I thought that might prompt a little debate. In between the peaks of Figo/Beckham (e.g. 1997-2002) and Ronaldo/Messi (2006 onwards) there were not many celebrated right-wingers. Most of the better ones were under-rated and I'm not suggesting Joaquin regularly hit the heights of those four above. But he was brilliant at Betis, penetrating and productive, and was Spain's best player in 2002. Like many wide players he didn't maintain his performances into his late 20s, but the forum will struggle to think of a better right-winger than him during the first half of the last decade.
The Redcafe Champions League Draft
- Thread starter Theon
- Start date
Indeed, he is an ideal partner for Ferdinand who also happens to be excellent cover for Zambrotta as a leftback himself.
I doubt there actually is another top class CB that could fulfil those two constraints so completely. Even Maldini, clearly the better player and also a LB... but not the ideal Ferdinand partner.
Of course he is, but we're talking about Romario's extraordinary ability in the penalty box, rather than his somewhat flaccid contributions outside of it.
Pretty much everyone is online atm, could smash through a few of these now
He is a superior more complete player, yes, and contributes more in build up, but Romario was as devastating in the final yards.
With the amount of possession Barca get, the number of opporutnities that arise and the rubbishness of most defences, Romario would no doubt rack up never-seen-before stats as well.
After all the giving-out Feeky was doing about Ralaks earlier then!... 
Barca is weird because so many chances are created by Messi's genius, he fashions so many chances for himself by dribbling that Romario (or literally anybody, ever) couldn't.
But at the same time, that's a product of the system they play, he doesn't lead the line and play on the shoulder the way others would - so this actually necessitates creating harder chances. If Romario was playing you assume it would be a much more normal approach to attacking.
All in all I think it's hard to predict how many he would score, initially I think it would be a feck load and similar to Messi, but Barca would need to play a different style IMO which is why I would be hesitant making that assumption.
Even still, he wouldn't be breaking goalscoring records like Messi and you've already intimated that he wouldnt come close to matching his other records or stats. Similar things could be said about other players, had Batistuta been at Utd he would be our greatest ever goalscorer?
Yeah, maybe the best of a bad bunch but even still, there's atleast a couple I would rather have than him. Even at that time I would've preferred Beckham.
Yupp I know akash, was a good pick.
Let's just drop this now anyways! The aim of this game was to have a bit of fun during work etc, so lets get back to talking about football
Nesta---Ferrara
I am very very happy with that spine. But I have not decided yet if I will play Luis Enrique as an AM or as an CM with Hierro. It all depends on what players I can get from now on.
Also I need to pick 2 non winners.
Just re-posting this one...
The Game: 1. Zidane 2. Seedorf 3. Shevchenko 4. Frank De Boer 5. Pires 6. Cocu 7. Ze Roberto
JakeC: 1. Messi 2. Cantona 3. Buffon 4. Roberto Carlos 5. Xabi Alonso 6. Puyol 7. Mascherano
kps88: 1. Cristiano Ronaldo 2. Kohler 3. Davids 4. Vieri 5. Riquelme 6. Costacurta 7. Cambiasso
