Football - Ten Years Of Wilderness. +2.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Yevrah]

I've had 4 pints admittedly, but I've no idea what's going on here.

[Lewis]

Every United side of the past ten/twelve years would beat the current one.

[Manc]

Bless.

Djimi would have that legless cunt in his pocket.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Yevrah]

If that paragraph and the monstrous opening post can be condensed into "what's your club's best and worst team over the last 12 years" then yeah, I'm with you, if not then nope, I've still no clue.

[Raoul Duke]

Can't see anything but the previous year's giving each of the main sides current teams an absolute shellacking.

I think I've fucked the apostrophe up in that sentence :moop:

[Lewis]

It sounds like what would happen in a league table of each team's best team. If so:

1. Chelsea 2004/05 or United 2007/08
2. Chelsea 2004/05 or United 2007/08
3. Arsenal 2003/04
4. Liverpool 2008/09

Nobody cares after that.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Reg]

The best Gus side (playoff year, 4th in the Championship) would beat the current side. It was a more complete team with no obvious weaknesses, could keep the ball at will and had various ways to attack. The current side would hope to outfight them but ultimately would struggle I think.

Oh, I've read the above now. Erm, I'll have a think tomorrow.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Santos 58/59 would definitely beat the Santos of today.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Jimmy Floyd]

We were shit in 06/07. Shevchenko came, was shit, and United won the title.

Our best team was 09/10. The 04/05 lot were monstrously solid, but dull as ditchwater and benefited from shocking competition.

[Smiffy]

.....

[ItalAussie]

I've picked five seasons for comparison from the last ten which represent five distinct phases of the club:

2005/06: Pre-Calciopoli
2006/07: Demotion to the Serie B
2010/11: Equal-lowest finish in recent memory
2014/15: Champion's League Final
2015/16: Present-day

I've taken some serious liberties with formations in order to arrive at the players who seem to be most involved in terms of minutes played. Arranged in order of quality:

1. 2005/06: One of the scariest teams to face in Europe. Possibly the scariest of its time. Wouldn't last forever though...
Buffon
Thuram
Cannavaro
Appiah
Camoranesi
Emerson
Nedved
Zambrotta
Trezeguet
Ibrahimovic
Del Piero

2. 2014/15: The product of several years worth of building, and at the time the best team outside of the Spanish giants.
Buffon
Bonucci
Barzagli
Chiellini
Lichtsteiner
Marchisio
Pogba
Pirlo
Vidal
Morata
Tevez

3. 2015/16: Some big names moved on from last season, and effectively the ground floor of the next rebuild.
Buffon
Bonucci
Barzagli
Chiellini
Evra
Marchisio
Pogba
Lichtsteiner
Dybala
Morata
Mandzukic

4. 2006/07: Serie B squad that retained some big names from pre-relegation. Better than the Serie B, but not great.
Buffon
Balzaretti
Boumsong
Chiellini
Birindelli
Camoranesi
Nedved
Paro
C. Zanetti
Del Piero
Trezeguet

5. 2010/11: Finished 7th the season before, and did so again here. Buffon suffering a long-term injury didn't help, but this lineup is just terrible.
Storari
Motta
Chiellini
Grosso
Melo
Krasic
Aquilani
Pepe
Matri
Del Piero
Quagliarella

Look at that 2010/11 team. It's a wonder we managed to avoid relegation. 2006/07, while not an outstanding team, is still probably the best side to ever play in the second division of a top tier European league. The top-notch players who stuck around (especially Buffon, Nedved and Del Piero) will forever be club legends.

[John]

I'd forgotten Milos Krasic ever existed. He was touted as a superstar for about three years off the back of one stonking goal. I reckon he might have had one of the flimsiest ever cases for being the 'next big thing'.

[Lewis]

I know they lost to the finalists each time, but those 'Mr. Capello' Juventus teams were terrible in Europe. That 2005/06 team especially went out with a right whimper.

[ItalAussie]

I know they lost to the finalists each time, but those 'Mr. Capello' Juventus teams were terrible in Europe. That 2005/06 team especially went out with a right whimper.
We should have won one in that span, definitely. :moop:

I was deeply tempted to switch the order of the first two lineups, but the caliber of names in that team were just too much.

