Year End Poll: World XI

[mathiaslg]

GK: Kahn
RB: Contra
LB: Candela
CB: Samuel
CB: Ayala
LW: Giggs
RW: Figo
CM: Totti
CM: Keane
ST: Schevchenko
ST: Elber

 

[The Champ]

Originally posted by Suedesi:
<strong>You bitter twat.

Lots of mancs have not included David Beckham either, even though he is unstoppable in that England jersey Did it ever occur to you that Crespo, Batistuta, Vieri, Shevchenko, Raul, Henry... are simply better strikers than MO?</strong><hr></blockquote>

Maybe the reason why a lot of Mancs denied Beckham a World XI inclusion is because he doesn't deserve to be there.

But with Owen's current strike rate, his magnificent performance against arch enemy Germany (a win so historic that it will be mentioned within the annals of British time) as well as his brilliant play for Liverpool to propel them back to EPL and European contention, not many would exclude the young phenom from their list.

Except you, who managed to mention Batistuta as a current top striker, who has scored but 1 goal for AS Roma thus far. <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laugh Out Loud]" />

 

[Suedesi]

MO is a one-dimensional player; throw him the ball in space and hope he outruns the defender to it. He has no aerial game, bad first touch, bad hamstrings, great velocity, decent finishing skills, and a lot of great years of front of him. Crespo, Batistuta, Vieri, Shevchenko, Raul, Henry... they're all curently better than him.

Crespo: best goalscorer in Italy in 2001. 30 goals. Extremly creative and deadly in front of goal. Lazio have a gem in their team.

Batistuta: instrumental in Roma's three-pronged attack that brought them the title after 18 years. Sure he's been off form and injured recently, but first half of the year he was unstoppable. 20 goals in 28 games.

Vieri: second best scorer in Italy for 2001. 28 goals... although didn't play a lot. He's undoubtedly the best CF in the world at the moment.

Shevchenko: one of the best and most complete strikers around. Top 3 with Vieri and Crespo.

Raul: best striker in La Liga & Champions League last year. One of the most exciting forwards in the game, who combines speed and skill with a sharp eye for goal.

Henry: best striker in the EPL; great record in the CL and France's first choice striker.

How many goals has Owen netted this year in CL?
1 in 8 games. Why? [one-trick pony?]

 

[Raoul]

I agree with the Owen comments. For me Henry and Shevchenko are absolutely fantastic. Crespo, Raul, Vieri are right up there as well. Ronaldo is the best in the world when he's healthy and on form.

 

[The Champ]

I am quite a fan of Raul. Not only is he a lethal finisher, he also makes the players around him better. More so than any of the above mentioned.

But Owen deserves a starting place because of the timeliness and manner of his goals. It matters little when one scores goals after one's team is leading 4-0. MO was instrumental in pushing England past Germany in the WC qualifications, and was absolutely brilliant in the Super Cup and Uefa tournament.

This guy is a GAME BREAKER. His goals demoralize and destroy the opposition. He turns the tide of games around. And judging by the stunning turnaround that Liverpool made last year, he was pretty good at winning the big games.

Can the same be said of Vieri and Shevchenko? What has Inter and AC Milan done lately?

Better yet, how would you respond to MO if he played at Old Trafford? Probably shower him with accolades and call him the greatest striker on the planet.

 

[Suedesi]

<strong>But Owen deserves a starting place because of the timeliness and manner of his goals. It matters little when one scores goals after one's team is leading 4-0. MO was instrumental in pushing England past Germany in the WC qualifications, and was absolutely brilliant in the Super Cup and Uefa tournament.
<hr></blockquote></strong>

Enough with this Germany game! The Englishmen must have such an inferiority complex towards the Krauts, to even mention that. FFS it's not to hard to outclass the Germans these days. Ask Romania, Turkey and Albania. And I don't hear the Portuguese shouting for Conceicao because he scored 3 against them. Big fecking deal.

Funny you mention the Supercup and UEFA, but fail to include Owen's performance in Champions League. feck has he done? Is he a Champions League player or what? I bet you he feels nostalgic for UEFA already.

<strong>
This guy is a GAME BREAKER. His goals demoralize and destroy the opposition. He turns the tide of games around. And judging by the stunning turnaround that Liverpool made last year, he was pretty good at winning the big games.
<hr></blockquote></strong>

Are you for real? After Owen scored the only goal in CL so far, the opposition got so "demoralized" and "destroyed" that they refused to turn the ball over for 70 minutes. And they put 3 past Dudek. So much for Owen turning the tide eh?