Thisistheone: 1. Ronaldo 2. Desailly 3. Rui Costa 4. Blanc 5. Essien 6. Dani Alves 7. Rooney
Ralaks: 1. Keane 2. Del Piero 3. Effenberg 4. Beckham 5. Overmars 6. Ramos 7. Trezeguet
nahealai: 1. Xavi 2. Raúl 3. van Nistelrooy 4. Ballack 5. Busquets 6. Lizarazu 7. Irwin
Stobzilla: 1. Henry 2. Stam 3. Totti 4. Gerrard 5. Veron 6. Mata 7. G. Neville
Feeky: 1. Maldini 2. Scholes 3. Bergkamp 4. Deschamps 5. Ibrahimovic 6. Y. Touré 7. David Silva
akash02: 1. Romario 2. Cannavaro 3. Hagi 4. Guardiola 5. Lahm 6. McManaman 7. Petit 8. Chiellini
Gio: 1. Rivaldo 2. Nedved 3. Ferdinand 4. Zanetti 5. Fabregas 6. Zambrotta 7. Montero 8. Joaquin
Snow: 1. Ronaldinho 2. Kaka 3. Mendieta 4. Terry 5. Carvalho 6. A. Cole 7. Ozil 8. Gallas
Isotope: 1. Redondo 2. Ribery 3. Eto'o 4. Albertini 5. Campbell 6. Boban 7. Forlan 8. Angloma
EDogen: 1. Nesta 2. Giggs 3. Hierro 4. Van Persie 5. Enrique 6. Robben 7.Evra 8. Ferrara
Theon: 1. Iniesta 2. Pirlo 3. Cafu 4. Gattuso 5. De Rossi 6. Crespo 7. Aguero 8. Silva
Fergus'son: 1. Batistuta 2. Thuram 3. Ayala 4. Makelele 5. Schweinsteiger 6. Möller 7. Villa 8. Muller
BD/NM: 1. Vieira 2. Figo 3. Vidic 4. Drogba 5.Lampard 6. Popescu 7. Maicon 8. Gilberto
The Game: 1. Zidane 2. Seedorf 3. Shevchenko 4. Frank De Boer 5. Pires 6. Cocu 7. Ze Roberto
JakeC: 1. Messi 2. Cantona 3. Buffon 4. Roberto Carlos 5. Xabi Alonso 6. Puyol 7. Mascherano
kps88: 1. Cristiano Ronaldo 2. Kohler 3. Davids 4. Vieri 5. Riquelme 6. Costacurta 7. Cambiasso
Thisistheone: 1. Ronaldo 2. Desailly 3. Rui Costa 4. Blanc 5. Essien 6. Dani Alves 7. Rooney
Ralaks: 1. Keane 2. Del Piero 3. Effenberg 4. Beckham 5. Overmars 6. Ramos 7. Trezeguet
nahealai: 1. Xavi 2. Raúl 3. van Nistelrooy 4. Ballack 5. Busquets 6. Lizarazu 7. Irwin
Stobzilla: 1. Henry 2. Stam 3. Totti 4. Gerrard 5. Veron 6. Mata 7. G. Neville
Feeky: 1. Maldini 2. Scholes 3. Bergkamp 4. Deschamps 5. Ibrahimovic 6. Y. Touré 7. David Silva
akash02: 1. Romario 2. Cannavaro 3. Hagi 4. Guardiola 5. Lahm 6. McManaman 7. Petit 8. Chiellini
Gio: 1. Rivaldo 2. Nedved 3. Ferdinand 4. Zanetti 5. Fabregas 6. Zambrotta 7. Montero 8. Joaquin
Snow: 1. Ronaldinho 2. Kaka 3. Mendieta 4. Terry 5. Carvalho 6. A. Cole 7. Ozil 8. Gallas
Isotope: 1. Redondo 2. Ribery 3. Eto'o 4. Albertini 5. Campbell 6. Boban 7. Forlan 8. Angloma
EDogen: 1. Nesta 2. Giggs 3. Hierro 4. Van Persie 5. Enrique 6. Robben 7.Evra 8. Ferrara
Theon: 1. Iniesta 2. Pirlo 3. Cafu 4. Gattuso 5. De Rossi 6. Crespo 7. Aguero 8. Silva
Fergus'son: 1. Batistuta 2. Thuram 3. Ayala 4. Makelele 5. Schweinsteiger 6. Möller 7. Villa 8. Muller
BD/NM: 1. Vieira 2. Figo 3. Vidic 4. Drogba 5.Lampard 6. Popescu 7. Maicon 8. Gilberto
Juve-Real was the one I was thinking about.
Juve's defence was almost as impressive as their legendary 80s defence, and things built up from there. Difficult without saying names though.
What I never quite understood was why they kept losing their players. XXXX to Chelsea, YYYYY to Boro (yes, Boro), it was very strange that.
Does anyone remember that YYYYYY quote? Story goes Boro lost 5-3 or by a ridiculous scoreline like that. YYYYYYY had a great game but Boro couldn't defend for shit. In the changing rooms he called his Juve mates and started bitching about the game, his teammates, all in Italian so assumed no one knew what he was going on about... He just didn't realise it was fairly easy to work out "difenso catastrofo".
I select Lucio.
What the feck is Feeky at? Come on, bro!
*EDIT: cnut.
*EDIT: cnut.