[Lewis]

I'm still not convinced that Emerson actually did anything, and yet he went all over collecting titles.

[ItalAussie]

I'm still not convinced that Emerson actually did anything, and yet he went all over collecting titles.

I'm with you on that one. No arguments there.

[Baz]

The Liverpool team that finished second, with Flanno, Gerrard, Sterling and Suarez, would annihilate anything Klopp could field.

[Vim]

Honestly, I'd take the 09/10 over 10/11 as worst team.

Buffon; Grygera, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Grosso; Poulsen; Melo, Marchisio; Diego; Amauri, Del Piero.

I think the best team without Ibra was also just as scary. I'm mainly thinking about the one where Nedved won Ballon D'Or and we lost the CL final (again):

Buffon; Thuram, Ferrara, Iuliano, Zambrotta; Camoranesi, Davids, Tacchinardi, Nedved; Del Piero, Trezeguet.

[Samadini]

Probably not but I figured it would pass some time to see where 2009/10 Aston Villa side would stand in the final league table or Newcastle's 2003/2004. Then you're comparing those sides against the sides that other members have put up.

Example #3

Newcastle 2003/2004 side with Shearer leading the line on paper looks absolutely dross. Jenas, Dyer, Rob Elliott and the like but how would they fare overall if the Leicester supporters on this forum put their current version forward instead of O'Neill's 2003/2004 version. The current Leicester side in a league comprised of Chelsea's 2006/07 wouldn't be 2nd in the league for example.


https://youtu.be/1SK3y1a8TYs

[Lee]

We'd have a job proposing O'Neill's 03/04 Leicester side. He left in 2000.

[wullie]

Our 2008/9 squad should have done a lot better than gravitating around 17th as per.

Keiren Westwood

Stephen Wright
Scott Dann
Elliott Ward
Danny Fox

Jordan Henderson
Aron Gunnarsson
Guillaume Beuzelin
Jay Tabb

Clinton Morrison
Freddie Eastwood

Backup from the likes Ben Turner, Michael Mifsud, Michael Doyle, Leon Best, and MARCUS HALL

Chris Coleman fucked it up massively.


We're doing alright now, but I'd assume a Championship-level side would prevail particular with our defence stuck together with blu-tak right now.

Reice Charles-Cook

Sam Ricketts
Aaron Martin
Reda Johnson
Chris Stokes

John Fleck
Romain Vincelot

Jim O'Brien
Joe Cole/James Maddison
Jacob Murphy

Adam Armstrong

Our current side would hammer any of our previous League One sides though, which were a general mishmash of castoffs and loanees of little point. Last season was the worst by far and almost saw a drop to League Two

Ryan Allsop

Jordan Willis
Andy Webster
Matthew Pennington
Ryan Haynes

Adam Barton
John Fleck
Jim O'Brien

Frank Nouble
Marcus Tudgay
Simeon Jackson

[ItalAussie]

Honestly, I'd take the 09/10 over 10/11 as worst team.

Buffon; Grygera, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Grosso; Poulsen; Melo, Marchisio; Diego; Amauri, Del Piero.

I think the best team without Ibra was also just as scary. I'm mainly thinking about the one where Nedved won Ballon D'Or and we lost the CL final (again):

Buffon; Thuram, Ferrara, Iuliano, Zambrotta; Camoranesi, Davids, Tacchinardi, Nedved; Del Piero, Trezeguet.

I totally agree that was a better team, but I set an arbitrary cutoff at ten years.

I would definitely defend 10/11 as being the worst though. Still a terrible two years either way.

[John]

Grygera. :drool: One of many absolute saviours in Soccer Scrabble.

Iuliano is a bit of a forgotten man, isn't he? He was brilliant.

[Jimmy Floyd]

The other day I was pondering central defenders for my World XI (time drags at work) and could only come up with a deeply unsatisfactory pairing of Kompany and Bonucci, the latter chosen because of his nationality alone. Italy seriously needs to up its game.

[Smiffy]

.....

[Jimmy Floyd]

I had the impression he was creaking.

