problem. My only argument on Schevchenko, is that he was not past his peak when Chelsea signed him.
He was not. He was at it.
Schevchenko would have been much better suited at United.
posted on 14/6/11
He had peaked and was in decline, Milan knew this and that's why they sold him, his scoring record indicates so.
From 1999 - 2006 he made 296 appearances for Milan and scored 173 goals.
1 goal every 1.71 games.
From 2006 - 2009 he made 103 appearances for both Milan and Chelsea but only scored 24 goals.
1 goal every 4.29 games.
We agree to disagree and I bid you good night, thanks for the banter.
posted on 15/6/11
From 2006 - 2009 he made 103 appearances for both Milan and Chelsea but only scored 24 goals.
1 goal every 4.29 games.
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Worst piece of figure manipulating I have ever seen.
In Shevchenko's last season with Milan, before his move to Chelsea, he scored 19 goals in 28 games.
That is a goal in every 1.47 games.
Now, how on earth do you figure that he was in decline?