The best team you've ever seen playing

dxadel said:
Same way every defence can be penetrated
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Its more difficult though at least in a balanced side made up of world class players. Take AC Milan vs Barcelona. With both teams having such a quality midfield (Ancelotti-Donadoni-Rijkaard-Gullit-Colombo on one side, Iniesta-Xavi-Busquets-Messi-Pedro on the other) the game will be mostly played in midfield. Of course both teams have the players to create at least 2-3 chances capable of seriously test the defense. Now whom do you fancy being more likely to score a goal though? Messi vs Baresi, Maldini, Costacurta and Tassotti or Van Basten vs Pique, Puyol, Abidal and Alves? If I am a betting men Ill put my wager on the latter.
 
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Pep's Barça made it completely impossible for other teams to play the game, thus completely negating the whole point of any game they played in which led to the boring comments because everything was a glorified training session for them.

I doubt any other team has ever made every team they played against completely redundant like that. It just depended on what mood they were in as to whether they won by a big margin or not, but they practically always won.
 
matherto said:
Pep's Barça made it completely impossible for other teams to play the game, thus completely negating the whole point of any game they played in which led to the boring comments because everything was a glorified training session for them.

I doubt any other team has ever made every team they played against completely redundant like that. It just depended on what mood they were in as to whether they won by a big margin or not, but they practically always won.
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Yeah, totally agree. Teams were lucky to have 40% possession, and even if they managed it, it barely felt like they had actually had that much of the ball.

I can't think of a more frustrating team you could play against. Just the mentality/concentration needed to spend 60 minutes marking and keeping position, and then needing the frame of mind to carry out instructions and not panic when you eventually win the ball (usually deep in your own half with barely anybody ahead of you) and are being pressed intensely.
 
Pep's Barca or 2012/13 Bayren team.

As for comparing older team(Anything before 2000's) it's almost impossible as there's too many differences in how the game is played today and how it was played 20 years ago (Pitch conditions, Refereeing, Pass back rule etc).

If we suddenly dropped players like Baresi and Maldini in to days game they would clearly struggle with certain aspects(The speed of the game today is so much quicker) and the same would happen if you dropped that Barca team into the 90's(There's no way Barca could play that possession style football on 90's style football pitch)

Still it's a interesting debate.
 
matherto said:
Pep's Barça made it completely impossible for other teams to play the game, thus completely negating the whole point of any game they played in which led to the boring comments because everything was a glorified training session for them.

I doubt any other team has ever made every team they played against completely redundant like that. It just depended on what mood they were in as to whether they won by a big margin or not, but they practically always won.
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Sacchi's system at Milan wasn't a stranger to that tactic.
 
matherto said:
Pep's Barça made it completely impossible for other teams to play the game, thus completely negating the whole point of any game they played in which led to the boring comments because everything was a glorified training session for them.

I doubt any other team has ever made every team they played against completely redundant like that. It just depended on what mood they were in as to whether they won by a big margin or not, but they practically always won.
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What mood they were in? Seems unlikely they turned up to CL semi finals against Inter and Chelsea "not in the mood" to win the game..

I have to say I think Bayern 2013 would have beat Pep's Barca if they met in the CL. Arsenal, Madrid 2011, Inter 2010 and Chelsea 2009/2012 all ran them close or did the job, and that Bayern team was more solid defensively than all those teams and probably had the best counterattack (Madrid aside).
 
Sweet Square said:
If we suddenly dropped players like Baresi and Maldini in to days game they would clearly struggle with certain aspects(The speed of the game today is so much quicker) and the same would happen if you dropped that Barca team into the 90's(There's no way Barca could play that possession style football on 90's style football pitch)
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That is an unreasonable claim to be honest. Maldini owned Ronaldo in 04/05 back when Cristiano could actually dribble and take men on - a great physical test for an ageing full back. Plus these are players from the late 80's/early 90's and in Maldini's case early 00's.. why are you speaking of them like they were playing football in black and white.
 
Moyes' Manchester United 2013/14 there was something about that United team that was special, they broke a lot of records
 
2003-07 Milan- They had world class players in pretty much every position and got to 3 Champions League finals.

2012-13 Bayern Munich- What a team that had everything, they got keep possession, counter attack, mix it up with different styles. They kept great composure from losing the 2012 final and winning a it a year later.

2009-12 Barcelona- Best team ever imo, Messi, Iniesta and Xavi with the later in their primes were just devastating, they also stick out because they fecked us up in 2 Champions league finals which isn't happy memories.
 
Pep's Barca for me. I found them extremely boring but you couldn't get anywhere near them on a good day.
 
Barca 09-12 was the best team to ever play the game in my opinion.
 
devilish said:
I thought you're referring to how they played the game. Apologies.

Kindly note the talent the Serie A had during the late 80s and the mid 90s. At one point the situation was so ridiculous that top world class players like Hagi, Dunga, Gazza, Batistuta, Laudrup and Maradona were playing with small or mid sized Serie A clubs. The standards were so frigging high that top class players like Berkamp, Pancev, Gazza and Rush couldn't even make the grade and were sold to other clubs with much disgrace.

