Franco Baresi

Your anti-academy crusades are getting tiresome. O'shea and Neville was a good and reliable players for us, rarely letting us down when called upon. Brown started a champions league final and was fantastic that season. Questioning O'shea's attitude is ridiculous.

And we signed Vidic and Evra for about 12m combined. That's not big money by any standards.
 
Wes Brown and John O'Shea both showed top level talent at young ages. In Wes Brown's first season at first choice he made the PFA Team of the year. And John O'Shea looked fantastic during his first full season with the senior team in 02-03. Wes Brown's development stalled because of injuries and John 'Oshea failed to kick on for whatever reason(I here that he was just too nice to be a great Footballer) and became a utility player for us.
 
devilish said:
What I admire about Rio was that he was able to play in a defense filled with average players and make it look rock solid. Maldini, Scirea and Baresi had never played with defenders of the level of Wes Brown, Silvestre and OShit.
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Yes because those players were shit back then weren't they? Crazy exaggeration in this post, making it out like Rio played alongside some pub players and made the team watertight. He had plenty of ropey games back then as well, his best form was when he came back from his ban onwards.
 
akash02 said:
Your anti-academy crusades are getting tiresome. O'shea and Neville was a good and reliable players for us, rarely letting us down when called upon. Brown started a champions league final and was fantastic that season. Questioning O'shea's attitude is ridiculous.

And we signed Vidic and Evra for about 12m combined. That's not big money by any standards.
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Not really. Having said that I tend to have a realistic look at all our players. Scholes and Giggs were unique talent, they were world class. Beckham wasn't a great winger but he was the best crosser of the ball the world has ever seen which was enough to make him a truly special talent. Gaz wasn't a great talent but his attitude was world class and it was enough to drag him to first team level. The same trick worked just fine with Fletcher but not with Phil (I repeat we shouldn't have sold him, he would have been valuable in midfield). Wes was extremely unlucky with injuries which ruined him quite early in his career. OShea was crap.

There again we're the type of fans who spend years waiting for Ando's year. Same thing happened with Fabio and is happening right now with Rafael. We also give standing ovations to a manager who pressed the auto destructive button on the team. No wonder why I look like a villain.
 
JazzG said:
Yes because those players were shit back then weren't they? Crazy exaggeration in this post, making it out like Rio played alongside some pub players and made the team watertight. He had plenty of ropey games back then as well, his best form was when he came back from his ban onwards.
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Well let me put it in the political correctness way. They weren't good enough. No wonder why SAF was forced to buy good defenders while the likes of OShea became 'utility players'
 
.Rossi said:
Emmm....Anyways....

Baresi was great. Even in his latter years

Him and Maldini are the first names down on the team sheet for me
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Few people in this thread have said Scirea was better. And I've heard much about Gentile too, although he was apparently more of a butcher than a technician like Baresi.
 
Rozay said:
So yould say he was better than Rio/Nesta in their prime? Personally, I think Rio is the best centre-half I've ever seen play.
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I find it hard to call between Nesta and Rio, both supreme defenders and I think there's an argument to be had that they're the two best centre backs - if we exclude Maldini - since Baresi's retirement, with one of Desailly, Kohler, Stam and Cannavaro rounding off the top 3. I don't think any of them come close to Baresi though. At that time the sweeper was arguably the most important player in the team and given Milan's defensive organisation was their key strength it goes without saying he was their most important (and IMO their best) player. Neither Nesta nor Rio quite reached that level. They were the defensive leaders and the defence was undoubtedly a key part of their team's success, but they simply didn't influence the game in the way Baresi did. Even if they played in Baresi's role they couldn't - they were both very classy on the ball but Baresi is on a different level in terms of how he used it.

There's two videos I'd use to sum him up. The first being in perhaps the biggest game of his career, the World Cup final, and after making a miraculous recovery to even play in the final he ends up nullifying one of the best striking partnerships in World Cup history with consummate ease. The second being a quick highlights video of him in the 1990 WC (a year after being named the second best player in the world) which focuses more on his contribution on the ball and you really see how much of a driving force he was for his team - the kind that Rio or Nesta never were. He was just a truly exceptional player.

(starts at 1:10)


 
Baresi looks like a top notch CB in that youtube vid on the first page, the way he seemed to humiliate Romario in the 94 WC final looks immense. I'm a bit too young to remember the guy, most of what I saw must have been in the WC and the CL. What strikes me is that I think that video shows how it's very difficult to compare players across generations, there's no way he would have gotten away with a few of those tackles today - he'd miss 6-12 matches every season due to red cards. The way of playing the game has changed a lot.

He did, however, look clever enough to be a massive player today. He also seemed to have that crazy x-factor about him which so many players seem to lack these days, especially the guys playing in defense. He seemed like one of those few leaders who could inspire a team to raise their game just by his sheer presence.

Also, I think it's quite stinking ballsack mental to consider John O'Shea shit. He usually did the job asked of him without any fuss, no matter if he played LB, CB, CM or fecking goalie.
 
I've seen some cracking defenders in my time…all slightly different.

Beckenbauer, Moore, Todd, Beattie, Nesta, Cannavaro, Krol were all brilliant.

Even at United we have had some real class…Buchan, McGrath, Stam…with Rio being the best I've seen at Old Trafford.

But Franco Baresi was truly world class in every way. He had the lot…heading, pace, tackling, communication, organisation, passing, reading the game and just as important…he could be hard.

Easily the best centre-half I've ever seen.
 
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