The Game: 1. Zidane 2. Seedorf 3. Shevchenko 4. Frank De Boer 5. Pires 6. Cocu 7. Ze Roberto
JakeC: 1. Messi 2. Cantona 3. Buffon 4. Roberto Carlos 5. Xabi Alonso 6. Puyol 7. Mascherano
kps88: 1. Cristiano Ronaldo 2. Kohler 3. Davids 4. Vieri 5. Riquelme 6. Costacurta 7. Cambiasso
Thisistheone: 1. Ronaldo 2. Desailly 3. Rui Costa 4. Blanc 5. Essien 6. Dani Alves 7. Rooney
Ralaks: 1. Keane 2. Del Piero 3. Effenberg 4. Beckham 5. Overmars 6. Ramos 7. Trezeguet
nahealai: 1. Xavi 2. Raúl 3. van Nistelrooy 4. Ballack 5. Busquets 6. Lizarazu 7. Irwin
Stobzilla: 1. Henry 2. Stam 3. Totti 4. Gerrard 5. Veron 6. Mata 7. G. Neville
Feeky: 1. Maldini 2. Scholes 3. Bergkamp 4. Deschamps 5. Ibrahimovic 6. Y. Touré 7. David Silva 8. Lúcio
akash02: 1. Romario 2. Cannavaro 3. Hagi 4. Guardiola 5. Lahm 6. McManaman 7. Petit 8. Chiellini
Gio: 1. Rivaldo 2. Nedved 3. Ferdinand 4. Zanetti 5. Fabregas 6. Zambrotta 7. Montero 8. Joaquin
Snow: 1. Ronaldinho 2. Kaka 3. Mendieta 4. Terry 5. Carvalho 6. A. Cole 7. Ozil 8. Gallas
Isotope: 1. Redondo 2. Ribery 3. Eto'o 4. Albertini 5. Campbell 6. Boban 7. Forlan 8. Angloma
EDogen: 1. Nesta 2. Giggs 3. Hierro 4. Van Persie 5. Enrique 6. Robben 7.Evra 8. Ferrara
Theon: 1. Iniesta 2. Pirlo 3. Cafu 4. Gattuso 5. De Rossi 6. Crespo 7. Aguero 8. Silva
Fergus'son: 1. Batistuta 2. Thuram 3. Ayala 4. Makelele 5. Schweinsteiger 6. Möller 7. Villa 8. Muller
BD/NM: 1. Vieira 2. Figo 3. Vidic 4. Drogba 5.Lampard 6. Popescu 7. Maicon 8. Gilberto
Stobs is up now.
JakeC: 1. Messi 2. Cantona 3. Buffon 4. Roberto Carlos 5. Xabi Alonso 6. Puyol 7. Mascherano
kps88: 1. Cristiano Ronaldo 2. Kohler 3. Davids 4. Vieri 5. Riquelme 6. Costacurta 7. Cambiasso
Thisistheone: 1. Ronaldo 2. Desailly 3. Rui Costa 4. Blanc 5. Essien 6. Dani Alves 7. Rooney
Ralaks: 1. Keane 2. Del Piero 3. Effenberg 4. Beckham 5. Overmars 6. Ramos 7. Trezeguet
nahealai: 1. Xavi 2. Raúl 3. van Nistelrooy 4. Ballack 5. Busquets 6. Lizarazu 7. Irwin
Stobzilla: 1. Henry 2. Stam 3. Totti 4. Gerrard 5. Veron 6. Mata 7. G. Neville
Feeky: 1. Maldini 2. Scholes 3. Bergkamp 4. Deschamps 5. Ibrahimovic 6. Y. Touré 7. David Silva 8. Lúcio
akash02: 1. Romario 2. Cannavaro 3. Hagi 4. Guardiola 5. Lahm 6. McManaman 7. Petit 8. Chiellini
Gio: 1. Rivaldo 2. Nedved 3. Ferdinand 4. Zanetti 5. Fabregas 6. Zambrotta 7. Montero 8. Joaquin
Snow: 1. Ronaldinho 2. Kaka 3. Mendieta 4. Terry 5. Carvalho 6. A. Cole 7. Ozil 8. Gallas
Isotope: 1. Redondo 2. Ribery 3. Eto'o 4. Albertini 5. Campbell 6. Boban 7. Forlan 8. Angloma
EDogen: 1. Nesta 2. Giggs 3. Hierro 4. Van Persie 5. Enrique 6. Robben 7.Evra 8. Ferrara
Theon: 1. Iniesta 2. Pirlo 3. Cafu 4. Gattuso 5. De Rossi 6. Crespo 7. Aguero 8. Silva
Fergus'son: 1. Batistuta 2. Thuram 3. Ayala 4. Makelele 5. Schweinsteiger 6. Möller 7. Villa 8. Muller
BD/NM: 1. Vieira 2. Figo 3. Vidic 4. Drogba 5.Lampard 6. Popescu 7. Maicon 8. Gilberto
Stobs is up now.