[ItalAussie]

He's not creaking badly, but Bonucci is definitely the better of the two. Barzagli is starting to show his age, but he's got a year or two left in his legs. :nodd:

Those three plus one random entry are a decent enough backline for Italy/Juventus. They were pretty formidable a few years ago, but they're still going along alright.

[Lewis]

Diego Godin is THE MAN these days. I keep reading that Jerome Boateng is, but I bet he makes about one tackle a month.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Remembering more clearly it was actually a European XI to play (and lose to) South America that I was making. The latter only had about two Brazilians in it. God loves a devalued brand.

[Max Power]

Godin is a monster. The young Uruguayan Giminez looks quality as well. To bring it back to classic Juve XIs and also stick with monster Uruguayan centre backs, what about Paolo Montero? Fucking animal :drool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

I am a romantic and always hate sneaky Latin defenders. Roberto Ayala was another one. Proper cheating shithouse.

[Vim]

Bonucci > Chiellini over the last two years, although in terms of form in the last couple of months, it's the opposite. Bonucci can be quite error prone sometimes, but he has the feet of a midfielder.

Barzagi is a pure defender, he rarely needs to tackle or foul the opponent because he is the most intelligent defender right now. I love him the most.

By the way, Rugani is meant to be the future of the Juventus backline. He could be a real treasure for Juve and Italy.

[The Merse]

Honestly, I'd take the 09/10 over 10/11 as worst team.

Buffon; Grygera, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Grosso; Poulsen; Melo, Marchisio; Diego; Amauri, Del Piero.


I don't think I ever noticed how bad Juve were then...

Amauri and Poulsen? Fucking hell.

[The Merse]

If we're looking at 10 years, then the invincibles had begun being broken up, but the best XI of 2005/06 stills dons the rest of the next 9 years, and edges the current team. Having said that, Lauren, Campbell and Cole spent most of the year on the sidelines injured, with Senderos, Flamini and Eboue in their place, which gives it a different complexion altogether...

1. 2005/06 - European Cup finalists, but with a quite different line up on the day...
First choice XI - Lehmann, Lauren , Cole, Toure, Campbell, Pires, Ljungberg, Gilberto, Fabregas, Henry, Bergkamp.

Most frequent XI additions (in place of highlighted) - Eboue, Flamini, Reyes

2. 2015/16 - Top of the league and still in 2 cup comps...
First choice XI - Cech, Bellerin, Monreal, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Cazorla, Coquelin, Sanchez, Ramsey, Ozil, Giroud

Most frequent XI additions - Walcott

3. 2007-08 - Should've won the league, lead by 8 points, all fell apart with Eduardo's leg...
First choice XI - Almunia, Sagna, Clichy, Toure, Gallas, Fabregas, Flamini, Hleb, Rosicky, van Persie, Adebayor

Most frequent XI additions - Almunia, Walcott

4. 2010-11 Should have amounted to more, peak injury and 'mental fragility' crisis era. Starting line up was a challenger, but the additions are just horrible.
First Choice XI: Sczeszny, Clichy, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Song, Wilshere, Fabregas, Nasri, Arshavin, van Persie

Additions: Squillaci, Chamakh

5. 2011-12 The year van Persie stayed fit and Song looked like Ozil, Wilshere broken for a whole season
First Choice XI: Sczeszny, Gibbs, Sagna, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Arteta, Ramsey, Rosicky, Walcott, Gervinho, van Persie

[Vim]

I don't think I ever noticed how bad Juve were then...

Amauri and Poulsen? Fucking hell.

That's the year we somehow let Fulham score four goals in a row to over come a 4-1 aggregate lead that Juve had. I also remember giving up a 3-0 lead against Siena with Grygera gifting them all three goals.

[Lewis]

Alessio Secco. :cool:

[Vim]

I also recall Chimenti (our third keeper) making a huge blunder on a Cassano shot against Samp, then smashing his fist on a table in the dressing room in frustration, and actually injuring his hand doing so. :face:

[Raoul Duke]

Aren't Rugani and Romagnoli at Milan meant to be the next main two?

[wullie]

Did Ranocchia ever come to much?

[Vim]

Aren't Rugani and Romagnoli at Milan meant to be the next main two?

Yeah, I mentioned Rugani, not impressed with Romagnoli yet but hopefully he comes good.

Ranocchia is absolute shite.