If you want to compare it to today's standards it would be like having Muller playing with Spurs, Iniesta playing with Everton and Ibrahimovic playing with Bolton.
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Laudrup went to Lazio from Brondby. Hardly ridiculous. We see that kind of transfers every year. Gazza hardly played for the best in England either. Batistuta never played at a top club.

Some of the players you mentioned probably had a big problem adapting. Doubt Gazza or Rush had many people to talk too. The culture was so vast. Today you can call your mom via Skype or your phone. There was nothing close to that in the early 80's and 90's.
 
You can tell this is a united forum because no one has yet mentioned

Liverpool 1981-84
Liverpool 1987-88
Chelsea 2004-05
 
204Red said:
You can tell this is a united forum because no one has yet mentioned

Liverpool 1981-84
Liverpool 1987-88
Chelsea 2004-05
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The best teams have to win the CL/European Cup. Liverpool are obviously up there, Chelsea aren't imo.
 
Many seem to opt for Pep´s Barca and maybe rightly so, but I remember thinking that Barca would do Milan with Romario and Stoichkov but Milan played them off the park. Pep´s Barca would find it very hard against Milan in the early 90´s and I believe Milan would´ve won it 8 times out of 10
 
Peps Barca/Spain 08-2010. People need to remember that Spain never conceeded goals in the knockout stages of back to back cup winning tournaments. Total control.

They pretty much forced teams to play a different game. I remember when Barca played Arsenal at the Emirates in 09/10. They drew the game (somehow) but the first half in that game was the best ive ever seen a top team play at another teams ground. Arsenal, a possession team themselves couldnt get out of their own half.
 
Some of the best matches I have ever watches were Barca beating Madrid 6-2 and 5-0. These performances just highlighted how good they were under Guardiola and how amazingly high they took their possession game in which they could hurt the opponent at any time. Certainly a lot more enjoyable than the current Bayern for me.
 
kouroux said:
Some of the best matches I have ever watches were Barca beating Madrid 6-2 and 5-0. These performances just highlighted how good they were under Guardiola and how amazingly high they took their possession game in which they could hurt the opponent at any time. Certainly a lot more enjoyable than the current Bayern for me.
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The 5-0 was the most impressive performance I've ever seen by any team ever. Complete domination.
 
I'll never forget the second half of the 2009 and 2011 Champions League final when a side managed by Alex Ferguson couldnt get the ball off Barca. I was terrified, so I dont know how our players must have felt. They were an unbelievable side.

For sheer heart and spirit our Treble winning side is my number one, though. That side didnt know when it was beaten. If you ever go back and watch that season, the amount of shocking decisions that went against us were huge. Yet we still took it to the final whistle every single game. Just a joy to watch. Pure entertainment and drama in what seemed like every single match from March onwards. Some of the best games I ever seen was that year.
 
Snow said:
Laudrup went to Lazio from Brondby. Hardly ridiculous. We see that kind of transfers every year. Gazza hardly played for the best in England either. Batistuta never played at a top club.

Some of the players you mentioned probably had a big problem adapting. Doubt Gazza or Rush had many people to talk too. The culture was so vast. Today you can call your mom via Skype or your phone. There was nothing close to that in the early 80's and 90's.
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They were all great talent signing with small-mid clubs. Also Hagi signed with Brescia from Real, Maradona signed with Napoli from Barcelona.
 
RedStarUnited said:
Peps Barca/Spain 08-2010. People need to remember that Spain never conceeded goals in the knockout stages of back to back cup winning tournaments. Total control.

They pretty much forced teams to play a different game. I remember when Barca played Arsenal at the Emirates in 09/10. They drew the game (somehow) but the first half in that game was the best ive ever seen a top team play at another teams ground. Arsenal, a possession team themselves couldnt get out of their own half.
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To me Barca were the better side because they were essentially Spain but with Messi leading their attack. Both ridiculously good, but Barca get my vote.
 
RedStarUnited said:
Peps Barca/Spain 08-2010. People need to remember that Spain never conceeded goals in the knockout stages of back to back cup winning tournaments. Total control.

They pretty much forced teams to play a different game. I remember when Barca played Arsenal at the Emirates in 09/10. They drew the game (somehow) but the first half in that game was the best ive ever seen a top team play at another teams ground. Arsenal, a possession team themselves couldnt get out of their own half.
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Spain were mostly a 1 goal margin team though
 
Anyone saying Chelsea 04/05 must be having a fecking laugh!

They got an impressive points total in the league (in a season where the other big sides were in decline) and admittedly they upped the standard of what's required to win the PL in terms of consistency. However their team had several weak links and players who do not compare to the greats in the other sides mentioned in this thread.

Chelsea's team was actually better in 05/06 when they sold some dross and added Essien and a couple other improvements. They would have surpassed their points total from 04/05 but they fielded weakened sides for the last two league games and lost.

They were two of the most dominant league campaigns I have seen but not one of the best teams. They couldn't win the CL and the PL caught up with them.
 
Today you can call your mom via Skype or your phone. There was nothing close to that in the early 80's and 90's.
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We did have phones.

and carrier pigeon
 
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