Best "unsuccessful" XI of the modern era

Scandi Red

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Unsuccessful = someone who hasn't won any of the big four (PL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A), Champions League, World Cup, Euros or Copa America.

Modern era = only players who was/is in their peak since the year 2000.

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I think three out of the front four writes itself. Kane, Son and Bruno are obviously make the team.

In central midfield I don't think it's premature to give one of the spots to Ødegaard. He's had two great seasons for Arsenal now and he was also really good in Spain.

Defense and goalkeeper is particularly tricky. Shaw has been very injury-prone but his skills can't be denied. He might take the leftback position. If I remember correctly, Baines was very solid for Everton for many years so he could also be a shout for the rightback position. My team (so far) might be a bit PL-centric, though. In any case at least 5 players are still missing. This was surprisingly tricky.
 
Di Natale and Scott Parker could probably be squeezed in? So far:

................ Kane ...............
. Son - Bruno - Di Natale .
.... Ødegaard - Parker ....
Shaw - ??? - ??? - Baines
................ ??? .................
 
I think you need to add another condition that - they must be at least over 30, if not retired.

Ødegaard is too young to get on that list. He still has a lot of his career in front of him and could go on to win everything in the remaining time. What's the point of putting him on "never won anything" list? Are you gonna put 21 year olds there too? Needs to be some cut-off
 
NewGlory said:
I think you need to add another condition that - they must be at least over 30, if not retired.

Ødegaard is too young to get on that list. He still has a lot of his career in front of him and could go on to win everything in the remaining time. What's the point of putting him on "never won anything" list? Are you gonna put 21 year olds there too? Needs to be some cut-off
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I was thinking that this could be a thread that gets updated once players win something big. As of right now, Ødegaard hasn't won anything big. And playing for Arsenal and Norway there is a very high chance that he retires with no big trophy.
 
Scandi Red said:
Di Natale and Scott Parker could probably be squeezed in? So far:

................ Kane ...............
. Son - Bruno - Di Natale .
.... Ødegaard - Parker ....
Shaw - ??? - ??? - Baines
................ ??? .................
Click to expand...
Something resembling this. For GK I'd put perhaps Pickford (England no.1 for years) and Ledley King as one of the CB.
 
Fairly sure Baines never played a single game at right back
 
Was thinking teams first, players later.

Dortmund - Frei? Reus?
Atletico - Ujfalusi?

Edit: Just gone through random Roma players from when they kept finishing 2nd - Mexes?
 
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Scandi Red said:
I was thinking that this could be a thread that gets updated once players win something big. As of right now, Ødegaard hasn't won anything big. And playing for Arsenal and Norway there is a very high chance that he retires with no big trophy.
Click to expand...

He's 25, midfielders like him can prosper well into their 30s. Would be very surprised if Arsenal didn't win a few trophies by then, and if not, that he moved somewhere where he did.
 
Chipper said:
Was thinking teams first, players later.

Dortmund - Frei? Reus?
Atletico - Ujfalusi?

Edit: Just gone through random Roma players from when they kept finishing 2nd - Mexes?
Click to expand...

Bloody hell, I forgot that he hadn't won the Bundesliga!

He obviously takes Di Natale's spot then.
 
Bernd Schneider deserves a shout: CL-finalist, WC-finalist and 3rd place, twice Bundesliga runner-up and over 80 caps for Germany.
 
I think Riquelme has to be in there. Claims could be made also for Ochoa, Mendieta, Juninho, Friedrich and Witsel
 
black country red said:
Does Michael ballack count
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OIP.V-vlzwRIm4BtKTgc8h2IwAAAAA

Struggles to get past 5 by the looks of it.
 
?
? king verthongen baines
schneider dembele banega reus
kane son​

supersub: signori
 
A few other very good ones i think qualify:

Riquelme...though his first two Libertadores wins should count imo
Joaquin...a bit brainless, but very effective before injuries slowed him down too much)
Nihat Kahveci...thought he was an excellent, versatile forward before his achilles injury
van der Vaart... Should have achieved far more with the ability he had
Adrian Mutu...should have achieved far more with the ability he had Mark II
Bernd Schneider... excellent technician that always used the ball very intelligently; would fit in well for current football. Classic nearly man/wrong era and club career
Darijo Srna ... xcellent wingback with great crossing ability. Should have moved to a bigger league, but seemed content to be the leader at Shakhtar forever.
Dmitri Payet... reat skills, very productive, perhaps just lacking some discipline/consistency at certain times during his career. should have achieved more with his ability Mark III
Juninho Pernambucano... was far more than just free kicks. An excellent hard working midfield playmaker
Eric Carriere...excellent supporting playmaker. If France had kept the more attacking, creative minded philosophy of the '80s magic square this guy would have been a great sidekick for Zidane.

There's also some class players that overlapped more with the 90s, but had some good prime seasons after 2000... Hasselbaink, Karpin, Mostovoy (only two here, so maybe pushing it), Tugay, Gallardo or players that were stars for big teams in the 6-10 coefficient level leagues and showed ability in European/international games to compete at a higher level...There must be a decent amount of players in that category alone that were better than a solid workhorse type like Scott Parker.
 
duffer said:
He won 4 German League titles, a Premier League title, 3 FA Cups and0 3 German cups.

Bit harsh to call that "unsuccessful".
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Not to mention it breaks the rule defined in literally the first sentence of the topic :lol:
 
Jaaskelainen
King Mexes Radebe
Payet Parker Schneider Reus
Sigurosson
Di Natale Keane
 
Howard
Sakai Naldo Distin Shaw
Toulalan Cazorla
Vela Fekir Muniain
Adebayor
​
I tried to mention players that haven't already been mentioned and could've also put in the likes of M.Dembele, J.Viera, Falcao, Banega, Montolivo, Tristan, Rossi, John Moncur
 
Putting Juninho in is a bit ridiculous when the only European league he played in was France and he won it 7 times
 
De gea surely, one league title for a keeper of his quality for so long is a let down,
 
YSB99 said:
Putting Juninho in is a bit ridiculous when the only European league he played in was France and he won it 7 times
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Would perhaps make sense to have a criteria that the player must have spent at least X amount of seasons /percentage of their career in either of the big 4 European leagues to qualify?

Joaquin and Bernd Schneider must be in there.

Was Paul Robinson ever good enough get a look in here? He's got 41 England caps, nearly 500 appearances for Leeds, Spurs and Blackburn, and 1 league cup to show for it.
 
If there's no time limit zico would be a lock.
 
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Red the Bear said:
Yeah but then would any of the south american greats get in? Most of them won a league title at very least I think.
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i think the rules in the first post exclude the majority of players that are considered internationally as greats anyway (Euro or South American). Look at the players being mentioned here, some might have had the talent to have a great career, but there's very few that most would agree should be in that category for what they did achieve.
 
Son has to be in this really. Basically 8-9 seasons of excellent level in Premier league but what has he got to show for it compared to say Mane who went to Liverpool and won 4-5 major trophies.
 
YSB99 said:
Putting Juninho in is a bit ridiculous when the only European league he played in was France and he won it 7 times
Click to expand...
Same with someone like Falcao; it's a stretch to call him unsuccessful. He won two Europa Leagues plus Argentinian, French and Portuguese leagues. And various cups.
 
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