Exactly, no one like Romario leaving the defenders for dead. As I said, he was mentally (and physically) three steps ahead... but not offside like ZZZZZ.
Romario thrived off Laudrup's final balls, Iniesta would perform the exact same role.
I too have something in mind... Fingers-crossed mate, fingers-crossed.
I select Lucio.
feck sakeeee
Feeky's team oozes attacking flair but not sure how he's going to set his team up with Bergkamp/Ibra up front and Deschamps/Scholes/Toure/Silva to accomodate in midfield. Toure or Scholes starting wide?
It's blatantly crazy to say that Romario would score as many as Messi in the Barcelona side, if he took Messi's place. Perhaps if he played in a Barcelona side with Messi feeding him then maybe, otherwise no. For me Laudrup is a better player than Iniesta, Romario had him feeding him and yet he managed 40 in two seasons.
Way too much of a leap to say he can go from that to 90 goals in a year that Messi reaches.
Way too much of a leap to say he can go from that to 90 goals in a year that Messi reaches.
Diamond bro.
Ah! Looking strong then.
Who's Scholesy gonna hit his famous long diagonals to? Lack of width might be a problem for you if you don't get the right fullbacks.
Agreed. If Romario played at this Barca side, I'd still have Messi in his fave position; and put Romario at Villa's. Romario, as good as he was (I think he's up there with van Basten as one of the greatest striker), he's never scored 60+ goals a season. And then talking about professionalism...
Did Stobs PM his pick to somebody?
1. He only played one season with Laudrup, scoring 30 in 33 league games. His post-WC season was terrible and Laudrup was at Madrid.
2. That Barca side was not as dominant as the current one, they certainly didn't completely deprive the opposition of the ball.
It's all rather academic and subject to personal opinions though. I do think Theon had it right in that many goals Messi creates for himself Romario wouldn't, but then Romario is vastly superior at playing off the shoulder of the last defender. The burst of pace he had over a few yards... no defender could live with him.
Yeah matter of opinion, true. You'll never in a million years convince me he would be scoring and racking up stats like Cristiano never mind Lionel though. And I still genuinely maintain that Ronaldo and Batistuta are better strikers than him.
Stoichkov was my favourite from that Barcelona team.
And what's up with Antohan ZZZZ YYYY XXXX
It's like watching movie with failed attempt to censor bad words.
It's like watching movie with failed attempt to censor bad words.
Damn right, Fergus. One of the most underrated player.
On phone at work. I select Predrag Mijatovic. Can someone do the usual...pic PM list etc. thanks
Stobz is playing 1890's style but more attacking
I never said I would play Romario ahead of Messi, he is perfect for this Barca side. I said if Messi were taken out of the equation out of all the strikers in this draft I would pick Romario to fill in his shoes. Rather different.
Agree on professionalism. No one has scored 60+ goals a season before, part of that you can say is Barca, the standard of La Liga, defenders... but you also have to have Messi's attitude. That cannot be stressed enough, it's a bit like Giggs with trophies I guess. With Romario, it would get to his head by Christmas and he would end up being his own worst enemy.
For reference though, look at how he skins defenders time and again (and the state of some of those pitches! see 2:36
):A fair few exquisite lobs as well, a Messi special that.
Yup seems that way Tito, would be great to watch!I really wanted him to try and pull off the 06-07 Roma 4-6-0 formation with Totti - that could have been epic
And what's up with Antohan ZZZZ YYYY XXXX
It's like watching movie with failed attempt to censor bad words.
Can't name names but I thought the story was worth telling! No point waiting until they get picked, if at all.
Do you seriously think Batistuta would work better than Romario in the current Barca side? I don't think that is even debatable. Doesn't make one player better than the other, just better suited to a certain setup.
Agree about Stoichkov. As a footballer Laudrup was something else, but I felt more engrossed by Stoichkov's approach to the game. To me Romario was a phenomenal striker who was very lucky to be surrounded by them two and the selfless way they went about things.
I wouldn't expect you to either. Might have to go up against the best defense ever in the PL. Or rather an improvement of it seeing as Cashley is better than Del Horno.
I really wanted him to try and pull off the 06-07 Roma 4-6-0 formation with Totti - that could have been epic
He should have gone for that. There are still players available who would make that work. Mijatovic? WTF?
Delete this post! That's exactly the sort of comment I was going to make to defend Gallas. Delete it, now!
Huuurrry up. Nervous now.