The villain.
Johan Cruyff 1947-2016
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The villain.
Included under Maradona's romance and controversial persona.
He can claim all sorts of records, but that's where the superteam argument kicks in.
Not an entirely stupid argument
Did I say that? It's insoluble, that's the problem. The only thing to check is him for Argentina and people will then blame him for not winning anything despite star-studded sides.Not an entirely stupid argument
They have fancy forwards but are dogshit really, and that's despite Messi's brilliance.
Hell of a player, like a few others worthy of being the greatest of all time. His biggest contribution to the game came as a player imo.
Cruyff was a true legend. One of the GOATs.
2016 was an awful year. It took so many great people.
2016 was an awful year. It took so many great people.
An institution.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39391826
His combined player/manager stats are amazing - 4 European Cups, 2 ECWC, 14 titles, 10 cups, numerous others..... oh, and 3 successive Ballon D'ors!
If anyone deserves a statue, it was him. Great player, longevity, balletic, inventive, individual and then changed Barca's history via management. Just wish he'd won a WC.
Pele and Maradona are regularly held up as potentially the greatest, but I'd pay to watch Cruyff over either of them.
Genius.
His combined player/manager stats are amazing - 4 European Cups, 2 ECWC, 14 titles, 10 cups, numerous others..... oh, and 3 successive Ballon D'ors!
If anyone deserves a statue, it was him. Great player, longevity, balletic, inventive, individual and then changed Barca's history via management. Just wish he'd won a WC.
Pele and Maradona are regularly held up as potentially the greatest, but I'd pay to watch Cruyff over either of them.
Genius.
Already one year from his death. You will never be forgotten
April 25th 1947, meaning Cruijff would've turned 70 today.
Ajax and the local government finally made the one appropriate gesture, officially announcing tonight that the 'Amsterdam Arena' from now on will be named 'Johan Cruijff Arena'.
Ajax and the local government finally made the one appropriate gesture, officially announcing tonight that the 'Amsterdam Arena' from now on will be named 'Johan Cruijff Arena'.
Happy birthday Johan.
Arguably the most important Football figure ever. His tactical innovations are still seen today.
Just posted the picture in iconic photos, really wasn't aware that today should be his 70th birthday.
When you look what he has done as a player and then as a coach, incredible. Nobody had so much influence on both level.
Loved this quote of his also: "I’m ex-player, ex-director, ex-coach, ex-manager, ex-honorary president. A nice list that again shows everything comes to an end". So true.
RIP
When you look what he has done as a player and then as a coach, incredible. Nobody had so much influence on both level.
Loved this quote of his also: "I’m ex-player, ex-director, ex-coach, ex-manager, ex-honorary president. A nice list that again shows everything comes to an end". So true.
RIP
Today it is officially confirmed (in the Dutch media): starting from season 2018-2019 the stadium of Ajax will be officially renamed into the Johan Cruijff Arena. They will start changing things like nameplates and the likes. Took a time, but definitely a fitting tribute.
Should have done it while he was still alive, but better late than never I guess.
We are in a time of football statistics being the be all and end all.
But you can’t use stats for Cruyff, he was a genius.
But you can’t use stats for Cruyff, he was a genius.
Yop, he's one of the biggest legends of the game. He had wonderful physical qualities, mostly explosiviness, and combined them with great technique and a sharp brain. The latter helped him become a great manager as well.
Even his statistics are impressive, his goal record is superb for the positions he played. Then you have his trophy cabinet which is pretty complete with just an international trophy missing, although he did come extremely close.
Yep, Cruyff's game transcended mere raw numbers — though to be fair, a lot of his statistics are brilliant for a player of his ilk, even in the company of the true All-Time offensive greats:
Link
* Stats for Cristiano and Messi need updating.
And then there's the '74 World Cup — the pinnacle of his international career:
Another aspect is that his game didn't revolve solely around goals, but stats weren't measured back then.
On the "Bigsoccer" forum, a couple very dedicated users spent years going through match reports, etc. to create a tally of verifiable assists, being very rigorous and very strict about it confirming an assist. The conclusion furthest into thread was
So that assist record would be based on only about 400 games or something, maybe 450, but that's unreal.
Not surprising you give that many assists when you can just as easily give a great ball with the inside of your left foot as you can with the outside of your right, to make two assists within two minutes of the same game:
@Ajaxsuarez, yes, that aspect is certainly overlooked for a lot of older players! And that thread is undoubtedly fantastic — close to 100 pages for the statistics of only Cruyff, and aside from that, the site has ones like this for Zidane with a review of his seasons: Link 1, and this one for archiving some Pelé and Santos stats vs. European teams: Link 2.
A real treasure trove, and they've made a neat little table for Cruyff's assists as well:
A real treasure trove, and they've made a neat little table for Cruyff's assists as well:
http://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/johan-cruyff-matches-and-goals-scored.1865250/page-81
Had actually never heard of that before, looks absolutely amazing so thanks for bringing that up!@Ajaxsuarez, yes, that aspect is certainly overlooked for a lot of older players! And that thread is undoubtedly fantastic — close to 100 pages for the statistics of only Cruyff, and aside from that, the site has ones like this for Zidane with a review of his seasons: Link 1, and this one for archiving some Pelé and Santos stats vs. European teams: Link 2.
A real treasure trove, and they've made a neat little table for Cruyff's assists as well:
http://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/johan-cruyff-matches-and-goals-scored.1865250/page-81