<strong>Can the same be said of Vieri and Shevchenko? What has Inter and AC Milan done lately?<hr></blockquote></strong>

Vieri has lead his team top of the most difficult league in the world. Shevchenko scores 25 goals per season in the most difficult league in the world. And he had netted 5 in the CL by this time of year.

<strong>Better yet, how would you respond to MO if he played at Old Trafford? Probably shower him with accolades and call him the greatest striker on the planet.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I'm not the one to idolize players, if I had a choice I'd bring Trezeguet over, not MO. There's no way in hell that Ruud is playing donkey for MO.

Owen is a very one dimensional player, and hence easy to shut down. Good defences always do shut him down. I hope he doesn't go to Italy, cuz he'd be another Ian Rush.

And face it LFC's game plan is always long ball to Owen. MO has never had to defend, pickup the ball from his own half and do something creative with it. Sheva did just that a couple of weeks ago... picked up the ball in his half dribbled half of the best defence in Serie A and scored. MO against a similarly rated defence didn't have a shot on goal in Rome.

In addition Sheva, Vieri, Batistuta, Crespo not only contend their spot with Inzaghi, Javi Moreno, Ronaldo, Kallon, DelVecchio, Montella, Claudio Lopez, Salas, but also contend the service as well. feck, if Sheva or Vieri played for LFC they'd have scored 90% of your goals last season.

 

[The Champ]

Well you finally got one right. Because everytime I talk football with an Englishman, all they ever mention is the utter thrashing that Germany received. As a matter of fact, it's the same on the Net too.

As for the forementioned players, none has won more titles and brought their team back to prominence than MO, which counts for something. But ask yourself the question..."What kind of team would LFC be without Owen?" There aren't exactly any star studded players in the lineup.

Your favourite Trezeguet had Del Piero, Zidane, Inzaghi, etc to play with up front for most of the year. Who has Owen had? Heskey, Fowler, and McAllister. Of the players you mentioned, none of them probably has a more poor supporting caste than Michael Owen.

But you know what? For the sake of civility, why don't we just end it here. You are entitled to your opinions and I am entitled to mine. I not going to sit here and joust back and forth with you, there are better ways to spend one's time. So let's end it.

 

[BigChief]

Originally posted by Jens:
<strong>

sure, but sheva should be in there ahead of owen</strong><hr></blockquote>

If Sheva deserves to be in there then its in place of Raul. I can't remember Sheva scoring vital goals for his country at vital times as well as scoring a hattrick against one of his nation's bitterest enemies.

Oh wait a minute, this is the selective memory forum isn't it?

In that case I'll have David Beckham in all 11 positions because he did so much in 2001 and was recognised by the Cook Islands AND the Soloman Islands as being the best player in the world!!!

 

[Murt]

Originally posted by BigChief:
<strong>If Sheva deserves to be in there then its in place of Raul. I can't remember Sheva scoring vital goals for his country at vital times as well as scoring a hattrick against one of his nation's bitterest enemies.Oh wait a minute, this is the selective memory forum isn't it?In that case I'll have David Beckham in all 11 positions because he did so much in 2001 and was recognised by the Cook Islands AND the Soloman Islands as being the best player in the world!!! </strong><hr></blockquote>

Neither Beckham nor Owen are player of the yr, if i had to give it to a Pool or Utd player id give it to Keane or Hyppia.

 

[Suedesi]

Originally posted by The Champ:
<strong>
Your favourite Trezeguet had Del Piero, Zidane, Inzaghi, etc to play with up front for most of the year. Who has Owen had? Heskey, Fowler, and McAllister. Of the players you mentioned, none of them probably has a more poor supporting caste than Michael Owen.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

You have no idea what I'm saying do you? Trezeguet was on the bench precisely because of the abundance upfront. In fact he cam good once both Inzaghi and DelPiero got hurt, and was marvellous. Juve was about to sell him like Henry, but thank god they came to their senses.

Batistuta had to deal with Montella, Delvecchio and Totti all year long. You don't perform one game, and you're out. Owen can take a piss for a month, and none is going to challenge his supremacy.

Secondly, every ball upfront in LFC passes thru Owen. That's not the case with star-studded teams. Roberto Carlos, Figo, Zidane, Rui Costa, Totti don't neccessarily have to invlove their strikers all the time. Sometimes great midfields totally circumvent the strikers... France in 98 being a classic example.

I'd argue that being in a good team is much harder to score often and distinguish yourself.

Anyway, I'm confident that Henry and Crespo would do my team much better than Owen. Especially since I have a good midfield and have not included Heskey upfront

Cheers and happy NY to u 2.